Two years ago I decided to quit my 9-5 marketing job to go full time as a website designer and pursue the digital nomad dream - work from anywhere, uncapped income, you know the deal. I saw videos online of people making £5k months, working from Bali, being their own boss and it looked MAGICAL. I wanted a piece of that pie but little did I know, there’s so much more to running a business.

Business isn’t all cocktails on the beach and passive income. It’s a lot of hard work, admin and learning new skills.

For me, I think one of the biggest “lies” of the online space is that you can just pick up a laptop, get clients and get to work. No strings attached, as easy as that. But there are so many unglamourous things that you need to consider.

So if you’re thinking of becoming an online business owner - this blog post is for you. All of the unglamorous things that no one really tells you about but you NEED to know if you’re thinking of starting your own biz.

Get yourself some business insurance

Insurance is one of those things that you hope you’ll never need but its essential that you have in the case you do need it - but it rarely ever gets spoken about. If you’re new to business, one of the first things I recommend you do (before you start working with any clients) is get yourself some insurance. Of course, I’m not a legal professional but as a fellow business owner myself, I recommend you take a look at “Professional indemnity insurance”. It’s there to protect you if you ever have to pay out to your clients or any other third parties as a result of problems with your work.

You might also want to consider looking at “portable equipment insurance” which protects your laptop if its ever lost/damaged/stolen etc… As online business owners, our computers are one of the most important assets we own so you need that peace of mind in case anything ever goes wrong.

It’s not very sexy but Insurance is so important to protect yourself and your business.

If you’re looking for a recommendation, I am personally insured through Policy Bee* who specifically offer insurance for small businesses like us. (*This is an affiliate link but I only share because I genuinely use them to insure my own business).

You NEED a concrete contract

Speaking of protecting yourself - you absolutely NEED to get yourself a contract for all of your services. It’s a binding document that protects you AND your clients when working together. It’s especially helpful for situations like ghosting, late payments or a client not paying altogether. It’s easy to forget but is essential for any professional-client relationship.

It should lay out things like responsibilities, expectations, payment terms, the works being delivered and what happens in the case of someone wanting to cancel the contract. Unless you have things in writing, it’s hard to enforce any kind of rules when things go wrong. Of course I only wish you angel clients forever but its better to be safe than sorry.

I’ll also add - your contract will probably grow and evolve over time. As your services change, as you encounter new situations, your contract terms will grow over time so don’t stress too much about getting it perfect first time. You can always buy a template online from somewhere like Lucy Legal as a great place to start.

Take some time to understand privacy laws & privacy policies

On the same note of legally protecting your business, its so so important that you get clued up on privacy laws and how to properly look after people’s data. As a business owner, its highly likely that you’ll be handling “personal data” aka names, email addresses, payment details, etc.… It is therefore your legal responsibility to look after this data properly.

For example, to make sure you secure it properly, that you only collect data that is necessary and you always disclose what you plan on doing with that data through a privacy policy. I’m a website designer and about 50% of the websites I audit don’t have any form of privacy policy which breaks my heart because that means you’re technically breaking the law (unknowingly probably!)

So please please do your future self a favour and spend a couple of hours understanding the privacy laws in your country and invest in a proper privacy policy. I can highly recommend Termageddon as the go-to place for privacy policies, cookie policies and terms & conditions for your website. I use them myself and they’re amazing because they automatically update as laws change across the world. You can check out the privacy policy tool here and if you use the code FREYA at checkout, you can get 20% off your first year*)

You need to register with the ICO (UK)

This is something I found out totally on my own privacy-law research and absolutely no one told me about it. If you’re UK based, you need to be registered with the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) and as a small business owner, you legally have to pay a small “data protection fee” unless you’re exempt for some reason. It essentially helps funds regulating data protection standards in the UK.

It’s super random but its important you take a look at the ICO website and make sure you understand your responsibilities as a business owner when it comes to data.

You should register as a sole trader with HMRC (UK)

Speaking of those big bosses over in the government - you need to let HMRC know that you’re self employed and register to do your tax return at the end of the year. The deadline to register for self assessment is usually around October time and the deadline to submit your tax return is usually around January, (MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THIS ON THE HMRC WEBSITE.)

A tax return is basically just letting the government know how much money you made and how many expenses you have to pay. They then calculate your profit and you pay your taxes on that profit. When you’re in a “normal job”, your taxes get taken automatically from your paycheck every month but when you’re self employed, things work slightly differently.

You need to track your income and expenses every month

When it comes to submitting your tax return, the best thing you can do for yourself is track your income and expenses every month so you can stay on top of your finances.

My recommend is to create a folder in your email inbox and move all of your invoices/receipts/direct debits/etc… into that folder. At the end of every month you then go through all of these receipts and invoices and make sure they’re tracked properly in a spreadsheet. You can pinch the exact spreadsheet I use in my own business to track my finances and calculate my taxes as part of my end-of-month-review bundle.

This not only helps in making sure you’re aware of your profit every month, but it also makes your life a hell of a lot easier when tax return time comes.

In fact, I recommend you make an end of month ritual where you go through not just your finances, but all your marketing, your goals, etc… every month. Have a look at this blog post for the ultimate monthly business review for service providers.

Keep 20% of your money aside every month for tax

Tracking your finances is only half of the trouble when it comes to taxes - you do actually have to pay them! So I highly recommend as part of your monthly review, you not only calculate your expenses/income, but you also put aside 20% of your profit into a separate tax pot. That way, you’re not tempted to spend all of the money as it comes in.

By setting a small amount aside every month, you’re putting yourself in a great position every time the end of the tax year comes around (It’s April 6th - April 5th btw, so weird). And even if you don’t end up having to pay it all in tax, you can have yourself a little bonus at the end of the year with anything that’s left over!

Working on your own is lonely so join some communities

One thing that I definitely wasn’t prepared for is how lonely it can be to work by yourself sometimes. Without anyone to catch up with about your weekend, rant to about an annoying client or bounce ideas off - it can feel a bit isolating. But I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be that way and there are sooo many communities you can join as a small business owner.

Not only are communities a great cure for lonliness, but they’re also an amazing source of friendship, clients and inspiration. I have met SO many incredible people that I would call my close friends thanks to the communities I am in.

One community I can personally recommend is Wild Coworking - its a coworking community for small business owners and they host daily virtual coworking, as well an group chat so it honestly feels like have the best colleagues you could ask for. People to share ideas with, talk about the weekend with and get a second opinion from. I can’t recommend them enough.

You can also check out communities in Facebook groups, the Freelancer Magazine do virtual coworking, go to in-person networking events or even join a physical coworking space to get yourself out of your home office every now and then.

Marketing yourself is a non-negotiable

Joining a community is an amazing way to meet new people in your business, but don’t stop there. Marketing has to be an absolute non-negotiable in your business. When I first got into business, I really thought I could spend my time building websites and that my work would speak for itself so clients would find me easily and want to work with me. Boy was I wrong.

A big part of being a business owner is getting in front of new people, selling your services and communicating your value - why should people want to work with you. And all of that comes under the umbrella of marketing.

No one really prepared me for how big a part marketing plays in your role as a business owner (that’s coming from someone with a DEGREE in digital marketing!!). So you want to find your groove early on with marketing. It’ll take some learning and overcoming fears but finding your groove early on will be essential for the growth and sustaining of your business.

Marketing doesn’t just have to mean social media either, that could mean email marketing, building a website, blogging, PR, running ads, anything! Find what works for you and pursue consistency not perfection.

Here are a couple of blog posts I’ve written all about marketing that you might find helpful:

You’ve got this!

So there you have it, the unglamourous side of starting an online business. There are a lot of things that we don’t get told about when getting started but you’re absolutely not alone on this journey.

I’m here to tell you that absolutely CAN do this. You’re capable of so much more than you know and the fact you’ve got the balls to even consider starting your own business tells me what I need to know - you can do this.

I would love to cheer you on on this amazing journey that is entrepreneurship so make sure to come and connect over on Instagram.

And, if you’re thinking about creating a website for your new business, you should definitely check out The DIY Website Club, my membership for business owners who are building their own websites but want a bit of hand holding, accountability and step-by-step tutorials.

Either way, I’m rooting for you!!

The unglamorous things no one tells you about when starting an online business