PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Starting your own business
JoMarshall MCIPPdip, freelance payroll trainer and consultant, Yorkshire Payroll Services Ltd , outlines the formative events when surrendering the comfort of employment and the crucial issues faced in working for herself
I often ask delegates how they got into payroll. Probably 95% of the time, the answer is always the same: they fell into it. This answer probably best explains how I ended up setting up my own business. Let me take you back to the start of 2016. I was working for a software company that provided a human resources and payroll solution. I’d worked there for ten years and was one of the few team members who had been there at the start, helping to build the business, believing in the product, wanting to help clients and colleagues. They were great times; we were a family; we genuinely cared. During those ten years, I worked as a consultant, project manager, payroll quality manager, all the way to head of payroll bureau services. But as with all good things, they come to an end. The business was sold, and within just a couple of years things had started to change, so a move was required. One of the tasks for which I was responsible was organising the company’s
user groups. One of the changes I made was to have a payroll user group session, once a year, just before the start of the tax year. This was an opportunity to discuss the changes in the software and to also invite CIPP to discuss the new tax year changes – which is how I got to know the team at CIPP. So, when I decided a move was required, it was to the CIPP that I turned. At the time, CIPP were recruiting for payroll trainers to deliver their public training courses. I submitted my CV and was invited to a meeting at the head office in Birmingham, where I met the training manager. Everything sounds perfect so far, but unfortunately the role was not a contract of employment – the public trainer was a self-employed role. And so, this is where my story begins. With my twenty years of payroll experience this was my dream job, my opportunity to give something back to the payroll industry, to pass on my knowledge, and to help train the current and next generation of payroll professionals. The only snag
was I had to be self-employed. Making the decision was the scary bit: go for your dream job and give up the security of receiving a monthly salary, knowing it covers your mortgage and bills, and having to give all of that up. How did I decide? It dawned on me that for the first time, in a long time, I felt excited about this opportunity, the enthusiasm and passion for payroll, something that I had not felt for so long. I jumped. I went for it, full steam ahead. Following several conversations, with various people, I made the decision to set up a limited company, rather than being self-employed. By doing this, I felt it opened the door for more opportunities to work with other businesses, for example, offering consultancy with payroll implementations. This was fairly easy to do: I registered online at Companies House and paid the registration fee. Remember though, by setting up a limited company you agree to all the duties required as director of that company, including the confirmation statement every year. Next was the PAYE (pay as you earn) reference; again, all online and probably something that most payroll professionals
...for the first time, in a long time, I felt excited about this opportunity...
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | February 2021 | Issue 67 10
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