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Impossible to go self-employed

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Mpg said:
you can go self employed for the price of a phone call or free online.

There you go DONE.
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Well, technically no as I would then have to inform the benefits agency, declare my hours and income, provide proof of income and anything over £10 I earn gets taken out of my income support or... the WTC option.

I just hope that the people here end up in my situation some time in their lives, then they'll know what it's really like, it's easy to be narrow minded when you're not experiencing it for youself.
 
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You still haven't told us what the business is.

There may be someone in a similier field that could help
 
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TheNewEntrepeneur said:
Well, technically no as I would then have to inform the benefits agency, declare my hours and income, provide proof of income and anything over £10 I earn gets taken out of my income support or... the WTC option.

I just hope that the people here end up in my situation some time in their lives, then they'll know what it's really like, it's easy to be narrow minded when you're not experiencing it for youself.
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NON of the above costs money



Dude I have been there I have spent my last £2. I have sold my Tv to buy food.

But then I have also gotton off my ass and did something about it.

If you the kind of person that thinks the world owes them a living. then your doomed to failure.
 
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I don't think I'll bother now. Nobody has offered help, only tried to criticize and wasted away a few hours of my Sunday afternoon.

I really didn't realize that the UK self employed were such a bunch of stuck-up know-it-all immature bunch of children.

This thread has done nothing except put me off working even more, which was probably the alterior motive all along.
 
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Mpg said:
You still haven't told us what the business is.

There may be someone in a similier field that could help
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He has only been planning it for a long time.. not nearly ten years:)

Best to keep it under wraps!!

and when he wishes others to be in his situation.. then he is a definite loser.

IMO
 
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Mpg said:
NON of the above costs money



Dude I have been there I have spent my last £2. I have sold my Tv to buy food.

But then I have also gotton off my ass and did something about it.

If you the kind of person that thinks the world owes them a living. then your doomed to failure.
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I don't, which is why I want to go out and work for it... obviously. Geez, you tell someone you want to work for yourself and they accuse you of trying to be a scab - WTF??
 
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TheNewEntrepeneur said:
I don't think I'll bother now. Nobody has offered help, only tried to criticize and wasted away a few hours of my Sunday afternoon.

I really didn't realize that the UK self employed were such a bunch of stuck-up know-it-all immature bunch of children.

This thread has done nothing except put me off working even more, which was probably the alterior motive all along.
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Like i said in prevoius posts you haven't told us anything about the business that you want to be in.

People have tried to hep you have ignored the posts.
 
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TheNewEntrepeneur said:
I've already enquired, we'd be over £100 worse off per week.
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You're attitude is all screwed up. Seriously. I don't know why, but most people living off state handouts have this exact same screwed up attitude.

When I quit my full time job to set up my first business in 2001, I was hugely worse off. In fact, I was over £2k a month worse off, and it took over 3 years of very hard work to just get back up to the level of income I had when employed.

I think that's fairly common for most people who set up their own businesses. They accept it, and get on with it in the hope that the rewards will eventually be worth it.

But if you're on benefits, somehow it's different. You hear this over and over again. Why is that?
 
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saying f*ck it just do it, ignore the government does not help. Getting accused of trying to scab when I actually want to work does not help. saying 'I ignored the law and have a successful business' does not help (and you'l probably get screwed one day). None of it helps.

Anyway, I give up. I guess I'll just carry on living my life claiming benefits from the taxpayers then, it's a lot easier and more convenient and actually more rewarding too. Could have been a great business, but hey ho life's a c*nt.
 
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sysops said:
You're attitude is all screwed up. Seriously. I don't know why, but most people living off state handouts have this exact same screwed up attitude.

When I quit my full time job to set up my first business in 2001, I was hugely worse off. In fact, I was over £2k a month worse off, and it took over 3 years of very hard work to just get back up to the level of income I had when employed.

I think that's fairly common for most people who set up their own businesses. They accept it, and get on with it in the hope that the rewards will eventually be worth it.

But if you're on benefits, somehow it's different. You hear this over and over again. Why is that?
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Its because they think the world owes them a living.
 
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sysops said:
You're attitude is all screwed up. Seriously. I don't know why, but most people living off state handouts have this exact same screwed up attitude.

When I quit my full time job to set up my first business in 2001, I was hugely worse off. In fact, I was over £2k a month worse off, and it took over 3 years of very hard work to just get back up to the level of income I had when employed.

I think that's fairly common for most people who set up their own businesses. They accept it, and get on with it in the hope that the rewards will eventually be worth it.

But if you're on benefits, somehow it's different. You hear this over and over again. Why is that?
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I'm not starving my 3 children. That's why.
 
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TheNewEntrepeneur said:
Yeah my father thought he was legimitate too but look what happened to him, which is exactly my point.
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You're doing the right thing in this respect... You need to ignore idiots who suggest playing fast and loose. Especially DWP; he's just some sick kid who's been posting BS posts here for weeks... And it's high time he was banned!

You have the numbers... You now have to make them work!

Now; I'm assuming here that you're properly qualified in Web Design? If not you should seriously think about addressing that issue. It's fairly common for unqualified web designers to have huge gaps in their knowledge that lead to them making dangerous mistakes.

Next thing to realise is that many of your competitors will be undercutting you because they're not legitimate. You need to distance yourself from that and pitch your service accordingly.

Don't 'fall in love' with your business idea. That's a fairly common source of failure....

My own Father once fell in love with the idea of owning a sandwich shop; don't ask me why! Common sense and market research told everyone but him that the only place his plan would work was in the middle of a city or medium size town were shop rents were relatively high. And those high rents caused the numbers to keel over. But so determined was he to open those doors that he set up shop anyway... Miles away from any industrial or shopping centre on the edge of a housing estate! :rolleyes:

Likewise there's an empty shop unit in my village which was leased some time ago by someone wanting to set up a hairdresser/beauty parlour... A village of 3000 people isn't the place for that particular dream!

Be prepared to walk away from this plan if you just can't make it stack up...

And finally, you need to go back and look over the posts where people HAVE tried to point you to the right support mechanisms...
 
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sysops said:
Don't get me started on that one...

Why do you have 3 children? Why do people think it's ok to have children if they are not in a financially comfortable position?
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Because there was a time when I was in a financially comfortable position several years ago. But it doesn't always last now does it?? People do get laid off and made redundant and there is an economic crisis happening right now.

How can business people be so small-minded and not see the big picture??
 
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TheNewEntrepeneur said:
I really didn't realize that the UK self employed were such a bunch of stuck-up know-it-all immature bunch of children.
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Reading through this thread it does seem like we all need to start again.

There are alot of wannabes who drift through here with daft suggestions or wanting someone else to do all the hard work for them - I fear you may have had some harsh replies because of this. Don't take it personally, if you can't handle a few curt posts you'll certainly struggle with a business.

In your defence, my impression is that you have been banging your head against the wall for so long trying to make this business work that you have dug yourself into a hole and keep seeing problems rather than opportunities - it's easilly done, been there myself (except I was not lucky enough to be eligible for JSA / Income support so had even less income)

My best advice would be to take a break - shelve the plans until the new year - get xmas out of the way and start afresh in the new year. Get some advice from Business Link, research grant schemes, look at ways of minimising costs, streamline your household budget (it's amazing how many people moan about being skint while watching sky telly driving everyshere)

Revise your buisness plan and approach the whole project with fresh eyes and renewed enthusiasm.

It can be done.
It's bloody tough, it will make you cry and there will be times when you will want to pack it all in - but surely it's preferable to the alternative?

Good Luck.
 
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TFGtv said:
You're doing the right thing in this respect... You need to ignore idiots who suggest playing fast and loose. Especially DWP; he's just some sick kid who's been posting BS posts here for weeks... And it's high time he was banned!

You have the numbers... You now have to make them work!

Now; I'm assuming here that you're properly qualified in Web Design? If not you should seriously think about addressing that issue. It's fairly common for unqualified web designers to have huge gaps in their knowledge that lead to them making dangerous mistakes.

Next thing to realise is that many of your competitors will be undercutting you because they're not legitimate. You need to distance yourself from that and pitch your service accordingly.

Don't 'fall in love' with your business idea. That's a fairly common source of failure....

My own Father once fell in love with the idea of owning a sandwich shop; don't ask me why! Common sense and market research told everyone but him that the only place his plan would work was in the middle of a city or medium size town were shop rents were relatively high. And those high rents caused the numbers to keel over. But so determined was he to open those doors that he set up shop anyway... Miles away from any industrial or shopping centre on the edge of a housing estate! :rolleyes:

Likewise there's an empty shop unit in my village which was leased some time ago by someone wanting to set up a hairdresser/beauty parlour... A village of 3000 people isn't the place for that particular dream!

Be prepared to walk away from this plan if you just can't make it stack up...

And finally, you need to go back and look over the posts where people HAVE tried to point you to the right support mechanisms...
Click to expand...

Thank you soooo much for a sensible response! There are some good statements there.
 
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TNE, we'd love to help and I'd be pretty confident in saying that the majority of us HAVE been on our uppers at some point in our lives but the difference is we didn't look for excuses NOT to do something. "I want to do this but........."

Life's hard at times pal, but you're defeatist attitude isn't helping to feed and dress your kids. Snap out of it or spend the rest of your life watching Jeremy Kyle.
 
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sysops said:
Don't get me started on that one...

Why do you have 3 children? Why do people think it's ok to have children if they are not in a financially comfortable position?
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OT and uncalled for; for all you know he could have been doing well when they were born and got made redundant... Not my business nor I suspect anyone else's.

So the guy's got three kids, he needs to move on; give him some credit, at least he's making SOME effort to finding a way forward and supporting them! AND he's trying to do the right thing and be 100% legit....

He could do what the rest do and just sit on his backside vegetating...
 
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Beachcomber said:
Reading through this thread it does seem like we all need to start again.

There are alot of wannabes who drift through here with daft suggestions or wanting someone else to do all the hard work for them - I fear you may have had some harsh replies because of this. Don't take it personally, if you can't handle a few curt posts you'll certainly struggle with a business.

In your defence, my impression is that you have been banging your head against the wall for so long trying to make this business work that you have dug yourself into a hole and keep seeing problems rather than opportunities - it's easilly done, been there myself (except I was not lucky enough to be eligible for JSA / Income support so had even less income)

My best advice would be to take a break - shelve the plans until the new year - get xmas out of the way and start afresh in the new year. Get some advice from Business Link, research grant schemes, look at ways of minimising costs, streamline your household budget (it's amazing how many people moan about being skint while watching sky telly driving everyshere)

Revise your buisness plan and approach the whole project with fresh eyes and renewed enthusiasm.

It can be done.
It's bloody tough, it will make you cry and there will be times when you will want to pack it all in - but surely it's preferable to the alternative?

Good Luck.
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And thank you for a decent reponse too. Just for the record I don't have sky TV or a car. Some good advice there which I'll take up.

You're absolutely right, it does seem like I've been banging my head against a brick wall trying to make it work and I generally didn't realize there were so many complications with go self-employed legitimately.

In fact, it doesn't seem like there is a way of starting up legimitately, so I guess startups have no choice to break the law initially until they get on their feet.
 
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TheNewEntrepeneur said:
In fact, it doesn't seem like there is a way of starting up legimitately, so I guess startups have no choice to break the law initially until they get on their feet.
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Yes, that's right, all business startups break the law initially... WTF??

What you've discovered is that going from unemployed to running a business is quite difficult. How about getting a job and saving up some money first?
 
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Mpg said:
I'm starting to sound like a stuck record
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Sorry, I thought I'd responded and this thread is moving quite quick, must have slipped. Web design is certainly a massive part of it, but there are other services involved too such as digital audio editing.
 
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Mpg, there is no business and I'm starting to think we have egg on our faces for wasting the last hour of our Sundays replying. Where is Citizen Erased anyway?
 
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sysops said:
Yes, that's right, all business startups break the law initially... WTF??

What you've discovered is that going from unemployed to running a business is quite difficult. How about getting a job and saving up some money first?
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I just know you'l take this as an excuse, but financially we're better off now that I would be if I was working, as we don't have to pay rent and council tax now - politically incorrect I know, but that's the way this country is.
 
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I'll just ignore all the childish comments, obviously sad people that have got nothing better or more constructive to do with their boring Sunday afternoons.
 
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Then do you need PL insurance, PI insurance. You can trade from home or for a small charge can get a PO box. Or even you accountants address.


What you will find with a lot of forums is that negative threads can get negative responses.

If you first post was along the lines of

I want to start a busniess doing XXXX but I'm struggling getting funding.

Then the respose would have been a lot friendlier.
 
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TheNewEntrepeneur said:
saying f*ck it just do it, ignore the government does not help. Getting accused of trying to scab when I actually want to work does not help. saying 'I ignored the law and have a successful business' does not help (and you'l probably get screwed one day). None of it helps.

Anyway, I give up. I guess I'll just carry on living my life claiming benefits from the taxpayers then, it's a lot easier and more convenient and actually more rewarding too. Could have been a great business, but hey ho life's a c*nt.
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No problem, most people do.

Seriously, people have pointed you in the right direction, you have not shown any idea of how too overcome the first obstacles in having your own business and have not answered the most basic questions. You ask for help yet refuse it, I wonder why?

IF you ever really want to be self employed, the first thing to understand is saying it and doing it are two different things, self employed people face hundreds of problems every year, and you haven't worked out the way around the first obstacle.

This is why 90% of people are not suited to self employment and prefer the safety of a salary or benefits, where they have a safety net. Many people on this forum have been in a similar situation to yourself, or worse.

Why is it so many people cannot find any work when others find it everywhere? Why are some destined to claim benefits when others prefer to earn their own money?

Maybe you are better off not going self employed, it's to much like hard work.
 
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TheNewEntrepeneur said:
In fact, it doesn't seem like there is a way of starting up legimitately, so I guess startups have no choice to break the law initially until they get on their feet.
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It can seem like that.
I know how bogged down in red tape you can - it makes your head spin!

But, that doesn't mean it cannot be done, it just means you need advice.
As mentioned, Business Link is a very useful place - free professional advice.

Also try the Citizens Advice Bureau for benifit advice.

The help is out there - don't try and do it all yourself, your head will explode!
 
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sysops said:
Genius. Sounds nice.
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Also just for your information, there WAS a time several years ago when I DIDN'T want to work, I just wanted to drink alcohol, take drugs and have fun. I ended up on the streets homeless and addicted to crack, I nearly died several times. From there I have managed to get myself into rehab, kick the drugs, clear all my debts, make up with my family and friends, have a family and work my way back into a comfortable position which is more bloody hard and determination and effort than I expect you have or will ever have to go through. Personally, I think I've done bloody well so far and self-employment was planned to be my next step.

Whether you do or don't appreciate that I couldn't really care less to be honest, maybe it'll open your eyes, maybe not.
 
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I started my business Sept 2008 with only my last weeks wages to see me through. Insurances were paid after month 1. other invoices were on either 30 or 90 days.

Apart from 4 days with food poisoning and 1 week on holiday I have not had a day off in almost 18 months I work 7 days a week. But my business only trades 5 days per week. I have paperwork and research I need to do that i just dont have time to do during the week.

Your business will become kinda like a hobby (of sorts) It will become all you think about morning noon and night. You will wake up in the middle of the night in cold sweats because you think you have forgotton to do something. Then youll struggle to sleep.

If you really want it then you will find a way.

But you need to have a decent plan
 
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Mpg said:
Then do you need PL insurance, PI insurance. You can trade from home or for a small charge can get a PO box. Or even you accountants address.


What you will find with a lot of forums is that negative threads can get negative responses.

If you first post was along the lines of

I want to start a busniess doing XXXX but I'm struggling getting funding.

Then the respose would have been a lot friendlier.
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Thankyou, I think you may have just come up with something very useful which could be of a great benefit. I don't think a PO Box address can be registered as a business address though can it? I know it's also not private, they will willfully give your personal details to anyone that enquires.

I still find most of the responses to be rather strange and untoward, but thats the internet eh?
 
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TheNewEntrepeneur said:
Now that's not legitimate and my customers would find out obviously. Also, there are certain laws for web design which would require me to make my details available so everybody.
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But none of the "laws for web design" force designers to work for 16+ hours a week.

So, couldn't you do that* part time and still get benefits?

Steve

* Or whatever the hell this business is about - I don't understand.
 
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