Starting Your Own Secretarial Business

A few years ago I started up a secretarial business and thought I would maybe put some things down on paper to help others who wanted to start out on their own.

Firstly, if you are hoping to work for yourself and are currently in a full time job, and do not want to leave full time pay until you know how busy self-employment will be, you could test the water first. Putting adverts in papers or distributing leaflets is a good way of getting an idea of how many people will be interested in your work. Another way is to write to local businesses in your area – or sending fliers to them – as some businesses do not always want to take on somebody permanent, and maybe do not want to rely on temping agencies as they would then have somebody different coming into their office each week/month, etc. Having somebody on an as and when basis maybe suits some businesses. Also there is a machine, called a transcript machine, that you can purchase – it costs about £100. If you have one of these, it enables businesses to send work to you and for you to send it back. I know of somebody who had one of these and who had regular work with a doctor in our local hospital.

Once you decide that you will get enough work for you to give up your job (or you could keep your job on, and start up part-time), you must let the inland revenue know that you will be working for yourself. If you are not working anywhere else, you can earn up to a certain amount without having to pay tax but you must register all the same. You must pay National Insurance contributions, even if you aren’t paying tax.

Getting your business up and running can be slow and it can sometimes be a while before you are really established – some months you might find that you are quieter than others to begin with, although once you do start doing jobs for people you will find that word of mouth is a good way to get work. I got a lot of work this way. Another good way of getting work is in the Yellow Pages – sometimes they do a deal, like when I first took my advert out with them, I got the first year free.

It is up to you how much you charge, but I used to think that charging too much would scare people away from getting work done, but charging too little would make them wonder what was wrong with you! You could always do a deal for regular customers or for customers who refer other customers to you. An eye catching name is a good way of attracting people to an advert too.

When you are working for yourself, it is up to you if you want to do your own books too, or if you are going to get somebody else to do it, although I found with secretarial work that there is not much outlay. You have ink, paper and other stationery products to account for, as well as advertising and the running of a computer, while your income obviously comes from work you get in. If you find it easy doing it yourself and accounting for everything, it is probably cheaper for you to do it yourself, if not, get somebody to help you.

Another good thing to consider is courses – you may want to do your books yourself but don’t know how. This is where a course may come in handy, either at your local college or local community centre. The same is true if you want to brush up on your secretarial skills before embarking on self-employment, or if you just want to get a certificate to show potential customers that you are a competent typist.

There are advantages and disadvantages to working for yourself. I no longer do my secretarial work from home, but I did it for four years, from when my son was born until he was 4 and in nursery – then I branched out and began a degree. Working from home suited me while he was small, though, as it meant I did not have much outlay, and I could work around him – either when he slept through the day, or in the evenings. It also meant that I did not have to go out to work. You really do have to push yourself though to get motivated. Some days, if the sun is shining it may be tempting to turn work down and go out, or take your kids out, but at the end of the day, business is business and they will end up going somewhere else. If you want people to come to you, and to return to you, you really must make the effort.

I really hope that this helps people who want to start off by themselves – this type of work is ideal for mums who want to bring up their kids but do not want to give up working. It can help them keep their hand in for when/if they ever go back to work full time.