At some point in your life, you may find yourself making quite the career change. Although it’s completely normal to take your career in a different direction from time to time, it’s something entirely different to make a leap into the world of self-employment. Being self-employed, compared to being employed by a business, is a very different experience to what the working world can offer you. Even if it’s something that you’ve been planning for years, and have even been excited for, it can be quite the shock when you first get started. So let’s take a look at some of the circumstances you can expect when you start out on your own.

Flexible Working Hours

One of the first things that you really need to get used to, even when it’s something that lures you into self-employment in the first place, is the flexible working hours that you’re now entitled to. Flexible working can be a huge draw to starting up on your own, but it can also be dangerous if you’re not too careful. You have to be able to manage your time well. And this involves productivity. It’s easy to start working early and stay on to work late, but you have to ensure that you’re getting work done at the same time.

Late Payments

Then comes a huge downside that you need to be aware of and fast. When you’re self-employed, you’re not going to be entitled to get paid on time – if at all. It’s unfortunate, but a huge part of being self-employed. You may find that your clients pay late constantly, even by weeks or months. So be aware of it. It’s often worth putting contingency in place so that you’re able to be prepared should a payment not come through at all.

Tax Implications

As a self-employed person, you are also now responsible for your own tax. Whereas your employers may have covered this off for you before, now it’s down to you. So, you have to be able to find an accountant that you not only trust, but that can help you to stay on track when it comes to recording everything and declaring what you’ve earned too.

Credit Implications

At the same time, you may also find credit a little harder to get. This is not necessarily anything to do with your own credit status, but more so that self-employed people seem to have a lot more to prove. So you need to ensure that you have your ID and paperwork together when you do need finance. So keep everything together and even read this Aadhar card download guide should you have misplaced anything. And you’ll be prepared for when you next need credit.

Networking Benefits

And finally, you should also think about networking. You’re now effectively working alone, and that can make progression quite tough. But networking can help. These networking tips for self-employed people should be useful to you. When you make connections, you can push your work forward, and avoid being lonely too.