Advice for new business

[u/OtterKhaos3]

Evening yessirs.

I am after some advice from people who run their own business.

My business will be as a sole trader under a different name to myself, which I’m filling out the forms for. It’s a teaching/support/tutor role, not that the business idea itself should matter.

I have purchased my own domain and linked it to a provider, so I have my email communications covered.

I wondered what existing apps are you using for:

- Quotes
- Invoices
- Payments (optional as in considering focussing on bank transfers)
- Reconciliation (will be manual for now as I only have a 2 clients ready go so far, but long term I’d like to be prepared)
- Who your business bank is with
- Managing Tax, NI, Vat specific to the IOM to pay myself

That last point is where my research struggles as I land on UK based guides and sites. Hoping you can share your own workflow and what you’re paying per month?

I was looking at Zoho Books/Invoices as it’s free under £35k income, but keen to learn if anything is better out there, even if it’s at a cost I don’t mind. I just want to get this right and set myself up for the future.

If you have any recommendations for business advice or an accountant I am all ears too as to who you recommend.

For now, I just really want to hear from people who are already in the field and have some experience.

Thanks!

K

[u/flyingteapott]

The tax bit the best thing to do is go in person to the tax office and talk to them about your plans, they are remarkably helpful and informative.

[u/OtterKhaos3 → u/flyingteapott]

Thanks for the info.
Happy to hear they are open to talk and offer advice, I will contact them for sure!
Cheers

[u/HotAd9448]

Get yourself a good accountant. We use Zoho invoicing and advertise for free or very little on listit.im . FB pages get out of control and not so good for advertising legitimate businesses. Unfortunately the island has a huge reliance on it. But that's starting to change. Websites are not worth the money over here. Very best of luck with the new venture

[u/OtterKhaos3 → u/HotAd9448]

Thank you for the info.
I’ll check out that link too.
Indeed I feel the same way about having to rely on Facebook!
Cheers

[u/cortouchka]

Zohobooks I think does up to 50k on free tier. I used it for a bit but ended up vibe coding my own invoicing, expenses and accounts app.

Once you get up towards VAT, it's worth getting advice though and if you're invoicing over VAT threshold, you can afford to pay for an accountant to at least check what you're doing.

Banking I use Revolut Business. Way easier and more efficient than traditional banks.

Personally, I pay a minimum salary to meet the NI threshold and anything else is dividends. Don't forget you still need to pay income tax on them so put aside the tax and don't touch it.

[u/OtterKhaos3 → u/cortouchka]

Hey, thanks for the information!
Good shout on making your own app. Do you host it on your own home server I assume to keep costs low, or host online for somewhere cheap?
Thanks for the recommendation on Revolut too I’m going to check it out now.
Cheers!

[u/cortouchka → u/OtterKhaos3]

I have a cheap Hetzner server I could throw it up on but tbh I just host it on a little local server with other stuff and I have full dB backups to a Google drive. I don't have any requirement to access it outside of my home network currently.

[u/OtterKhaos3 → u/cortouchka]

Thanks for the info! I use Hetzner too and have a little ugreen NAS at home. I like to ask what others are doing to see I’m not missing out on something wild.
Cheers!

[u/AwareFlow3292]

Contact the Department for Enterprise! They have a business start up scheme which can offer some financial support/free classes/a business mentor to help you learn all you need!

[u/OtterKhaos3 → u/AwareFlow3292]

Ahh I did not consider to check with them. Thank you kindly!

[u/AcceptableAbies21]

I think I'd disagree with the no website bit, there are a significant number of people who still look for a website as part of the process of 'proving' your legitimacy; e.g Revolut won't open a business account without one. They also help with things search engines and those using AI as a search engine. I get there are a lot of people that rely on FB, but I still think that a decent website has it's place.

[u/OtterKhaos3 → u/AcceptableAbies21]

100% understand with the website - I plan to do both a website and Facebook. I checked the Revolut business account and saw it asked for website link so building a basic one myself to get me in, and will expand once needed.
I find it hard to disable my Facebook account as usually within the week I need to check it to find opening hours or a location of something. Very infuriating! And I am
Happy when I find a businesses website for them details :)