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Thorogood Publishing - Roger Mason

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61 pages

English

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Working for Yourself written by Roger Mason offers important advice and guidance which will help you reach your potential within business. The need for this book is high because many people are currently setting up their own business or thinking of doing so. Some of them are doing it because they want the freedom and lifestyle that comes with working for yourself.Due to the current changes occurring within economies today, alternative career opportunities are often few and far between, and in some cases virtually non-existent. Your own business is almost always an option, and it is one that a lot of people are taking.If you are considering setting up your own business, you certainly need information and some hard facts. This book will provide you with essential guidance in areas such as funding, tax, accounts and much more! You will also appreciate an insight into useful character traits and the attributes necessary for success, as well as such things as the advantages and disadvantages of working from home.

Sujets

Employabilité, métiers et formations

Entrepreneurship

Informations

Publié par	Thorogood Publishing
Date de parution	01 décembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781854187970
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0462€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Working for Yourself: Running a Business, Starting a Company or Being Self-employed
First published in e-book format 2012 Thorogood Publishing Ltd 10-12 Rivington Street London EC2A 3DU Telephone: 020 7749 4748 Fax: 020 7729 6110 Email: info@thorogoodpublishing.co.uk Web: www.thorogoodpublishing.co.uk
© Roger Mason 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed upon the subsequent purchaser.
No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any material in this publication can be accepted by the author or publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 1 85418797 X
978185418790
Preface
I have written quite a few books and most of them have been on topics suggested to me by the publisher. Just a few have been proposed by me to the publisher and this comes into that category. I suggested it because I can see a big need for it and because I believe that I am well qualified to write it. Thorogood quickly saw it too and I am grateful to them for enthusiastically adopting my proposal.
The need for this book is high because many people are currently setting up their own business or thinking of doing so. Some of them are doing it because they want the freedom and lifestyle that comes with working for yourself. Their reasons are positive and they want to do it regardless of the employment alternatives. Many others are doing so because they have lost their jobs or fear that they soon will. At the time of writing the economic climate is awful and we are reading almost daily of company closures and redundancies. Alternative career opportunities are often few and far between, and in some cases virtually non-existent. Your own business is almost always an option, and it is one that a lot of people are taking.
If you are considering setting up your own business, you certainly need information and some hard facts. You will find these in this book, Chapter 10 on dealing with tax being an example. You will probably also appreciate an insight into useful character traits and the attributes necessary for success, as well as such things as the advantages and disadvantages of working from home. These are there too and I hope that you think that a useful balance has been struck.
Both my wife and I have experience with our own businesses and I hope that this is reflected in the book. I am a Chartered Certified Accountant and a Chartered Secretary, and I was employed for many years, generally happily, as a finance director and company secretary. During each of the last few of these years, and in my own time, I prepared and presented a few seminars. I also wrote a few books. Although I was paid it was done mainly because I enjoyed doing it, but I had in my mind that it could, if necessary, be a full-time business. In fact I enjoyed it so much that I began to consider choosing to go down this route.
My last couple of years as a finance director were not happy and I made preparations to be self-employed as a seminar presenter and writer on a full-time basis. This was prudent because the owner of the business eventually decided that we should part company, which he did in a very fair way. He made a bad mistake as subsequent events showed, but of course I would say that. Looking back it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. For the last fourteen years I have been happily and successfully self-employed as a seminar presenter, writer and consultant, my special subjects being company law and finance.
My wife has had a number of businesses and for the last eight years she has been self-employed as a civil funeral celebrant. Her advice in writing this book has been extremely helpful. Hopefully you will think that our record helps make this a practical book. We have actually done it. Most of the chapters end with a short note relating to our practical experiences in the areas covered by the chapter.
Having your own business may or may not be technically the same thing as being self-employed. It depends on the legal form of your business and how it is structured. In practical terms though, in most circumstances, they are likely to mean much the same. Both are used extensively in this book and in many areas they are virtually interchangeable.
It just remains for me to thank my friend Paul Murphy for his help with the Social Networking section of Chapter 7 and to hope that you find the book useful, interesting and enjoyable. If you do take the plunge and start your own business, you have my very best wishes for success.
Chapter 1: Is Self-employment right for you?
This chapter tries to help you answer the all-important question posed in its title. Topics covered are: The advantages and disadvantages of self-employment Reasons for choosing self-employment Helpful character traits and attributes Can you afford to take the risk? The chances of success Editorial comment Our personal experiences
The advantages and disadvantages of self-employment
Assuming that you have not yet made a commitment to self-employment and perhaps even if you have, it is a good idea to make a comparison between employment and self-employment, and to think through the advantages and disadvantages of moving from one to the other. You have probably done this already but this section of the chapter should help if you have not. Even if you have done the exercise it is worth studying what follows as it may give you fresh perspectives.
It is both inevitable and desirable that your assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of self-employment is very personal to you. You may or may not agree with the considerations that follow and you will certainly have views about the order in which they should be ranked. You can and should add further ones that occur to you. You might disagree with what follows and with the views of other people, and you might even consider some of the so-called advantages to be disadvantages and vice versa. Having said all that and in no particular order, the following are some of the advantages and disadvantages of moving from employment to self-employment.
Advantages of self-employment The chance to achieve your full potential The chance to achieve a sense of satisfaction in your work The chance to do what you enjoy doing The freedom to work in the way that suits you best The possibility of working in a family-friendly way You cannot be sacked or made redundant The possibility of earning a lot of money The absence of in-house bureaucracy The possibility of eliminating or reducing commuting The knowledge that financial rewards will be directly linked to your skill and effort The possibility of tax advantages You do not have to take orders from people that you do not like or respect The possibility of having a lot of fun
Disadvantages of self-employment The business might fail and you could lose money, perhaps a lot of money You might miss the support given by specialists in your employer You might miss the friendship of colleagues It will be the end of safe, secure, regular salary payments It will be the end of fringe benefits You must totally fund your pension The fear of the unknown. You could be operating out of your comfort zone The demands of self-employment might stretch you too far You might have to work harder and longer than you want to You will have to find your own customers It might take over your life It might be difficult to maintain a good balance between work, your family and the rest of your life There is no sick pay
Reasons for choosing self-employment
There are many reasons for choosing self-employment and most of them have at least some merit. Eight common ones follow and may be among the ones that are relevant to you. Whatever your reasons for considering the life-changing step of self-employment if you are, they should at least provide food for thought.
A good business idea
I watch the television programme Dragons’ Den and see people with business ideas pitch for an investment. Almost without exception the pitch features an invention, a new idea or a novel way of doing business. This is of course because it makes good television. Some of the ideas are silly and cynically put in just to entertain us, even if it embarrasses their proponents. Some are serious prospects and a very few are sensational. If you have an invention or a novel idea, congratulations. You may do very well, though the failure rate is high.
You will not see on Dragons’ Den someone who wants to open a hairdressing salon or do any of the thousands of things that are being done already. This is because these proposals would not make good television and the viewers would switch off, but of course something along these lines suits numerous people who set up their own businesses. If your locality has room for a good hairdressing salon and if you have a good business plan to provide one, this could be the right business for you. It does not have to be exciting. It does though have to be well thought out, realistic and right for you.
The associated freedom
It is known that a major factor in low stress levels, job satisfaction and happiness is a large amount of freedom to make decisions and organise one’s own job. If this is true for employees and it is, it must be a big consideration for the self-employed too. You can work long hours or short hours, you can work hard or not work hard, you can choose which jobs to accept and which jo