Be Your Own Boss With This Check List

Want to become self-employed? These are the things you need to know

- Baba Lwanyembezi

When marketing strategist Dasia Loutfrakhmanova quit her job in 2016, she had no idea what she’d be doing next. She did what many of us have fantasised about at some stage: she walked out of an unhappy work situation without planning the next steps. The problem: how will you pay the bills?

So Loutfrakhmanova founded her own company, Critical Social (Criticalsocial.co.za) – a marketing consulting agency. ‘Becoming a consultant was a great way to pick and choose which projects I work on,’ she explains.

Like Loutfrakhmanova, many Millennials are taking their career into their own hands, and starting small businesses of their own. One survey shows more than 62% of Millennials have considered starting their own business, while 72% feel start-ups and entrepreneurs are a necessary economic force for creating jobs and driving innovation. Are you one of them? Here’s what you need to know before you dip your toes into the world of being your own boss.

1 Decide if you should register your business

You may find you do not need to register a business at all. ‘First, establish that you have a viable business, then decide whether you need to move the business into a company structure by weighing the advantages and the disadvantages,’ says financial adviser Nonhlanhla Zaba.

Our law allows you to trade as a sole proprietor: in your own name, without a formal structure. Many freelancers trade as sole proprietors because there’s no need to register with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC). You could operate this way forever if you like – but there are pros, cons and tax implications.