has anyone or anyones dp/dh bitten the bullet and...

[kermi]

just gone self employed? DH is currently in work and the skills he has etc we feel he good give a go at becoming freelance. It may also help us in the long term with reducing the need for childcare and being more of a SAHD when my maternity leave ends towards the end of this year. His salary now is less than mine so if we were to spend time planning and building up his own business (there would be no overheads in the interim) would it be worth it? hope I make sense.

Go for it! you may get more tax credits to help you through the start up stages. We went self employed and it's still not supporting us financially so we are able to claim wftc and ctc. I can't really offer much advice though as we're still pretty new to it all and we don't mind having little money coming in, we prefer a more relaxed lifestyle iyswim

thats what we thought. we are already looking at ways of tightening our belts but the business would mean quiter periods at different times of year depending on the demand. it wouldn't be a regular income IYKWIM.

it looks as though we are in the same predicament in a way as you are kermi. glad to know we are not the only ones constantly thinking about work and money at the moment.

bump!

My dh went self-employed in November. However it was an established business and he had worked there for 24 years before taking over due to his boss retiring. Now he has to do all the work himself - seems there are so many regulations and expenses in having employees that at the minute he is trying to cope on his own. We expected work to die down before Xmas but it didn't but obviously it may do sometime.

I suppose it depends on what you do, my dh was self-employed up until October this year, it has been a total nightmare for us, people not paying, being short we got into a bit of a pickle to be honest. Maybe thats just us and with better planning we may have done better. The best thing he ever did was go back to being employed - he now gets holidays - paid and a regular wage, we are much happier

My dh is thining of freelance/relief chef work and I think kermi dh is thinking of freelance bookkeeper/accountant or something like that - not sure to be honest. she should be back online soon though so maybe she can clarify.

We did this 4 years ago and have never looked back. At first I kept my job so we had a regular income and we lent 4 moths salary for DH to our company so he could pay himself whilst we built up the business. We now are both self employed consultants, earn twice what we used to and have much more control of our lives. We still employ a nanny as we both work and I do about 2-3 days a week outside the house. I think though it is pretty difficult to mix up childcare and working. If we have no childcare my rule is I dont work (until they are in bed!) We work pretty hard but are in control of our lives and are much happier. If you are both committed to the idea why not give it a go? We reckoned we could always get jobs again, although having tasted the freedom I think I am now pretty much unemployable

elestamum - what do you consult in?

We are in managment development and leadership, used to be trainers

Dh went self-employed about 2.5 years ago when the opportunity came up for him to take over a business from someone else. It was scary stuff, but we decided that if he didn't give it a go we might always regret it. I did find the first year quite stressful as if he didn't get work for a few days I would worry about our income, but the way his work goes it seems to have really busy periods and quieter periods, and two years down the line we know approximately how much he's going to be earning per annum and we're keeping our heads above water.

It was definitely worth doing though, he's much happier being his own boss and knowing that all the effort he puts in is for his own benefit and profit rather than someone else's.

the financial side can be pretty scary at first. One thing we do is but money by so we always have enough to cover the quiet periods and also pay out tax / vat bills which can be a nasty surprise. We also no longer buy stuff we cant afford to pay for outright, and that includes cars computers holidays etc etc.

Both dh and I are self employeed, but we still need to use child care 2 days a week, or else the business would suffer! we had planned to jointly share the childcare but it sure didn't work out like that.....we now work longer hours and harder I think, but as other have said above, the good thing is at least your in control and can work around things as need be, you just have to remember this may need to include evenings and weekends! Also if you can stay below the VAT threshold, or earn a lot above it! or your cashflow may suffer!

My dh went self employed about a year ago (after a year of working very part time). It has been a nightmare. His business lost a lot of money, and it has taken a long time before he got another job, and then he had to take a large pay cut. I think it depends on how reliable your self employed income is, and how much you are prepared to sacrifice. In the short run I think it is always harder work. However I know other people for whom it has worked out really well (I think they did more homework beforehand than dh!)

we were at a party last night and talking to an aquaintance who set up 12 years ago selling books. He now has 4 shops and 6 market/car boot stalls. Well on his way to making a million. he was telling us his tricks of the trade but it is different to Dh and cheffing!

Frizbe - what do you mean about staying below the VAT threshold or go well above it?

I'm considering switching to freelance at the moment as it might allow me to cut my hours down to 2 days a week instead of 3 when my dd starts school. I don't think I would therefore earn above the VAT threshold but was wondering about becoming voluntarily VAT registered as it would allow me to claim back VAT from a company car etc. (it wouldn't affect my clients who would be big companies so paying VAT on top of my daily rate wouldn't make any difference). However, I know very little about all this as yet.

We did it 3 years ago and also never looked back - so much nicer infact lovely!

Not all roses though, am now sitting working at laptop. Have just heard our nanny is ill so will have to cancell client tomorrow to look after kids and earn no money. Feeling slightly guilty as pretty sure she caught it off DS2. Must get work finished tonight as will have no chance to do anything tomorrow.

thanks everyone this is my first real post on here and I'm amazed that you have taken time to reply to me.

I think he will do it - but will spend some months plannig it carefully, however, my concern is the times when there maybe no offers of jobs etc. My salary is ok but will I find it hard to adjust to the lack of regular income?

yup. dh did it 8 years ago. Is now in merger talks and hopes to sell buisness in 10 years.

It is great. he loves the indpendance.

Yes I think it would be great if regular income/bookings/jobs etc. I think dh will give it a go as I would hate him to always regret not trying at least.

I just wanted to thank you all for your advice the other night. Dh has decided to give it a go and will be starting he research this week! It is daunting but I faith that he can do it as he knows his trde and seems keen. Thaks again everyone.