Can I replace a good salary by becoming self employed?

[TheRedSalamander]

There?s lots of good advice on here about working from home, has anyone bitten the bullet and left a well ish paid job and been able to replace their income? I?m in the situation I?m sure thousands of other women must be in. I don?t want to continue my paid work as an employee but have to continue in order to pay the bills.

Has anyone out there actually been able to replace their income by leaving their job and doing other things that they weren?t qualified for? E.g. instead of freelancing or setting up solo doing the job they?d been previously employed to do, has taking on a portfolio of lots of other little bits like usbourne, avon body shop, virgin etc etc actually worked out for anyone?

I work in a large office but on my own (other folk around but noone else doing what I do) that involves a 2.5 hr total daily commute including school and nursery drops and I know in my heart that where I can really make a difference to people is at home, not pushing bits of paper round a desk for my employer.

Experience of others who've done this successfully would be welcome!

i kind of did this - i did the bit where you leave a well paid job and go self-employed (having retrained whilst working i should add) and started my business from home - i am now in a studio which is better for me but wasn't financially viable at first.

The way i did it, i planned to net the same after paying tax, nanny and nanny's tax, which i pretty much do, BUT to make that i have to work 5 short days (school hours) as opposed to 3 long ones.

However it has been brilliant for me to spend more time with the kids and i have really treasured just hanging out and being around them. THe catch is there is not much me-time - i missed having lunch with a friend or reading a novel on my commute.

i love what i do which helps - and it is possible to grow it if i put more time into it - or of course no reason why i couldn't go back into the workplace at some future date albeit in a different kind of job i imagine.

what do you do and what are you thinking of doing?

I am a buyer- but not of anything terribly exciting! (heavy engineering goods and services) I manage relationships, set strategies and negotiate commercial terms amongst other things. I don't think this translates terribly well into a freelancing/self employed environment though.

I don't get any me time at the moment (commute is me driving with children and I don't get lunch breaks because of the odd hours I work) and to be honest I think I am the end of my tether. Something has to change- I just don't see what, dh is also self employed and doing really well but we are very aware that although he has had continuous contracts for the last 3 years since he left his employed post things might change.

This morning nearly tipped me over the edge, I was about 30 seconds late for breakfast club at school for ds1 (5, yr 1 at school 2nd day of term) and they refused him entry- so I was really late for work as I had to go and get him and ds2 (2.1) breakfast at the closest garage :( as ds2 would also have missed bfast at nursery by the time I dropped him off after the unexpected delay.

Should now be meeting in a supplier conference, oops got to dash!

how much does it cost to set up? i cant find that on the website

I had a friend who gave everything up (was a high paid London secretary) - to just earn 'enough' to pay bills etc. She did dog walking, house sitting, de cluttering, cleaning etc etc. Very relaxed with no hassle - she took the jobs she wanted and said no to the rest.

You need to sit down and work out what your disposable income is at the mo - after travel, lunch costs etc and then divide that down into an hourly rate

I used to top up my freelancing with temping 1 or 2 days a week - if it paid £8 an hour - it was still worth it. You could top up with that - or even if desperate - Tesco, M&S etc - esp coming up to Xmas. Plus you would get staff discount!

Or work like a trojan for the next 6-8 months - salting away as much savings as you can as a buffer - and use the time to plan your 'dream' job.

I do Usborne- website here and I get a decent income. I am still very much starting out- I only started in May and I had 6 weeks off in the summer to concentrate on my wedding- but I am making a comfortable £100 a week which is slowly but surely rising :) I have only just put my children in nursery part time- I got my first promotion with them at home and without driving, so it is very doable.

Most people do do Usborne for spare cash, but there are a few of us doing it as our main income and we are doing very well. The key to earning bigger amounts is to treat it like a "proper" job- ie put the legwork in and behave professionally. As your DH is self employed you will know how you get out what you put in.

Saying that, it is a really relaxed job- no hard sell, lots of cups of tea and cute babies, being able to take your children to work. I really would recommend it.

Have a look at my website here and contact me if you have any questions at all.

HTH

We are doing dog walking httpwww.theleadrole.co.uk . We got all the information from www.followthelead.org.uk. Not exactly a huge earner, but getting there and something the whole family can do.

Your headline income will drop significantly.
BUT
your disposable income, time and stress will be enhanced greatly.
I'm an accountant.
I do not work during the whole of the summer holidays.
Or over Christmas.
Or Easter
and still earn enough to shop at Waitrose and spend too much time at the David Lloyd.
I could never go back to salary land now.

It takes time to build it up. Have a savings cushion and you won't be too stressed in the first months if not year.