Going it alone!
It can be daunting, and there is so much that you need to know right from the moment that you cease to be employed and think about going it alone.
Lots of questions will immediately throw themselves up from the most simple such as - What happens with my tax rate and status? and What happens about social security payments? to How do I start to set myself up?, How do I register a company?, What about registering a domain and building a website?, Which platform to use?, How to invoice and get a bank account? and most importantly. What order should I do it all in?
Don’t worry, because there is help out there from government websites, social security, the tax office, Jersey Business - https://www.jerseybusiness.je/starting-up/ and having just gone through it all, I can also offer some words of wisdom.
The most important thing is to embrace the change. Whether it was your decision or you have been made redundant, don’t delay as there is plenty to do, and it will all take a bit of time to get things in place.
Everyone’s situation is going to be different, so it is possibly easier to book a consultation with me through the website https://www.churchconsulting.co.uk/consultations so that we can have a chat, but in brief below is a list of what I did:
Contacted Social Security and informed them that I was no longer working. This is important, and in Jersey you can go on to zero contributions for a period of time (until you are either employed again or are set up as your own company)
Update your LinkedIn and other relevant social profiles - Make sure that they are relevant, well-structured and reading well, and highlight that you are ‘available to work’
I then opted to have a break and to gather my thoughts for a couple of months over Christmas and New Year
Make some lists of ‘top 6s’: Six influencers who may be able to help - offering advice and more importantly introductions; Six companies that are in your network that may be looking to recruit either on a full-time or contract basis; Six core strengths that you offer a prospective employer
Having heeded advice from others, I then decided that the most logical step for me was to set myself up as a company. There are logical steps to go through, the first of which is to choose a name. - If you register the business (see point 6) just as your own name then you can save yourself £55 - I thought that I had done this, but by adding the word ‘consulting’ I had materially changed the name!
Complete and send in a New Business Application Form to the Jersey Financial Services Commission
Register with the JOIC - The Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner
Once your company is registered you are effectively working again, and you will be contacted by Social Security who will want you to start making contributions again. Read the emails you are sent and respond by calling them as you can get put onto a lower rate
Speak to the tax office. You only pay on what you earn, and as a sole trader (easiest to set up and you don’t have to file accounts in the same way that you would need to do as a limited company) you shouldn’t run into any problems, but it is better to speak to them and know where you stand
Website and domain name. - The first decision to make is what platform to use. I was pointed in the direction of Squarespace.com which proved to be easy enough to use. The mistake I made is that I registered my domain name first (through CInames.com) and then went to build the site and had to subsequently transfer the domain. It is better to start to build the website with Squarespace, Wordpress or whichever platform you choose and most will offer you a year’s free domain name, but don’t beat yourself up if you make a mistake as we are only talking about £20
Through Squarespace you can then secure an email address against the domain name. This is simple, but I hit a glitch in the system which took a bit of time to sort out as had declared Jersey as my billing country which would not process until I changed it to the United Kingdom
Get a logo and all artwork sorted. There are free sites, but they’ll take you a load of time and ultimately if you are anything like me you won’t end up with a good result. So my advice is to engage a professional designer and get all of the logos sized for LinkedIn, Twitter, your website, your invoice package (see later) and business cards
Get business cards printed - you won’t need loads, but it is good to have something in your pocket to hand out. I got mine through Moo, but there are other printers who’ll do a good job too
Opt for an invoice package and make sure that you brand it with your logo, email, website details etc so that there is consistency throughout - I have used invoicely.com
Bank account. It is much easier and tidier to keep everything separate. There is a minimal cost to having a business account but ultimately I think that it looks better and is a lot easier to manage this way rather than running it all through your personal account. Speak to your bank and they should guide you. I use Natwest who were brilliant and it an entirely pain-free process for me, but I’ve heard others struggle and it take a lot more time
Know what you are worth and what you should be charging, but recognise that each client will be different and you may need to be flexible
Whilst you are processing all of the above you need to keep working your network, and then after a month or six weeks work through the list again to keep updating contacts and remind them that you are available for work and to hire
Use social media to promote your business
Keep records of everything that you do to refer back to, especially all costs and income
Assuming that all goes well and that you start earning, you should probably engage an accountant for Financial planning and tax advice as and when necessary
Good luck!