Am I ready for self-employment?

KikiLaRue

Hi all,

Would love your thoughts.

I have about 8-9 years professional experience spanning PR, Corporate Communications and Marketing. Lately, I've mostly been focused on Content Marketing (blog posts, articles, case studies, white papers, video scripts etc)

I moved home to Ireland after five years away three years ago and have mostly been in contract roles since with very good companies (global organisations).

My current contract finishes at the end of this month, and I want to go freelance. Last year I was considering this and did a lot of the admin - registered with the CRO, set up a business bank account - but I was offered my current contract which is quite lucrative and felt I couldn't turn it down.

Now, I want to give it another go.

I'm fed up of the direction my career is going and I don't want to go into another office job. It bores me. I feel working for myself could be more interesting and more lucrative.

Pros:

• I've been blogging about my sector since 2016 and have a good following of potential clients on LinkedIn who are 'warm'
• I've already been approached by one big global firm about a project and they didn't blink when I quoted them my rate at €300/day
• I have three weeks to generate new leads/ clients while I'm still getting paid by the company I'm working for. If I can get 2-3 clients in that time I'll feel a lot more comfortable
• I have about 8 months living expenses saved (though in theory that's a mortgage deposit)
• I'm confident that I'm good at what I do

Cons:

• I've got some obvious fears around the lack of a steady income coming in
• I'm single and living in Dublin, my rent and other costs are high
• I'm not confident in my ability to handle business finance/ admin
• I'm not great with money generally in my personal life
• I fear that I lack the self-discipline to make a go of it

Your thoughts/ advice is much appreciated.

looksee

Anyone self employed will tell you that they have at times had to stand in reception and refuse to move until they get payment for a job they did 6 or 9 months ago. It wastes everyone's time and requires a brass neck. You will mostly not have a reception to go to, presumably you will be dealing with people on line - how do you get payment in those circumstances?

Its great being good at your job, but a huge amount of your time will be spent looking for the jobs - without the cushion of a regular income. And more time will be spent doing accounts / VAT / tax / quotes etc. As well as promotion - promoting yourself is just that bit different to promoting someone else.

Working for yourself you have to be self-motivated - to get up, put the day in gear and get on with it. If you are a procrastinator who is only held together by obligation to an employer you may find this difficult.

Not trying to put you off, in general, go for it, but don't gloss over the hassle it will cost you

KikiLaRue

looksee wrote: »

Anyone self employed will tell you that they have at times had to stand in reception and refuse to move until they get payment for a job they did 6 or 9 months ago. It wastes everyone's time and requires a brass neck. You will mostly not have a reception to go to, presumably you will be dealing with people on line - how do you get payment in those circumstances?

Well, I've done some freelancing up to now and generally I've found people very good. I've only had once instance where I had to kick up a fuss to get paid on time and it was here in Ireland.

I see what you mean though, and for that reason I'd rather work with Irish clients primarily to begin with so I have some legal protection.

It would also be fairly standard in my industry to request 25-30% payment upfront for a bigger project.

Gloomtastic!

What's the difference between jumping from contract to contract and going self-employed? Could you turn what you do into a business? That is, instead of a company employing you, would they work with your business with you employing and overseeing someone to do the work for you? Could you manage several of these projects and different personnel at once? You could then hire specialists in each field and bring the very best to your clients, while making money at the same time.

Food for thought.

Btw. €300 per day is not enough. If you're adding real value to your clients' businesses, triple it.

KikiLaRue

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

What's the difference between jumping from contract to contract and going self-employed? Could you turn what you do into a business? That is, instead of a company employing you, would they work with your business with you employing and overseeing someone to do the work for you? Could you manage several of these projects and different personnel at once? You could then hire specialists in each field and bring the very best to your clients, while making money at the same time.

Food for thought.

Btw. €300 per day is not enough. If you're adding real value to your clients' businesses, triple it.

Seeing as I’m in a bit of a panic at the thought of working for myself, the idea of setting up a whole company with staff etc is definitely too big a step for now.

I’m not opposed to the idea but it’s definitely for a couple of years down the line.

I don’t think I could get away with more than €300/day starting out but my plan is that when I have 4-5 clients paying that rate I’ll increase and repeat that process!

KerryGoat

It's great that your considering going it on your own. The world needs more entrepreneurs.

However I would say you should seek advice on the responsibilities you'd have either as a sole trader or a LTD company - whichever way you want to go.
You'd work your own hours working for yourself but you'd also work more, especially in the beginning, getting set up and getting your accounts in order.

I wish you all the best and hope whatever you chose works out for you.

red petal

Would going part time in your current job or applying for a new part time role be an option? That way you can have the security of a guaranteed income and a couple of days to dedicate to your own business while you get it up and running.

I'm in a kind of similar situation and as much as I would love to work for myself it's not an option just yet. You need to lay the foundations for yourself first and what better way to do it than in your spare time while still getting a full time wage.

I would get your website up and running with regularly increasing traffic to improve your chances of getting clients at the price you want, not just what you need to get by. Without the option of paid holidays/sick leave etc. while working for yourself, realistically you need to cover more than your basic needs.

I would say go for it, just get yourself as prepared as possible before you jump ship!

Bigus

Also , rework your daily rate, upwards, and factor in the real number of working days in the year , which is less than 250 days billable rather than 365.

KikiLaRue

red petal wrote: »

Would going part time in your current job or applying for a new part time role be an option? That way you can have the security of a guaranteed income and a couple of days to dedicate to your own business while you get it up and running.

I'm in a kind of similar situation and as much as I would love to work for myself it's not an option just yet. You need to lay the foundations for yourself first and what better way to do it than in your spare time while still getting a full time wage.

I would get your website up and running with regularly increasing traffic to improve your chances of getting clients at the price you want, not just what you need to get by. Without the option of paid holidays/sick leave etc. while working for yourself, realistically you need to cover more than your basic needs.

I would say go for it, just get yourself as prepared as possible before you jump ship!

Part-time isn’t an option in my current job but I think they might throw some freelance work my way.

Luckily because I’ve been blogging about the industry for a while I already have a website that has a certain amount of traffic going to it, and I’m working on increasing it.

Actually you’re welcome to check it out (though you’ll know who I am IRL then!) It’s katieharrington.ie.

KikiLaRue

Bigus wrote: »

Also , rework your daily rate, upwards, and factor in the real number of working days in the year , which is less than 250 days billable rather than 365.

Someone in a group online advised me to go with a rate that I could live off in a month where I only get 10 days of work.

€3k seemed reasonable enough for that to me (though it’s less than what I currently make)

xabi

KikiLaRue wrote: »

Someone in a group online advised me to go with a rate that I could live off in a month where I only get 10 days of work.

€3k seemed reasonable enough for that to me (though it’s less than what I currently make)

Have you factored in tax? Your 3K will be just above half that

Murt10

It would be worth your while to check out this site.

https://www.localenterprise.ie/Discover-Business-Supports/Training-Programmes/Start-Your-Own-Business-Programme/

If you are unemployed (ie give up present job or even step down to doing a 3 day week) the courses are free

KikiLaRue

xabi wrote: »

Have you factored in tax? Your 3K will be just above half that

I could be wrong but I don’t think that’s accurate. I earn significantly more than that at the moment and combined all my taxes make up about 33% of my income.

On an income of €36k/year, I really don’t think you’d be paying almost 50% in taxes.

Have I got this wrong?

To answer your question though, the bare minimum I need to pay my rent and live reasonably comfortably is about €2.2k/month - so yes I had left a cushion for taxes.

rd1izb7lvpuksx

Bigus wrote: »

Also , rework your daily rate, upwards, and factor in the real number of working days in the year , which is less than 250 days billable rather than 365.

KikiLaRue wrote: »

Someone in a group online advised me to go with a rate that I could live off in a month where I only get 10 days of work.

€3k seemed reasonable enough for that to me (though it’s less than what I currently make)

Bigus is 100% right here. Moving to consulting from contracting is a big change, and involves lots of extra costs (accounting, professional indemnity insurance, etc). Consulting also generally has a much higher ratio of business development to paid time than consulting. It's very hard to imagine €300/day being able to offset any real bizdev efforts. You could try increasing your rate by 100% with each client until someone pushes back - at least you'll know you aren't leaving money on the table.

Gerry T

Look on line and ask around and you will gauge your industry rate for contract work (he, day, week and job lot rates). But 55e per hr or 450e a day is not expensive.
Also get advice and setup a limited company, doesn't take long but offers protection.
An accountant is also advisable for VAT and TAX compliance.
Read up on GDPR.

But my advice is go for it, set a time, say 18mth and if you dont see a future after that then maybe cut you losses.

red petal

KikiLaRue wrote: »

To answer your question though, the bare minimum I need to pay my rent and live reasonably comfortably is about €2.2k/month - so yes I had left a cushion for taxes.

When I was on €36k, I came out with about 2.3/2.4k pm :-)

KikiLaRue

red petal wrote: »

When I was on €36k, I came out with about 2.3/2.4k pm :-)

That's what I would have thought.

And obviously I hope not to remain at €36k for long! Although I have to get to it yet.

I got a new client last night He's going to pay me €330 per article, so assuming I can get the article done inside a day (they're 2,000 words+) that works. I should be able to do that, although it's a fairly big ask!

So that's two clients in the bag who will each give me about 2-3 days work per month hopefully, I'm heading in the right direction.

lastusername

KikiLaRue wrote: »

Hi all,

Would love your thoughts.

I have about 8-9 years professional experience spanning PR, Corporate Communications and Marketing. Lately, I've mostly been focused on Content Marketing (blog posts, articles, case studies, white papers, video scripts etc)

I moved home to Ireland after five years away three years ago and have mostly been in contract roles since with very good companies (global organisations).

My current contract finishes at the end of this month, and I want to go freelance. Last year I was considering this and did a lot of the admin - registered with the CRO, set up a business bank account - but I was offered my current contract which is quite lucrative and felt I couldn't turn it down.

Now, I want to give it another go.

I'm fed up of the direction my career is going and I don't want to go into another office job. It bores me. I feel working for myself could be more interesting and more lucrative.

Pros:

• I've been blogging about my sector since 2016 and have a good following of potential clients on LinkedIn who are 'warm'
• I've already been approached by one big global firm about a project and they didn't blink when I quoted them my rate at €300/day
• I have three weeks to generate new leads/ clients while I'm still getting paid by the company I'm working for. If I can get 2-3 clients in that time I'll feel a lot more comfortable
• I have about 8 months living expenses saved (though in theory that's a mortgage deposit)
• I'm confident that I'm good at what I do

Cons:

• I've got some obvious fears around the lack of a steady income coming in
• I'm single and living in Dublin, my rent and other costs are high
• I'm not confident in my ability to handle business finance/ admin
• I'm not great with money generally in my personal life
• I fear that I lack the self-discipline to make a go of it

Your thoughts/ advice is much appreciated.

You can totally do it and there is an infinite market for content marketing and writing work. I'm a publisher and have spent many thousands of dollars on content over the past number of years.

Great, reliable writers will always be in demand and really it's more about how you manage the business and the value you place on your services.

I've also done a small number of writing jobs myself as I used to freelance. You should base your rate on the number of words rather than per article. As regards your new client, I assume he's not going to pay you the same €330 rate for a 5k word article or a 500 word article?

The advice on basing a rate around what you could live off in a month where you only get 10 days of work is misguided, and based on the common fear that a given rate will be too high for clients. Think the opposite - you want your high rate to deter the clients who can't afford you and attract the ones who can and who want to work with you!

€300/day is nothing, think bigger and position yourself as a high end provider from the get-go. A large company would think nothing of paying up to 1k/day+ for content services.

Have a look at the likes of Upwork where writers with top ratings can command rates of €100+/hour - nice work

Have you thought about when you might want to get a mortgage, if you are currently renting? Be aware that most banks will want to see 3 years of audited accounts before they will even look at you. I'd like to work for myself again but I'm at the stage where I want my own place and so I'll be keeping my job for now, hopefully!

KikiLaRue

lastusername wrote: »

Have you thought about when you might want to get a mortgage, if you are currently renting? Be aware that most banks will want to see 3 years of audited accounts before they will even look at you. I'd like to work for myself again but I'm at the stage where I want my own place and so I'll be keeping my job for now, hopefully!

I have. I don't plan to buy in the near future (seeing as my €16k deposit would get me absolutely nowhere in Dublin and I have no desire to live in another part of Ireland for now)

I am on Upwork and find some good clients there. Even though I do believe I'm good at what I do (and the most recent companies I've worked with are prestigious Big Four and professional services orgs) I have a really hard time finding the confidence to try and charge €100/hour!

amcalester

KikiLaRue wrote: »

I have. I don't plan to buy in the near future (seeing as my €16k deposit would get me absolutely nowhere in Dublin and I have no desire to live in another part of Ireland for now)

I am on Upwork and find some good clients there. Even though I do believe I'm good at what I do (and the most recent companies I've worked with are prestigious Big Four and professional services orgs) I have a really hard time finding the confidence to try and charge €100/hour!

If you’re not embarrassed by your asking rate you’re pitching yourself too low.

lastusername

KikiLaRue wrote: »

I have. I don't plan to buy in the near future (seeing as my €16k deposit would get me absolutely nowhere in Dublin and I have no desire to live in another part of Ireland for now)

I am on Upwork and find some good clients there. Even though I do believe I'm good at what I do (and the most recent companies I've worked with are prestigious Big Four and professional services orgs) I have a really hard time finding the confidence to try and charge €100/hour!

You don't need to find any confidence Just quote whatever you feel you are worth based on the results you expect the client will get. You don't get confident first, you get confident after quoting and seeing that people are happy to pay you as they feel you are worth it.

Big companies have big budgets and they want to work with people charging premium rates as it's a good sign for them. At most they'll look to negotiate which is totally fine too, and a chance for you to explore a new skill there too!

M.T.D

Regarding pricing.
Watch some of Chris Do's videos on value pricing. On youtube and on facebook.
He also covers point made by lastusername, the more you charge the better the client you will get.
For myself I find it very hard to change from charging for time to charging for value.