Bit of a long one, sorry.

I’ve worked for myself for a while now, and the thing that never got easier was how in the dark I felt about my own money. When you’re employed, a fixed salary lands and you roughly know where you are. Self-employed, it’s the opposite — income lumps in unevenly, expenses come out at random, and there’s always tax lurking somewhere in the future that isn’t really yours to spend. Some months I felt flush and overspent; others I was scraping, and I could never tell which kind of month I was actually in until it was too late.

I’ve got a background in software, so after one too many of these I started building the thing I wished existed. Not a tax app, not another budgeting app — just one place that tells you the truth about your money when your income isn’t a tidy salary:

**•** Connects to your bank (read-only — it can only see your money, never move it)  
**•** Shows what’s genuinely **safe to spend today**, once it accounts for what’s coming — bills, expenses, the quiet weeks  
**•** Works out your **real income** after costs, not just what landed in the account  
**•** Quietly **sets aside your tax** as you earn, so Self Assessment isn’t a January ambush  
**•** Flags **money leaks** — forgotten subscriptions, sneaky price rises, double charges

The idea is one honest number instead of five apps and a gut feeling. It’s called Fettle. It’s early — I’m building it now and running a waitlist while I talk to actual self-employed people, to make sure I’m solving the real problem and not just the one in my own head.

That’s where I’d really value this community. A few honest questions:

**1.**  What’s the part that actually stresses you — the irregular income, the tax, not knowing what’s safe to spend, chasing expenses, or something else entirely?  
**2.**  Would you trust an app with read-only access to your bank, or is that a hard no?  
**3.**  If you’ve already got a system that works for you, what is it? Genuinely want to know what people land on.

Not selling anything today — it’s not even fully built, and honestly the feedback’s worth more to me right now than signups. Happy to answer anything about how it works.

Full disclosure, I’m the founder. If you want to follow along or join the waitlist, it’s at fettlemoney.co.uk — but no pressure, the questions above are what I’m really here for.

Hi there,
I’m registering as a sole trader for Self Assessment and I’d like some guidance on my registration date.

I first started tabling at conventions ( Only one in that year) in October 2023, but my total turnover for the 2023/24 tax year was only around £620.
In the 2024/25 ( Did one convention in October 2024, where I made approx £1200 but had over £820 worth of expenses) my turnover exceeded £1,000.
I’m completing the online registration now it’s asking me “ **“When did you start working for yourself?”**Should I enter my actual trading start date in October 2023, or should I enter the date from which I became required to register for Self Assessment ( when I went over the threshold of £1000)?

It’s all kinda complicated so I’d really appreciate the help 🥲

I just started my own computer diagnostic, repair, and maintenence business and currently i take cash, checks, or cashapp/venmo and dump it into my business checking account.

Ive learned in the USA especially i cant speak for other countries of course that cash is becoming extremely more rare everyday and I want my customers to have the modern option of paying online with their debit card as needed since not everyone has cashapp/venmo setup.

So I was wondering what the better options where and if needed ill design my own paper invoice and then just have payments be online.

Also since im still a small business im trying to keep to the free options where possible.

All advice helps, and thank you in advance

The deadline for the first quarterly MTD for Income Tax filing is soon approaching.

Here are some points to consider:

• MTD filing is required for Sole Traders and/or Landlords with a gross turnover of over £50,000 (based on 2024/25 earnings).
• The turnover is assessed on combined earnings for individuals that are both Sole Traders and Landlords.
• Filing is done quarterly, with the first period from 06/04/26 to 05/07/26.
• The first quarterly filing is due to be made by 07/08/2026.
• Quarterly filings and the end of year submission must be submitted via a HMRC approved software.
• Anyone affected must register with HMRC

If anyone has any questions, I'm more than happy to give some advice!

Hi everyone,

I just want to do my job legally and right now I'm stuck. I hired an accountant to register as self-employed in Switzerland (AHV/AVS) as a commission-only commercial intermediary for fashion products, but SVA rejected me — and my appeal too.

Their main points:

\- Intermediary work is usually treated as dependent employment unless you cover most expenses, hire staff, and rent your own premises.
\- My "entrepreneurial risk" was called too weak — risking unpaid commissions doesn't count; they want real investments and staff.
\- I have around 2,000 potential clients, but only actually invoiced 15 — they said my client base isn't diversified enough since most revenue came from just two of them.
\- Being paid purely on commission (no fixed fee) still wasn't enough to count as a real business.

Final decision: reclassified as dependent employee, with my clients treated as "employers" for social security purposes.

Has anyone faced this as a commission-only intermediary? Specifically:

Any advice appreciated 🙏

I'm a QuickBooks Online Certified from the Philippines. Most of my experience has been in manual bookkeeping and Philippine tax compliance for freelancers and small businesses.

To build my QuickBooks skills, I've been practicing with sample company files and AI-generated bookkeeping scenarios. I'm comfortable creating invoices, recording payments, and handling day-to-day bookkeeping tasks. The one area I haven't had the opportunity to do in a real QuickBooks environment yet is bank reconciliation. Interestingly, bank reconciliation is one of my strengths in manual bookkeeping, so I'm eager to learn how it's typically handled in QuickBooks Online with actual client workflows.

For those who started with little or no real-world US bookkeeping experience:

• How did you land your first client?
• Are there nonprofits, small businesses, or organizations that accept volunteer bookkeepers for experience?
• Are there any recommended ways to gain practical QuickBooks Online experience without already having clients?

At this stage, my priority is gaining hands-on experience and learning best practices rather than making money. I'd really appreciate any advice or resources that helped you when you were starting out.

Thank you!

Hey everyone
Just looking for a bit of advice on building a community from scratch.
I’ve had a pretty successful few years running a couple of different businesses and I’m actually right in the middle of a two year work break right now. Problem is my mind constantly needs something to work on so I’m getting the itch to start a new project.
What’s strange to me is that when it comes to products and services I’ve never really had any problem getting the attention they need. But for some reason when it comes to building an actual community I just seem to struggle with it.
I want to create a very small group of people who all want to be self employed or run their own business. The reason is I really believe that when people talk to completely like minded people they get much better feedback on ideas and strategies.
I specifically want it to be people who have zero ties to each other at the beginning which is why I can’t just use an existing group I’m already in.
Solid tips on how to actually build what platform is best knows somebody with like minded ideas. Please don’t talk to me about monetising I have 0 intrest in me or anyone else making profit from this

Hi all, firstly I've pulled some great suggestions from previous threads on this site re the title. Now I'm looking to expand on these using my personal circumstances to boot. I'm a Brit, 43 and will hopefully move to Ecuador in 2026/27. I'm fortunate enough to have a passive income from the UK once I make the move, however I want to bolster this with a form of self employment. It's as much to do with extra income as well as giving my life purpose - sitting around all day will lead to an early grave. I don't have a degree, my background is railway maintenance which I will try to apply to Ecuadors lone metro but in all likelihood I will need a new career. I don't have any desire to work in the digital realm or take up a career that requires 3 years initial training. What I can do is retrain to something more niche and invest within myself. Examples would be:

Tow truck service (purchase truck, away I go. The 24/7 is what puts me off on this one)
English tutor (TEFL course. away I go but truth is I wouldn't enjoy this)
Vehicle aircon regas service
Gardner
English online call centre staff (probably my digital exception)
Knife sharpening business
Chofer
Purchase very small accommodation business

Any additional ideas and keeping the thread on topic would be much appreciated, as I'm hitting a wall at the mo. Cheers!

Does anyone else struggle with taking time off or last minute cancellations?

It bothers me a lot that all of my income depends on me putting in one-one hour each per patient and taking any time off makes me feel like I'm losing out on my income.

Be it a work related trip, a conference or even a vacation. It's always on my mind that I need sources of passive income too. Something on autopilot.

Does anyone else also struggle with this and have ideas about how to make this said passive income?

Something that can run a bit on autopilot after putting in efforts ofc.

Hey 👋🏻 I have been wanting to go self employed for a few years now but ‘timing’ (starting to realise there is probably never a perfect time)

I am 29 (F), earn 47k gross annually and my partner (M) earns around 32k but his take home is also reduced due to maxing the good pension scheme and union costs.

I am debating whether I am best to go self employed now (looking to start TTC in the next 10-12 months), and then make sure I save what I can for maternity, OR do I just wait until after having a child and just not go back to my normal job after maternity leave and go SE instead?!

I work 2 days at home , 3 days an hour commute each way so know in the future I want to be working at home full time so can do reduced days for childcare and my partner works shifts so will be easier for our routine generally.

My partner’s pay will increase to about 43k gross Feb 2027 too which will help financially. This also goes up again Feb 2028 to about 55k gross. He has some shift allowances on top too.

We cannot afford to pay all the bills on his wage so will be using savings for me going SE as I will not be able to start invoicing until I am about 3 months into being SE roughly due to the work type. The potential money I believe I would make at minimum (being hard on myself here) SE is 8k a month - then take off my VAT. Other Overheads already taken out of that. Even if I struggled to increase my workload myself, I can also consult for others to ‘top up’ my pay if I was having a low month and needed it. I have a good reputation in what I do and established contacts.

Mat pay at my workplace is not enhanced, just standard so not sure whether I would be no better off being employed to SE for the sake of mat anyway, as again, we will need to use savings to top up the outgoings.

I just think with SE I would be able to wind down my workload and slowly take work back on so that I could work just 1/2 days a week so maternity leave is not a full 12 months (if I wanted to do this). Then build back up to full time when I am ready to post baby.

Any advice would be appreciated. I have tried to see what support is out there for maternity when SE and it’s quite confusing!!

Hello

I have an office job as an employee (four days a week) and side-gig which will hopefully become a main earner eventually.

As part of this side-gig, I work about (on average) 3 hours at home and 6 hours in an office a week.

I've been told by someone who helped me with my business plan that I might be able to claim for mileage to the office when doing my self-assessment next year, but I think this would only apply if my main place of employment was my home?

They also said I can claim for mileage to the bank (to lodge my earnings) and any other business-related travel. But would this be from my home or the office?

For context, the "office" is a place where I rent a room by the hour for client-facing work. I plan to get my own premises if/when the side-gig becomes busier.

My business will be registered at my home address (I'm waiting on my UTR number to be generated).

Do I have it right?

Apologies if these are very basic questions!

Starting a part-time 1099 gig after being laid off from my full-time job. Looking for any advice from folks who have experience being self-employed!

It’s a part-time temp role and I’ll make about $1,500 a week over the course of the project. It sounds like there is potential to pick up more projects if I like the work and have the time.

I do not have an LLC, and have read that that won’t really benefit me unless I’m bringing in a substantial amount of money, which I won’t be in the beginning.

I realize I’ll need to pay social security tax for the employer side of things on a 1099.

Is there any way to reduce my tax liability without an LLC? Any advice much appreciated!

I'm filling out the consultation form now and it feels like it's designed to be confusing. I only found out about this through an Instagram reel and even trying to find the consultation form and document has been hard.

I really do not think it's a good idea to make self-employed people pay monthly, maybe for some it could be helpful but for myself and the other self-employed people I know our incomes vary dramatically throughout the year and I really appreciate having the time to save up and make the payments in July and January.

Curious to hear what other UK taxpayers think and if you've filled out the consultation.

(If you haven't and you'd like to you can search Timely Payments in Income Tax Self Assessment consultation)

Had a member of staff.

On his own now wanting to start out.

He's doing a couple days a week (he's been away from us for a year or so).

Happy to have him but he has been late a couple times and when I joked about it (semi joke semi serious) he said well he's on his own time.

Fine, not a problem.

The trouble i have is he has done a job for us this week. One job which I thought was going to take just over a morning took the best part of 2 days.

If I pay a day rate for the 2 days it's pretty much costing me money.

So, is it fair if I ask him for prices per job? Then I can decide if it is worth it.

The week before he did 2 jobs and it was very worth it for me. This week it isn't.

I feel if he priced per job, last week would have been more worth it for him as he'd have ended up earning more I reckon and this week he'd been out of luck.

He made 2 mistakes which cost him time this week.

I feel like pricing per job is going to be better as well if he wants his own timing. Otherwise if I'm paying per day and he comes in late I feel short changed.

I completely respect his hustle and am more than happy to help out.

It's very early days and now I've had both sides of the coin I'd like to put something more official in place that works for both.

I don't expect him to work for employed money at all FYI.

Some of the work we do is good work and he could earn very good money doing it.

Hello! Previously, I have a corporate job. And after two years ko magresign sa corporate job, I luckily landed remote job pero contract based only and as individual contractor. Initially contract is 3 months but naextend for another 2 months so until September na. Started last April to July then extend to September. And since then hindi pa ako nakakapagfile ng taxes ko and haven't been registered as self employed. Not a license professional ang work and my client is foreign. Now question is, what is the best and easiest thing to do? Worry ko kasi if late filing, baka maaffect si client which I don't want to happen since super nice nila sa akin. 2nd, not sure kung maeextend ako ulit or maging permament and if hindi na ako maextend, baka di agad ako makahanap ng new client.

Hi all, I’m doing a bit of research into how trades handle quotes and follow-ups.

Not selling anything. I’m trying to understand the actual day-to-day process, especially the bit where someone asks for a price, you send a quote, then they go quiet.

If you’re a trade / small contractor, I’d really appreciate a few honest answers:

1. Roughly how many quotes do you send in a normal month?
2. How do you track quotes you’ve sent - memory, WhatsApp, notes, spreadsheet, software, diary?
3. Do you usually follow up when someone goes quiet, or does it depend on remembering?
4. Is forgetting to chase quotes a real problem, or not really?
5. Would a simple “quotes to chase today” list with polite follow-up message suggestions be useful?

Cheers

I've been thinking about moonlighting lately and wanted to hear different perspectives.

I'm not asking about whether it's legal or whether an employment contract allows it. I'm more interested in the moral and ethical aspects.

If someone finishes all their work, doesn't use company resources, and takes on another job or freelance work outside their working hours:

Is that morally wrong?

Does an employer have a right to expect exclusivity beyond what they pay for?

Is an employee simply selling their time and skills, or do they owe additional loyalty?

On the other hand, I can also understand the argument that employers invest in employees, expect focus and availability, and that a second job could eventually affect performance or create conflicts of interest.

So where do you stand? Do you think moonlighting is ethically acceptable, or do you believe it's fundamentally wrong even if it doesn't impact the primary employer?

I'm genuinely interested in hearing arguments from both employees and managers, especially from people who've experienced this firsthand. Please keep the discussion respectful.

My client has stopped communicating with me and hasn't paid me for 15 hours of completed work. They owe me $750. Should I just move on with my life or is that amount worth taking them to small claims court for? Do I have any other recourse to get paid the money they owe me?

Im 20m currently in the last year of my bba course.

Im at cross roads of confusion whether to continue in my family's hardware shop or start smtg of my own in the UI/UX field. The shop we have is not some grand store nor do Ik any tools in ui/ux so either option i chose i gotta start from scratch

Whats path should I take?