{"id":339,"date":"2015-05-19T09:59:35","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T08:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/?p=339"},"modified":"2025-10-22T15:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:58:11","slug":"do-you-want-to-be-your-own-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/2015\/05\/19\/do-you-want-to-be-your-own-boss\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you want to be your own boss?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are lots of different routes to self employment, we wanted to summarise key pathways and signpost any Bath students considering\u00a0self-employment to useful resources.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"irc_mi\" src=\"https:\/\/s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com\/236x\/f4\/7c\/82\/f47c82b34feec8fe6a1d2c5971a6219d.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"236\" height=\"221\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Freelancing:<\/strong>\u00a0there are a number of roles where freelancing is common. These include many creative jobs such\u00a0as journalism, web design, photography and also\u00a0areas such as translation, proof-reading, computer\u00a0programming and consulting. Usually freelancing<br \/>\ninvolves working on a specific project for a client.\u00a0Some freelancers work for an agency which will\u00a0match them to clients and there are also sites\u00a0such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freelancer.co.uk\">Freelancer<\/a> where candidates can advertise their skills.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Franchising:<\/strong>\u00a0this is where you buy into an established business.\u00a0The company provide the raw materials, training,\u00a0support and a recognised brand name. Beyond\u00a0this you are largely autonomous and responsible\u00a0for generating your own profits at a local level.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.franchisedirect.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">Franchise Direct<\/a> gives you an insight to\u00a0the range of opportunities on offer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Business owner:<\/strong>\u00a0here\u00a0you set up\u00a0and run your own company, either as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/business-legal-structures\/sole-trader\" target=\"_blank\">sole trader<\/a>\u00a0or in partnership with others. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/business-legal-structures\/sole-trader\" target=\"_blank\">www.gov.uk<\/a> has useful information on the\u00a0processes and advantages of different kinds of\u00a0business arrangements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you are considering self-employment, here are out top 5 considerations:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Get the legalities right<\/strong> - the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/working-for-yourself\/what-you-need-to-do\" target=\"_blank\">HMRC<\/a> website has lots of useful information on how to register your business as a sole trader and the tax requirements. If you want to set up a limited company you will need to register with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/company-registration-filing\/starting-company\" target=\"_blank\">Companies House<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Expert advice<\/strong> - the process of starting your business can be a bit of a mind-field, to make the process easy to navigate consider getting expert advice. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.princes-trust.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Prince's Trust<\/a> are a useful starting point as are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startupdonut.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">Start Up Donut<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Funding:<\/strong> according to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fsb.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">Federation of Small Businesses<\/a>, over 90% of businesses are started on less than 10k. Some common ways of funding are \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.crowdfunder.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">Crowd Funding<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/hubbub.net\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hubbub<\/a>, matching services like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fundingstore.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Funding Store<\/a> and banks and building societies.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Research and test the market:<\/strong> its important to make sure your business idea is actually viable, and refine it if necessary.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/startups.co.uk\/is-my-business-idea-viable\/\" target=\"_blank\">Start Ups UK <\/a>\u00a0provide some excellent tips on researching the market.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Create a business plan:<\/strong>\u00a0a\u00a0 business plan will not only provide your start-up with a clear direction and contingencies in the case of unexpected events, but it can also be vital in securing investment. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.princes-trust.org.uk\/need_help\/enterprise_programme\/explore_where_to_start\/business_plans\/business_plan_templates.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">The Prince's Trust website<\/a> has some excellent advice and you can download templates.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are lots of different routes to self employment, we wanted to summarise key pathways and signpost any Bath students considering\u00a0self-employment to useful resources. Freelancing:\u00a0there are a number of roles where freelancing is common. These include many creative jobs such\u00a0as...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[748],"tags":[138,137,140,139],"class_list":["post-339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","tag-franchise","tag-freelance","tag-own-boss","tag-syob"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/384"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}