Christmas Bonus Time!

I get roughly 7% of my salary as a lump sum (this years paid for my DAS amongst other things..

Our chrimbo party (which is this friday) is partially subsidized which means the wine is free all night but spirits and lager are 1.50 a pop. My head WILL hurt Saturday.

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy

Wow! What demands hours like that?!

Rob - anyone who's self-employed works these sort of hours.

Me, I rarely take a lunchbreak, and am usually at work till about 7. Tonight it was 8. Sometimes till 10 or 11 - usually when I'm on here in the evening I'm at work. Doing accounts, the f*cking VAT return, making sure all my SDLT returns are in - cos if I'm late I get clobbered with a £100 fine each one. Evenings are for the work I simply can't do during the day cos the phone is ringing and I have to go visit clients.

Do I regret it? - not usually. I like the freedom it gives me to do what I want to do, and not having to report to some ar5ehole as I used to have to for 20 years. And if the weather's OK I can go out on the bike without having to justify it to anyone.

Anyway I did get a Christmas bonus!!!

I won some high value litigation for a civil engineering client, who sent me .....

SIX BOTTLES OF BOLLY!!!!!!!!!!

I fended off a statutory demand by issuing an injuction to stop the buggers issuing a winding up petition.

And client gave me a new job, some more litigation. It's worth £200K to them, the biggest litigation I've had for a while

Originally Posted by sarah

Yeah, but I'm a scummy civil servant so I prob don't deserve a bonus

Paul Gray, the bloke who in the spirit of a public self-sacrifice resigned as head of HMRC, and has now got a new 200k per year job 14 days later doesn't do you lot any favours in the public opinion stakes eh?

Originally Posted by Ed

Rob - anyone who's self-employed works these sort of hours.

Me, I rarely take a lunchbreak, and am usually at work till about 7. Tonight it was 8. Sometimes till 10 or 11 - usually when I'm on here in the evening I'm at work. Doing accounts, the f*cking VAT return, making sure all my SDLT returns are in - cos if I'm late I get clobbered with a £100 fine each one. Evenings are for the work I simply can't do during the day cos the phone is ringing and I have to go visit clients.

Do I regret it? - not usually. I like the freedom it gives me to do what I want to do, and not having to report to some ar5ehole as I used to have to for 20 years. And if the weather's OK I can go out on the bike without having to justify it to anyone.

Anyway I did get a Christmas bonus!!!

I won some high value litigation for a civil engineering client, who sent me .....

SIX BOTTLES OF BOLLY!!!!!!!!!!

I fended off a statutory demand by issuing an injuction to stop the buggers issuing a winding up petition.

And client gave me a new job, some more litigation. It's worth £200K to them, the biggest litigation I've had for a while

Awesome. Every minute spent working for yourself - is that; productive. Every minute working for somebody else is them buying my time for their benefit. When did you start your own business?

September 2005.

[JediGoat]

Originally Posted by Ed

Rob - anyone who's self-employed works these sort of hours.D

Never a truer word spoken.

I hear loads of people saying they'd like to start their own business, but I doubt they have any clue how hard it is (I thought I did, but seriously, I didn't have a clue).

I work in retail - my shop is open 6 days a week, so I have to be there 6 days a week. The one day I'm not there I have to fit in any appointments, and any other 'life-stuff' (e.g. getting the car MOT'd, doing the shopping etc.), all the rest of the paperwork, supplier visits, marketing work.

No annual leave, no sick leave, no duvet days, no lie-in's. The only time I get a couple of days off in a row is Xmas and Easter. It's an ongoing joke that you do not mention the H* word in my presence.

I do think an awful lot of people have a rose-tinted view of what running their own business would be like. Sure, no boss to nag you, instead you have to nag yourself, everyday, regardless of whether you feel like it or not (and it's doubly hard if you work on your own). All your effort goes to earning money for yourself, not someone else....but can you cope with the stress that your income is now irregular?

Whilst I don't regret starting my own business, it's amazing when I look back, how much I took for granted the annual leave, sick leave, bonuses, regular pay, overtime pay, and regular hours of a 'proper' job.

Jo

* Holidays