The Consultancy Life - 30 June 2024

Danny Lee
Jun 30, 2024
5 min read

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1. An Unexpected Arrival

2. Business Bank Account

3. Income Streams

An Unexpected Arrival

Even the best laid plans are infallible to life.

Our little girl, due in July, decided she wanted to be born a month early.

Did I have every day in June planned out to optimise the time I had left before her arrival?

Yes.

Did it throw all types of spanners in the works?

Yes.

Were my plans resilient enough to overcome the unexpected arrival?

Absolutely!

Life will always find a way to throw spanners, hammers, screwdrivers - sometimes even the full tool box - in your way.

The key is to not get bogged down. Rather, adapt.

Here was my plan to adapt:

1. Get word out to everyone I had meetings scheduled with and delay by a week

2. Create a list of priorities to be tacked 1 week after the birth

3. Close the MacBook and prioritise supporting the family

After much back and forth from hospital - and countless parking fees - I'm grateful to report everyone is healthy and we have another little human to add to our little family.

It would be remiss of me not to take a moment to thank

The Mother In-Law for dropping everything to travel to Oxford to help look after our little boy so I could spend the night in hospital.

The wonderful Midwifes and Doctors at John Radcliffe Hospital.

Everyone that sent well wishes, cards and gifts - especially, and unexpectedly, those that I have met on this journey to becoming a consultant. Extremely thoughtful and supports my claim that this community is genuinely here to help.

Business Bank Account

This is where it all starts coming together! 🙌🏼

You have the skills, knowledge and unwavering drive to make this consultancy business a success.

But when the money starts rolling in, and it will, where do you put it?

Once you realise your mattress isn't going to cut it, the next logical place to look is the bank... but which one?

Quick note:

The following does not constitute, and should not be considered as, financial advice. This is simply what I did, the decisions I made and the reasons I made them.

Now that's out the way...

How did I do it?

Step one

I spoke with my accountant to decide exactly what considerations I should make before choosing a bank and business product.

I've spoken about how I found my accountant here - https://www.onesystemmgt.com/post/sunday-9-june-2024

Step two

I got dressed in my finest business casual attire and headed into Oxford, OneSystemMgt Ltd business plan in hand, to speak with the major banks and building societies.

Step three

After speaking with various bank managers, discussing their products and aligning my business priorities with their products, I made my decision.

Step four

I passed the bank details and the product I had selected to my accountant to discuss options for tracking business expenses, invoicing, corporation tax and the pot I'd need to keep aside to meet my financial goals and aspirations.

Step five

Follow the bank's steps and open the account.

A few days later and the card arrived.

Seeing the name of my company at the bottom of the card still leaves me in disbelief that this has become a reality.

There's far more I'd love to go into here such as:

Which bank I chose

Which particular banking product I opted for

The accounting software I chose and how I use it

The financial goals I have set for the company

However - I wouldn't want to fall foul of inadvertently offering financial advice and, of course, leaving myself vulnerable but putting everything online.

So, if we're close friends, reach out to me privately and I'll give a deeper run down of how I'm running the internals of the business.

After all, I wish I had someone sit down with me and explain it all.

P.s, if you're the Bank I do business with (the photo below should give it away - though I have removed your logo) then drop me a message - a brand sponsorship is always on the table... 😉👇🏼

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Income Streams

What are they?

Income streams are ways in which you receive money - usually outside of primary income - and sometimes referred to as a "side hustle".

How many do most people have?

Most only have one - their job.

Is that a problem?

Perhaps not.

The issue comes if you're made redundant, sacked or otherwise become unemployed.

Then what?

Then you're having to rely on your savings to prop you up whilst you find other employment... and how long will that last?

How do you combat that?

Once you've considered your work life balance and the needs of your family, you may wish to consider earning a second or even third income.

This is not about earning more money to spend on new cars or other superficial products.

This is about protecting your financial situation in the event the unexpected happens.

How many streams should I have?

This completely depends on your situation, what skills and services you have to offer, how long it will take you to carry out the work or provide the service and how much actual spare time you can dedicate to this.

It absolutely goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway in case you become tempted to stray from the path...

Stick to the law and declare your income.

Pay your taxes.

Why all the talk about income streams?

As a freelance consultant, it is important to ensure I have multiple streams of income to the business.

Business is fluid.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

I have the services and products I offer to my potential clients through OneSystemMgt Ltd, the contracted consultancy services I provide to Assent Risk Management and now...

AvISO Consultancy Ltd!

AvISO is an award-winning industry-leading ISO Consultancy, Software and Training Provider. Supporting national & international clients with ISO standards, Management Systems, Compliance & Risk Management.

The journey of becoming one of AvISO's consultant's all began during my attempt to network at The Shard - https://www.onesystemmgt.com/post/the-consultancy-life-16-june-2024

After some great discussions in London and a follow up over Teams, I'm delighted to say that the hard work paid off and I was sent over a Contract and NDA.

I've left screenshot of their website below that contains my Bio as one of their consultants.