Thinking Of Becoming A Self Employed Audio Professional? Read This First
In Short
Self employment isn’t for everyone, it can be challenging and stressful and requires coping with tasks and challenges outside of doing what you love. However, if you are willing to be flexible and think long term, it can be the best decision you ever make.
In Depth
I remember exactly where I was when I made the decision to go self employed. I had a friend who advised executives on career paths and we were having lunch. As lunch started she asked me how work was going. At the time I was running a post house in Soho, London. I splurged for several minutes about how frustrated I was, not with the work, but with my boss, and how I felt I could do a better job. I’d been here before. She offered to give me an advisory session on the spot, for free… what did I have to lose? An hour later she had her conclusion, that I should work for myself. Then she asked what was stopping me; “I’m afraid of being broke” was my response. “That’s not a good enough reason,” she replied. She was right, I had settled for the illusion of security found in employment, seeing so many good employed people lose their jobs over the years has proved to me, no one is immune from not having work!
As I walked back from lunch I called my wife and told her about the conversation. I said that I wanted to go self employed but the risks were that we could be broke until work picked up. She said she supported my choice and that I should go for it. In the first year my income doubled.
That sounds like a fairytale, however, to get from that conversation to having a business that could provide for me and my family and remain secure took a lot of hard work. It meant making mistakes, rethinking what my offer was, hiring AND firing people. There were plenty of sleepless nights in the 15 years since I made that decision, however I wouldn’t change my decision for the world.
Do The Thing You Love
There’s a saying; “Do what you love as a job and never work a day again in your life!” I’m afraid that’s a nice sentiment, but in my experience it’s BS. Yes you get to make money doing something you love, but it’s still work and sometimes it can make you hate the thing you used to love.
That said, most of the time you get to make money from doing something that gives YOU meaning and purpose. I’m sometimes sat in the middle of a project and think to myself, and sometimes say out loud, I get paid to do this! It is a nice feeling.
I often say that I’d do this even if I didn’t get paid for it, I don’t work for the money, I do it for the sense of purpose it gives me. However, one word of caution, even if money isn’t the primary motivation, it’s essential. Don’t fool yourself into thinking the money doesn’t matter, the numbers have to add up. Also, don’t let clients or potential clients have you working for nothing, knowing you would if you could… because you can’t.
Choose Your Own Hours
A second myth of self employment is that you get to work less hours, in most cases self employed people work longer hours. There’s a couple of reasons for this; the first is because of what I’ve written above. When you do work you love you can lose hours doing that work, you get lost in the project. Second, a lot of self-employed creatives have issues creating boundaries between work and home life, this is especially the case if work is based at home.
However, the ability to put work around other life events, like school meetings, medical appointments, and fun events like birthdays and special occasions is really liberating. It doesn’t mean you work less hours, it just means you get to do it without clearing it with your boss first. However, you will be making the time up later, plus some!
Self employment can often feel like this. Image: YouTube
Earn More Money
I’m on LinkedIn and often a job will pop up on my feed, I read them to see what other people are earning in similar jobs. On the really bad days I wonder what it would be like to go back to 9-5. However, when I see the job specs and the salary I’m reminded that life could be worse.
When you work for yourself your earnings aren’t limited by an arbitrary salary scale. If you can get the work and are willing to put in the hours then you can earn far more than a comparable role as an employee.
Some say going self employed offers unlimited earning potential, I’d take that claim with a pinch of salt. It’s a nice theory, but is rarely the case.
In my experience, and those of my friends, you can earn more in self employment than as an employee, but be prepared to work hard to achieve this. Which leads me to another bonus…
Tax Advantages
One real benefit of self employment is that there are tax advantages. Depending on how your business is set up and the legal entity, these can differ. However, on the whole, you can claim tax relief on gear purchases, if you’re registered to pay VAT then you can claim that back on purchases. You can also claim relief on the use of your property, utilities, travel costs, vehicles and more.
Also buying equipment for your business means you can depreciate it over time in your accounts. For this and all the above, get advice from a qualified accountant. That's one expert worth spending money on.
Something to bear in mind, too often people say things in forums or on social media like, “I can write the cost of this off on my taxes.” That’s a half truth. To write equipment costs off against your taxes you need to be making the PROFIT to pay the tax in the first place. Don’t use taxes as a convenient lie to spend money you don’t have!
No More Boss!
Circling back to the start of this article, the reason I left employment was my boss/s. It is said that people often don’t leave their job, they leave their boss. There’s some truth to this.
Self employment does mean you get to decide what you do, often regarded as being your own boss, but that doesn't mean there’s no one to tell you what to do.
Now I’m self employed all my clients are my boss. I still have to deliver, on time and on budget and if I don’t then they won’t be clients for long. If I’m borrowing money to run my business then I have another boss, the bank.
Being your own boss is more a cliche than a reality. What it does mean is that you can take the risks, and the associated crap, but you can also reap the benefits. It is also the ultimate test of if you can do a better job than your boss! Employment means you get the pain without the gain.
In Summary
You may be reading this and feeling less inspired to self employment than before you read it. I may have saved you a lot of pain. Some people aren’t cut out for it for various reasons. My wife would never do it, she likes the advantages of employment, and I get that.
However, for some, I count myself as one of them, self employment is the best decision I ever made. My friend was right, the fear of being broke was not a good enough excuse. I’m glad she pushed me and that my wife encouraged me to jump, perhaps that’s what made the difference.
And that’s my final word on this. If you are thinking of going self employed and have a partner and or family, make sure you discuss it with them first and have their support… you’ll need it.