Tbh I haven't read the entire thread but some good advice so far,a bit of b00l0x as well but I'll keep that to myself.
It seems to me that you've already made your mind up,your doing this no matter what as everytime someone puts a negative point up you say "thanks,but I know that already etc etc".
Ive been there done that and got the scars to show it,cost me my redundancy (£50000) and savings (£25000) however to make it clear that did include running my house,all bills/life etc but realistically at least 60% of that was pure business expense,of which I have nothing but anger to show from it.
There are some it works out for,but I was not one of them.
I made many many mistakes but the truth is to get anywhere in business you have to be ruthless,really ruthless,account for every penny,cup of tea?how much is that costing you in electricity?need the toilet?how much is that costing you in water rates/toilet paper etc?talk to someone for an hour about what they want done?that's an hour you'll need to make up later in the day/night/early hours.
Going on surprisingskodas post of 99 hrs a week on my current wages that's pushing £2000-£2500 a week depending on what days I do the hours on and frankly I'd be amazed if he's seeing anywhere near that before he takes all his deductions into account,I'd doubt he sees a 1/4 of that in his pocket on a good week.
Oh and that's my pension,sick pay and all insurances taken into account.
So is it worth it?
I'd say if you earn/potentially earn over £25000 a year don't bother,if you don't like dealing with idiots who phone you (genuinely) at 10/11pm at night and want to talk to you for two hours about their £100 job etc etc.
Positives?
Many,being your own boss is a great feeling,you do get more respect,better discounts etc,take days off as and when required and if your successful you'll make great money from it.
My advice?
Start literally as small as possible,from the back of a garage,half a barn etc,avoid the public at all costs,do your work for the company and see how well they pay,most have a 30 day policy and then send you a cheque,so another full week to wait for your money,which is a killer.
Another common one in business is "we can't pay you cos we haven't been paid".
All well and good saying "I'll keep your bits then" but who are you going to sell these bespoke parts to to recover costs?or scrap the aluminium etc to get about £20 back from a £500 job?
Really think very very carefully about it,stop saying "oh I know,I've thought of this and that already" cos believe me you haven't.
Be totally brutal about costings,down to toilet paper,lightbulbs,gloves,plasters,tea,coffee,nuts,bolts,petrol to run round in,licence to play the radio(no curse word),council tax,waste management,the list goes on and on.
Your calculations will be grossly underestimated,your bank will encourage you that you won't spend as much as you've predicted just so they can make £££ out of charging you for everything,you soon find out just how incredibly unhelpful they are,particularly if things start going south.
While were on the subject of banks this was what mine did.
I'd been with barclays for 15 years paying in annual salary of £50-60000 per year,had my mortgage with them,credit card,taken loans in the past,never defaulted and used my overdraft about once a year,basically the perfect customer.
Fastforward to business banking 18 months later when I'm wrapping things up,bear in mind I'd never even been offered a £200 overdraft on the account,in fact I once bought an item for £30.15p and the card refused it,I had £30.09p in the account.
I had insurance for the missus if she was out of work(waste of money) and unbeknown to me they had taken the following years premium in full,despite me informing them I did not want it.
The bank honoured the dd.
So this put me £257 overdrawn.
Within 10 days it was £1003 overdrawn from charges and the company took 30 days plus cheque clearing time to pay me back,so I would have owed barclays about £4000 in charges for effectively their mistake,as they should never have honoured the dd.
Luckily I was a Ltd company as mentioned above so they got jack all out of me,I kept the insurance refund and walked away.
The day I handed those keys back to the landlord(we'll be here til I retire if I start on them) ranks as one of the happiest days of my life.
Sometimes the humdrum of modern life is just what you need,I've been sat here all day in work,earning about £2-250 sitting on my
resetting the occassional breaker and diagnosing a few faults.
Oh,and double time tommorow.
You don't get that working on your own!!!
Now to use the free shower,toilet paper and go home and relax,then have monday and Tuesday off if I want,but I'll go in for time and a half,just cone back from 10 days off,10 days off again in 2 weeks time,haven't even worked in February and still earn't £45000 this year and I never even got a degree.
Just some food for thought.
