Action Plan Research: Starting a Company

I actually did this research a few weeks ago, but it was saved as a google doc and not published on my blog =/. Here it is:


With the idea of starting my own company being the eventual focus of my action plan, I thought it a good idea to find out exactly how to go about starting up my own business.

When looking into this it's important to keep in mind the type of business that I'll be starting. I intend to work from home at first, until I have need for a larger premises, such as if I require a staff or storage space.

A quick google search later and I find out that the simple way to go is to register as a 'sole-trader' or 'freelancer', which is basically a person who works for themselves from home, and requires considerably less paperwork than starting up an official 'company'. This registration has to be done within 3 months of beginning to work as a 'sole-trader' or 'freelancer'. This registration has to be done regardless of income, so even though you may not earn enough to pay tax, you still have to register with HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (THE TAXMAN)). What this means for me is that as soon as I get my first freelance commision (for which I receive payment) I should register as a 'freelancer' within 3 months.

Not registering in the 3 month window can result in a £100 fine as well as paying any tax that was due before registration... Seems surprisingly reasonable...

This website has been extremely helpful and has quite a lot of information on starting up a business, as a private company or as a freelancer: http://www.startups.co.uk


Realistically for me, the first thing to do would be to start a website with various examples of my work, previous graphic design commissions and projects and my contact details. Quite a simple thing to achieve, no need for any fancy flash coding! Along with the website, it would also be prudent to buy a few small advert slots, in local newspapers etc, just to get the first few clients, and like I mentioned before after the first client I'll have 3 months to register as a sole-trader. Pretty simple!


Another thing I intend to do to gain a reputation is offer companies free work, provided I can credit myself in the work. A commonly used example is take out menus, the company I previously worked for did the same thing, in the spine of the menu in small writing would be the company name, an email, and a contact number. They even did this in commissioned menus (with the permission of the client of course). It's free advertising, and even showcases a piece of your design!


All of this startup process is quite realistically achievable while working a full or part-time job, I can take on as many clients as I can handle in my free time, and if I get more, make the decision to quit my job to make more time for the freelance work.


So, as I said the first goal would be to create my website, so that'll be my next research article.