Author: Stephanie Whalley

With some freelancers looking to sustain their self-employment venture, (or even for a side hustle to their original side hustle), online selling is becoming ever more popular.

Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year, but it’s also one of the most expensive. There are extra costs coming at you left, right and centre, not helped, of course, by the increased cost of living. If you’re looking for extra funds to support your seasonal spending this year, you might consider setting up a freelance side hustle to help you generate some additional income. Ways to make cash for Christmas as a freelancer If you have some spare time outside of paid employment and would like to make some extra spends in time for the…

The nature of being a freelancer means that you’re self-employed, and therefore not paid by an employer who will make tax deductions on your behalf through the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system. Generating your own income from self-employment means you’re also responsible for paying your own tax and keeping HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) up to date with your financial situation. How you pay the tax you owe on your freelance earnings depends on how you are set up as a business. For most freelancers this usually means operating as either a sole trader or as a limited company.…

Valuable, accurate and original content can be critical to your success when freelancing. Digital content (content you create to share online) can help you connect with your existing customers, as well as reach new audiences who will hopefully also become paying clients. So what can you do? We go over some of the different types of digital content to consider for your freelance business. Professional or portfolio website Pitching for (and securing) work can be tricky, so having a professional website or some other platform to show off your skills and reviews is a good one to tick off…

As a self-employed freelancer you’ll need to report your earnings to HMRC and pay tax on them. To make sure that HMRC identify your tax records correctly, they’ll assign a Unique Taxpayer Reference number (UTR for short) once you register the business.

Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is a type of financial benefit that might be available if you have ‘limited capacity to work’, such as a health condition or disability which inhibits your ability to work. The allowance is designed to provide some financial security whilst you are unable to generate income. It’s particularly useful if you’re a self-employed freelancer and don’t have an employer to pay Statutory Sick Pay when you need time off sick. What is the new-style Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)? Most people who claim ESA now get what is called ‘new style ESA’, which replaced…

According to recent facts and figures, there are currently over 2 million freelancers in the UK alone and they’re contributing around £125 billion to the economy.

If you’re feeling confused by the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) rules and regulations, don’t worry, you aren’t alone! CIS rules deal with how contractors working in the construction industry pay their sub-contractors, so it can have a big impact on your reporting responsibilities, and even on your take home pay.

Ten years ago the term ‘influencer’ wasn’t a phrase many of us were very familiar with. Little did we know it would soon become a common word in most vocabularies, as well as a whole new category of self-employment, income stream, digital content medium, and marketing channel. For those who still aren’t entirely familiar, an influencer is somebody with a large (and loyal) online following who has the power to influence sales of products and services—hence the name. You’ll typically find influencers on social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok but ‘influencing’ also extends beyond the most popular platforms…

Remote working is no longer a novelty, it’s a fact of everyday working life, especially for self-employed freelancers who often have more flexibility to move around.