How to Become Self-Employed—and a Business Idea for Londoners

Do you have a dream to become self-employed? Do you want to be your own boss? Do you think you’d be great at being a business owner? If so, read on. There are lots of things to consider, and we give you some tips here. And if you live in London, do we ever have an idea for you!

What’s Great About Being Self-Employed

There are a lot of reasons to become self-employed:

You don’t have to work for somebody else.
You become your own boss.
You have more flexibility with your time.
You can fit your work around your other responsibilities and commitments.
You can work on different projects simultaneously.
You might even earn more money, as day rates for freelancers and self-employed consultants tend to be higher than the average salaries in the same fields.

What’s Not so Great about Becoming Self-Employed

There are some other advantages of working for yourself, but there are some disadvantages too, including:

You’ll have no guaranteed income.
You’re the only one responsible for the success or failure of your business.
If you’re unable to work for some reason, including illness, you won’t get paid.

Think It Over

So you need to consider several things if you are thinking of becoming self-employed.

Have a plan for attracting customers or clients. Learn all you can about what it takes to manage a business, including how you’ll handle the finances, what legal documents you’ll need to file, and how you’ll establish your business relations with the various people and institutions you’ll need to interact with.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Mostly, you’ll learn as you go, and that’s okay.

Become Self-Employed and Live the Life of Your Dreams

Despite the drawbacks, many people still decide to work for themselves in London, in Sydney, in New York, and in Singapore.

To give an example, if you want to become self-employed in London, you must register for income tax and National Insurance contributions with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), within 3 months of beginning work on your business.

Getting Down to Business

One of the very first things you’ll need to decide before becoming self-employed is how you’re going to structure your business.

There are 3 main alternatives:

Become a sole trader. Becoming a sole trader is the simplest way to work for yourself. If this is your choice, you won’t need to pay any registration fees.
Establish a partnership. This is the flexible way for 2 or more people to run a business together. Partners are equally responsible for paying off the whole debt owed by the partnership. Presumably, they also share equally in the business’s profits.
Have a limited company. This means your business is separated from your personal affairs. It is noteworthy that a limited company needs to have at least one director and sometimes a secretary of the company.

A Great Business Idea

Once you’ve decided about the structure of your business, you’ll need to find a niche.

One popular business in London and, as a matter of fact, in the whole UK is locksmithing. Nowadays, more than 2,000 professionally qualified locksmith technicians are working in the UK.

Since this sector is highly competitive, you’ll need to do careful market research to find out if there is a need for locksmithing in your selected area. You can also check companies that offer locksmith services in London to have an idea what kind of solutions they offer to their customers.

Before entering the industry, you’ll need to choose where you will work, whether that will be in one particular area or within a certain radius. You’ll need to collect as much information as possible about that area, including its crime rate. Then you should think about your potential customers and about your competitors.

Furthermore, you need to think about the particular locksmith services you want to provide. Choose a specific direction, such as focusing on automotive, residential or commercial security issues.

Get Some Training

After you have chosen the particular direction and the working area, it’s time to get some knowledge and practice in this sphere. There are several locksmithing courses in London, including specific and general ones.

Your salary as a locksmith can vary from £13,000 to £30,000, depending on your knowledge, experience and qualifications.

With a positive attitude and dedication, you could become self-employed, the master of your own destiny and the owner of your own locksmithing service in London.