Seeking freelance, self employed advice
Discussion
That was my suggestion - for the usual reason, to limit his liability.
Web development of the type the OP talks about being very nebulous and vague, "I don't know what I want, but I'll know I don't want something after you've delivered it" type stuff. With the real possibility he is providing the public face of a company, thus lots of pointing fingers if there are any "glitches".
I've seen freelancers work 100x more than contracted, as the client vacillated on the delivery. Being sole traders they were taking a huge risk to walk away as the much bigger client had much bigger lawyers. I've seen them forced to sign contracts indemnifying large multi-country corporates, liquidated damages clauses that were crazy ("If our website is down, it costs us £10000 per minute") etc. etc.
Web development of the type the OP talks about being very nebulous and vague, "I don't know what I want, but I'll know I don't want something after you've delivered it" type stuff. With the real possibility he is providing the public face of a company, thus lots of pointing fingers if there are any "glitches".
I've seen freelancers work 100x more than contracted, as the client vacillated on the delivery. Being sole traders they were taking a huge risk to walk away as the much bigger client had much bigger lawyers. I've seen them forced to sign contracts indemnifying large multi-country corporates, liquidated damages clauses that were crazy ("If our website is down, it costs us £10000 per minute") etc. etc.
The original benefit of "limited liability" has been very much eroded over the past few years so it doesn't offer the global immunity it once did.
The recent tax changes on dividends and the lurking presence of IR35 do make the tax savings less beneficial than they once were.
This year new accounting regulations are coming into force for small companies which are making the accounts preparation and reporting more complex for limited companies (as an example, my completion checklist for very small companies has just increased from 45 pages of detailed questions to 56).
However, it is still a worthwhile thing to do - but only if you envisage your trading situation to be quite significant from the off.
The recent tax changes on dividends and the lurking presence of IR35 do make the tax savings less beneficial than they once were.
This year new accounting regulations are coming into force for small companies which are making the accounts preparation and reporting more complex for limited companies (as an example, my completion checklist for very small companies has just increased from 45 pages of detailed questions to 56).
However, it is still a worthwhile thing to do - but only if you envisage your trading situation to be quite significant from the off.
bigbob77 said:
I was in a similar position, 10 years experience of web and desktop with .Net and all up-to-date web technologies. I went freelance about 5 years ago (I'm not any more), although it was only 50% of the time (other 50% was a big project which was fairly steady). Although I only did remote work from home and refused any on-site jobs so I was limiting my customer base.
There are positives and negatives. You're your own boss so you can choose the types of projects you want to take on - that was nice. Also you can often choose the technologies you use so you get to keep your skills really up to date.
There are good months and bad months. I've been paid £250 for 5 minutes work and £60 for 2 days work. But no matter how much I tried, I could only get my annual income 70% of the way towards a salaried job - and that's after accounting for no commuting costs, etc.
If you're doing remote work, be prepared to compete with completely unqualified "developers", usually from India, who will charge a fraction of your cost. Yes you can be there to pick up the pieces when they fail to deliver the project, but it can be demoralising trying to prove you're worth 100 times more than someone who claims they can do the job faster!
Also, when you know how much each hour of work is worth to you, you'll never stop. Well I didn't, anyway. I worked in bed, while I ate, while I was on holiday, etc. If my wife ever made me stop, I felt anxious about how much I was potentially losing out on and couldn't really switch off.
When the big project which was taking up 50% of my time ended, I went back to a salaried job and I am really happy in it. The commute is crap, I don't get to choose my own projects, I have less freedom... But when I'm home I can switch off and I can actually take proper annual leave which I basically haven't done for 5 years. Also it's nice to make some long term plans with a steady income.
It's good to know I can go back to it if my situation ever changes, but I think next time I try being self employed I'll need a different plan.
That's a well written and honest response; a great piece of reflection that I'm sure will add value to anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation.There are positives and negatives. You're your own boss so you can choose the types of projects you want to take on - that was nice. Also you can often choose the technologies you use so you get to keep your skills really up to date.
There are good months and bad months. I've been paid £250 for 5 minutes work and £60 for 2 days work. But no matter how much I tried, I could only get my annual income 70% of the way towards a salaried job - and that's after accounting for no commuting costs, etc.
If you're doing remote work, be prepared to compete with completely unqualified "developers", usually from India, who will charge a fraction of your cost. Yes you can be there to pick up the pieces when they fail to deliver the project, but it can be demoralising trying to prove you're worth 100 times more than someone who claims they can do the job faster!
Also, when you know how much each hour of work is worth to you, you'll never stop. Well I didn't, anyway. I worked in bed, while I ate, while I was on holiday, etc. If my wife ever made me stop, I felt anxious about how much I was potentially losing out on and couldn't really switch off.
When the big project which was taking up 50% of my time ended, I went back to a salaried job and I am really happy in it. The commute is crap, I don't get to choose my own projects, I have less freedom... But when I'm home I can switch off and I can actually take proper annual leave which I basically haven't done for 5 years. Also it's nice to make some long term plans with a steady income.
It's good to know I can go back to it if my situation ever changes, but I think next time I try being self employed I'll need a different plan.
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