New Starter

[LVS-UK]

Hi everyone,

I am at the very early stages of starting up my own business and any advice guidance you can offer would be greatly appreciated. I have a million questions, which you'll be pleased to know I wont through out there all at once, but if you could help with these for starters I would be eternally grateful:-

1) I work as a PAYE employee, but want to start this business seperately. Would that cause me problems from the outset?

2) For a startout business, what are the pro's and con's of being a Sole Trader against a Ltd Company. Like most new businesses, especially those being run "part-time", it will be some time before income is at a strong enough level for me to focus 100% on the business as a full time option.

3) Am I best to set up a business bank account from the start? If so, any recommendations of good banks to work with

4) Can you recommended any good website development companies. I'm based in Norfolk, but guess that may not matter too much nowadays.

Ok, I'll leave the questions there for now. Thanks again.

 

[gouldie0]

Hi LVS-UK,

Your doing the right thing by seeking advice before you start your business, the last thing you want to do is make a costly mistake that could've been avoided.

In answer to your questions:

(i) There shouldn't be too many problems but the main one will be time, can you afford to spare time to do both? Dependent on what business your starting, it can take a lot of time selling your own business initially and you need to think about how much time you can devote to it.

If you trade as a sole trader you'll need to register >>here<< and dependent on your level of profit you can also request to postpone your payments of class 2 NI as well, look >>here<<

(ii) Here is a >>blog post<< on the benefits of limited versus sole trader. It'll give you an idea of the benefits but as always, you should seek advice as everybodies circumstances are different.

(iii) If you start a limited company, it's a legal requirement to have a separate business bank account. If you trade as a sole trader then you can use your personal account but it can get messy and cause complications at a later date.

(iv) I don't know of any in that area but if you look throughout this site I'm sure you'll find one.

Good luck with your business idea.

Neil

 

Hi there

Good practical advice from Gouldie0. It might also help if you give an idea what your business involves.

The 2 most cited motivations for sole trader vs Ltd are tax and personal liability, which are of course very important. The other things you will need to consider are visibility & perception.

Visibility: As an incorporated business certain information must be in the public domain, so if, for example, you don't wish your employer to know you are running a business it might be best not to be listed as a director.

Perception: It is generally, though wrongly, perceived that a Ltd Company has more substance than a sole trader or partnership, which might have an impact when you are marketing, quoting etc. (Once you have met people they will seldom care what your status is).

For web design we use either Data Design www.data-designs.net (low cost, basic site) ot Coolfields Consulting www.coolfields.co.uk for more evolved work. At a personal level I always think it is important to speak with a web company to make sure you are 'speaking the same language'.

All the best

Mark