Life right now

Hi guys, thought I'd fill you all in on what's happening with me right now, first of all, I'm attending a course from the princes trust, which is basically a foundation which teaches business skills to young people(i'm 29, I know), and hopefully by the end of it, I should be able to get £4K loan to start up my photography business, failing that, I'm a little screwed.

I'm also in the process of setting up a charity division of the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), this division is designed to help people understand how to look after Terrapins and Turtles, we will also be able to rescue terrapins and turtles from ponds and lakes in the local area and also take in unwanted terrapins and turtles, We have a provisional page on facebook with a name called T.U.R.T.L.E. which stands for Taking Unwanted & Rescued Terrapins in to a Loving Environment, it's proving difficult to find the time to talk to the RSPCA to organise this as I'm spending all day at this course and by the time I get home, it's out of hours.

Up to now, I've spoken briefly to Nicola White who is the Senior Scientific Officer for Exotic Wildlife at the RSPCA and she wants to talk over the phone tomorrow, hopefully it should go OK.

Why not just leave the little critters in the forest and ponds?

Layback Bear said:

Why not just leave the little critters in the forest and ponds?

Terrapins aren't native to the UK and people just dump them when they get too big, changing the balance of wildlife (they're feisty little buggers that kill fish and birds) so their population needs to be controlled, they are great pets but too many clueless owners get tired of them and have no idea how to look after them, that's what TURTLE is for.

I'd support it. Simply because my family owned a red bellied turtle. Vicious little snot. She laid an egg one year, and blew my families mind. I've wanted to have a nice sized pond to put turtles in or fish, but we have cats, and raccoons. I'd be wasting money every year =/

+1 to you sir.

DreadStarX said:

I'd support it. Simply because my family owned a red bellied turtle. Vicious little snot. She laid an egg one year, and blew my families mind. I've wanted to have a nice sized pond to put turtles in or fish, but we have cats, and raccoons. I'd be wasting money every year =/

+1 to you sir.

I've got a red bellied cooter myself, they are vicious in nature, mine keeps trying to eat my finger every-time I put my finger near him.

after today's session, I feel confident going self employed and to run my own business, I've learned the basics for bookkeeping and taxation, learned how to create and manage cash-flow and profits within my business, I used to think it was a piece of cake but learning that it's not just a walk in the park, but it hasn't put me off.

I didn't know that Terrapins were not native to the UK.

I had my own business for about 13 years. Things I learned the hard way.

1. Working 18 hour day get you tired but doesn't increase your income. Manage your time.
2. If not watched carefully your biggest expense can and will be Taxes.
3. Employes can make or break your business. Choose wisely and keep them happy. Your employes see 100 % of your customers. Happy employes mean happy customers.
4. Be very watchful of accounts receivable. They can bankrupt you in a heart beat.
5. Starting a new business without the proper funding is a road to disaster in about 90% of new start ups with lack of funds.
6. Use a accounting/tax service the I.R.S. trust. I don't know what it's called in the U.K. I was audited several times and never new it until much later because my accountant took care of it with out a hassle. I did my day to day bookkeeping and once a month everything went to the accountant for a proper P/L statement and to insure the proper taxes were paid. If needed the account would also give guidance on financial matters.

Layback Bear said:

I didn't know that Terrapins were not native to the UK.

I had my own business for about 13 years. Things I learned the hard way.

1. Working 18 hour day get you tired but doesn't increase your income. Manage your time.
2. If not watched carefully your biggest expense can and will be Taxes.
3. Employes can make or break your business. Choose wisely and keep them happy. Your employes see 100 % of your customers. Happy employes mean happy customers.
4. Be very watchful of accounts receivable. They can bankrupt you in a heart beat.
5. Starting a new business without the proper funding is a road to disaster in about 90% of new start ups with lack of funds.
6. Use a accounting/tax service the I.R.S. trust. I don't know what it's called in the U.K. I was audited several times and never new it until much later because my accountant took care of it with out a hassle. I did my day to day bookkeeping and once a month everything went to the accountant for a proper P/L statement and to insure the proper taxes were paid. If needed the account would also give guidance on financial matters.

It's not as strict in the UK, accounting doesn't have to be done by a registered accountant, you can do your own accounting, and accounts receivable doesn't really apply here, only HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) deal with tax and accounts, unless you don't pay your tax and they get a whiff, the policy is that as long as everything is in order, they leave you alone, it's more guilty until proven innocent type of tactic but it's not worth the risk.

I'm not employing anyone yet, it's more of a sole trader business for the time being, and as long as I don't earn over £10,000 profit before April 2015, I won't be taxed at all, we call it Self Assessment where your tax is calculated in a self employed businesses, usually 30% of profit over £10k.

On this side of the pond if the I.R.S accuses you of a tax infringement they don't have to prove it.
You will have to prove yourself innocent.

You will go in front of a I.R.S. judge in a I.R.S. court and hopefully prove yourself innocent.
The I.R.S. has the authority to take every thing you own or will own until you prove yourself innocent after being accused with tax fraud.

In a normal court in this country you are innocent until proven guilty but not in a I.R.S. court.
You are guilty at the time you are accused and you have to prove yourself innocent.

That is what I mean one must be very careful with taxes.
I was audited but never accused because of the quality of my accountant and all the proper paper work.
In this country you can be audited by the city, county, state and federal governments tax agencies.

It sound like you have it better in the U.K. when it comes to how you pay taxes.
It's not that simple here.



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David make sure you keep all your receipts and don't forget you can offset things against your tax, things you have to buy to run your business, travel etc.

My hubby is an accountant, OK he's retired now but is still in regular touch with the HMRC. At least you wont have to worry about VAT to begin with. :)

Joan Archer said:

David make sure you keep all your receipts and don't forget you can offset things against your tax, things you have to buy to run your business, travel etc.

My hubby is an accountant, OK he's retired now but is still in regular touch with the HMRC. At least you wont have to worry about VAT to begin with. :)

Cheers Joan, I plan to do that, Tax is very important in my mind, and it's not worth missing something now to shoot yourself in the foot in about 10 years, it wasn't as confusing as I thought it would be, I was imagining having to hire a book keeper and accountant to do my taxes and ledgers, looks like I'll need to invest in a calculator.