Re: FN-FORUM Advice on going it alone

date posted 29th September 2002 20:36

On Sun, 29 Sep 2002, Beth Sutherland wrote:

> Also how would working freelance affect the options I would have in the
> future of finding full time employment if I wanted to?

Some members of this list recount experiences of being rejected by permanent
employers after being freelancers on the basis that their loyalty and
commitment was questionable in the eyes of the employer. I hope I won't
*need* to look for another job ever again, so hopefully the question won't
arise!

> I guess the thing that puts me off the most is the accounting, business plan
> and tax side of things, as I don¹t know much about what would be required,
> but appreciate how important these things are.

Absolutely. I used to work for a small company with bad accounts so I
observed first hand how distracting having a HMC&E or Revenue investigation
is. I resolved to use professional accountants from day one. The Business
Manager Service were recommended to me, so I used
them. They run a finders fee scheme, so if you end up using them, please let
myself and them know! I'm mostly happy with them, but they've restructured a
bit recently, so things don't appear to be quite as well organised as they
have been - I'm prepared to stick with them for the time being though.

Also, get in touch with your local Business Link - they run cheap/free
courses for new entrepreneurs dealing with marketing, accounting and so on.
They may also prove to be good avenues for making contacts and building
partnerships.

> Beth

Best Regards,
Alex.
--
Alex Butcher Brainbench MVP for Internet Security: www.brainbench.com
Berkshire, UK Need reliable and secure network systems?
PGP/GnuPG ID:0x271fd950