About to qualify and will be working for myself, need some direction!

[OracleInaCoracle]

Please can you tell me where to start. I will be taking a few other courses alongside work, but have no idea where to start and what to do. my dad will be designing a website for me, I have a "work phone" and am making cards but thats abut it.

I am a holistic therapist btw.

Hi

the Business Link website has some useful information - some of it you will be able to skip over as you won't have employees but read the bits that do apply to you:

www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073858805

You will need to register as self employed and therefore fill in a tax return every year. You will also need to pay NI Contributions although you can apply for an exemption if your earnings are below a certain limit. When you contact the Inland Revenue to tell them you are self employed they should send you some useful information.

Start a basic accounting system from day 1. Make sure you note all your payments from clients but also anything you spend - advertising, promotional materials, supplies, training, reference books, travel and so on. Basic bookkeeping isn't hard but if you do it each month it saves a big panic at the end of the year

I hope this helps a bit, there is a lot of help out there for new businesses so do talk to people like Business Link. Networking groups can also be really useful, you can talk to people and tell them what you do - and also make friends who are in business too. If you search for business networking groups on Google with the name of your area you should find something to go along to.

Rachel

Who provided your course and qualification? Do they have any helpful hints and/or contacts?
Is there some professional body which you can join which will give advice?