An experience to share with you....

[armybloke]

So is there a difference between being self-employed and starting your own business?

 

I'm currently in a temporary arboriculturalist post in Edinburgh - enjoying it, but well aware that the end of contract creeps closer each day. What are the options when it ends if work is too hard to find?

 

Sorry about the delay in replying. Being self employed and starting your own business is one and the same I guess.

 

You could become a consultant, landscape architect, garden designer; there is host of jobs you could do. You must have a niche - botany, identifcation of pest and disease, tree health in general, etc etc. Work on your strngths and keep looking at where you can better yourself. You need a bit of luck too in this game as well but if you are working in the sector already you have an opportunity to network yourself to another job! Good luck

[HCR]

Good post. I'm going through the same process at the moment and there's some useful stuff in the thread, so thanks to the OP and others.

 

I haven't got a website yet, but have a friend who is a bit of a whiz and also happens to run an architectural/planning consultancy, which is nice.

[Rich2484]

Isn't self employed a bit like sole trader, yet a business is more company?

[armybloke]

Isn't self employed a bit like sole trader, yet a business is more company?

 

It is a difficult arguement to answer to be fair. As a business you must register with HMRC and if you wnat to be VAT registered register with Company's House too. I am a sole trader, but I have a trade name so people can identify my product. I guess I could just sell myself as armybloke and leave it at that?

[Rich2484]

It is a difficult arguement to answer to be fair. As a business you must register with HMRC and if you wnat to be VAT registered register with Company's House too. I am a sole trader, but I have a trade name so people can identify my product. I guess I could just sell myself as armybloke and leave it at that?

 

Do that and people will ask you if you want to drive trucks in afghan.

[armybloke]

I have been PM'd by a couple of people and although this is not just aimed at Arb but Ecology too I will post a top ten tips (some may recognise - sorry for repeating myself).

 

Here are my top ten tips!;

 

1. Get as many Natural England licences as you can – legitimately obviously – for the type of ecological work you want to do (bats, GCN, Barn Owl, damselfly, etc etc).

 

2. Find your niche – something you are really clever at and find easy.

 

3. Offer your services for free to Wildlife Trust, local bat groups, schools etc to get good references and to practice. You will need evidence for your licences and some even want a CPD! You may eventually get paid or even offered a job!

 

4. Register with HMRC to attend as many of their free courses as possible – tax, assessments, setting up a business there are loads for free. Business Link is a BRILLIANT website so use it. they run courses for free too and that is where you learn about the HMRC courses.

 

5. Company’s House run a free course too – invaluable!

 

6. All these courses expenses can be set against your business expenses – BONUS!

 

7. Find out what your competition is like and how many of them there are! If it’s loaded with arb consultants become an ecological one with arb as your second fiddle.

 

8. Freeola will allow you to buy your own domain for about £5. Think of a name put it out on Facebook, email and text ALL the people you have ever known for ideas comments etc before you chose a name. Choose wisely and check with Company’s House in case someone else has it – the rules are simple so read up first ok.

 

9. Get a simple website made with hidden key words to make you more ‘searchable’.

 

10. Business cards and fliers need professional help. I paid a printers and graphic designer £49 and he came up with simple but eye catching ideas.

 

So far it has worked for me.

 

Good luck,

[skyhuck]

It is a difficult arguement to answer to be fair. As a business you must register with HMRC and if you wnat to be VAT registered register with Company's House too. I am a sole trader, but I have a trade name so people can identify my product. I guess I could just sell myself as armybloke and leave it at that?

 

No, you need to contact Company's House if you wish to be Ltd.

 

You contact the hmrc if you wish to be VAT registered.

 

You do not need to be Ltd to be VAT registered or VAT register to be Ltd.

Edited April 27, 2012 by skyhuck

[armybloke]

Cheers for clearing that up. I didn't need to do either only to register my business with the tax man hence my confusion. Business link website is brilliant for clearing up questions like that.

[Marko]

 

9. Get a simple website made with hidden key words to make you more ‘searchable’.

 

 

Be careful. Google is not daft and specifically treats hidden stuff as suspicious. If it decides your site is seen as deliberately engineering search engine placement then the site will be blackballed. There is an appeal process but this is tortuous. Trust me.

 

The very best advice is to just build an good, honest site for the benefit of your customers rather than search engines. Ensure that you do fill in all the appropriate meta tags, alt tags and title tags but assume anything 'artificial' will be spotted and the consequences can be disastrous.

 

For more info Hidden text and links - Webmaster Tools Help

[Paul Jenks]

Self-employed/sole trader can be applied to someone who, in this example, runs a business that employes people or just themselves as a climber. You register with HMRC 'trading as' Joseph Bloggs or Bombay Tree Surgeons.

When the person or business is expected to reach or exceed the vat threshold they must inform HMRC and register to become vat registered.

A limited company has to be set up with Companies House. You can do it yourself or a lawyer/accountant usually has packages set up to make the process simple and relatively cheap. The same vat criteria apply.

The name, 'Bombay Tree Surgeons Ltd' has to be approved by Companies House to ensure it complies with their criteria and that it doesn't conflict with an existing company with a similar name, i.e. 'Bombay Tree Surgery Ltd'.

A company has to have articles of association, a registered address and at least one director and a company secretary, (a different person not necessarily employed by the company). They also have to be cleared by Companies House. As a director a person has statutory and fiduciary responsibilities to the company, its staff and creditors. A director is directly employed by the company and is salaried in the same way as any other employee, and with the option of taking dividends from the profits of the company, assuming that the director is a share holder. (Not always the case). The company also has to hold directors meetings and shareholders meetings that are recorded and minuted even if there is only one director and he/she is the only shareholder.

Accounts have to be submitted to Companies House every year as well as to HMRC and these accounts, abridged, are available to view by anyone who wishes for about £2.

 

There is a lot more so that's it in a nut shell.