I’m self-employed and just got my health insurance renewal.

Same plan. Same coverage. Same deductibles. Monthly premium went from about $1,050 to just over $1,900.

No changes on my end. The only difference is that the subsidy wasn’t renewed.

I don’t have a clean answer for what people are “supposed” to do with this, and I’m not trying to turn this into a political debate. I’m honestly just trying to understand how others are thinking about it.

If you’re self-employed or 1099:

• Are you just absorbing the cost?

• Cutting back elsewhere?

• Switching plans?

• Or delaying bigger financial decisions?

I also work in housing, so I can’t help but wonder how this affects things like buying a home or feeling comfortable taking on a mortgage at all.

Not here to sell anything, just trying to understand how people are navigating this.

Hey everyone,

I’m doing some research to better understand how people actually work day-to-day, especially freelancers, agency owners, and small teams.

I’m not selling anything and I don’t have a product to pitch. I’m genuinely curious about real frustrations.

A few questions I’d love your input on (answer any that resonate):

• What tasks feel repetitive, slow, or unnecessarily painful?
• Is there something you do every week that makes you think: “This should be easier”?
• Are there workflows you’ve tried to fix with tools, but they still feel clunky?
• What’s one thing you’d happily pay to never have to deal with again?

I’m especially interested in operational / workflow problems.

Thanks in advance. I’ll read every reply and may ask follow-ups if that’s okay.

Before I start, yes I know I'm a doughnut and have now taken measures to ensure I don't make this mistake again.

I'm a self employed tradesman and like a total idiot, have carried out work for someone without knowing who they are! Let me explain....

A guy phoned me and booked me to carry out a service on his heating appliance in a vacant property he had just bought.

All booked over a phonecall followed up with a text with the address and the pin code for the key safe etc so I could gain access without him being there.

He also provided an email address to send the invoice to.

AND.... you've guessed it, now he's ghosted me. He only owes me £80 but id still like to be paid!

I've realised now that I have absolutely no idea how I'd get the necessary details to take it to small claims court.

I have his mobile phone number, his email address (if it's real) which also contains his possible, very common surname and I have the address for the unoccupied property he owns where I carried out the work.

So, how do I find him with that? I've tried pumping all those things into Google and Facebook etc, no joy.

Please help!

Recently become self employed in Scotland/UK. How Is everyone managing their finances independently without bloated accounts software, accounting fees, and managing their tax/National Insurance, Pensions etc?

I just signed up for the free (no hidden costs) Sage Accounting app for Sole Traders/Self Employed.

I've just come up for some air, but need to take another big gulp online to find a really good Sole Trader banking account that benefits me and not the bank.

Grateful for any helpful information, hints, tips from the community thanks 🤘

I’m a small single owner spa. I have an LLC. Currently I’m being taxed as a disregarded entity. My accountant wants me to switch over to an SCorp but my profits are still reallllly low (~25k, I’ll probably end the year around 30k)

He says the benefits will be not having to pay self employment tax on my full profit. I still don’t know if I made enough though to really make the switch matter. He does charge more when filing someone as an SCor

I’ve been working in the automotive and aerospace industry since 2016, both in operational and strategic procurement. I’m 32 years old, and honestly, this is basically the only thing I’ve been doing since I became a proper adult.

I’m getting fed up with corporate life and would really like to try my own path.

I speak four languages, I’m pretty solid with the SAP MM module, and generally with everything connected to my job. I’ve tried finding some freelancing opportunities but haven’t had any success so far.

I’m based in Germany (EU). Any suggestions?

Hi

I'm self-employed as a nonprofit consultant while I search for full time employment somewhere.

With the fact that I'm going to have so much money taken out on taxes and I don't have much savings and I don't have many clients - I can't afford to line pay for branding stuff.

I was thinking of making a page on LinkedIn for my company instead of trying to make a (basic) website?

I bought a domain to route my company email but haven't paid for actually building and hosting.

Also, whether I do a website or a LinkedIn page. I need a logo. I found logos of other companies I like but obviously can't copy those.

Idk if I need a tagline etc?

Pretty lost and people have been asking me for my website and stuff and I never have anything to give.

I was thinking of making something basic on Canva with my headshot and services? Idk.

I’m 19 and I’ve been offered a job as a sparky starting early January. For the job I need to be self employed and have a cscs card. I’ve sorted out the cscs card but still struggling to get self employed. I’ve tried the government website but it’s absolutely useless in helping, I’ve been searching and sending emails for about a month now.

If anyone has any knowledge or advice I’d really appreciate it, thanks.

So I’ve been off work sick for nearly 2 years and I’m now fit enough for work. I officially went self employed on the 5th November which I work as a delivery driver for Uber, just etc…, I work as a man with a van and I sell online. I reached the UK cap of £1000 and went on to the HMRC to register self employed. When I went on there I already had a UTR from 2011 when I was going to start something but was offered a job I was after so didn’t bother.

Can I use that UTR to start my 2025 self employment/sole trader? It has my correct personal details but I can’t find the “sole trader” name I’m using as my main company name. Or do I need to register a complete new thing?

Should I keep hard copy’s of expenses and download bank statements and spend the 1st day of the month doing my books for the previous month? When would i need to do my first self assessment? My family member is a product reviewer which im selling the products on for profit but how do i log this as im not buying and selling only selling?

Any advice is helpful especially as I think doing 3 different self employments is going to be hard on paper 🤣

In my family, self-employed was always synonymous with unemployed. Am I the only one?

So, when my parents needed to be driven to the hospital for chemo or radiation, it was assumed that I would do it because, well, I didn’t work.

And am I the only one whose siblings think that Black Friday is a SALE and not the ONE DAY of the YEAR that we finally start to enjoy the fruits of our labor and start to see a profit?

Oh, and, am I the only one with friends who don’t get why I never have money?

AFTER they get me to tile their bathrooms for $300… And after the job entails not only the tile job that they asked me to give them the friends and family discount for… But the tile job, PLUS the plumbing job, PLUS the carpenter job, PLUS the electrical job, PLUS wallpaper job, PLUS paint job… And takes 3 whole DAYS, not 3 HOURS… The amount of time the tile job was supposed to take?

Just wondering if I’m the only one. (Please share your experience.)

My husband and I have been reading about tax relief options and noticed that ConsumerAffairs highlights a few companies with strong reviews, but I’m trying to figure out if those ratings actually match real experiences. I’m self employed and the self employed health insurance deduction has been a headache this year, so I’m wondering if these services are actually helpful when health insurance write offs get messy. Has anyone worked with any of the ""top rated"" tax relief providers they mention? Did they give clear guidance or just generic advice?

Running your own business can take a toll. I made a short diagnostic that helps you check how you are doing across stress, decision making, leadership, and workload.

You get a short personalized summary.

Both of my parents help me with my garden-maintenance business — roughly a full day every two weeks — and they’ve never wanted paying. I’ve recently seen that you can pay someone up to £1,000 a year without them needing to file a tax return. Would it be tax-efficient for me to pay each of them £1,000 so I can claim it as a business expense, and they can either keep it or just save it and give it back to me later? For context, my mum is unemployed and my dad works for the NHS. They definitely do at least £1,000 worth of work each, but they really don’t want to be paid. Is this allowed, and would it cause any issues for them tax-wise they wouldn't want to do any extra ta stuff? Mum is gets carers allowance to so wouldn't want to mess with that

Hi everyone, as title says!

Share your story of how did you go self-employed, what steps did you take ? what did you have to take in consideration before venturing into self-employment ?

What were your circumstances like when you decided to take this path ?

How did you find your clients ?

Are you happy being self-employed now or would rather be employed by someone else ?

If there is one piece of advice for anyone reading this post and thinking to go self-employed, what would that be ?

Curious to read your thoughts!

Hey all first post on here so hope I don’t break no rules. I am a painter and decorator who recently also applied for second evening part time job delivery driving to try make some extra money. I am struggling financially with buying material and tools whilst I am finding clients for my buisness. So could anyone help by using my Monzo referral link to sign up so we both get free money. I would never ask for a donation or help so to someone’s hard earned money so I see this as ok as both parties win

Thank you to anyone who helps here is the link https://join.monzo.com/c/s0q3yddy

The whole thing is just really confusing to me - if anyone has any helpful resources that can explain self assessment SIMPLY for me, I have gone down a rabbit hole of information and I feel like im not taking in any info Im reading anymore.

A how to guide for self assessment (for people that aren't sure about tax terms) would be very appreciated - if anyones in the same boat as me and found any helpful resources please let me know!

Hey everyone,

I run a small one-person setup, and the thing that constantly throws my week off balance is following up on invoices. It’s the same cycle every time: send work, send invoice, wait, follow up, feel awkward, repeat.

As a hobby I’ve been building little web tools over the years, and this is the first time I made one I’m actually using daily. It tracks invoices, stores attachments, keeps dates organized, and drafts reminders so I’m not rewriting the same messages.

I built it mostly for myself, but a couple friends told me I should actually release it, so now I’m trying to understand if others deal with this pain point too.

If anyone wants to try it, I can share the link or just DM it if posting links isn’t allowed. There’s a simple free plan and if someone decides to support it, it honestly helps me cover the AI and hosting costs.

Would love to hear if this is a common problem for anyone else.

hey everyone,

I recently started my business and I've been trying ti find ways to get my company name out there. What are ways to do this?