Create Your Own Online Company

I have finally decided to take the plunge and get The Odin registered as an official company. Whats supervised me most about the experience is just how easy it has been to take action. I the inland revenue were surprisingly helpful, giving great advice. The formation of the company was also an easy step to achieve. I looked high and low for a website which looked vaguely trust worthy, only to decide that I would stick with switch media the same company I set up my domain name with.

Of course It is not as simple as just registering and paying. Having your own company comes with its responsibilities. I have put my experience into a guide which you may find useful if you are thinking of embarking on a similar endeavor.

Getting Ready

Before you get too far into the process you want to make sure that you are ready to make the phone call You will be asked when you want to declare yourself self employed. This is the important bit, you will be asked if you wish to make yourself self employed, or a company that you own. So make sure that you have decided what you want, to do. If its a company you will need to get the company formed before you make the phone call. The HMRC will ask for a month and take it from the start of that month. So make sure you know when that Is, to save yourself panicking. Its worth noting that you do not need to declare yourself self employed until after you are working, but this must be done within the first 3 months of working for yourself.

Form the Company

Now that the ground work is complete you are all set to form your company. All this really means is you will have the legal documentation to create your business, meaning you will be a recognised company with a VAT number as so on. It doesn’t matter if you have no premises at this point. But you will be able to fill this out later on. there are a lot of companies out there which will offer this service. I have only tried switch media. The process may take a couple of days to complete although if your in a hurry you can pay more to have things speeded up.

Office Equipment

When you first start out, the temptation is go buy buy buy. But be reasonable, if you don’t absolutely need it, don’t go out and buy it. you will save yourself a lot of money this way, only treat yourself when you are reaping the rewards for your hard work.

Business Cards

This is another none essential requirement, especially if you have not settled on a logo or other such important issues. However if you feel you need them, check out moo.com for a cheap solution.

Logo

This is another none essential part of the setup, as long as you are decided on the name, the rest is not as important.this is something you can think about when your building the website.

Website

To start with if you don’t already this is something which can be setup very easily, all you will need is a domain and hosting, Its up to you how your build your site, there are a lot of solutions out there, one of the best is wordpress which is a blogging tool which is very easy to install and you can even get free hotsing.

Create A Paper Trail

The best way to account for your transactions is to buy yourself a receipt and an Invoice book. Make sure you keep receipts of everything work related. Buy a folder to put things in, I found it easiest to keep reciepts by month, but its up to you how you choose to organize yourself. Receipts should include the amount you paid/earned without tax and the VAT amount. This will make life easier if you need to check anything at a later date.

Use a spread Sheet

Although creating a paper trail is important I cannot stress how useful setting up a spreadsheet will be. I would go as far as saying it is essential if you want to run your business properly. It will also save you the headaches in April when the end of the financial year creeps round and you need to fill out your tax return.

If you don’t have any spreadsheet software you can use google docs for free. It does everything you need it to and there is lots of documentation to help you. I set up 2 documents,

1. profit and loss sheet
2. Taxable Income sheet.

The first helps you see your income and your outgoings this will tell you if you are making any money or loosing it, very useful whatever your circumstance. The second will help you keep track of your tax to date. i tend to do this from 1 financial year to the next, April – April, it just makes life a lot easier. The spreadsheets format looks something like this:

Profit and loss:

Taxable Income:

Aside from this you are pretty much ready to rock and roll. Running a business can be tricky. The key is devotion. Look after your business and your business will look after you.