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Going to try going self employed, any advise?

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J c stokes

Being made redundant around September and after having little to no luck with finding another job that is worth going for. So ive decided to try going self employed weather it be sub contracting or own private work

So just after any tips, do and dont's, any training you advise to do and pretty much anything that may help
 
think long and hard before you take this step if you have a work history
a friend of mine worked for a company for 15 years as the company was in trouble he agreed to work on a freelance basis rather than take redundency this only lasted a couple of months and the company folded.Now due to his self employment period he has no redundency and no claim to any benifits
things are very tuf out here at present so unless you have some definateleads regarding work do check out the effect it will have on future benifits
 
Oh no I'm not going to be leaving of my own accord come September I'm gonna be redundant and it'll be at this point when I try going self employed as atm I've had no joy from any other employment so may have no choice to try going self employed. I know it's tough atm hence the reason I'm being made redundant. Just after any advise for if I do go self employed?
 
No joke - it really is tough. My only advice is to start advertising now. Print up flyers and adverts for newsagent windows, Post Offices and anywhere else you can think of. The chances are that these wont produce work straight away as people tend to keep flyers in the kitchen drawer just in case they need you and others pop your number in their phones for the same reason.

If your phone doesn't ring in the next month or two you may have found your answer as to whether you should go self-employed.

Best of British,
 
i agree with paulus i have just got a request to quote for a new radiator off a leaflet i posted through their door about 18 months ago.
 
visit letting agents, estate agents, property meetings ( just google), join nla and go to their meetings to network with landlords, you tube, join facebook , get a freelancer to take care of your social media marketing
 
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Get a vegtable patch dug out and prepared now and plant winter vegetables around september, october. At least then you will have something to eat when the money runs out :wink:
 
nick11 what are you on? neither of those websites are relevant for the uk
 
bloody hell !!! I feel like killing myself after those replies ..
 
Lethal that stuff. A half bottle of that and you wouldn't be fit to work for a week anyway lol
 
Never tried it for years. Old boy i worked with back then used to bring some back with him when he went over to visit the family. To a 20 year old it was like petrol!
 
Might be different now different flavours
Brandy balls
Plum
Apple
And the rough stuff clear
 
Errrrm thread jacked much? Anyway I live in first floor appartment with no garden and i don't like ale. So any other advise with regards to going self employed as plumber/heating engineer (preferably useful) would be much appreciated
 
All your homers will become your living.
Stay away from letting agents unless you want to work for next to nothing.
Think of a way to keep away from the crowd (specialise).
Don't work for mates and relatives. They want everything for next to nothing.
Good advice about getting your name out a while before you start. You won't get customers if they don't know you are there.
Always keep appointments, use dustsheets, respect peoples property, be polite etc etc. Word of mouth recommendations are the best ones.
Save up as much as you can while you are still working. You'll need it to tide you through until you hopefully start to pick up regular work.
Don't take on jobs that are beyond your capabilities. Sub them out if you need to.
You can usually scrape a living but it is not easy.
You can grow 3lb of tatties in a window box :wink: :lol:
 
J c stokes said:
Errrrm thread jacked much? Anyway I live in first floor appartment with no garden and i don't like ale. So any other advise with regards to going self employed as plumber/heating engineer (preferably useful) would be much appreciated
Click to expand...

window boxs
Sorry Tamz you beat me to it again!!!!
Closer to the time of getting made redundant start speaking to any small builders that your company deals with and offer them yer services direct
 
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I work for eon currently so their contracts are a little to big for me to take on. Well unless I can find a job before September I'll have no choice but to go self employed. Got my pots ready for potatoes and application for b&q if all goes **** upWas thinking of getting a powerflushing machine. Anyone advise on weather its worth bothering with? And what model to go for?
 
dont bother just yet. save your money-get the job then go hire one.
 
Anyone know weather you can do work legitamally but still be able to sign on? Is there a certain amount you can earn or certain amount of hours u can work but still sign on? Cause I got payment protection on my mortgage but need to be signing on to be able to claim on it and obviously I ain't gonna be getting a hell of a lot of work to start off with
 
J c stokes said:
Anyone know weather you can do work legitamally but still be able to sign on? Is there a certain amount you can earn or certain amount of hours u can work but still sign on? Cause I got payment protection on my mortgage but need to be signing on to be able to claim on it and obviously I ain't gonna be getting a hell of a lot of work to start off with
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I doubt if you can mate although I'm not 100% sure. I lost my job last september and asked for various help from government etc as I went self employed and the one thing I found out is that you get sod all from this country if you are willing to work. If you are a lazy lay about, dole scrounging, good for nothing, country ruining twit then you can get all the help you need.
 
stevetheplumber said:
i feel that way after 30 years self employed so your well on track havent had a call for over 3 weeks
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Seriously worrying all this no work about stuff - why is it so bad at the moment and can you see picking up again?

Mart
 
James,
The job in BandQ is sounding more interesting now isnt it?? atleast you have realised its not going to be that easy, i have spoke to a few people due to be made redundant from eon and they seem to be fooling themselves believing they will get a job with relative ease and on the same amount of wages. Even thos with a good payout should worry, £20grand is nothing if you dont work for a year.

That said i would have got alot if i had stayed on.... :(
 
J C Stokes

I'm not trying to be negative but the reason there are many off-the-cuff remarks is that there are loads of people coming on here asking for the same advice, sometimes one a day for a few days.

There are loads of other threads on here giving advice so a search might help you.

Demand for plumbers at the moment is slow, mainly because of the summer, but also because there is not too much work about. Most people, when they want a plumber, will ask a friend/acquaintance for a recommendation and the more established plumbers tend to get the work because they've been working for a number of years and helped a fair amount of people in their patch. The newer plumbers on the block might be better but it doesn't matter how good you are unless you're known and have a proven track record. The local plumbing merchant is only likely to recommend those who go in most days to purchase something.

When you have plumbers here (and I'm one) who are posting during the day, surely that tells you something?

Until you have experience, plumbing is not easy. It's one thing to know how to change an inlet valve on a WC but quite another when a customer says it's not flushing the goodies away well enough. As it happens this is usually a really simple fix that doesn't require any tools. What happens, though, when a customer phones to say their heating isn't working? The problem can be one of a huge number of things that have gone wrong, from just pressing a button on a boiler to changing a zone valve or bleeding the pipework or ...

You need both knowledge and experience to succeed.

Also it's hard work.

I'm not saying you've not searched but I sometimes wonder how many people have done a search on here when asking these questions. It takes an effort to search whereas the easy option is just to ask a question and hope for some good responses.

If you spend 3-4 hours searching for those other threads you'll find a huge amount of information and also some questions answered that you'd not thought of asking. For example there are posts on how much you can expect to earn in your first year or two, who you need to register with, what sort of van might be good and how much they are, what tools are helpful, etc, etc.


Whatever you decide, best of luck!!
 
Its tough, i have been self employed for 4 months now doing gas an plumbing. Getting jobs but not enough to cover all the bills. So I'm also a on call firefighter and do the doors at the weekend to make sure i can pay the rent an feed the kids. Getting busier, meeting new contacts, builders are a god send if you do them a turn!!! But as previously said its bloomin tough out there. People will to fit a boiler for nothing.
 
@dontknowitall

If your fed up of seeing threads like these don't post, the thread will die and disappear. i've never gotten why people on a forum complain about people asking questions regardless of how many times its been asked. I'm sure if people just used the search facility only then there would be very little new threads made cause im sure if you trawled long enough u could find the answer to most things weather it be on this forum or just googling. People ask question on a forum to get direct quick answers

I know things are tough atm but if i cant find a job then finding my own work is my only option and the reason im asking for advise as ive always worked for a company and not for myself

With regards to my experience you know nothing of my experience

@AWheating

Tbf when the redundancies were first announced i thought pretty much the same take my money and then straight into another job but after 3 months of job searching and prob 60 CVs sent off i pretty much realised how its going to be.

Pretty gutted about my 2 month break with CHN to lost about £9000 due to that :(

Al wheatley landed on his feet though aint he
 
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J c stokes said:
@dontknowitall

If your fed up of seeing threads like these don't post, the thread will die and disappear. i've never gotten why people on a forum complain about people asking questions regardless of how many times its been asked. I'm sure if people just used the search facility only then there would be very little new threads made cause im sure if you trawled long enough u could find the answer to most things weather it be on this forum or just googling. People ask question on a forum to get direct quick answers

I know things are tough atm but if i cant find a job then finding my own work is my only option and the reason im asking for advise as ive always worked for a company and not for myself

With regards to my experience you know nothing of my experience

@AWheating

Tbf when the redundancies were first announced i thought pretty much the same take my money and then straight into another job but after 3 months of job searching and prob 60 CVs sent off i pretty much realised how ****e its going to be.

Pretty gutted about my 2 month break with CHN to lost about £9000 due to that :(

Al wheatley landed on his feet though aint he
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I am afraid I am with dontknowitall on this, there are loads of subjects on this matter and aving a go at well respected member who is giving freindly advice is not the way to endear yerself to other members, after you have been on this Froum for a few months you will see what he means
 
J c stokes said:
@dontknowitall

If your fed up of seeing threads like these don't post, the thread will die and disappear. i've never gotten why people on a forum complain about people asking questions regardless of how many times its been asked. I'm sure if people just used the search facility only then there would be very little new threads made cause im sure if you trawled long enough u could find the answer to most things weather it be on this forum or just googling. People ask question on a forum to get direct quick answers

I know things are tough atm but if i cant find a job then finding my own work is my only option and the reason im asking for advise as ive always worked for a company and not for myself

With regards to my experience you know nothing of my experience

@AWheating

Tbf when the redundancies were first announced i thought pretty much the same take my money and then straight into another job but after 3 months of job searching and prob 60 CVs sent off i pretty much realised how ****e its going to be.

Pretty gutted about my 2 month break with CHN to lost about £9000 due to that :(

Al wheatley landed on his feet though aint he
Click to expand...

To be fair mate I have just read his post and I don't think is bad at all - infact I would say it is the best advise you have recieved on here. So I wouldn't be so hard on him - after all you did ask for advise so good or bad you got what you asked for.

There would be no real point in people on here saying "go for it" when theres not much work and painting a pretty picture about being self employed.

All things work out in the end and I am sure what ever happens you will find yourself work in some shape or another

Best of luck

Tom
 
op you just dont get that we are honest with you ,and you just thing that there is thousands to be made out there just now ! Do not like it ,do not come back here . Simple as that you get helped and you dont like it is not DKNA who is need of help is you ,so if you want to learn and get advice , bit take a deep breath and count to ten before post here ,or you just going to be just like my last few apprentices who do not like to be told and asked to do things and then they all end up without job !

Feel better now !
 
I wasnt having a go I was giving my opinion to his reply.

I go on quite a few forums (not all plumbing related) and have thought the same on those sites. I dont see the point in bumping a thread by replying saying use the search function

I havent at any point said im going to earn a fortune or under any impression that theres tons of work but as ive already stated im being made redundant, cant find employment so there for have no choice but to go self employed.

I found dontknowitall's post a little patronising
 
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