If you\u2019re a skilled worker, people and businesses want to use those skills. While most people provide these services through full-time employment, being skilled gives you the opportunity to go it alone by starting up business as a contractor.<\/p>\n
But, as with all things in life, contracting has its good and bad parts.<\/p>\n
To help you decide if starting up as a contractor is the right career move for you, we\u2019ve listed everything good and bad about the contracting life.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll leave the best \u2018til last and start with the bad aspects of contracting.<\/p>\n
The contracting life is bad because\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2026work won\u2019t be handed to you on a plate<\/strong><\/p>\n When you\u2019re a full-time employee, you just have to turn up for work and know exactly what you\u2019re doing. It\u2019s different for contractors. You\u2019ll have to find clients before you can start working. Not everybody can handle the stress of not knowing when the money will come in.<\/p>\n \u2026you\u2019re on your own if anything goes wrong<\/strong><\/p>\n Contractors only get paid if they\u2019re doing work, so you\u2019ll probably need to save your money for if you fall seriously ill. This is also in the \u201cgood\u201d section because it does have its positives, but you\u2019ll need to be proactive in working out what skills you need to develop to keep your contracting business growing. There\u2019ll be no employer telling you what to do.<\/p>\n \u2026you\u2019re actually running a business<\/strong><\/p>\n You might think it\u2019s easy being your own boss with nobody to tell you what to do, but there\u2019s still the taxman and HMRC with a strong interest in you. That\u2019s because they see contractors as businesses, albeit one with only one employee, but a business nonetheless. That means you\u2019ll need to spend some time on administration and making sure you keep financial records.<\/p>\n \u2026you\u2019ll need to be familiar with IR35 rules<\/strong><\/p>\n If there\u2019s one thing we\u2019ve learnt as accountants, it\u2019s that IR35 rules are anything but fun.<\/p>\n Contractors receive tax benefits, and HMRC is keen to stop employees claiming to be contractors in order to receive the benefits.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll need to follow the confusing rules laid out by IR35 to prove that you are actually a contractor \u2013 get an accountant to help you.<\/p>\n And now for the good bit:<\/strong><\/p>\n The contracting life is good because\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2026you can earn more money<\/strong><\/p>\n This one is first because for most people, the amount of money they are getting paid is one of the biggest deciding factors when deciding on a career move. Luckily for contractors, contracting gives the opportunity to earn more money than a full-time employee.<\/p>\n \u2026your life will just be better<\/strong><\/p>\n Being a contractor means being free. Okay, you\u2019ll actually have lots of bosses to keep happy (i.e. your clients) but as you become more experienced, you\u2019ll have more choice in who those bosses are, and get to turn down work if it\u2019s really not your cup of tea.<\/p>\n That means you get more time for holidays and time to spend with your family (or you could take on more work if you don\u2019t like them very much).<\/p>\n In other words, most contractors are happy people.<\/p>\n \u2026you\u2019ll have a more interesting life<\/strong><\/p>\n As your contracting career flourishes, you\u2019ll have plenty of clients. They\u2019ll all have different jobs for you and different expectations, with is great for you, because your working life will be filled with variety \u2013 you\u2019ll never be bored.<\/p>\n
\n\u2026you\u2019ll need to work out what skills you need to train for<\/p>\n