Tips and candid advice for Self-Employed DEAs
In my last podcast for DEAs with Alex Rodgers, of Christopher Rodgers (Home & Energy) Ltd, we spoke briefly about a series of interesting articles Chris Rodgers himself wrote, about working as a self-employed Home Inspector (or Domestic Energy Assessor - the business model is virtually the same).
I am deliberately blogging this to remind you to read them, if you haven't already, for they contain some very important clues and tips on:
- Getting paid - Last year Christopher Rodgers spent over £150,000 on Lawyers. Useful advice on chasing payment, and how.
- Cashflow - How much should you realistically budget for in your cashflow plans? Candid insight written from personal experience. Do you need an overdraft?
- Personal Indemnity Insurance - More candid wisdom drawn from personal experience of filling-in a fair share of claims forms. Think this is a tick-box exercise? Think you don't need good written English? Think again.
The last point is important:
This is no easy task as insurers these days need a lot of detail and
considerable time and effort needs to be put into a robust auditable
process from the day you first undertake your piece of work.
I have been shocked at the level of written English by some of the participants in the forums. Now, I'm sorry if that's one of you reading - I don't claim to spell-check everything I write, or ensure every sentence is grammatically-correct, but the fact is, when it comes to legal matters, this stuff does become important; even a missing comma can change the meaning of a sentence.
I know some of you are Dyslexic, but that cuts no ice. You will need to have this covered from the get-go.
Finally, the last one; IR35 - I won't elaborate here, just read it. Even if you intend to become a provider yourself, read it.
And here is the link:
Self-Employed notes for the DEA
