Week 10 self employment

Week 10 self employment

What is self employment?

- work for yourself rather than an employer
- could apply to you if you are doing freelance work, working to commission, working with an agent, working for a company on a casual daily basis rather than being employed by them, designer maker, sell work through trade shows and craft fairs

Types of self employment?

- sole trader-you are in charge although you can employ others
- partner ship- 2 or more people
- a co-operative- the business is collectively owned and controlled by the people who work in it
- limited company- legally separate from its shareholders or directors you need to register with the companies house
- franchise- you would make a contract with for example mcdonalds

Realities of working for yourself

- you can do what you want when you want
- flexibility in terms of working hours
- you can choose where you want to work in terms of premises and geographically
- all do the profits you make are yours after tax and national insurance
-  produce the work that you want rather than being bound to an employers brief
- you can carry on being creative after graduation and continue doing something you love

- you need to consider branding yourself and your product
- need to tell hm revenue and customs once you start trading
- may not always have regular income
- whilst you are getting on your feet you can claim working tax credit and child tax credit
- loads of help and support out there

Where to work

- from home, realistic option for some it's cheap and you can offset some of your utility bills against your tax, easy access, you have to let the council and your house insurance know you are working from home.

- can be lonely if you like people around

A studio

- can vary in price but you can offset some of your utility bills against your tax
- access may vary 10-5 e.g.
- creative environment chance to meet other people and socialise and discuss ideas
- may have open days where you can sell your work to the public

Your own shop/ gallery

- vary in price
- can offset bills again
- have to consider public liability insurance, if the public are comingi not your premises you have to have this in case for instance they have a fall
- could work and have the opportunity to sell work
- need quite a lot of funding initial investment


Task
- do some research into potential work spaces or studio where you'd life to won't may be good to compare prices or studio spaces regionally and nationally
- the mushroom works - Newcastle
- the shed Gateshead
- platform arts- Middlesbrough

Another task
- research into suppliers of your required subject specific materials


List of personal/ subject specific materials

- from home

- large range of papers
- Photoshop & illustrator
- robbocutter/laser cutting
- drawing materials
- digital printer
- the internet/laptop
- printer/ scanner
- foiling pen
- business cards, boxes, flyers
- utility bills
- sewing machine
- business bank account
- if you have children, nursery costs etc

General list
- mobile phone
- passport
- wifi
- social networks
- invoices
- buisness cards
- camera
- subscription to acid
- a website, employ someone to do that website and to the host of the website
- car, insurance, petrol tax
-publics transport

Developing contacts and networking

- you need the right people to know that you exist through Facebook trade shows etc
- employ someone to do your pr to get your brand out there
- participating in exhibitions and trade shows
- word of mouth
- coverage via press
- advertising, blogs and magazines
- social networking
- blogging
- work experience


Setting up finding help?

- produce a buisness plan, a report that states your ideas
- can be daunting lots of. Help out there
- can claim job seekers allowance whilst setting up

Free money
- new enterprise allowance direct gov.
- princes trust enterprise programme
- business link, bl-ne

- you can pay for every ing yourself
- or get a loan which you have to pay back
- banks, building society's, government funding
- family and friends

Other funding
- crafts council
- arts council England
- artists newsletter
- axis
- department of trade and industry
-

Task
- how suitabledo you think you are for self employment
- make a list of considerationsif you were to be self employed