How to start as self employed/freelancer?

[Stevie77]

What a daft question to ask, I know.

In a bid to try and bring some sanity to life and enable me to work flexibly (the holy grail!) I've been planning to try the self employed/freelance route. Spoke to a couple of self employed friends, who gave me some great tips and both think it could work - but I almost need a basic checklist of things I need to do before I start, mostly logistics and admin wise. Anyone know any good, informative guides/toolkits for budding freelancers?

Also, I'm a bit unsure my network would be relevant to tap for clients as I'll be aiming to work with small businesses but have worked at large organisations (marketing and social media). This worries me because whilst I can keep going without earning for a while, it would get very disheartening very quickly...

Basic checklist

1. Register as self-employed with HMRC
2. Check whether you want to pay NI contributions
3. Buy some folders and a few A4 books to keep business records and to keep bills/receipts in (keep absolutely everything)
4. Get MS Office with the full versions of Word & Excel
5. If your earnings will be over the income tax threshold then have a chat with a local accountant and ask for their advice
6. You might want to have a separate bank account and/or business phone number
7. Decide whether or not to have a website/facebook presence

That's about it to start, off the top of my head!
HTH

Sorry...

1. should read: Check whether you will have to pay NI or will be eligible to pay voluntary NI contributions

Thanks that's really helpful!