[Laneco]

I opened my own business a few years ago as a consultant. I got some good advice from the Pelican flock so I'll share it with you (plus a few other tidbits I learned the hard way).

1. Setup your business with the advice of your tax professional. I realize things are different over the pond than here - but taxes are taxes... and the choice of your business structure and pricing needs to involve your tax professional.

2. Your time is always worth something. The time that you do not bill a client for such has invoicing time, incidental research, personal professional training/certifications, etc., are time that you take away from what you DO bill the client for and are a necessary part of your business. Think of it as overhead. You need to charge enough money billable to cover your "overhead."

3. Charge a retainer that is at least enough to cover all your hard expenses. If you get stiffed for payment...at least you are not out "hard money" for the expenses.

4. Keep on top of the billing. Though you run the risk of chilling the relationship, don't let people straggle to pay. I had a customer that was out a huge amount of money with me (27% of my total year's work). My house was going into foreclosure before I finally got pay...

5. Treat every day as a workday. I have often been tempted to stay in my pajamas but I found that when I did...I tended to take more breaks and my attention wandered badly. Dressing for work even when no one was around put me in the mindset of WORKING.

6. Take the off time to heart. Shut the phone off and close the computer up entirely if you are off and at night (if possible). I tended to never take the time completely off. The result was that I was often close to burn out.

Hope some of that helps you. I loved the time that I did this and will likely do it again. I only stopped because a most remarkable offer came along from one of my customers (whom I now work for full time).

angela