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I’m becoming ever frustrated with the daily grind of office politics and have this regular feeling of ‘soul destroying’ working in Financial Services for the last 5 years. I changed jobs in November last year, thinking it may have been the environment of my previous role, I know realise it’s just the industry / working in an office that isn’t for me.
I’d like to set up on my own, focusing on media consultancy work in the food / restaurant sector (mixing passion for cooking and 10 years of Marketing experience).
Interested to hear of anyone else’s experience of doing this?
I've been self employed 15 years and I'd never do anything else. It's great. Hard getting going but if you can make it then all good.
If you have the media experience - go for it.
I'm not an office person, I went solo but found it stressful - clients not paying, having to keep a sales channel going, doing my own admin - so in the end I found a job which has loads of remote working, so I don't have to deal with the office stuff much but get a nice salary at the end of the month.
Many years ago I tried to go self employed - For me the uncertainty of payments was something I personally couldn't cope with.
Thanks for the responses guys. It’s leaving that monthly wage security which is proving the biggest mental barrier in taking that plunge.
Got savings? other half with a good job?
Where is your income stream coming from, i.e. do you have any clients and is their economy doing OK enough to pay you. Also can you start some consultancy part time, offer some discounted work to get started. As mentioned above paperwork takes your time, so may only fee earn for part of the week. I did it for 10 years, switched back to employed actually to meet more people and get more variety of work. Good luck.
I have a little in savings, though no significant other half. I think part time (after work) / taking on smaller projects is a good suggestion to get a flavour of the various ins and outs, before making that plunge. It’s good to soundboard as there’s the “just go for it, you’ll never look back” types, where as I’m sure in a lot of cases many would have wished they’d find more due diligence in establishing whether it was a sound, viable option.
I sounded out a few trusted contacts before setting up on my own. Their positive response made the decision easy in the end, but continuing to work in the same field, and for many of the same clients, made life easier.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">For </span>the<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> first year I worked hard, but at times that suited me and family life. It was great. I've just taken on my first employee which makes work hours a little more rigid, but it's great to </span>have<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> someone to help with workload and to compare notes with</span><span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">. Most of all it's fantastic to be in a position to choose the clients I work with and the projects I'm interested in.</span>
I was lucky to find a space in a shared office to work at a few days a week, I would have gone stir crazy working from home all the time.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">If you're by yourself how little do you need to earn each month? If it's a relatively small number then why not give it a go? </span>
I’m self employed myself and I do love it, even though it can be a bit ‘famine or feast’ at times.
Given the current ‘uncertainty’ surrounding the economy etc I’m not sure if I was in full time employment that I’d be choosing this year to leave and set up on my own unless I had a few decent contracts lined up or enough in the kitty to weather it out for a while.
Given the current ‘uncertainty’ surrounding the economy etc I’m not sure if I was in full time employment that I’d be choosing this year to leave and set up on my own unless I had a few decent contracts lined up or enough in the kitty to weather it out for a while.
Probably sensible advice, but I’d argue now is a good time if you have the appetite for risk. In my business we’ve been looking at HR for next year and the general feeling is to hold off any significant hires and plug any gaps with freelancers.