Self-employment tips and advice 

The option to start your own business and working for yourself is becoming more of a viable option for many people. The main attractions of becoming self-employed are how quickly you can set up a business and no longer having to work for somebody else! Many universities now have schemes that support students wanting to start up in their own business.

• EMIN Enterprise Solutions - a collaboration between the Universities of Derby, De Montfort, Leicester, Lincoln, Northhampton, and Nottingham Trent, providing business and technical assistance to start-up companies in the East Midlands.
• Student Placements for Entrepreneurs in Education West Midlands (SPEED WM) - a project based at the University of Wolverhampton involving Aston University, BCU Birmingham, Coventry University, Keele University, Staffordshire University, University of Birmingham and University of Worcester, designed to help entrepreneurial students set up their own businesses while studying.

Help from the HMRC

HMRC also have an online course to help you get to grips with the tasks involved in becoming self-employed. The course currently online is that for Starting In Business and covers all of the main essentials students need to know and consider when starting on the road to self- employment. These include taxation, National Insurance, VAT, what records must be kept to comply with tax obligations and what to consider when employing people. There is even a section for forward planning to retirement! – It’s never too early to think about pensions! Access the course via the link below.

 HMRC starting your own business e-learning course 

A government minister has commented that students leaving universities should cast off "old fashioned" ideas about what constitutes a graduate job and instead consider starting a business.

The option to start your own business and working for yourself is becoming more of a viable option for many people. The main attractions of becoming self-employed are how quickly you can set up a business and no longer having to work for somebody else! Even if you are currently employed by somebody else, you can also become a sole trader and run your own business in your spare time. This makes it a safe way to test a business idea and see if you like being your own boss. Whatever the reason for the start-up, there's no better time than right now to get going and start pursuing your business dreams.

Many universities now have schemes that support students wanting to start up in their own business.

• EMIN Enterprise Solutions - a collaboration between the Universities of Derby, De Montfort, Leicester, Lincoln, Northhampton, and Nottingham Trent, providing business and technical assistance to start-up companies in the East Midlands.
• Student Placements for Entrepreneurs in Education West Midlands (SPEED WM) - a project based at the University of Wolverhampton involving Aston University, BCU Birmingham, Coventry University, Keele University, Staffordshire University, University of Birmingham and University of Worcester, designed to help entrepreneurial students set up their own businesses while studying.

• Companies House
• Business Link
• Community Interest Companies
• HM Revenue & Customs
• Byte Start
• Just Start Ups
• The Black Business Association
• UnLtd - for Social Enterprises
• Social Enterprise West Midlands
• Student Gems
• Intellectual Property Office
• Small Business
• BBC News "What does it take to start your own business?"
• BBC News "Start-up stories"
• New Business
• UDACITY - How to build a start-up ecourse

Business Plan websites:

• Business plans and marketing strategy
• Preparing a business plan
• Creating a business plan