On Becoming a Respectable Businessman

I am scared.

I’ve started a small business. I am now officially self-employed, which means I have to wade through a self-assessment tax form in 11 months. Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs recognises my business as being called A.Sine(9) Software, which will cause no end of problems trying to describe how to spell it over the phone.

Sadly it also means that 27% of my earnings are sliced off the top. The interesting part is that in trying to set up a business account with the Bank of Scotland I have to formulate a business plan, project my cashflow over the next year and have a business manager come and view my workplace (which is where I’m sat right now with a cat on my knee and a metric ton of comics, fiction and reference manuals on the shelves behind me). All this is becoming terribly real, and very confusing, but if you’re thinking of striking out on your own it’s not so daunting and I’m starting to feel quite proud of my little cottage php industry. I can recommend visiting the HMRC’s new business pages and their excellent helpline: 0845 915 4515 for those kicking off a side job.

Now I’m off to finish that site I’ve been working on for 2 months -_0

Tags: business, coding, scary