A Quick Guide To Self-Employment & Training

I thought I’d ask a self-employed friend to be this month’s guest blogger so they could share their story about their journey from redundancy into self-employment and their advice for people in the same boat. 

Redundancy? Oh No… Not Again!

I recently found myself being made redundant again for the third time and with that comes the stress and worry of how I will pay the bills and keep the money rolling in. I had spent the last six years in the Training Industry assessing people initially with Apprenticeships before moving into teaching Employability skills, a profession I really enjoyed.

So now I was facing that same dilemma that everyone who has been made redundant faces, what do I do next?

Do I look for something similar? Do I look at changing my career path? Are there alternatives? I knew I had many skills to offer and I had really enjoyed helping people move into employment and found it very rewarding; however, the industry was changing, and full-time jobs as a company employee were becoming hard to find.

Maybe there was a possible alternative, become Freelance?!

Self-Employment

Becoming freelance meant I could look at taking on any work offered by any company, not being tied to just one. I could manage my own workload and schedule, and if a company “went under” I could find more work elsewhere. Being a Freelancer would require a significant change in my employment status, I would have to become self-employed, something I only had a very basic knowledge about. I quickly realised I needed to find out more about what was involved in becoming self-employed.

DA Training & Consultancy

I spoke to a company called DA Training & Consultancy who can deliver a qualification called “Award in Understanding Enterprise”, which is all about how to set up a business. There was an additional benefit with this course, as I was unemployed, they could offer me the course for FREE! 

The units covered in the course were:

• Understanding the skills and knowledge required to run a business
• Understanding how to manage money in a business
• Understanding how to market your business

“The course was informative, and Mike, the tutor was helpful and friendly, and it has given me the knowledge I needed to get started in setting up my own business and becoming self-employed.”

I am now all set up and back working in the industry, helping people who are unemployed or recently made redundant, and I recommend the Enterprise course to all of them, and I recommend it to you!

DA Training and Consultancy offer many other qualifications like Employability Skills, Conflict Management, Retail Skills, Administration, Customer Service and Functional skills, to name just a few. If you are unemployed contact them, as they can help you improve your skills and employability.

You can contact DA Training & Consultancy on 0845 269 2609.

More Information On Self-Employment

Here at Kate Underwood HR, we specialise in training and development. If you would like to talk about any aspect for you or your staff, please get in contact. We can help with careers plans for you and your team to develop your employees and guarantee you retain your talent. You can email me on [email protected] or book a call.