Thinking of going self employed any advice?

[Moni23]

Hey everyone I’m wanting some advice regarding going self employed, I’ve been hairdressing for the last 15 years employed with a fully booked column & great loyal clientele.. but with lock downs & covid it’s really made me think about what I want & I want to earn more whilst working the hours I want too rather than working my back side off for my bosses & a capped salary.. I have been presented with a new contract & im thinking is this the time to make the leap rather than staying & signing a new Contract when I’ve been thinking of leaving for a while.. the money is the biggest reason I am wanting to make the leap & also the capped 4 Saturdays a year Holiday
It’s a scary thing making the leap especially when I’m not unhappy where I am but I want to earn more & be my own boss.. do you think I’m doing the right thing?

 

[njc]

Will you stay at the same salon? Be careful of your contract about ‘stealing clients’. Although I was advised by a lawyer that it would take time, money and for a client to speak against you in court for any employer to sue you for taking clients with you. I don’t believe a lot of employers would bother following through with any threats. Self employment is amazing if you have a big enough loyal clientele, although be aware that many salons request it on a fake level as a way to get out of your aging for employee benefits. You are only truly self employed if you buy all your own stock, make your own rules and appointments etc. Nobody can dictate your hours, uniform, products, clients and ways you work.
You will need your own insurance, contact details and a legally binding rent contract

 

[TheDuchess]

Your clients may be very loyal to you but they aren’t your clients. If you need to relocate, there’s no guarantee that they will follow. Nor is there any guarantee that they will stay once they’ve followed you.

if you want to strike out on your own, don’t think you’ve got a readymade column of business. Expect to need to work very hard to market yourself and build your reputation. Don’t forget you’ll need to spend time on admin, reception, cleaning and end of the day tasks so you might not be able to service the same number of clients unless you increase yoir hours.

Remember that your wages include holiday pay. By U.K. law this is 12.07% of your salary. Once you’ve allowed for the loss of holiday pay, employers National insurance contributions and pension contributions you’ll need to earn at least 120% of your salary to have the same pay package of benefits. This doesn’t include the cost of insurance to pay yourself privately the benefits that employees receive from the state if they are out of work for any reason. Benefits are very low and no-one finds it easy to manage on them, but you don’t have the same security net as a self employed person. 3 million self employed people didn’t qualify for a grant or furlough pay during lockdown for instance.

I know lots of salon owners including hairdressers who have gone back to work in a salon as an employee or on a commission split and they are so happy with the deal. No stress, their evenings to themselves and back up so their holidays/sick days are not spent trying to fill their column on their return.

if you have bags of energy and enthusiasm for offering a particular type of service. If you are driven and don’t mind working many more hours than you do at present in order to reap the rewards. If you have good savings and another source of income. Go for it!

if you want an immediate pay rise and more time off - negotiate with your employer

 

[hennessy]

Hi sorry I'm late to the party but I went self employed (mobile) 10 years ago and I love it. I worked in a salon and was extremely good friends with my boss of 20+ years so I did not want to jeopardise our friendship in any way. I left and didn't tell any of my clients. I just told other people I was starting up on my own and the first week I made about half my usual wage and the second week I surpassed my old wage and it went mental. I had clients coming out of my ears! Word of mouth is the best advertising ever so I told all my new clients to tell their friends and they did. I was inundated and I'm no Vidal Sassoon! Go for it. What's the worst that can happen? It doesn't work out and you get another job. Now I rarely do weekends or nights I just do Mon to Fri and I give myself loads of days off. Its fabulous