To think it's impossible to come off benefits to start own business?

[HipHipHippoo]

I have been claiming income support for a couple of months after being made redundant from my job. I found another recently but now they've changed the original requirements to include one weekend day which I can't do as I'm a lone parent.

I really want to start my own business as a childrens party organiser. People always remark on my children's parties, and I've organised and hosted them for friends children too. I know it involves weekends too, but I could do it with my DC around. I just know I could make it a success.

I spoke to the advisor at the job centre about how I can survive while establishing my business, whether I can receive partial housing benefit while I'm not earning much at the beginning and so on. She pretty much told me it's not worth the effort

I have no support or savings and am really struggling to survive on benefits. I just don't understand how I can transfer to my own business and survive (without being fraudulent!) Has anyone else managed it and could possibly offer any advice? Or is the advisor right and it's just not possible?

It's not a term time, school holiday job at all. People don't hold children's parties during school hours. You can't do a job because it has one weekend day but you want to run a business that's exclusively weekends, school hols and/or evenings, the opposite of school hours.

I don't see it as being realistic at all. As others have said, far better to find a job and save to work towards being able to start your own business. You say you will take your three children with you which will look totally unprofessional and I can't imagine many people wanting three unknown children at their party or at the planning meetings.

Maybe you could earn a bit extra by doing one a week and save that money towards your eventual goal but you will need childcare for your three. Don't forget professional indemnity insurance which can be very expensive.

Like PPs I agree the party idea is not gonna happen with 3 kids in tow. My sister did it for a living and ended up selling the business because her family hardly saw her.

How about some kind of craft thing? You could make things like handmade soap, mosaics or decoupage while they're at school and take the kids with you to craft fairs or sell on Etsy. And you could start as a hobby and go self-employed after sales build up.

I’m also confused at the fact that you can’t find a regular paying job because you only want weekdays school hours term time, but you want to start a business almost exclusively operated after school and at weekends.

What I would do is hire people to run it for you. I e done this with a previous business, you are the point of contact you do all the planning, website, marketing etc and then it’s otyer entertainers that actually do the party. You take a cut so on an average Saturday you could have 10 parties going on, making £100 whilst sat in your living room. The problem you will have is that won’t be enough for HMRC to consider you employed and running a business.

@Cruelstepmother

The start up costs for handmade soap are very high (if you do it legally).

You obviously need to research, create and test different recipes. Then you need to send them for testing (which includes vetting of every ingredient and their supplier) to be legally sold in the UK. Then packaging and insurance and all the rest of it.

Most handmade soaps on etsy etc have not been tested and are not actually being sold legally. Their ingredients and the ingredient suppliers have not been vetted by anyone and could be total crap/fake and cause problems. The maker of the soap might not even know if they havnt had independent testing done.

They told me not to bother and to just stay on income support until my son was 5, said I'll be better off on benefits. It turns out I was not but I did have a rough few months as I didn't get paid for a month, housing benefit and tax credits were stopped whilst they were recalculated,council tax support stopped and income support stopped so I had literally no money to feed my son and get to work after childcare, and they didn't care at all, told me I should have put some aside out of my benefits to cover the gap!

I have a business plan and know it is certainly viable. My question is how I transfer from benefits to being self employed and survive in the meantime. I didn't come here for you all to rip my ideas to shreds too.

@HipHipHippoo

But that's exactly what you need. I'm a business owner (artist) and when I first started planning it, some things I thought were brilliant simply weren't feasible and I needed someone else to point those out. It allowed me to refine and perfect the idea.
I'm now very successful and with the business being established and cash flow constant, I've been able to introduce all those things I wanted to do at the start but didn't have realistic resources to do it.

Your idea isn't feasible as it stand because you plan to bring your kids with you. That's not going to work. If you don't have an alternative then there is no point in starting it up. It will cost you money in advertising, web and email domains etc. And you won't make that money back.

Come up with a feasible plan and then yes, you should give it a go. But the idea needs to be solid first.

Same as anyone else who works does. Save up til you can afford it, get a business loan or a grant.

Surviving in the meantime is only possible of you can save up a cushion to get you through. But universal credit or tax credits should still pay something with an estimated wage?

Him don't want to sound rude but if you can't work 1 weekend day at the moment how will you organise children's parties that will no doubt be on the weekend? It's really tough going self employed. much harder than regular employment. you will need to earn enough in the bust months to sustain you in the quiet ones. your advisor is probably dismissing self employment as your stating your not in a position to work weekends

I started my own business as a single parent coming off Income Support about 5 years ago and got loads of help from the jobcentre! Business courses and training in how to do accounts etc and a start up grant of just over £1k paid weekly for 6 months (at one rate for 3 months then a lower rate for another 3 months). I am in Wales though, maybe that makes a difference?

My original business tided me over for a year or two while I saved to buy the equipment for my current business, which is genuinely successful (ie I earn enough to pay tax, despite having to work erratic hours to fit round a child with SN).

I'm not trying to be unkind, but nothing you have written shows you've thought about this as a legitimate business idea.

The fact you think you can take your children along shows you don't see it as a professional business, as that's not professional behaviour.

www.popupbusinessschool.co.uk/

Is there one near you?

It sounds like a tough call and success will depend on many factors, some of which you can't change such as location in relation to paying clients.
Have you got a very firm grip of how much you really need to make to stay afloat? Are there any areas that if push comes to shove (no work for several weeks or your or children's illness) that things can be cut?
Bear in mind that depending on how Brexit goes money may well get very tight quite soon so may affect bookings.
Is there a local 'small business startup' group nearby you could bounce ideas from? I went to one many years ago and a young lad was convinced he was going to make kitchen units for B+Q in his garage.......... A young lady had the idea of selling very upmarket 'continental' baby clothes in a rather 'down at heel' town. Her market research suggested that although parents in the area would not buy, there were many whose grandparents would spend a significant amount to indulge their grandchildren.
Market research, gather data, work out how much you need to make and factor in 'problems'. It will be tough but it can work, although not necessarily children's parties.

My question is how I transfer from benefits to being self employed and survive in the meantime. I didn't come here for you all to rip my ideas to shreds too.

You save up so you have a cushion because your benefits will get absolutely fucked up if you go self-employed.

I started my own business as a single parent coming off Income Support about 5 years ago and got loads of help from the jobcentre!

Things have changed a lot in the past 5 years, sadly, the biggest change being every council now being a full-service UC area.

I'd not be happy to book a party entertainer/planner and for three children to be bought along.

It's also not fair on the children. They will be bored silly being dragged from venue to venue all day.

As a hobby business where you do the odd one for friends who wouldn't mind the children yes but I don't think there would be the marker for several a day at the weekend who would be open to adding three more children to the mix as second someone needs to supervise them so they either join in or you aren't giving your full attention to the job.

You'd be better off using the time to find childcare. If the children manage school then surely they can cope in childcare.

I've gone from benefits to a full-time income working from home. However, I was able to build up to my current income over a number of years and my work is done almost entirely from home. It isn't an easy path and if you have no savings then my strongest advice would be to forget it.
I (and I'm sure others) would love to tell you that your idea is excellent and you will make a bucketload of money in no time. But the reality is that you will lose clients very quickly if you take your children to parties, you probably won't make enough money to survive on and the whole idea has "disaster" written all over it.
If you are on UC (and a change like this would probably mean that you would be, even if you aren't now) then that will top up your income as a self employed person. However, that depends on you making the equivalent to NMW. If you don't then you will have problems and will probably be forced to get a job.

This is what I was entitled to and according to gov.uk it still exists

Maybe the business coaching was a Wales thing though.

Unless you're working cash in hand and not declaring it (which is likely to bite you in the long term), going to be very difficult.

Could the likes of funding circle etc be useful for startup funds?

The thing is, this type of move will probably trigger a new UC claim, Cat, and that alone is going mean at least 5 weeks with no benefits coming in and, as pointed out, you now have to make the NMW or it's not considered viable.

”I have a business plan and know it is certainly viable.”

Including weekend childcare then?

”My question is how I transfer from benefits to being self employed and survive in the meantime.”

As stated above, you get a job and either save up a financial cushion prior to launch or run the business on the side until it’s fully sustainable.

OP if you want my advice (as someone who has done this), start with something more guaranteed to bring in the money so that the party planning can be a sideline while you build it up. I started with a cleaning/home help service which made me enough money to keep me going while I did the background work for my dream business (which I won't say as it's mega outing). Then tapered off the cleaning clients as I got more work in my other business.

You do it the same as anyone not on benefits. You get a normal job and save up and do it part time around normal job until you are making enough to live on and can quit your main job.

Or you get a business loan from the bank