Starting a part-time business

Not ready to take the leap, consider a business on the side while keeping your main employment.

A concept image of starting a business

Having a full-time job is, for many people, the path to job security and financial security. While employment is a more comfortable choice when compared to setting up, owning and running one’s own business, the pace of technology growth and a less than stable economy in recent times have threatened this supposed ‘safe-haven’.

Many working adults have come to realise that relying on full-time employment as their only source of income is potentially risky, as jobs can be outsourced or replaced, plus changes in business fortunes can leave them facing the stark reality of unemployment. Accordingly, more and more working people are considering starting a business on the side and seeking additional income streams. If you’re facing a similar situation, this post may make a great read.

Benefits of starting a business on the side

Starting your own business on the side while working full-time can seem quite a hill to climb, but the benefits often far outlay the early pains soon. For instance, after getting a business going and experiencing your first success, a side-line business could soon:

Provide a second income that supports the payment of your rent or mortgage, or ideally, help to pay down the mortgage more quickly than your main job could do on its own.
Lessens the impact of losing your job. In many cases, people who have started their own businesses on the side often quit their jobs to focus on the business full time later. This comes once they are confident that the business has overcome any initial teething problems and can continue to support their dreams.
The second income, or additional disposable income, could also help to afford a few extra luxuries in life.
Running your own business often brings you into contact with people in a similar situation. These interactions will broaden your circle of acquaintances, leading perhaps to greater opportunities.

While there are many benefits, it pays to be clear about what you want to achieve before setting up a part-time business though. Do you want it to be just a part-time or seasonal thing, or do you see it as a potential replacement for your main job? Setting realistic expectations is critical, and can help you to be better prepared too.

Things to prepare before starting your part-time business

While there are few businesses that just followed an idea and been successful right out of the gate, in reality most entrepreneurs spend a fair amount of time on planning and preparation. The main reason is that even the best and most innovative ideas may not turn into great business concepts, unless there is a nurturing environment to help them flourish.

Write a business plan

The first advice most seasoned business people give to budding entrepreneurs is to write a business plan. While there are no rules on what you should include in your business plan, standard items like stating your goals, highlighting market research, operation plan and financial strategy will help you see your business more thoroughly.

Conduct research

At the very least, you should know:

The needs and preferences of your target market
How are you going to find your customers?
Your competitors
Their price points versus your pricing strategy
Do they have any gaps in their product or service you can exploit?
What makes you different from them?

Know your responsibilities

If this is your first attempt at starting a business, you may not be familiar with all the responsibilities and duties of running a business. For example, if you are selling toys, your products need to comply with the provisions of the Toys Regulations 2011, meaning they must bear the CE mark, satisfy the ‘essential safety requirements’ in the regulations, be properly marked to ensure traceability, and be accompanied by instructions for use, along with warnings where necessary.

Crunch some numbers

The first number-crunching exercise you do should be about cost, revenue and profitability – because everyone wants to run a profitable business. Be sensible in how you plan your costs – especially marketing costs, as they are essential to get your products or services to the right people. Equally, be realistic about how much you can make over a period of time. Create a pricing strategy and calculate your break-even point. Find out about the risks you are exposed to and ways to mitigate them.

The second part of finance relates to funding. In essence, your plan to get the funds needed to launch and support the business until it turns a profit. There are a few types of funding – self-funding, funding through debt (borrowing money to start your business), equity (trading away ownership of your company to receive funding), and mezzanine (a combination of debt and equity). Most part-time businesses are either self-funded or through borrowing from friends and family members. Both approaches are helpful, albeit risky, so it is wise to have a back-up plan and know when to source for additional funding later. If you’d like to know more, follow the link to the article The complete guide to business funding.

Choose a company structure

Choosing to start your business as a sole proprietorship or as a limited company can impact how much tax you pay, how far you want to protect your personal liability, how much you want to pay to maintain the company, and how much administrative work you want to do it yourself. At Tax Agility, we help entrepreneurs to set-up a structure that works for them. If you’d like to talk to us about setting up a company, call us on 020 8108 0090 today.

Beware of pitfalls

Working fulltime can be exhausting, and by the end of a long work week, you probably do not have the time and energy to work on your part-time business. Add to that family obligations, and you may quickly find yourself defeated. One way to overcome this is to outsource the work you aren’t good at, if you have the initial investment funds ready. For instance, if you need a website, hire a good web company. If you need advice on company structure, talk to a qualified accountant like us.

Also, beware that those around you may not be as enthusiastic as you are. It goes without saying that to start and run your own business, you need to believe firmly in yourself and know what you want to achieve. Having a clear set of goals and milestones is critical. And, don’t forget to reward yourself a little along the way too.

Once your business takes off, you will soon find yourself spending more time with your clients. The challenge of juggling your time with the new venture may start affecting your day job, leading to undesirable consequences like making mistakes on your job and losing your job before you’re ready to quit.

Popular part-time businesses

Here are a few ideas to help you get started.

Selling products on an e-Commerce platform
Creating creative products – videos, pictures, jewellery etc
Providing handyman services
Becoming virtual assistants
Becoming a freelance designer
Writing for websites

Tax Agility is here to help small business owners

As leading small business accountants in London, Putney and Richmond, we have gladly worked with many entrepreneurs who started small and grew organically over the years. In the process, we become their trusted go-to accountants as well as business advisors.

Our services include:

Accounting & Bookkeeping: leave your day-to-day finances to us. We will also provide monthly management accounts, prepare statements and help you set-up cloud accounting.
Tax: if you are tax-efficient, you will have more money to invest, expand and create jobs in your community. Let us help you with tax planning, tax computation and tax returns.
VAT: from VAT returns to manging VAT on import and export goods, we take care of them so you don’t have to.
Payroll: as your team grows, outsource your payroll administration to us so that you and your team can continue to enjoy accurate and on-time payslips every month.
Management consultancy: take your business forward with practical advice based on financial data and benchmark analysis.

The beauty of working with us is that you have the freedom to choose the level of engagement you want from us – for instance, you may need us to manage bookkeeping for now, give you tax advice when you need money to invest, add payroll when your team expands, and use our management consultancy service when you are ready to grow. All of our services are competitively priced with no hidden charges, and our small business accountants are always here to assist.

Call us today on 020 8108 0090. Alternatively, you can use the contact us form to get in touch.