All About Self Employment

Today we’re talking to James Kerslake about facing the fear of leaving a stable job in order to become fulltime self-employed.  James had a successful career in IT and was offered the job of a lifetime which incredibly he turned down in order to focus on launching his business.  We discuss the reasons for that decision, facing your fears and taking the plunge anyway.

Some insights from our chat include:

People are afraid of failure, so if you’re considering whether or not to go for it, listen in and learn from James’s experience.

James is founder of luxury cocktail company, Tom Savano, the world’s first travel-inspired, super premium bottled cocktail brand.  “Every time you drink a cocktail, you want to feel like you are  Since launch, Tom Savano has received over a dozen top-flight industry awards, including the Best New Product of 2021, awarded by the Spirits Business, and launched across multiple channels, from John Lewis through to luxury hotels, high-end restaurants and boutiques.

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The great thing about being self-employed is being able to work with your choice of clients, but how can you compete with the bigger players in your industry?  As a one-person business it can be a struggle, especially if you’re up against firms that are well known and been around for years.  But it doesn’t have to be like that according to our chat with Matt Wright, and here’s why:

Most of all you’ve got to have the right outlook.  You can have the best business with all the processes and efficiencies in the world but you’re not going to compete with bigger players unless you have enough ambition to try it!  Listen in to this episode to understand the essentials that you need to have in place in order to compete, and how to go about the business of competing.  It really is possible.

Matt has run a freelance marketing operation for over 12 years – but has also climbed the ranks in employment, going from an Executive to a Head of Department.  In this time Matt has seen both the struggle of his small business, and small business clients to make it big, alongside the typical directions that his larger corporate clients have ignored due to structure and compliance.

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Freelancing should never actually be free!  But sometimes it can be really difficult to ensure you actually get paid on time by your clients, which can then have a significant impact on your business and personal finances.  So we’re talking to Helen Arney who specialises in helping self-employed people and businesses get paid, and she shares with us key advice on how to ensure your invoice always gets paid.

Just a few key insights include:

It turns out that there is a lot within your control that you can do in advance, before you’re even in a position of chasing payment!  We cover so much more than just this snapshot, so listen in to get lots of useful practical advice that really will help you get paid.

Having worked in the Insolvency industry for over 25 years, Helen saw the “dominoes effect” that a non-payer or a customer going bust had on businesses throughout the supply chain.  She wanted to help support business owners in avoiding non-payment, so Helen created her own business, HJA Business Solutions Limited, to do just that.  Through HJA she offers virtual credit control packages, debt recovery advice and Insolvency support and guidance.

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We all know that businesses need a website, but what if you’re going it alone and not sure where on earth to start?  When it comes to creating a website, it’s easy to be overwhelmed – so we were pleased to sit down with Lisa Rees to demystify the process for us.  Lisa, aka Website Wonder Woman, specialises in helping entrepreneurs with their online presence and she totally “gets it”.  Lisa knows exactly what it’s like trying to fit in website creation alongside everything else when setting up your business, and she generously shared lots of great advice and insights, including:

Website accessibility

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In 2007 Lisa started designing websites for friends and family as a hobby, and she soon started getting referrals and people seeking her from outside her usual network.  To Lisa’s amazement a new business was organically growing, and Website Wonder Woman was born.  Lisa and her team love supporting and training inspirational business owners in everything website and tech related.

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Lots of self-employed people assume that they will need an accountant to help them to manage their finances and submissions to HMRC, but is that really the case?  No, definitely not according to Elaine Clark of CheapAccounting.co.uk and TaxBootCamp.  Now, Elaine is herself a Chartered Accountant and her business includes providing accountancy services to self-employed clients, so why is she so in favour of the DIY approach?  We had to find out more, and Elaine shares loads of brilliant tips including:

Elaine is a chartered accountant with some 40 years experience of helping self-employed people and businesses understand their financial position.  In 2007 she launched the controversially name (loved by clients, hated by the profession) CheapAccounting.co.uk and hasn’t looked back.  During lockdown Elaine developed TaxBootCamp.co.uk as she believes that accounts and tax should be core life skills, and she is on a mission to give people the skills they need to manage their own accounts.

Find out more about CheapAccounting.co.uk here:       

Get information about TaxBootCamp courses here:     

Help, I’m self-employed and can’t get a mortgage!  True?  Luckily not so much these days.  In this podcast episode we’re dispelling lots of mortgage myths with the brilliant Gareth Love, founder of Roots Finance Group, who amongst other things is an expert in contractor mortgages.  Join us to find out what is happening in the housing market currently, including:

It’s an action-packed episode full of practical help!  So if you’re self-employed and considering your mortgage options give this a quick listen before making any decisions.

Roots Finance Group is a dynamic provider of specialist business insurances, IR35 status services and mortgages to contractors, freelancers and the self-employed.  The contractor market place is complex, and too many times mortgages are associated with boring men in suits talking at you.  Gareth and his team are challenging that misperception with a fresh, young, relatable brand.  They pride themselves on listening and they aim to make the mortgage customer journey enjoyable for everyone.

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Today we chat with Hollie Williams, IWORK’s first Champion of the Month, about the secrets of successfully working for yourself.  She has a 9-year track record of impressive growth and is very well known as an expert in her field of hair extensions.

Hollie’s business started whilst she was at college and grew significantly as she established her reputation as The Weave Queen, working with the biggest names in her field including the Kardashian’s hairdresser.  Hollie is a true entrepreneur constantly adapting and diversifying her business to keep ahead of the latest trends.

Join us to hear the secrets of Hollie’s success, including:

This is one of our favourite interviews, well worth a listen for all solopreneurs and anyone thinking of setting up a business.

Known as “The Weave Queen”, Hollie is an expert in her field and has done many famous faces over the years.  Hollie specialises in Weaves (no braids) and Keratin Bonds, and she also supplies luxury wigs and toppers.  Hollie only offers extension methods that she would wear herself, and have been tried and tested for many years to ensure hair stays healthy whilst looking fabulous.  Hollie says she was put on this earth to make hair long!

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In July 2021 HMRC announced that taxi drivers must pass a tax compliance test in order to renew their taxi / private hire driver licences.  Of course the new tax compliance check will affect thousands of self-employed taxi and private hire drivers so we wanted to find out more about the likely impact.  To help us understand a bit more, today we’re chatting with Johnny Munro from Bolt, one of Europe’s fastest growing transport platforms with (amongst other things) an app that enables people to hail rides.

Join us to understand about the new tax compliance checks and what it might mean for you, including:

Scrap metal dealers are also included in the policy, but for our purposes we focussed on the many self-employed taxi and private hire drivers.  It’s well worth listen to ensure you are ahead of the game!

Johnny is public policy manager at Bolt, and he has several years experience in public and regulatory affairs.  Bolt is the leading European transportation platform that’s focused on making urban travel easier, quicker and more reliable.  Impressively, Bolt is one of the fastest-growing startups in the world with over 50m passengers in 40+ countries, from Europe to Mexico to Africa.  The company’s app enables people to hail rides, rent cars, electric scooters and e-bikes, and order food delivery from their phones.

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Today we’re chatting to the amazing Rowen Kimpton, IWORK’s July 2021 Champion of the Month!  He founded Grounded Circus in 2018 whilst doing his degree, studying at Circomedia, a renowned circus school in Bristol.  His business has gone from strength to strength and in just 3 years Grounded Circus are already known as providing the best circus performers within their industry.  Rowen joins us from a field in Yorkshire (he’s on tour currently) to chat about how he created so much success so early on, including:

Rowen still doesn’t think of himself as a businessman, but he has a 20+ year plan – sounds like a business strategy to us!  His passion and determination has clearly led to brilliant results so far, and we are convinced there is an even more successful future ahead for Grounded Circus.

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