Not really one to talk much about what I do but here goes.

if you are self employed please let us know what you do

Run a Music retail store in North London, describe it as being, Entertainment Retail as we sell DVDs, Vinyl, CDs we're also an internet caffe.

how you made the change from working for the man to working for yourself

Used to work in sales but one of the first jobs I had was for a record distributor in Tottenham (SRD), they call it ''picking and packing'' self explanatory really, involved navigating a warehouse looking for orders that HMV, Ourprice (lol) and Virgin Media placed but I enjoyed the atmosphere, it was very camdenish different types of people working there each with their own musical taste and culture. Decided that I wanted to run a record shop from there... making the change was ''easy'' never enjoyed working for someone else, just like the old man really. Realized that it'd be best to start when I could rather than do so under any financial pressure.

what are the pros and cons

Pros;

Being self determinate means that you get to set your own wage, the more work you put in the more you get out of it. Control over your own life, for better or for worse as they say.

You can go about your business throughout the day, if you have to study, go and see someone etc you can... depending on the type of business you're in of course.

Gives you a mind for the way things work in society and business in general...

ie, you have to stay on top of your accounts, know where your money is coming from, where its going and where to put it. Transfer that to your personal life and you're half way there.

Veiw things differently knowing how commerce is run, puts you on the inside track as it were, things now effect you whereas before you wouldn't need to pay much mind to them, you need to know what is happening in your industry and (how to) stay one step ahead to gauge how it will effect you, politics and laws etc you're more in the firing line than you would be if you're wages were being looked after by someone else. Get to see the impact of changes in society which is why I go on a bit about MP3s, ''illegal'' downloading and its impact, watching the competition and companies i based yourself off off go down one by one definitely opened my eyes to the way people do things without thinking of its impact... the internet has ''revolutionized'' business in general and distorted the face of the music industry, companies use it to pass costs onto consumers more than anything. Won't go into it as I'll end up taking up a whole page but seeing it and having it effect you opened my eyes to economy and the workings behind it all.

Enjoy working out the math behind a new idea to see if its valid or not, planning it out and mapping it as it were. Its being creative in its own way, once its all together you get to plug it in and see if it works, like a robot you've had to piece together and work out. The time and energy you need to put into it is always a factor thats easy to miscalculate, can put a strain on your personal life.

Camaraderie with other business owners in the area.

Council people treat you differently, stop by and say hi and ask how things are, you are now someone they want to keep happy.

Pros list could go on...

Cons;

The council are bstards (especially enfield), tax, rates, insurance etc its extortionate. Theres some rubbish statistic about how many new start companies make it through the first year trading, they never talk about how difficult they make it for the self employed, especially if you're in retail, call that ground work. If you're in services theres less to deal with as you're not open to the public. They want to keep you happy because businesses make up a large proportion of the money they make each year and they go about it draconian style, no stone left unturned, got a call the other day from someone talking about the temperature of the shop... it has to be a certain temperature for the public and workers you see. **Roll eyes** Literally a tax on everything they can get their hands on.

No set wage, theres no guarantee on what you'll make, the banks are less keen to give mortgages for the same reason. Theres a certain security in knowing that you're going to get paid a certain amount at the end of the week if you're getting a steady flow of customers and good feedback from them its the best thing you could have done, if things are shaky its unsettling as you never know where you'll be in the future. If you're into services and are in an arena where you can earn residual income, well it speaks for itself, can't beat earning £2000 a month from someone with a contract to do so... was going to study Import and Export as thats what its about and you don't have to concern yourself with rates and so on in services, all you need is an office with a computer, fax machine and a desk. Learnt that theres nothing wrong with being employed by someone through being self employed though, have to admit that.

Everyone has something to offer all of a sudden... can be a pro or a con, excuse the pun.

Envy is a horrible thing, lost a lot of ''friends'' even family members started acting funny toward me. People feel threatened by someone whos self determinate they don't interact with you in the same way. Can be a bit dangerous to boot. Not that you'd have to worry about that.

how much investment did you put in or was it all bank loans

Got a loan from the Princes Trust, had to sit in front of a panel of masons who didn't like me .lol. scrunched up their faces, faffed over my business plan in a hurry and ushered me out the door, ''racism'' .lol.

Got other funding from family.... Never do business with family (a motto of mine), it takes a certain mettle and theres nothing worse than working in the day and having to go home to someone talking about the same thing, business matters become family matters etc, if I could go back in time I would have avoided it completely. People who put money into your idea seem to think that it gives them free reign over you, talk about it as though its theirs.

Workout how much you need for every step of the way along with how much you need to survive on while the business is in its infancy. Make it a two year rather than a single year plan.

any qualifications or courses worth doing

Government have a lot of free or cheap courses you can do, went to the enfield enterprise agency which was only £10 a lesson. Should be something similar in your area, guard your idea though I got ripped off by someone while I was there thought I was being helpful but gave away too much, didn't effect me they just made money off of a contact I gave them. You've got businesslink already. Nothing wrong with doing a short business course yourself though or buying a few books on accounting and marketing, all about marketing really, can sell anything if you know how to market it.... its an essential part of your business plan second to the monetary side of things. Need to know where/how to advertise your service and how much it'll cost to do so.

and anything else

... Don't let it consume you... no doubt what ever arena you're in there'll be other opportunities, you'll have other ideas or people will present them to you.

When you start up and see a bit of success it can make you ''giddy'' you get the business bug and want to nyam all the pies rather than let the one you're trying to eat digest an settle. Trust me, it got to me and I've seen it in family members who got bit and went off on one setting up one business then another and then its this then that and they change suddenly have no time for other people as they have to sort this and that out, end up digging a hole for themselves as their lack of focus costs them money so they then need to put more time in to make up for it chasing paper. If its not that then people will seem to, ''get in the way'', look out for it in yourself, it can be dangerous in its own way... something happened to my family while we all weren't looking not so long ago and it would have destroyed us. Worst thing I've ever been though.

You are getting into business to create a better life for your family, you shouldn't then neglect them to do so. It doesn't make sense. Try not to be such a business person as it were, they're ugly people. An opinion but I thought I'd share it.

... and we do support our own, perhaps not in all fields as most wouldn't know where to go (not sure what happened to that directory we used to have) but we've had nothing but support from the community around here and this is a majority greek/turkish/european area. Didn't know there were so many of us about until now.

Excellent Post! this is something that I have just started thinking about

Working 9 - 5 (actually I have two jobs,lol) may guarantee a pay cheque, but lawd knows I am tired of working for the man.

It all gets eaten up anyway, with bills bills and unexpected bills - (just got burned by the halifax who have charged me short of £300 for going £2 overdrawn...never bank with the halifax)