Your hobby is often your passion – work that you do because you love it. And now with the workplace forever changing it’s the ideal time to transform your hobby into a career that you can build on. Should you turn a hobby into a small business? Find out more here…
Step-by-Step Guidelines
Knowledge is the key to making your business a success. Look at steps you can take to ensure you achieve your goals:
Know what you want – is this a full-time business so that you can leave any daytime jobs? Remember if you depend on the business for your income, you’ll need to work hard to ensure you can cover all of your outgoing expenses.
Understand strategies – ask yourself what your business will do and the nature of the business itself with regards to teaching, selling or offering a service for example.
Research extensively – find out if there’s a demand for your goods, the costs, your competitors, and follow up with a comprehensive analysis.
Learn marketing techniques – marketing is crucial for advertising and promoting your work – you’ll need a website and be able to use social media to gain new clients online, and don’t forget to contact family and friends as well as local business directories and newspapers.
Create a brand – a strong brand is essential as your business name, logo, and font will identify you and reflect the personality of your business.
Make a business plan – this will confirm that your business will be viable and allow you to set a budget for getting started, and include additional costs such as insurance which will ultimately depend on the nature of your business.
Work in a structured manner – divide your time sensibly to ensure you give your business all the time and attention it needs, particularly if you’re working from home instead of a workplace environment.
Be professional – be sure to treat all clients in a practised manner and carry out your service to the highest standards to ensure future repeat business. Offering a first job for free could be a winning incentive.
Finances and Taxes
Putting your finances in order, begin with opening a business account to keep business and personal accounts completely separate. Accounting software can be extremely helpful to make sure you’re on the right track.
When you start making money from a hobby you must register to be self-employed otherwise, you will face penalties from HMRC. You can earn up to £1000 in a financial tax year from your trade without paying any income tax, on top of your personal allowance – and you won’t need to fill in a tax return.
There are compliance obligations when you register for the first time so it’s advisable to consult a personal tax advisor. A highly recommended accountant in London will help you by providing VAT return services, and all the help and support you need with your taxation position, NIC duties, and claiming any sanctioned allowances and deductions you may be entitled to.
You’ll be able to choose from an hourly-based or all-inclusive accounting package to find the perfect for your small business – knowing that you never have to worry about self-assessment tax forms and their timely submission – you can simply focus on making your new business venture a success.