On Thursday 7th March I gave a talk at Southampton Solent University and I shared my story of how I got into web design and my advice on becoming self employed. I thought it would be a great idea to share that information with you all as hopefully some of these points maybe useful for you if you are considering going self employed. Enjoy and I hope it helps!
How I got into Web Design and when I decided to start my own business
- I have always been a bit of a nerd and love technology and when I was in college, I attended a BTEC Digital Media Course where you could create animations, voice overs, fonts etc and for our final course project we had to choose what we wanted to create and I chose a website. This was the first time I had ever built a website and it was very old school using tables and basic HTML / CSS in Dreamweaver. I found creating the website very rewarding, creative and most of all it was great fun. From that moment on, I knew exactly what I wanted to do at Uni…WEB DESIGN!
- It was whilst I was at Solent University that I realised I wanted to start my own web design company rather than work for one, all I can say is that I wanted to create and build something that was personal, to share my dreams rather than build someone else’s. I graduated from university in 2010 and then established my company in January 2011, Littlebigbox was then born!
8 things to consider before going self employed
- Spend time researching your options and before going it alone, identify your target market and your potential competitors. Take the opportunity to speak to people, like myself who are also self-employed business owners who can offer you sound advice and invaluable experiences.
- If you are not 100% ready to go self-employed, consider getting a full time or part time job in your field to gain experience and see how they run their companies. This way you will also build up savings ready for when you do go self-employed so you have money to full back on when times are hard.
- Produce an initial business plan and a defined business model including capital costs before you embark on this journey, this will give you greater confidence when making that leap of faith. Understand your objectives, goals and each year set yourself achievable targets to keep yourself interested, motivated and in control.
- Being self-employed can feel quite lonely and isolated, so make sure to get out and meet like-minded people who share similar aims in life. Networking is a great way of doing this; I attend several networking events that allows me to get away from my computer for a few hours and talk to business owners whilst having tea and often, cake!…What more could you ask for.
- When you initially become self-employed you will be required to wear many hats whilst running your business, you will be marketing, sales, support, admin, IT you name it, you will be it! As your business organically grows, you may find you can afford to hire additional resources to help you with your various responsibilities such as marketing, admin and freelance opportunities etc.
- The initial years of business are known to be the toughest, so don’t be disheartened if those initial years aren’t what you expected, it’s all a learning process, and remember, you are in control of your destiny and like many of us, you are not alone.
- When becoming self-employed you must register your company with HMRC within three months of trading. HMRC give you 3 months to determine if your business is viable before you commit and register for self-assessment and taxation. However, I would strongly recommend a bookkeeper or accountant to look after this for you especially in your early days. It’s one less hat to wear.
- I found Bank Loans aren’t always necessary, thinking you need that office; the best laptop or even employees at the beginning is not always required. All you need is your laptop, a coffee shop with good Wi-Fi and of course, coffee! I initially obtained a bank start-up loan as at the time, funding options were limited but loans were quite easy to obtain, today of course it is all very different as banks are reluctant to lend. That said, it is not all bad, today, there are many government-funding options available for start-ups that help, advise and support the growth of your business.
There is so much I could share with you about running your own business but this is just some of the key areas you need to consider and believe in, especially yourself. Being self-employed is not easy and often requires many late nights, working on weekends and being broke some of the time… it’s all part of the job but it’s never all bad.
My business is now in its eighth year and it’s been such a learning curve with many ups and downs, however I wouldn’t change any of it for the world, because at the end of the day I remain strong and proud of all of my achievements and you should too. As with you all, this will be your choice, your destiny and your dream.
