Kia: Hey, everyone, it's Kia. Do you ever feel like the
Kia: classic nine- to- five office job working for someone else
Kia: just isn't quite right for you? Well, there are lots
Kia: of other options out there. Self- employment could be a
Kia: really empowering option, and it's getting more and more accessible,
Kia: but you do need to wear many hats as well
Kia: as your main hustle. You have to be the HR
Kia: department, finance, marketing, sales, and digital teams. I'm chatting with
Kia: Georgina Merckel about the opportunities self- employment has given her,
Kia: as well as the financial stuff you need to keep
Kia: in mind when you're working for yourself. Georgina is 27.
Kia: She's the founder of TOPA, a small business and nonprofit
Kia: consultancy. She's also won a Young Freelancer of the Year
Kia: Award in 2022, so she's definitely the right person to
Kia: be speaking to. So, Georgina, can you start by talking
Kia: us through your self- employment journey? Because we want to
Kia: know how that's looked like for you.
Georgina Merckel: So, I came out of university, I did a master's,
Georgina Merckel: and I just got an admin job working for somebody
Georgina Merckel: else, and I started that, and it was a couple
Georgina Merckel: of weeks before the pandemic actually, I decided to make
Georgina Merckel: some extra money online. I Googled, " How can you make
Georgina Merckel: more money online?" And virtual assistant came up, and I
Georgina Merckel: was like, " I can do that. I'm doing HR, admin."
Georgina Merckel: And I joined a freelancing platform, and so I just
Georgina Merckel: put myself online, got some clients, started doing the work,
Georgina Merckel: and then we went into lockdown, and I just went
Georgina Merckel: from being in the office to working from home, so
Georgina Merckel: I could do eight till four in my job and
Georgina Merckel: then four till eight in my self- employed stuff. It
Georgina Merckel: really grew from there. So, by six months in, I
Georgina Merckel: decided to do part- time work, so I cut my
Georgina Merckel: hours down to three days a week and did my
Georgina Merckel: freelancing work two days a week, and the weekends and the
Georgina Merckel: evenings. And then eventually, about nine months after I started
Georgina Merckel: in March, I went fully self- employed, and my business
Georgina Merckel: just evolved. I moved away from admin into consulting and
Georgina Merckel: operations, and then it's just grown from there really.
Kia: So, Georgina, what are some of the things that you
Kia: love when it comes to being self- employed?
Georgina Merckel: The freedom that self- employment gives you is out of
Georgina Merckel: this world. So, I pretty much work from my sofa
Georgina Merckel: with my dogs every day. I take random walks in
Georgina Merckel: the middle of the day. I get to choose who
Georgina Merckel: I work with and when. Last week, there was one
Georgina Merckel: day where I worked from 5: 00 PM to 11:00 PM. I did all-
Georgina Merckel: day cleaning. There's just so much you can do. I've
Georgina Merckel: worked with clients that just don't really vibe, and at
Georgina Merckel: some point you can just say, " This is not going
Georgina Merckel: to work for me." And then you can just move
Georgina Merckel: on and find clients that serve you better. And tomorrow
Georgina Merckel: I could be like, " I don't like the direction of
Georgina Merckel: my business, so I'm going to start marketing myself somewhere
Georgina Merckel: else." But you can do everything all- in- one job,
Georgina Merckel: and that's the best bit. I think it's the right
Georgina Merckel: choice for me and for so many people out there,
Georgina Merckel: and we just don't get the exposure to being why
Georgina Merckel: you should be self- employed or why you can be self-
Georgina Merckel: employed because there's a whole world of self- employment and
Georgina Merckel: community and people who are literally targeting the same audiences.
Georgina Merckel: But we're all so different. I have so many friends
Georgina Merckel: who do similar things, but one client might not be
Georgina Merckel: for me or for my friend, but they'll vibe with
Georgina Merckel: someone else we know, and there's no competition. So, I
Georgina Merckel: just really love being in that freelancer community and really
Georgina Merckel: just setting my own life and my own plans, and
Georgina Merckel: there's no restrictions.
Kia: You're selling it to me, and I'm already there. It
Kia: sounds amazing. It sounds great. I mean, having a sofa
Kia: office, being able to do all that work when you want.
Georgina Merckel: Yeah. I mean, I call it the soft office.
Kia: Yeah.
Georgina Merckel: That's basically where I work all the time. It's not
Georgina Merckel: good for your back, though. I do have a desk.
Georgina Merckel: I do try and I do the whole standing, sitting desk situation,
Georgina Merckel: but most of the time I'm just sat on the
Georgina Merckel: sofa with the dogs with a blanket work from my
Georgina Merckel: laptop. I've worked in the car. I travel, and I'll
Georgina Merckel: just be sat on my laptop in a service station
Georgina Merckel: typing, drinking Starbucks, and filming myself for reels.
Kia: Sounds like a dream. Where do I sign up? You've
Kia: already sold me. I want to sign on the dotted line now and join the self-
Kia: employment route. Self- employment is such a big leap, especially
Kia: the way that you did it. You did it a really
Kia: smart way, having your nine to five and then your
Kia: five to nine, as people call it, working on your
Kia: side hustle effectively until it became your main hustle. But
Kia: what was it that gave you that confidence to say, "
Kia: I'm going to leave my skew nine to five and
Kia: actually take the plunge and the leap into my side
Kia: hustle (inaudible) "?
Georgina Merckel: It took me such a long time, and I could
Georgina Merckel: have done it a lot sooner if I'd had the
Georgina Merckel: confidence to do it, but it got to the point
Georgina Merckel: where I just couldn't juggle both, and I was reaching
Georgina Merckel: the point of burnout, and I was just working all
Georgina Merckel: the time. And at some point, I knew that had to
Georgina Merckel: change. So, it took a lot longer than I would've
Georgina Merckel: wanted it to. If I could go back in time
Georgina Merckel: now, maybe it would've left after six months. But what
Georgina Merckel: was great is I started building clients and my job,
Georgina Merckel: so I started matching my salary, and by the time
Georgina Merckel: I could match my take- home monthly, I decided that
Georgina Merckel: was probably the right time to leave because I wasn't
Georgina Merckel: going to take this big drop in income.
Kia: Of course.
Georgina Merckel: I was just going to go straight into the same
Georgina Merckel: salary, but on my terms, and then I could just
Georgina Merckel: take it from there and see what happens after that.
Georgina Merckel: But it took a lot of guts in the end
Georgina Merckel: really to get there because I didn't know anyone self-
Georgina Merckel: employed. I just did it. A lot of the people
Georgina Merckel: I'm around are all employed people with secure jobs, and
Georgina Merckel: they didn't know what to say either. I kept saying, "
Georgina Merckel: I think I'm going to leave my job." And they
Georgina Merckel: were like, " Whoa, you're making that decision? That's a bit
Georgina Merckel: scary, isn't it? You've got this job." And by that
Georgina Merckel: time, I'd fallen out of love with it because I
Georgina Merckel: fell in love with working for myself. I just couldn't
Georgina Merckel: do both. So, at some point, I had to give,
Georgina Merckel: and I'm so glad I did. The pandemic definitely was the
Georgina Merckel: reason why that took off because everyone, all my clients,
Georgina Merckel: needed virtual support, didn't care whether you were in an
Georgina Merckel: office or at home, on your sofa wherever you were,
Georgina Merckel: but were just ready. And so it just really was
Georgina Merckel: all those things at the right place at the right time.
Kia: That's amazing that it's all just falling into place, and
Kia: I mean, your journey is a testament to everything. So,
Kia: that is amazing. Now we're going to move on to
Kia: more the money side. So, the financial side of things.
Kia: So, when it comes to self- employment, I've been self-
Kia: employed, I am self- employed right now. And I myself
Kia: know how finances can take you aback, and especially when
Kia: you've come from something so stable as a nine to
Kia: five to being self- employed, there are things that can
Kia: change your finances and some things that may take you
Kia: by surprise. So what, when it comes to the financial
Kia: side of being self- employed, took you by surprise?
Georgina Merckel: I didn't have any kind of insight into what I needed
Georgina Merckel: to do. I had no plans, I didn't take any
Georgina Merckel: advice. I just went self- employed, and that included the
Georgina Merckel: financial aspects. So, I knew about tax; I knew I'd
Georgina Merckel: have to pay it a different way to how I'd
Georgina Merckel: been doing it in a payslip, but I just thought, " Well,
Georgina Merckel: that happens in January, and I'll work it out then." And
Georgina Merckel: then I did get an accountant, who I just didn't
Georgina Merckel: educate myself well enough on, the right person to work
Georgina Merckel: with and to get the right advice, and I never
Georgina Merckel: even asked how much he cost until I got the bill
Georgina Merckel: at the end. And he was like four times the
Georgina Merckel: price of my current accountant.
Kia: Oh my gosh.
Georgina Merckel: And I was shocked. I was shocked at how much
Georgina Merckel: tax I had to pay, and I didn't know I had to pay a year
Georgina Merckel: and a half, basically, of tax. You had to pay payments
Georgina Merckel: on account, and I didn't know about that, even though
Georgina Merckel: I think I did in the back of my head
Georgina Merckel: and I just hadn't thought about it, prepared. But then there's
Georgina Merckel: so much more. There's income protection and your pension. I
Georgina Merckel: paid into a pension when I had a job, but
Georgina Merckel: I never realized you had to do that as a self-
Georgina Merckel: employed person. I never thought about what happens if I
Georgina Merckel: get called for jury duty tomorrow or have an accident,
Georgina Merckel: or what if my business closes. What am I going
Georgina Merckel: to do? And so I had not made any of
Georgina Merckel: those plans. Now I'm so grateful I have got those
Georgina Merckel: things in place, but I didn't read enough. It was
Georgina Merckel: like a year in, and suddenly I started to realize
Georgina Merckel: I had to learn this stuff quickly.
Kia: I think a lot of people will share the same
Kia: story as you do. I know I definitely do. You
Kia: kind of jump into self- employment, and it's great. You
Kia: get to be your own boss, you get to do
Kia: things that you want to do in your own time,
Kia: and then the financial side comes, you're like, " Wow." Because
Kia: I know for me, income protection was, again, something I
Kia: didn't have. I wasn't fully aware of when I first
Kia: started my journey. Also, having an emergency fund-
Georgina Merckel: Yes.
Kia: -For your business was something that I hadn't factored in
Kia: until I'd gotten to a point where I'm like, " I
Kia: should really have a pot of money just sitting there
Kia: in case I need to cover things in case things..."
Kia: As you know, income comes and it ebbs and flows; some
Kia: months are great, some other months are just lower. And
Kia: those are things that I had to learn on the go,
Kia: and it's only because I have an accountant and I have
Kia: all of that. But if you don't know, there's all things
Kia: that you'd never know to consider until you're in that
Kia: situation that's typically too late. So, Georgina, knowing what you
Kia: know about your journey, what do you wish that you
Kia: would've known or would've done differently/ again recommended to others
Kia: who were about to embark on their self- employment journey?
Georgina Merckel: I think get really good advice. I mean, it's never
Georgina Merckel: too early to get an accountant. First of all, they
Georgina Merckel: know what they're doing. They are experts. Now I have
Georgina Merckel: an amazing small business accountant who works with people just
Georgina Merckel: like me. And so you get proper advice about your
Georgina Merckel: taxes, what you can claim, whether you should be a
Georgina Merckel: limited company or a sole trader, what you should be
Georgina Merckel: paying into. I didn't know that if you've got a
Georgina Merckel: limited company, they can pay your pension on your behalf,
Georgina Merckel: but if you're a sole trader, you pay yourself. So,
Georgina Merckel: there's a tax difference there. And if you get that
Georgina Merckel: good advice and also get the fees upfront, so you
Georgina Merckel: know, on budget ahead of time, that will really help.
Georgina Merckel: I wish now if I could go back in time. I had
Georgina Merckel: a checklist of things to do from day one, things
Georgina Merckel: to do from six months in, and I'm now a
Georgina Merckel: member of IPSE, and they have a package where you
Georgina Merckel: get jury service cover and income protection. There's some life
Georgina Merckel: assurance and contract dispute cover, and those things come together;
Georgina Merckel: you don't have to think about them separately. So, if
Georgina Merckel: you get the proper advice and you look at what
Georgina Merckel: your options are, clearly you can make those decisions well
Georgina Merckel: in advance and be prepared for them.
Kia: I completely agree with the advice that you've given, I
Kia: think is so key. What would you say then to
Kia: someone who's on the fence about becoming self- employed? Because
Kia: it is a big jump. You and I have both
Kia: done it, and I'm sure we can both agree that
Kia: it is a big leap. It's one that I'm happy
Kia: that I've done.
Georgina Merckel: Yeah.
Kia: However, I do understand it is a big change. So,
Kia: what would you say to someone who is on the
Kia: fence about that?
Georgina Merckel: I think if you're thinking about it, it's probably the
Georgina Merckel: right decision for you. If you're on the fence, start
Georgina Merckel: taking it seriously and start thinking about it. I would
Georgina Merckel: start doing both your paid job and the self- employment
Georgina Merckel: thing at the same time to build up that income
Georgina Merckel: because once... It's like a momentum thing; once you start
Georgina Merckel: getting clients or bringing in money, it carries on from
Georgina Merckel: there. So, it's really simple to keep doing it, but
Georgina Merckel: personally, I would do it. The freedom I get from being self-
Georgina Merckel: employed is just way above anything else in terms of
Georgina Merckel: any other benefits I could get. I wouldn't change it
Georgina Merckel: for the world. And I think if you're thinking about
Georgina Merckel: it, you're probably on the path already there.
Kia: I love that. I think, yeah, like you said, if
Kia: it's rooted in your mind, it's probably something that you
Kia: do want to do. So, Georgina, let's talk about pensions.
Kia: Okay, so in episode three of A Little Ritual, we
Kia: cover the importance of having a pension when you're in
Kia: a workplace, but when you're self- employed, we know that
Kia: workplace pensions don't actually apply here. Just a little summary
Kia: to our listeners. A pension is a pot that you
Kia: contribute to that will essentially fund your lifestyle once you
Kia: reach retirement age. There are many benefits to contributing to
Kia: a pension, especially from a younger age, as you're able
Kia: to benefit from government top- ups and certain tax exemptions.
Kia: But a question I want to ask you, Georgina, is
Kia: how can someone who's self- employed go about setting up
Kia: a pension, and why is it so important to have one?
Georgina Merckel: It's important because at some point you're not going to
Georgina Merckel: want to work anymore, or at least the level that
Georgina Merckel: you're doing right now. So, you have to be able
Georgina Merckel: to pay for your life. So, you need to start
Georgina Merckel: doing that. And the earlier you do it, the better
Georgina Merckel: it is. About a year into my self- employed journey,
Georgina Merckel: I just set up a pension using an app and
Georgina Merckel: started paying two pound a week into it. And in
Georgina Merckel: my head, I was like, I've ticked the box of
Georgina Merckel: setting up the pension, and I'm going to come back
Georgina Merckel: to it in three months time and work out what
Georgina Merckel: I should be putting in there. And that step for
Georgina Merckel: me was really helpful because I'd done the admin bit
Georgina Merckel: and I'd got over that hump. Then I started working
Georgina Merckel: out what actually I need to save between now and
Georgina Merckel: 50 or 60 whenever I want to step away from
Georgina Merckel: my business. What am I going to need to live
Georgina Merckel: on to make the same money I can make now?
Georgina Merckel: So, it's really important that you start thinking about it.
Georgina Merckel: The earlier, the better.
Kia: Even though you contributed two pounds a week, it's the
Kia: action of starting it.
Georgina Merckel: Yeah.
Kia: That is what's going to trigger you to, at some
Kia: point, sit down with it and say, " Actually," like you said, "
Kia: how much do I need to have in there? What
Kia: amount am I trying to get to?" And then work
Kia: backwards to start actually putting money into there. So, we
Kia: mentioned how it's important, but how can someone actually start
Kia: actually saving into a pension? How did you do it,
Kia: for example?
Georgina Merckel: So I literally Googled self- employed pensions, and there are
Georgina Merckel: loads of options out there. I just signed up with
Georgina Merckel: an app where I put my details in, you do
Georgina Merckel: the admin bit, and then you just set up a
Georgina Merckel: regular amount or a lump sum. It's up to you.
Kia: And I think that's so key. As somebody who's self- employed,
Kia: being able to control how much you put in, being
Kia: in control of that is what you need.
Georgina Merckel: Yes.
Kia: So, I completely agree with you on that. I want
Kia: to run off the episode as we always do, Georgina,
Kia: and I'm going to ask you. What are your three
Kia: tips to help our listeners get a little bit richer?
Georgina Merckel: So, if you're thinking about self- employment, start now. Start
Georgina Merckel: earning money or building that momentum. It's hard work, but
Georgina Merckel: it will pay off in the long run because then
Georgina Merckel: the drop or the change will be less dramatic. Start
Georgina Merckel: the pension early, like day one. You can do it if
Georgina Merckel: you're employed, right? You can just set up a private
Georgina Merckel: pension. There's nothing stopping you. And I think the third
Georgina Merckel: thing is look into what packages are available. Can you
Georgina Merckel: get a group insurance that'll cover multiple things? Because it's
Georgina Merckel: better for you in the long run. Work out what
Georgina Merckel: the best options are, but get started sooner rather than
Georgina Merckel: later. The earlier you start sacrificing that income, you'll be
Georgina Merckel: better off in the long run, and it'll all just flow.
Kia: Thank you so much, Georgina. You've shared so many amazing
Kia: insights and gems for us on this episode.
Georgina Merckel: Thank you.
Kia: That has made self- employment not seem as daunting for
Kia: anyone who wants to get into it. So, thank you
Kia: so much for joining us. It's been great to hear
Kia: Georgina talk about her experiences of self- employment. Next week,
Kia: we're continuing the conversation about the different career journeys that
Kia: are out there. Where we look at the freedom your finances can
Kia: give you. Want to retire early, travel, work part- time?
Kia: Take a listen to hear what might be possible. In
Kia: the meantime, be sure to follow the podcast and tell your friends. Bye.