Self employed its a family affair

It might sound counter intuitive to say this as a sole trader who works alone, but to be able to do that there are often many people behind the scenes who make it possible.

Whatever your motivation for being self employed you still have bills to pay and food to buy. For many people in the beginning your business won’t financially support you. This is where the first “helper” comes in. It could be a supportive spouse who is happy to hold the fort financially, a gift from a parent or maybe some inheritance has taken the financial pressure away.

Sabine Peters photograph

Secondly, if like me you’re a working parent, then often help is needed with childcare. I set up my business to allow me to work “around” my daughter but inevitably there are times when events or meetings crop up that don’t fit with the usual timetable. This is when having someone supportive who can fill those gaps comes in very handy. I am lucky (apart from in the silly season of an arable farm) my partner’s work can often flex. I won’t lie next year when school holidays and silly season collides for the first time, it’s going to be a learning curve for us, but we shall manage.

Lastly, I have found support come from those around you who have skills that aren’t your strong point. Maybe you have a bookkeeper in the family for the accounting issues or an IT whizz for tech support. In my case a family member kindly proofreads my blogs to help keep things tidy.

I know this is quite common in small businesses to use family skills to keep overheads low whilst maintaining business efficiency. Even I do admin for my other half to give him more time to do the manual work. Family and friends can also be great at advertising your business and spreading the word, as I discussed previous in my (blog name!)

If you’re reading this and thinking that’s really great but I honestly don’t have a support network. Don’t despair! There is another great convention amongst small businesses called the Skills Swap/Swop?? Where fellow business owners help each other out by offering to do something that is a strength in return for something they are not so great at. It’s a great way to make connections and build up testimonials and have people to build you with confidence and give referrals to. All in all, it’s good karma and means self employed life doesn’t need to be isolating.

My little Family! They keep me aiming forward.

So you see, sole trader or self employed might sound like a lonely one man band but in my experience it’s anything but.