There are many reasons why people decide to start their own business and work for themselves; be their own boss; start a business; become self-employed; go freelance; etc., call it what you will, and everyone dreams of making their new venture a success. Success being a term that is interpreted by everyone differently.

This may be the first time that you have considered starting a business, it may not be your first venture, or it could be that you are already running your business and looking for initiatives and inspiration or, simply, some guidance from others that have gone through what you are now experiencing. This is where SmallBiz.chat comes in.

The first thing to address is the title ‘Self-Employed‘.

Strictly speaking, in the UK, this refers to someone that is working directly as their own employer and, generally, excludes those working in registered businesses such as LLPs or LTDs (see our getting started guide for definitions); however, the popular public opinion of owners of LLPs and LTDs that are micro/small businesses is that they are ‘Self-Employed’, and, so, we shall use that term interchangeably across the site, except where clear distinctions are needed.

As an example, many who work in the media of television (camera operators etc.) are considered to be ‘Self-Employed’ but, for contractual reasons, have had to create a one-person LTD in order to qualify for contracts so are, in fact, employees of their own business and NOT ‘Self-Employed’ in the eyes of HMRC.