If it were me I'd be having this discussion with my MD.
Your MD might have a better awareness of that person's cashflow/situation and who's best to have a friendly chat with them about bringing their account up to date. Your MD may decide 'business is business' and that the approach should be made tactfully by someone else but worth just checking before hand I'd say.
I'm not a lawyer but if you signed a contract agreeing to those terms then if you break them you'll be in breach of contract and presumably the agency can come after you for losses incurred if you leave before the date agreed.
You could try talking to the agency to see if they'll release you from the contract to work elsewhere and if they do agree to any deviation from what's said in the contract make sure you get it in writing.
Have a read through the main site on Starting Up section and also have a look on this forum.
Basically the only people you need to register with once you start trading as a freelancer, even if on the side while doing a full time employee role, is HMRC. There's a thread on here somewhere, have a good search around.
Freelancers either do projects for lots of different clients, juggling deadlines, or sometimes they contract their time out to one client (lucky them) if they land a big project or if an agency wants them on site to help out for a period of time. Great for cashflow if you can get this sort of thing.
It does sound as though they've changed fundamental elements of an agreed contract, and you've had loss of earnings while the agreed start date has been put back etc. Worth talking to a legal advisor I'd say, see if some will give you a few minutes on the telephone giving you an indication of your options without charge initially. You'll then be better armed with facts before you decide what action, if any, to take. If you're based in Edinburgh, working in Bristol half the time is time away from home you may not be prepared to accept.
The other issue is biting the hand that might feed you other work..
Have you set up a limited company or are you just acting as a sole trader?
If just a sole trader then you don't have that separate legal entity to consider and you could just carry on using your own personal account so long as you can clearly account for what sums going in and out relate to your business for tax purposes. Some set up a different account just so it's easy to identify these figures.
Even if the printing company weren't outwardly charging for admin, it will have been factored in to their charges. If not, perhaps that's why they're closing!
So yes I would definitely be charging for account management time. You're not just reading out the phone book to these clients, you're using your knowledge and experience to service them and help them get the best return from their orders.
You could always ask the company what they have in mind in terms of an hourly rate. Putting the ball in their court can sometimes work when they come up with something more favourable than you hoped for, or if not have your justifications at the ready for pushing them higher. If they won't go as high as you'd like tie them down to a monthly retainer fee perhaps, so a guarantee for you that you'll always make £XXX per month so at least it helps you manage your bills. As a freelance your rate should be higher than an equivalent employee's.
Do you mean like selling off the peg template designs? There are other sites that sell these, maybe contact them and see if they want their stock of templates increasing or improving on in some way? Otherwise I guess you'd have to set up a simple site to showcase what you're offering and do some research on companies that don't yet have a website that might like a straightforward presence. You'd have to be very strict as to what elements can be adapted or else I can see each client wanting a different shade of blue/the logo moving 3cm to the right/can we just make that picture a bit bigger etc to the point where you may as well have done a bespoke design.
The easiest way to get started is to speak to everyone you know who either runs or works for a local business to see if they need help. It'll give you a feel for how much demand is out there and what sort of rate they'd likely pay. Friends and friends of friends is usually the kindest way of finding this sort of thing rather than cold calling initially. If you see local jobs advertised for this sort of thing ring them up and see if they've considered a freelancer or even someone to fill in the gap until they find someone permanent. Join your local chamber of commerce and other networking groups.
I'm not sure what the hourly rate should be, work out what you need to make so it's worthwhile and compare that with the going rate for similar temporary/permanent jobs being advertised for starters?
Yes it does sound strange. If you give them the original files then it's down to their honour as to whether they pay you anything for this work. As it stands there is nothing in writing to say you're expecting a fee as I understand it and that's what they might argue if you give it to them at this stage.
Until you have a firm order in writing and an agreement to pay you then I personally wouldn't release the files. If you agree to continue to work speculatively then you can reformat to their needs to show this to the client, but the copyright is yours at the moment not theirs, with a written agreement that if the client goes ahead you'll be paid £X for the development work already done plus whatever other fees if you're applying this to other end requirements or else an admin fee to release the artwork to them.
They obviously think there's a good chance the client will go with your option so start protecting yourself about now I'd say.
Well done on the first gig! A similar question has popped up on another thread..but basically:
1) Yes issue an invoice as you'll need to show what you've invoiced and what you've banked as a business. You don't need to register anywhere if you're a sole trader, and you won't hit the threshold for registering for VAT for a while yet either so don't include VAT on your invoice (you can register voluntarily below the threshold if you purchase in a lot of supplies in which case it would be beneficial to claim the VAT back on these).
2) Open a separate bank account for your business for the same reason as above
Definitely open a separate business account. It keeps it all separate and makes it much easier for either you or your accountant to see what's coming in and going out. You could either use the same bank as you have for your personal account or else there's one on here which offers 'no charges' banking Free small business bank account for freelancers :: Freelance UK.
There isn't a central database to register sole trader names in the way Companies House oversee limited companies. So you can either carry on just using your own name or else "Joe Blogs Trading As Cleaner Windows" if you want to associate a more literal name to what you do.
If you do choose a name to trade as it makes sense to check you're not using a name someone else is already using. Firstly so you don't confuse customers, but also in case you're infringeing on someone else's trademarks. Google 'trademark database' as you should find a free online tool to check this and double check business directories and phone books to avoid confusion.
You do need to tell your local tax office you've started trading though, do a search on here for that as lots of others have asked about that.
Well if BBH are tightening their belts.. sometimes adversity like this brings out the best in people. Nothing like flying by the seat of your pants is there? :)
Happening more and more. Online transactions speed things up for one thing and more companies are doing this. I take it you trust this company to do work for them anyway. (Also, you give out your bank account number and sort code every time you write a cheque.) Otherwise there's paypal.
Was your last agency purely web design? Did they have high overheads (shiny, expensive offices perhaps)? I'm just interested as to why they closed down, presumably due to the recession rather than it was their choice? I thought digital was where the spend still is?
Hello Renderpimp, 13 years is impressive! How are you finding things at the moment just out of curiousity? Is the search of work any easier now than the last downturn 2001/2 ?
Does anyone use these these things? There are lots of different names out there doing this sort of thing but I'm curious to know who just manages without these job/invoicing software tools and who does actually get benefit out of them and why?
I think you probably were fortunate, to an extent, my last boss particularly was slightly scathing of all the staff (great for motivation!) so I am heartened to hear that honesty paid off in your case. As you say perhaps also that 'cards on the table talk', plus just as importantly, that there was no threat in finding clients were about to be snaffled by staff moonlighting, was what paved the way to it working for you. Can't have been easy broaching the subject so good for you, it's nice to hear.
