How To Plan Your Work Week As A Self Employed Electrician

You go to college to learn how to actually do the job.

Nobody really teaches you anything about running a business.

Quotes

Invoices

VAT

Self assessments

Insurances

The list goes on.

This is what scares a lot of people going self employed - it's not knowing what you have to do or what to expect.

If this is you, then hold tight - you're about to find it all out right here.

Tool box talk for electricians Helping electricians, reduce stress, gain back time and earn more money.

Hello and welcome back once again to tool box talk for electricians.

My name is Ben Poulter, your host.

Having been self employed for over 20 years, it does come with its highs and lows.

I could sit here and say, it's the best thing ever, being your own boss and working whenever you like for however long you like and earning loads of money.

How many of you know that not entity correct!

It's hard! Dam right, tough at times, But so many of us still do it - So there must be some good points right?

There is, plenty of them that I will go into. But im not going to say everything is sunshine and rainbows. Being employed also had its ups and downs too.

Working for your self, you have to be self motivated. The days you get up and just cant be asked can reflect on your business a lot more to being employed.

When your employed you can be a moody git and drag your feet sometimes, it doesn't matter - you still get paid the same wage every day however hard you work.

Or even if you don't bother turning up and pull a sickie.

It's a simple life I suppose being employed, you know just how much you're going to be paid at the end of every week and it's always about the same.

When your self employed it a whole new ball game.

You may be paid weekly, or even daily if you have a lot of jobs going on, but its not always guaranteed or as often in may cases.

Also the money your make isnt all yours, thats one thing to always remember.

The wholesalers bill, van insurance, public liability the list goes on.

But where you get paid £1000 a week employed, self employed can be 10x that.

It about being organised with your finances that counts, and yes at first it seems that it a lot to deal with.

But if you do it for a year and work out the money you have taken home, if it doesn't work out to more than a job you can get employed - you know it's not worth it.

When I was employed I used to earn good money, it was around 50k a year.

They gave me a van, paid for the fuel and the maintenance.

For that I was sent all over the UK and even across the world at times. I was never in a position to say no I don't want to work away this week.

If I did the money would drop down and I would be doing the really rubbish jobs close to home.

My boss told me where to go, what to do and that was it - I did it.

The same as many Electricians it gets a bit boring working away all the time, you don't have a life other than work.

Rather than looking for another company to work for and taking a paycut to be close to home, what's the next best thing?

Become your own boss.

When starting up on your own, you don't think about building a reputation or a customer base. All you think about is getting work in and being paid.

You need to prove to yourself it was a good move and you have what it takes to run your own business.

Trust me some people don't, it may be money management, customer relations or self motivation.

Some people are just built to be told what to do, and they are the best at it.

Be warned though - When you begin to see success running your own business, its like and addiction.

There's no turning back, you become unemployable.

You constantly think you know better and try to help the company who employ you, only to be told to just do what you're paid to do and shut up.

Theres a podcast I talk about a company I worked for who were doing things so wrong, I tried to help and told to get on with it - I quit.

Rather than get paid to do something wrong, I would rather not do it al all.

You have to like a bit of paperwork, customers and organising with other trades. Get that sorted and your half way there.

The paperwork will make sure you get paid.

Customers will pay you and recommend you to family and friends

The other trades will do the same

After 20 years you can sit there and say its easy. Looking back on everything you have to figure out - it's not that simple.

There are times that go through your head to go get a job employed working for someone else.

But then things pick up and that idea fades away.

One of the things many self employed people do is a 4 day week.

That's the paperwork day, sit down at home and quote for new jobs, pay wholesalers, wash the van and best of all INVOICES.

It's always exciting to see on paper what all your work and worked out in pounds and pence.

Being self employed you can change the day you do the paperwork too, friday you get a job booked in, fine switch it to monday.

There's no having to confirm it with anyone, no asking for a day off.

If a job gets cancelled, you can get excited for a day off, you don't have to phone the office and they're gonna send you somewhere else.

When I was employed I saw an invoice to a customer once, it said labour £60 an hour!!

I was being paid £16, this was back in the early 90s.

But still, I thought I could do that, maybe charge £59 an hour and make a fortune.

To be honest, that was one of the reasons I started up on my own.

It is the reason for a lot of tradesmen, it's to make more money and do a better job then the company you worked for.

Then when you actually do start up on your own and figure out what its costs, £60 an hour is a pretty good deal.

One thing I think self employed tradesmen find hard is to shut off from work.

There is always something to do running your own business.

With the phone ringing all the time -

A kitchen fitter asking about cables

Customers about jobs

Wholesalers offering deals

Honestly be HARSH and don't answer every call. Keep your mind on the task in hand.

When you try to do 10 things at once, everything gets done at a slower pace, and you end up with half-started jobs you forget to finish.

A great piece of advice for being self employed is to get organised, write stuff down.

Have a diary, every electrical wholesaler gives away diaries this time of year, go grab one.

If you write everything down, you don't have to remember it.

The amount of times I have had a call and answered it on top of a ladder.

A customer wants to book a job and I have to call them back later when I have my diary.

That's what voicemail is for!! Use it.

Everything you find hard at the beginning can be made simple.

Quotes, Invoices and payments.

I have created spreadsheets over time that help me out with things.

I also have a number of emails I send out to customers, especially with this time of year - everyone has a dodgy Christmas light set up, so a few tips on safety is a good idea.

Being self employed does give you more freedom.

There may be jobs where your able to earn 10k a week, you think its a one off - but it happens again.

This is where you take a break if you like.

Of course ride that wave if more jobs like that come in, but eventually everyone needs a holiday.

The potential of being your own boss and opening up other opportunities too.

Opportunities that would have been your bosses opportunity if you were employed.

There is potential to grow bigger, earn more money and have even more time sitting at home in your pyjamas recording a podcast.

This doesn't mean you failed as self employed if you had a go and it didn't work out.

It maybe wasn't the right time for you or the company your work for paid you well, so you're riding that wave.

It's always a seed in every electrician's mind though…

Should I start up on my own?

No not today …….. But when?

The answer???????? YES Today

Until next time x