UKC

I am a fully qualified CIMA accountant late 40s and a senior manager

I fancy setting up for myself and working for myself

My options would be set up as an accounts and, small business advisor or train to be Independant Financial Advisor

Anyone done similar and taken the leap?

How did you manage the drop in income or did you set yourself up while still working as an employee

Anything I should consider?

In reply to iusedtoclimb:

Different field (I'm a linguist) and younger, but when I decided to make the move to working for myself I did it alongside my in-house position until my "side" income had been more than my salary for a few months in a row.

This wasn't particularly hard to do as in-house positions in my field are poorly paid outside of international organisations.

There were lots of long days and a few all-nighters but I just powered through and now I'm self employed there's still long days and a few all-nighters.

In reply to iusedtoclimb:

A friend has just retired from a similar role and he sold his clients as a package. Whilst they aren't obliged to stay with the new owner, if the service is satisfactory I imagine most will. Bigger initial outlay, but you have an instant business, client list and income.

In reply to GreatApe:


I think that's an excellent idea, if it's possible for the OP to do that. In my long life so far I've seen 4 different cases happen - people [1] burn all bridges and jump in the deep end and fail, [2] burn all bridges and jump in the deep end and succeed, [3] do what you did and succeed, [4] do what you did then fail then go back to their original job.

Good luck, iusedtoclimb.

In reply to iusedtoclimb:

There’s been some helpful discussion on this in various threads in the past couple of years, but maybe not easy to dig out. Putting my own gloss on that discussion, I think recurrent key bits of advice were that you should try to make sure you’ve got reliable live contacts that are ready to provide a base of work for you before you leap; that a substantial capital reserve is a handy lifejacket to tide you over possible lean spells especially at the start; or ideally you should have a partner who’s happy in a steady job to provide baseline income when your earnings fluctuate. And that an established good reputation in your ‘market’ is vital.

At your age and professional level it might be a struggle to maintain the standards to which you’ve become accustomed. Setting up from cold as an IFA especially might take you a while to build up a client base. But at the end of the day only you can judge your other circumstances like family and financial commitments, and how you see the pros and cons of solid employment vs the risks and freedoms of self-employment. Best of luck!

In reply to iusedtoclimb:
I did a very radical career change in 30s requiring over five years of study. My advice is limited to money.

Everyone points out that you will lose income. Well, so what?? How much of a drop can you tolerate? You need to pay your mortgage and bills and live, but if you cut out holidays and luxuries (climbing kit!) for a few years you don't have to view a reduction of earnings as a disaster. It is all about thresholds and how much you are happy to go without. Be ruthless: you can easily live without holidays abroad for a few years. If you feel you simply cannot cut out X and Y and Z, you aren't going to make rhe change. But you don't have to sacrifice everything.

To put some rough figures there, I survived on a reduction of salary of well over £20k. It is perfectly doable.

Feel free to PM me if you wish.

In reply to iusedtoclimb:
I did a career change.Swapped from being involved in insuance to owning an engineering company.

All I can say is that financially the first 2/3 years are horrendous, so you need to be able to cope with that as a starting point. Remember most new ventures/businesses fail in the first 6 months or so due to cash shortage( as an accountant you should know this anyway!)

In my case I was fortunate in that my wife had a v good job so we could get through it. Without that then it would have been an utter mess.

Forget the small business adviser route, there are loads of people doing that, very few being any good.

In reply to iusedtoclimb:

Depending on your mind set you are probably more likely to succeed if you go at it full time.
Working 2 jobs is okay short term but you need to commit.
If I were looking for a new accountant I certainly wouldn't go with someone doing it after work on an evening and if your taking customer calls during the day you are doing a disservice to the people who currently employ you.

My advice.
Do a realistic cost analysis on your day to day expenses.
Cut out anything not critical. Be ruthless.
Save up so that you have a year's worth of money to cover your overheads and go for it.

At the end of the day if your not willing to sacrifice your lifestyle for a few years whilst you live hand to mouth to save then you probably shouldn't be looking to run your own business.

I would bin the idea of being a general business adviser as well.
I too have never met a competent one, they usually come under the if you can't do teach category.

In reply to Dax H:

This observation, while sound, does invite two questions. Firstly, if you've never met a good one then there's probably a gap in the market. Secondly, the OP lumped general business adviser together with providing accounting advice, for which there is huge demand, legally mandated, and where the OP already has a recognised qualification.

My advice, echoed by others, would be to go at it 100%. You'll never build a successful business as a side project to your existing job and you'll be breaching your employment contract to even ponder your side project during normal working hours and thereby potentially setting yourself up for dismissal.

The warning I would issue however is that possession of a valued skill does not a successful business make. Above all you need customers. Without a clearly defined and deliverable marketing strategy you are doomed to failure.

If you feel confident however, then do it. I went from well-paid and cosseted employee to entrepreneur in 1995. Despite going without income or even a car for the ensuing 18 months, I can honestly say there was not a single moment during that challenging period nor over the ensuing 20-odd years that I have questioned that decision. It was not taken lightly however at the time.