How To Be Your Own Boss

Being your own boss can be both thrilling and daunting. Whether you’re transitioning from being an employee or venturing into entrepreneurship for the first time, it’s essential to plan meticulously and understand what lies ahead.

Considering Being Your Own Boss? Explore how you can transition from being an employee to running your own business successfully.

Start Planning Your Journey: Learn how to plan and research effectively to turn your aspirations into a profitable reality.

Table of Contents

• Do You Want to Be Your Own Boss?
• Creating Your Action Plan to Become Your Own Boss
• Acquiring the Necessary Training
• Expanding Your Skill Set to Be Your Own Boss
• Examining Your Finances
• Seeking Additional Support
• Registering Your Business

Step One: Do You Want to Be Your Own Boss?

Striking out on your own can be tricky, especially if you’ve never been in that position before. Sure, we’ve all dreamed of being our own boss and controlling our own time.

However, transitioning from being an employee to managing your own accounts, office space, taxes etc. can be daunting.

So, what can you do? How can you take these aspirations and make them a profitable reality?

The trick is to plan and research your journey so that you know exactly what to expect before you embark.

Be Your Own Boss: Ask Yourself – Do You Want This?

The truth is, if you aren’t 100% certain that you want to run, own, and manage your own business, then your chances of succeeding will be slim. Not because you aren’t good at what you do, but because if you don’t want it enough – i.e. with all of your heart – every time you encounter an obstacle you will want to quit and give up.

And that is no way to run a business…

Before you take any further steps towards starting your own business, be completely honest with yourself. Do you really want it? And what are you willing to do to get yourself there?

Step Two: Creating Your Action Plan to Become Your Own Boss

An action plan is vital for helping you stay organised and plan your future. Your research will also be beneficial when applying for a loan.

Decide what you want to offer and sell.

Is your goal to sell a particular product you’ve made, or do you plan to offer a particular set of skills to your clients, such as photography, beauty therapy, hair styling, etc?

Once you know what you want to do, you can start compiling lists of what you need, such as supplies, workspace, transportation, funding etc.

15 Profitable Small Business Ideas for Students – Earn While Learning – Read more here

Step Three: Acquiring the Necessary Training

Even if you are already a fully trained beautician or hairdresser, running your own business will require a whole different set of skills from what you already have.

For instance, no longer will someone else supply you with a workspace, materials, regular pay, and an organised timetable.

Instead, you will suddenly be expected to manage your own time and books, pay employees every month, and calculate your taxes and employee contributions (including income tax and corporation tax) – even more so, if you can’t afford to pay for an accountant just yet.

This means that, unless you have already got experience in these areas, handling them on your own will prove quite stressful.

Luckily, you can easily offer your business the support and preparation it needs by undertaking a range of online courses.

From learning how to manage a business, to discovering what you need to organise your accounts, by choosing to learn online you can experience the flexibility of being able to learn at your own pace, whilst having the freedom to fit your studies around your current commitments, including your job.

And this is great news if you aren’t ready yet to quit your day job just yet. Instead, you can mould your studies around your job and maintain a healthy work/study/life balance.

• Acquire Necessary Training: Consider taking online courses to learn business management, accounting and more.

Step Four: Expanding Your Skill Set to Be Your Own Boss

If you want to start a business from a hobby that you love, you may want to boost your CV by registering for some dedicated courses.

For example, if you are an amateur photographer then you may want to first shadow another photographer, before applying for an apprenticeship or completing an online photography course.

How To Launch Your Own Photography Business – Read more here

This additional training and experience will instantly make you more appealing to prospective clients when they research your credentials.

Be Your Own Boss: Expand Your Current Skill Set

If you aren’t already working in your chosen field, consider volunteering or shadowing someone in the business. By observing their work, you’ll gain a clearer picture of what to expect when you work for yourself.

Training and courses, from enrolling at a local college to applying for a distance learning course, can make you look more professional than relying on your products or portfolio alone to get you noticed.

• Expand Your Skill Set – Enrol in courses to boost your CV and make yourself more appealing to clients.

Step Five: Examining Your Finances

Cash flow will be an issue for several reasons.

Not only will you need money to complete any courses you choose to do, but you will also need money for buying work materials, renting a building or office/study space, purchasing furniture and equipment (e.g. computers, telephones, technical equipment, décor, tables, chairs etc.), paying building utilities (gas and electricity), producing marketing/promotional materials/advertising (leaflets, portfolios, online marketing or a website) and employing staff.

You need to sit down and calculate all your start-up fees, as well as all your additional costs over the first year. By planning for every scenario and cost – expected or unexpected – you can determine how much you will need to stay profitable.

Unless you already have the funding or know someone who can offer advice, consider visiting a bank or accountant. They can show you what is available in terms of funding, interest rates etc. and provide detailed advice on the exact amount you’ll need to get started.

Step Six: Seeking Additional Support

While doing your research and creating your plan is a great way to begin, you should never dismiss the opportunity to get additional advice from reputable sources.

For example, if you visit gov.uk, you will find a wealth of useful links to help you get started. From guiding you to local support networks to showing you how to research and develop a business plan, and outlining how to secure funding and ‘stay in the black’, their site can set you on the right path to achieving your goals.

Additionally, gov.uk has a free search tool that lists grants, loans, and other sources of financial support that you can access. This tool can be incredibly useful if your local bank is unwilling to help. Instead of feeling that you have no other options, use this site to scope out alternative routes and attain the funding you need.

The HMRC also offers many free e-learning courses to help you understand the formalities of running a business. This can provide you with a strong foundation of knowledge, bringing you one step closer to making your dreams a real and credible reality.

Step Seven: Registering Your Business

Once your business is up and running, you need to register yourself as self-employed with the HMRC. Through their self-assessment services and forms, you can begin to manage your taxes and national insurance contributions.

The most important thing to remember is that once you earn beyond your annual personal allowance, you will need to pay at least 20% tax on your earnings, as well as make yearly national insurance contributions.

It’s essential to set aside some of your profits every time you make a sale or complete a job so that you can use this money to pay these taxes. Additionally, if you intend to employ others, make sure you have enough money to pay them on time.

TIP: It is recommended that you put aside a minimum of 20% every time you make a sale.

Conclusion

No matter your long-term aspirations, it is possible to achieve your dreams. It is just a matter of being prepared and making sure you plan ahead.

So if you are interested in starting your own business, then why not consider enrolling in an online course? From showing you how to manage a business and do your books, to broadening your current skill set; this additional knowledge could make the difference between you dreaming big and making it happen.

For more information on online courses, visit our website.