New Startup - Experiences

[burnstar]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone got experience of starting up a new business whilst also working full time PAYE?

Obviously in for a crazy few months but how much success did anyone have balancing the two whilst the new venture is in its infancy?

Cheers B.

[bga]

I did it when we started up our consultancy. It was hard, daytime spent doing the usual job and every available hour in the evenings and weekends getting the company off the ground. There was also balancing the requirement to do stuff in the day time that would impinge on the job I was being paid to do. Fortunately that could be handled discretely until which point a clear break could be made.

If you are going to do this then be upfront with people that you are close with as they will likely see a lot less of you and when they do see you it is likely you will be occupied by other things. It was all worth it though.

[burnstar]

bga said:

I did it when we started up our consultancy. It was hard, daytime spent doing the usual job and every available hour in the evenings and weekends getting the company off the ground. There was also balancing the requirement to do stuff in the day time that would impinge on the job I was being paid to do. Fortunately that could be handled discretely until which point a clear break could be made.

If you are going to do this then be upfront with people that you are close with as they will likely see a lot less of you and when they do see you it is likely you will be occupied by other things. It was all worth it though.

Thanks, nice to know it was all worth it in the end

[StevieBee]

Done this many moons ago. There's no secret formula, just the allocation of every waking moment to work. There's two risks you need to be aware of:

1. You can work too much. When you get home from work, you then start work and then work through the weekend. You may feel you are capable of this but you need to pace yourself as both day job, new job and health will all suffer.

2. If your new venture is in any way similar to your current day job and particularly if you are going to target the same customers, be very careful not to leave any evidence of your set up activity when you leave. The best way to avoid this is not to create any evidence in the first place so don't use company computers to send and receive 'new venture' emails. Restraint of trade clauses in contracts can be challenged but not if the company proved you used their resources to set your business up

Good luck!

[XMT]

It can be done, I used to work PAYE from 7am to 5pm. go home and rest for 30 mins or so until 6pm and work from 6pm to 11pm-12midnight.

I am one of the lucky ones, its paid off.
Quite Paye

Run business and earn 3 times as much as I used to.

[cowboyengineer]

I launch my new business next week after setting it up whilst working full time. Not paye, but as a contractor, which is even more difficult. I told my boss though and providing i get my work done it hasn't been so much of an issue. Sometimes when I must do something during the week I offer to come in and work over the weekend for free to catch up, or stay late a couple of days to build my hours back up.

It's about communication, or perhaps lack of it, depending on your employers. I'm even keeping part of my new business in one of the works compounds.

My contract renewal is in February, so I'll find out then if it has worked or not.

I think the interesting part, is going to be running it once it's launched whilst still working.... But that's an issue for another time.

[akirk]

as above advice - be careful with health and tiredness...
any employer would be justified in challenging you if they felt that what you did outside work had a negative impact on your work
there are not many new companies you can create which require no input during normal working hours so you will need to work out how you will manage that...

[uber]

I'm lucky to deal with some very wealthy clients and they all give the same advice. When you can pay as much as you can afford for the right professional advice to save you time and effort in the long run. Cheap anything from pens to lawyers all come with a hidden cost.

[burnstar]

Thanks for all of your responses chaps. Yes, I know its going to be a lot of hard work but I work most evenings on something or other anyhow, just happens that now I can focus all of that energy onto something that will hopefully lead to a fulfilling business with financial reward. My current job won't be affected by this and I am very aware of the negative implications if that were to happen.

Really exciting now the ball is starting to roll down the hill and I cannot see the bottom

Cheers B

[Dejay1788]

I started my Ecom business in December 2013 whilst working full time. I spent most evenings and weekends / days off working on it and really didn't have much of a social life at all for over a year. Went part time in late 2014 and quit my job in November 2015. I'm self employed now, work from home and have the freedom to do what I want, whenever I want to.

I could probably be earning more in full time employment but I enjoy the work life balance I have now.