Setting up own self employed temp business

[Birker2020]

After losing a job I loved last year due to redundancy and searching for many months prior to leaving to get another job I eventually landed a temporary job with an agency to avoid going on the dole. However I absolutely loathe the job and I am desperately unhappy. It is starting to effect my health Not only am I really struggling financially as I took a 4K drop in salary, but I really hate the work, it is menial and extremely boring and the people I take orders from were in nappies when I started my career.

I was thinking about working from home as a self employed ‘temp’ as I have been temping for about 20 years on and off. Agencies charge a client approx a third more than the hourly rate they pay the temp, so if a temp earns £8 per hour an agency will charge the client approx £12£14 per hour. I would like to cut out the ‘middle man’ i.e the Agency and go to the client directly and therefore earn a better rate of pay but charge the client less fee.

I have internet set up at home, a typing speed of 65wpm, good MS office skills and internet experience and experience with legal conveyancing, insurance, utilities, pensions and life assurance. I can also do word processing, typing letters and correspondence and data input.

Have any forum users decided to set up on their own and what equipment did you use? Are you making a comfortable living out of this and whet kind of hours do you have to work? I was thinking of creating some fliers or putting cards in supermarket advertising boards to advertise my skills and availability.

 

[Geraldine]

My friend did this when she was made redundant. She up her own website (Free You Day), not sure if it's still live though as she's now back in full time employment.

She was doing okay before she accepted the full time job.

 

[MrsMozart]

You'll find that going direct, as opposed to using an agency, is the hardest bit - i.e. actually finding the work.

A lot of organizations use a Preffered Supplier List (PSL) and will not deviate from it. If you're not on the list, they will not use you. For the oganization it can often work out cheaper to use an agency, especially if they have more than one temp worker, due to the checks etc. that they'll make when looking for suppliers of temp workers, plus the consolidated invoicing that also cuts the costs to the org.

I do this sort of thing for a living, as in we have a procuement consultancy so we look for work (direct with the client if possible due to the day rate implications); I also buy in temp services for org.s

PM me if you want a chat

. I have a few ideas and things you can try if you want

.

I'm off out now (!), but will be back in a couple of hours.

 

[Munchkin]

I have recently set up my own business under the umbrella of an international company and am looking for other people to join my team, either as distributors or supervisors. It's zero risk with very low outlay and I'm managing to get plenty of horsey clients! I love it as you can do as little or as much as you like, whenever you like, so it means you could start before leaving your job and just see if it suited you/build a client base before leaving the security of your current job.

Ok, that might be a little too much info for admin - but if you're interested drop me a PM and I'll give you more info.

ETA: The most important thing you need to know is that you effectively begin your own business as soon as you join - your clients remain your own and you can invite people to join your team also.

 

[a_e_d]

There are websites where people post work and freelancers tender for it, the more work you get the better your rating and you will end up with even more work. A couple of examples are guru.com and odesk.com. It is quite competitive though,and I am not sure how the pay works out - i.e. how much you need to work to make it worth your while.
If you advertise, I would target specific areas likely to need your help rather than advertising in supermarkets - where are people needing your help, likely to look? In the past I have done some typing work to supplement income and always got plenty of work from students needing dissertations typing: I just put up ads in the student union (and they always paid what I asked!!).
Good Luck!

 

[Munchkin]

Wow, got a fair few PMs from leaving that post. If anyone else wants a second income/bit of extra cash/career change drop me a note, anyone can do this. I love it