Self-employment : Getting started

Gaining business skills

There are numerous initiatives aimed at students to gain business skills which may be available through your university.

• Join or start a student entrepreneurs society. You can get help from National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) .
• SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise)  supports social enterprise activities. 
• Find entrepreneurial work experience, e.g. Enternships
• Young Enterprise
• Mentoring, e.g. university, local business support provider, The Prince's Trust
• Bright Ideas Trust  helps 16-30s to turn ideas into a business.

Setting up your business

You will need:

• Your business idea - will you provide a product or a service? Providing a service has far less people, regulations and supply chain challenges to worry about and could be just you and your smart phone. Your business needs to solve a problem for someone. Map every possible combination of ways solutions can be achieved. Analyse and rank them in terms of customer benefits.
• A business name - you will have to check whether the same name or something similar is already in use. Companies House  is the main source for information about this and about the wordings that are permitted and appropriate.
• Internet connection - a computer and smart phone with internet connection along with a business email address is a good start. E-commerce, or increasingly, m-commerce trading will require a website. Your web address (URL) should not copy or imply anyone else’s but should resemble what you are providing. Search for suitable and available internet addresses and register yours at Nominet .
• To be registered as self-employed - when you start working on your own behalf, you have a few months to register as self-employed for tax and national insurance (NI) purposes. Contact the local tax office. You can register as both employed and self-employed if you have a second job.
• Premises - there are several different types of locations from where you can run a business. Before agreeing to rent premises, identify all available subsidies and setting up and running costs. Understand your health and safety requirements at Health and Safety Executive (HSE) . You may be working from home or out of a communal space, such as artists’ workrooms or a clinic shared by several therapists, where all expenses can be shared. These could include workspaces rented out to small businesses. Visit UK Business Incubation (UKBI) .

Consider the following:

• Doing your research - there is groundwork to be done on practicalities such as funding, legal considerations, markets and competitors. This is the foundation on which your business will be based. Searching the internet will provide useful information, but local businesses and university libraries will have a wealth of market information available for free that may otherwise carry a charge if you access it online.
• Online business - taking advantage of the e-market place has many benefits for direct selling, pre-selling and post-sale technical support. Although m-commerce, where transactions are made by mobile phone, is a growing retail experience, there are advantages of PC or laptop use including speed and storage. Many new online businesses fail due to lack of website planning, usability frustrations, inaccurate content, intrusive marketing, shopping and delivery confusion and security breaches.
• Working with others - collaborating with a partner(s) can be a good way to get your business off the ground and is especially useful if you each have different skills to bring to the enterprise. Regardless of how well you know each other, ask a solicitor to draw up a tailored agreement about how the business will be run and what will happen in certain eventualities.      

Advice and help

• University enterprise support - enterprise centre and careers library.
• Business Link  - a comprehensive and authoritative resource.
• Membership of professional bodies, trade associations and unions.
• Sector Skills Councils - some councils have their own careers services.
• Local colleges often provide classes on self-employment.
• Jobcentres and careers guidance services have self-employment advice.
• Banks offer free information, support and advice.
• Charities and similar enterprises, e.g. Prince's Trust  and Shell LiveWire .