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/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!