Basically, in a nutshell I have a shit job. The company I work for is disorganised and has totally lost any sense of direction. Thus making my job much more difficult than needs be.

Deep down, for quite sometime, I've been dreaming of, planning for and working towards being my own boss (or at least thats the theory). I've one or two small clients and I'm in the process of getting several affiliate websites going. I feel though that I'm approaching a point where I'm going to have to step up a gear in order to get things rolling properly. Due to day job and family committements available time is my biggest nemosis and I think sooner or later I'm going to have to make a decision, Should I stay or should I go? For me it's going to be a big step and big decision to make.

I was wondering, of those of you who work for yourselves, What drove you to do so? How did you come to be your own boss? What obstacles and hurdles did you have to overcome? What are the pros and Cons? And was it worth it?

I have been running my own firm for 7 years now, and for the most part everything has been good. Previously I had spent 20 years as a hotel GM for both Marriott franchised and corporate properties. Why did I leave and give up really good income and job security? The main reason was that I was tired of dealing with the new attitude of hourly employees. A lot had changed over the years, and the new generation of hourly workers were crap. Guests had also changed over the years. Even though my properties ranked in the top 3% in the world for customer service, guest were always hounding me for special deals or special privileges. Day in and day out it was the same old crap. I went from loving my job to hating it. So I got out.

To make a longer story short I started off by doing revenue management consulting for portfolio of Marriott and Intercontinental Hotels. I built a website and began promoting myself on the web. It was then that I got interested in SEO. My wife was in real estate, and soon enough I had a couple of local real estate SEO and web design clients.

I changed my website from hotel consulting to real estate SEO, and from their I never looked back. Soon after I dropped my hotel portfolio.

The one thing that you need to know about starting your own business is that it usually takes 2 or more years to really start turning any profit. The first year was tough, and I had to cash in a bunch of savings to get by. But I knew I was on the right track, and I'm glad I stuck it out through the lean times.

One drawback to working for yourself is providing your own health insurance. Luckily my wife was able to pick up benefits for us.

Until the recent economic downturn income was good. My annual net income was between $125k and $175k a year - a lot more than I earned running hotels.

Running my own business also opened up many opportunities for me. I passed on all except one. Once of my clients decided to hire me instead of my company. I jumped at the offer because they pay 100% of my benefits, have a good investment program, guarantees me some income, and I still get to run my own business (although I have scaled it down because of the projects I am working on with that company).

Working for yourself has other pitfalls. You need to stay motivated, especially when you're just starting out and income is low. You need to use that spare time to promote yourself every way you can, including hitting the street and making sales calls.

But before you go it on your own, you need to develop a business plan that goes out at least 3 years. Forecast all of your revenues and expenses, and come up with all of the marketing strategies you will use to grow your business. When you finish that plan, go back and reduce your projected revenues by 40%-50%, adjust a few expenses, and then see if it's still feasible.

Avoid these common mistakes:

1. Overestimating revenues. Always think worst case scenario when starting out.

2. Underestimating expenses. Don't forget taxes, licenses, and any insurance you might need.

3. Not Knowing tax laws. Know the tax laws including tax rates, payment schedules, and available deductions.

4. Not protecting yourself. In the US, Sole Proprietorship is a common business type but leaves personal assets exposed. Decide what type of business you need to be to protect yourself (Incorporated, Limited Liability Company, Sole Proprietorship, etc).  Bite the bullet and pay the upfront costs to protect your assets.

5. Not knowing your ideal customer. Your business plan should include a lengthy dossier on your ideal customer type including income levels, gender, education, background, fears, hopes and dreams, etc. In general, the more you know about your ideal demographic the easier it is to market to them and close the sale.

6. Giving up too early. If you know you nailed your product and customer, stick it out.

Is it worth it? Yes, but understand that there will be tough times ahead. Very rarely are their short term windfalls. Even if you only have one or two customers, treat them like GOLD, go the extra mile and and the word will spread.

A very good thread indeed.

I have had periods of being an employee, then totally self employed and i am currently juggling a full time job and self employed. (i got my full time job after a period of working for the company free lance, they offered me a full time job!)

I prefer to be completely self employed, however, i now have 3 young children so the uncertainty that goes with being totally self employed is not something i am prepared to risk at this time. The bonus for me, is that the company i work for are very flexible, so i get to work from home 2-3 days a week.

With regards to the periods where i have been totally self employed the biggest factor has always been sales, if the work is coming in, then being self employed is pretty much brilliant.

Perhaps Caravan you might be able to find a little regular freelance work, it could even be part time employed, this would give you some short term financial security, and allow you additional time to develop your own business.

Good thread! For those of you who don't know, me and Caravan work together and both have the same aspirations of leaving the 9-5 and going solo, you guys can probably be blamed for that!  So I'm reading all your answers closely as well...

The way I've been trying to do it is by building up my freelance work whilst carrying on the 9-5 and it's going well, albeit slowly! So far though it's been a case of clients finding me rather than me chasing them and all of them (bar one) have come through forum participation. My first client was referred to me by an SEO friend I met on here and that client went on to pass 2 more websites to me. Another client came directly from a post on here and I've had various referrals from other on-line buddies. I also take on bits of work from friends and ex employees.

For me the only difficult part is balancing the 9-5 and freelance. After a full day at the office and the commute home it can be hard to walk through the door and head straight upstairs for another 4-6 hours at a different computer screen.

From talking to Andy, I think both of us are concerned (especially Andy as he has a little lad) with where the new business comes from. Do any of you have any tips for drumming new business?

This is a big factor imo, its something that i did'nt have 5 years ago but do now (infact 2 mortgages), i 100% could not do now what i did then without having a safety net (savings etc), i appreciate how difficult it is to get these things off the ground part time, i juggle online life with running an offline business and typically work 12 hours a day five days a week plus weekends etc.

If i were you Andy i'd looking at building a few more affiliate sites (spread the risk across a few sites), i know how easy it is to find one site wiped from the serps and its income dramatically reduced.

As for drumming up business, i think if i HAD to i could easily drum up enough work to keep me ticking over by trawling local businesses in my area who either have a very basic or no website at all, a couple of hundred quid each for a very basic website, £50 a year hosting costs (nice ongoing income each year). I personally hate sales but a couple of sales like this a week could well give you enough cash to live off whilst you develop the main areas of your business.

As an old guy who has been around the block more than a few times, I
would say that Ash pretty much states the realities of small/one man
businesses in general.

A few observations from over the years......

To make a success of something like a new business, you have to
apply yourself to that 120% or more. Ash's 12 hr days can easily stretch
to 18hrs/7 days a week ...certainly in the early stages.

Essentially, this means that building up a part-time business in addition
to full time employment is exceedingly difficult. Few people have the
ability and personal circumstances to successfully pursue this route.
However, it can be a useful way of generating some additional cash
to use as a buffer fund to support you when commencing a new
business full-time.

If you like being a cog in a company/corporate machine and enjoy
or need the regular salary/pay ..... then forget self employment.

If you get home from your job in a foul mood each evening, kick the
cat and growl at your family whilst reaching for the Scotch bottle ...
then its time to move on to a new life, job or your own business.

It is well worth considering whether your existing profession or job
is REALLY what you want to be doing for years to come. There
are many people in their 30s/40s who do a complete career/job change
for a happier more rewarding life at sometimes less money.

The internet offers all kinds of business opportunities, but does NOT
insulate the unwary from real life business issues and considerations.

Nerds are pathetic salespersons. If you are just not a salesperson type,
then just visit as an appropriately dressed human being. Leave the
Ferrari and Rolex at home ... appearances do count against you at times 

Do invest in some decent stationary, business cards and maybe some nice

brochures in folders for senior management/clients to peruse after any
meeting. Useful promotional items like beermats/coasters and mousemats
also help ... as does a vinyl window sticker for your own vehicles.

While the world is full of people/clients that would like you to do stuff
for them free or at minimal price .... you have to make a living and profits
to survive and grow. Be nice and charge them a fair price. A "retainer"
can prove beneficial to clients and yourself in terms of cashflow.

Finally, get a good small business accountant and lawyer when you get
rolling .... their fees will be well-spent in saving you all kinds of time
and hassle with clients and officialdom. Your accountant may be a better
source for any business capital needs than your Bank ... although you
will have to probably gain a partner.

Just trying to underline a few points that you rarely get from your local
Bank or Business Advice services.



 

Whats the arrangement with these sort of meetings then, how do you find out about them? I think this may be something which I should be doing. There are a lot of design/marketing/development agencies around my area and I could do with getting my foot in the door and plying them for work. Are these kind of gatherings arranged by business link?

You guys should also think about getting actively involved with
local business-based activities such as the local golf club, Rotary
club, Round Table, chamber of Commerce and other business
organisations in their out-of office activities.  Freemasons are
also a good bet for contacts.

Soccer, Rugby and Cricket clubs plus religious/ethnic communities
can also be very fruitful sources of contacts and business.

Its not so much even who you know or network with .... its
who THEY know 

I've been self employed six months now and really enjoy it. Sometimes get sick of working on my own although when working in a group in an employed job get sick of working with other people too! I love being in control of what I do (to a large degree) and the knoledge that my income is what I put in. Financial side is tough but as I get my name out there I can only see more and more jobs coming in. You have to get out there and meet people, use Twitter for your business etc but I don't mind that kind of thing too much as I it takes me out of my comfort zone and. I might be moving into a cheap co-working space at some point with other freelancers which would be great.

I also like how the flexibility opens up other doors as I can work on Bang Bang T-shirts, small sites to earn passive income, etc. As time goes my plan is for these to bring in more and more income.

Judas!!! or should I say you spawny get

Congrats Judas!

Don't you just love ex-bosses? When i handed my notice in nearly five years ago now, my last working day was Christmas Eve so naturally i was in attendance at the Christmas party a couple of weeks befoe, my boss just refused to speak with me the whole time, then once i'd left he sent my final pay and a shitty little note saying how normally he wishes people good luck but in this instance he was'nt going to!

To be fair i was starting up in the same line of business but was'nt a direct competitor to his business as such.

I think some people take it too personally. At the end of the day its only natural for people to move on in a variety of directions.

What bosses should worry about is trying to keep good staff.

A friend of mine is travelling and doing the same thing as I'll be doing (freelancing, invoicing, recieving payment into main UK bank account etc) but she doesnt pay tax on anything. What are the likely repercussions of such a situation?