RE: FN-FORUM Advice on going it alone

date posted 29th September 2002 21:11

Alex,

I agree that the work is out there, just don't expect to make a comfortable
living if you're only prepared to work 9-5 monday to friday. As you may
notice many of the members of the forum post that they are working
sataurday, sunday, 7.00am in the morning, 3:00am at night.

I am freelance because I enjoy the lifestyle, not for the money or working
hours. Though I would say that things are getting easier. The downturn seems
to have hit its bottom out point - at least that is my experience.

My advice is to get in touch with as many local business groups as possible
and see which ones work for you. If you get too much work - it is a much
pleasanter problem than having too little.

Ian


-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL REMOVED]
[EMAIL REMOVED] Behalf Of Alex Butcher
Sent: 29 September 2002 20:33
To: [EMAIL REMOVED]
Subject: Re: FN-FORUM Advice on going it alone


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
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