Last week’s highly informative retirement post has got me thinking. While I can’t realistically afford to retire and do absolutely nothing yet, our finances are such that I could afford to scale back or maybe even go self-employed. My financial advisor (Mrs L) is even being very supportive about this. I also have a growing feeling that if I don’t do this soon, I probably never will!
The background is that I work in the SEN (Special Educational Needs) field and have years of department head experience in Ofsted Outstanding colleges. I know for a fact that parents and local authorities would be prepared to pay for the knowledge, support and guidance I could give them and their kids as they negotiate their way through the minefield that is SEN provision as well as helping them achieve individually.
I probably lack the same skills as many others considering taking the plunge into self-employment in that what I am less sure of is a knowledge of marketing, self-promotion and simply being able to get the message out to people beyond my immediate contacts and initial targets.
So over to you…realistically, how challenging is this stuff? Word of mouth in my area of work is hugely significant but I’m not so daft that I want to ignore the areas mentioned above, and really I’d probably be looking at going part-time in my current role first while I set a few things up, taking the full plunge of leaving once I had enough work (and requests for work) built up.
Any advice or comments would be much appreciated, and yes, I clearly even need the basics!
Ask The Massive…anyone gone self-employed in middle age?
I can’t offer much, but went freelance about eight years ago after leaving a miserable job with a decent payout. Others in my profession (I’m a graphic designer) told me there were no full-time jobs in my area worth applying for, and I’d be better off going it alone. I found the discipline of working at home a breeze and enjoyed the variety of work, but the flip side was the ‘hustle’ – having to put myself out there, and negotiate fees. I ended up turning very little down, working for less and dealing with the meanest twisters you can imagine. I had to gently remind friends who I’d done design ‘favours’ for before – mainly bands – that I was now working for money, albeit mates’ rates and design isn’t ‘just a bit of fun for me’.
I added a few strings to my bow, such as designing in Microsoft Office (shudder) and business photography (fun, and lucrative). After a few years working for £10K a year less than the shit job, I started applying for full time work and am now very happy in a government position.
The only advice I can give you is get a good accountant, and get and keep receipts for absolutely everything. Also, even annoying social media sites like LinkedIn can bring in the punters, so it’s worthwhile keeping those fresh and populated.
Thanks for the advice @TrypF you’re not the first person who’s mentioned LinkedIn so I’m definitely going to have to play much closer attention to that I think.
@NIck_L
Having spent the previous 31 years as a copywriter/creative director with various leading ad agencies across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, I found myself stuck in a particularly shitty job and went freelance in 2000 at the age of 44.
Having heard the rustle of the hessian bag heading my way, I spent the six months before I got downsized/let go/retrenched/dehired setting up websites, getting stationery and putting feelers out.
The worst thing that happened to me is that I ended up being insanely busy. Despite having left Hong Kong back for Ireland ten years ago this August, I still have three or four clients who regularly use me.
At the end of the day, freelancing isn’t one job, it’s their jobs in one.
1) You’ve got to go out and get the work so get emails and social media stuff out early
2) You’ve got to do the work (duh!)
3) You’ve got to make sure you get paid for the work (the least pleasant aspect of being a freelancer is having to hustle for money that is rightfully yours)
Re point one:
My advice is to start drumming up business long before you pull the pin on your FT job so you have some income coming in when you start up.
Re point three:
Get those invoices out at the end of every month latest and do not be embarrassed to chase up what you are owed.
Not sure if you will be working direct for parents or for businesses/official bodies, but if working
for organizations be prepared to wait at least three months to pay you (and the bigger the client, the longer the payment process).
As @TrypF says above, a good accountant/bookkeeper is a must and keep every receipt. I used to open an envelope at the start of each month and bung all the paperwork including the master list of invoices sent for the previous month in there
What JG says, especially points 1 & 3.
I was made redundant twice in my early- and late-30s. I went SE for 6 and then 9 months, mainly doing my old job but working for/through a design agency. By and large enough work came to me, which avoided point 1. I enjoyed the work, but hated the admin point 3.
The hardest part was turning down work at inconvenient times – if the phone rang at 5pm on a Friday, I knew I was in trouble: “We need this doing by 9am Monday”.
I was pleased to go back FT at the age of 40 but, now at age 53 with 3 years of WFH, it might be a different story today.
@fentonsteve
The bit about doing work at inconvenient times is a good one. The problem I had is that freelance writers who turn down one job, potentially turn down every job from that client after.
I ended up working pretty much 10 hours a day for seven days a week for the best part of three years.
The one thing I tried to do was avoid answering queries over the phone or going into client offices. Not great for my people skills
Yep. The second time, we had two under-5s in the house, at nursery 3 days a week, and Mrs F only worked PT. Monday-Thursday, when everyone was out of the house: no work, and I was bored. Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays: “Daddy needs to work now, darling”. All a bit different now the Offsprings are 19 & 17!
It kept me off the Rock ‘n’ Roll, though.
Here’s the concluding part of a piece I wrote for Campaign Asia a few years back, Not sure how much use it will be to Nick but some of it will apply across he board
TEN FREELANCING DO’S AND DON’T’S
Always get the budget in writing! While your chances of getting an LPO are somewhere between slim and none (and wasn’t that Slim you just saw catching a taxi to the airport?), a confirmation email from the agency’s mail box is a must.
Keep everything until you get paid! You’d be amazed how often AEs mislay emails so hang on to those back up messages – you never know when you might need ‘em!
Avoid conference calls and instructions made over the phone! In addition to eating up your day and stopping you from working, they mean lazy AEs can say stuff they’d wouldn’t commit to on paper in a million years. (“Are you sure I really said that? Can you show me where?”, etc)
Actually, avoid the phone in general! If you keep answering calls, it won’t be very long before you’ll have half the agency or client’s office ringing you up with inane grammatical queries. But then again, perhaps you’d like to spend your life dealing with idiotic questions as to why their barely-literate clients should be expected to adhere to language guidelines that have stood for hundreds of years.
Never, ever proofread finished artworks! They always arrive late at night and have to be done and redone when the agency/client can’t make up its mind.
MORE…
Never, ever assume a job is finished until you’re paid! “Hey, Reece, remember that job the client changed around 20 times six months ago and hasn’t paid you for, well guess what…”
Always keep up-to-date records and chase up late payers aggressively! Be sure and get those invoices out at the end of each month and itemize everything on a list! If you don’t, you will encounter people who will do everything possible to string payments out for months or avoid paying you at all.
Never, ever be afraid to tell clients who don’t pay to get stuffed! You will be amazed by how many people who stretch out the payment process to breaking point think the threat of no more work packs any kind of dread.
Never, ever be afraid to threaten legal action! There is nothing an agency likes less than to be seen to have its name dragged through the mud publicly.
And whatever else you do don’t forget that… The cheque is rarely if ever in the post and there is no way on earth the agency is going to show even the tiniest smidgen of thanks or respect for you the next morning.
I did a website update for a client who never paid. But they did give me their login details to the website hosting, so it was fairly easy for me to take their site down. I still didn’t get paid, but neither did they get any income.
Thought you IT johnnies normally left a “back door” open so you could access platforms as a last resort for dealing with technological glitches* (or by extension defaulting clients).
* The serious ones where turning the system off and back again didn’t have the desired effect
This was a music-related site, back in the day when I had to write HTML code.
A handy guide when doing IT for people in the music biz:
Musicians: a pleasure to work with.
Managers (who pay the bills): utter c***s.
Wow, terrific comments and advice from everyone as ever. Many, many thanks all.
I went out on my own about 10 years ago and after a mildly successful 6 months I took a full time contracting job for 3 months which eventually turned into a very enjoyable full time role – which wouldn’t have come my way if I hadn’t made that change.
The part where I was fully on my own had its ups and downs. I had hoped that I’d be beating clients off with a shitty stick but it turns out an established brand – even if they bad at what they do – is a very powerful thing. Also I should have been better at assessing my contacts – some simply didn’t have the authority to hire me, despite telling me that they definitely would.
Great to be fully in control of what was happening but the “getting paid” side of things was a bit tedious, I must admit – and also very stressful. I also agreed to a job which involved assessing about 50 people’s work. I visualised straightforwardness (the job itself wasn’t hard) and a relatively lucrative margin in each job – but it was clear the individuals hated their workplace and each and every interaction involved a long conversation about how great they are considering their working conditions, lack of training and so on.
When the contracting job started there was a serene feeling of relief, knowing that regular income was coming in. I kept doing my own stuff but it petered out after a few years. I am glad I did it because it made me better at my full time job which involves managing both employees and contractors.
I’d suggest deciding how much money you need and work back from there. When I went freelance I was single and living in a rented flat share. I only needed to do 8 days a month, every month, to be no worse off than the job I left. The work had a seasonal element so 11 days or so in the busy months was fine as long as I didn’t spend the extra, leaving nothing for the quiet months. Your work may not be charged by the day so the sums may be more about average charge per case or whatever. Stating the obvious, put your tax money away, in a separate account if necessary. I’ve always worked on 20% of turnover and generally had money left over. Our accountant costs around £1500 per year but we are a limited company and VAT registered which adds to the costs, even though our books are quite simple.
BC makes a good point about whether people you know will be in a position to give you work. Do you have to be a preferred supplier and if so, what do you have to do to be on the list? You should also consider if you need professional insurance such as public liability or professional indemnity.
Lots to think about, good luck.
Forgot to add, don’t forget your National Insurance stamp to keep your state pension contributions up to date.
I had a couple of spells freelance – one year and two and a half years – between a couple of jobs that had gone sour. Enjoyed the variety of the work, but got fed up with the instability. I had a couple of good regular clients for a while, but both tailed off when the people who commissioned me moved on. I had a regular slot for a while in a high profile national publication until it slashed its freelance budget. Then I had to deal with a handful of idiots who kept changing their minds about what they wanted, and others who seemed to think I would work for free.
Luckily, I began working with a small firm in which I knew the people (a former competitor), got increasingly involved and finally went there full time. Feel more contented not having to chase the work all the time.
Good luck @Nick-L I do a tiny bit of private practice on top of working as a psychotherapist for the NHS. I did previously work wholly for myself, but what I found was that I spent a lot of time looking in my diary and feeling scared that I had no work booked in two weeks down the line (or whatever).
If I could offer one piece of advice then I would suggest that have a different price structure for those who are paying you directly, as opposed to having to invoice an organisation. I generally charge 25% extra if I have to invoice an organisation (such as a private healthcare insurer). I call it the ‘mucking me about tax’ as inevitably there will be problems- I’ll have to re-invoice them or something goes missing. It also can take up to 6 months for the money to turn up, as opposed to a private client who pays me on the day.
Been working for myself for 25 years now (initially consulting, now training in procurement – see, never miss a chance to advertise).
There have been times I have had to literally curl up on the floor with anxiety. Four or five times I earned no money in a month.
On the plus side, about half the time I earned more money than my wife (a key metric), travelled quite a lot (on my terms), saw a lot of my kids growing up (mixed bag), and it was always interesting.
Most of my work comes as a sub-contractor for half a dozen organisations- which is less money, but easier – when you are in, you dont have to sell. Until they inevitably stop using you.
A lot depends on how well you can cope with uncertainty.
There is no penalty for trying it then finding a “real” job after 6 months or a year if you dont enjoy it.
One thing – work comes from odd places, not the people you thought were going to give you work (mostly).
The advice on tax is good. I naturally fail to follow it and am in my annual “oh god how do I pay HMRC on time” panic (answer, if you have to pay it you must have earned it. And HMRC wont send the bailiffs round for £1 a day late). April IS the cruellest month.
I wouldn’t/couldn’t/won’t do anything else for the rest of my working life.
Helps to have a good pension though – takes away the stress (again, I don’t).
One specific thing – yes your services are needed. But you do need to look at budgets and budgets holders. You might find you have a narrow window in which to make sales before the next academic year rolls round. Schools (including Academies) are covered by the public contract regulations, so cannot just hand out the cash to anyone. There is some guidance on the gov.uk website for schools which you can read as well.
Good luck, and come on in the water is lovely.
All of the advice on this thread has completely surpassed my expectations. Sincere thanks to you all, it has increased my food for thought significantly and although it makes the idea more appealing it also underlines the need to do a lot of preparation, a lot of research while going part time in my permanent job first and then building some private work up. Cautious? Maybe, but hopefully canny!
Cautious but canny is the way to go, N.
Also be prepared for the long haul. The first six months are generally the toughest as jobs and money tend to trickle in slowly at first
I did, in my mid 40s for 15 years. A few things I learnt:
– network is the best route to work. And use it when you don’t need it, not just when you do
– Join IPSE and take out the tax investigation cover. Not expensive and could save you a whole world of pain (speaks from experience)
– keep detailed records, digital and paper, receipts, etc
– don’t be seduced by dumb tax saving wheezes. I never did but saw people really up schitt creek as a result
– always remember you probably earn more than your boss. Make sure they think you’re worth it.
– as a Swampers session man said, WRT to getting rebooked – “play good, have gear that don’t break, don’t be an asshole”.