The Pros and Cons of Being Self Employed
Being self-employed is popular with people of all ages in all parts of the UK. I have been self-employed for the last few years. On the whole, I love it and I’m very happy in my career choice but that doesn’t mean that there are times when I find it frustrating.
If you are thinking of becoming self-employed in the near future I’ve created a list of pros and cons that you may find useful.
The Pros
Choose your own hours
This for me is the number one reason for being self-employed. I can plan my working day around the boys being at school and Matthew at work.
Choose your profession
You can choose the industry in which you work. If you already have a career and qualifications and have been working for someone else you can branch out on your own – this is how most apprentices move on from their masters. Once they have learnt a trade they can then leave and start their own business leaving their employer to train new people. If you decide you no longer like your profession you can change it. You can expand as much as you like too. I am currently working on a new blog and hoping for it to be live in the next few months. This will focus more on our love of travel, my love of baking and reading.
Choose who you work with
Another advantage of being self-employed is that you don’t have to work with anyone you don’t want too. You can tell them thanks but no thanks. Also, if you do a job for someone and you don’t like how they conducted themselves with you, you can again walk away and never need to work with them again. If you were in an office or another work setting you would be stuck with your coworker on a regular basis.
The Cons
It can be lonely
If you are working on your own a lot of the time it can get lonely. I’m lucky that I can ring my mum or talk to my friends whilst I work at home but if your job involves working irregular hours or late at night you may find that you spend most of your time alone.
Work can be slow
One of the biggest downfalls of being self-employed is that your work can be very unpredictable. One minute you can be snowed under the next tumbleweeds are rolling on by. It’s a good idea to put aside a little each month for the quieter spells and make sure you have a little nest egg saved up before you start your self-employment in case it takes a little while for regular work to come in.
Waiting for payments
Following on from above waiting for invoices to be paid can put a strain on your bank balance. In my line of work a lot of the people I work with pay immediately but there has been times when I’ve had to wait up to 90 days to be paid as per their terms. If money is tight waiting on these days can take it’s toll as you are forever chasing / waiting on your invoice being paid.
Chasing late payments
If an invoice becomes late and there is no sign of it being settled you will need to chase to be paid. did you know that six in ten sole traders fail within the first five years of trading? I didn’t know this but it is a scary thought. You can add late payment fees to an invoice but only if you have said that you charge them. You can’t add these on until an invoice is late by 30 days but do check on the legislation to make sure you have the most up to date information. If an invoice remains unpaid you can take it further to be paid however if you don’t want to go down the small claims court route you can hire a company like Pacific Collection Group to claim your payment for you.
You should also be aware that you are responsible for paying your taxes. make sure you keep a little money from each job so that when you file your tax return you have enough money to pay the bill.
Another thing to think about is that if you are ill or you take time off work to look after a sick child, become pregnant or go on holiday you will have no sick pay, maternity pay or holiday pay – make sure you save up enough money to cover any of these situations.
If you’re thinking about going self employed soon I hope the information above is of help.
*This is a collaborative post*
