Member Article

1 in 5 Startups Begin as Second Jobs

Wannabe entrepreneurs mitigate the risk of going it alone, launching their new venture while still in employment according to alldayPA.

A survey of 500 small businesses found 21% of start-ups launched in the last 12 months began this way.

This mirrors a growing trend for UK workers having second jobs to boost income. HMRC reports 1.2 million have official second jobs, up from 1.05 million in 2007.

Of these, 450,000 are self-employed second jobbers running their own business on the side – an increase of 40% from 2006.

Ambitious entrepreneurs use technologies like smart phones with multiple email accounts or cloud hosting to enable them to subtly send emails and carry out basic tasks while at their main job.

alldayPA reports increasing demand for call answering services from double-jobbers, with new accounts up 32% in the last year.

Reuben Singh, chief executive officer at alldayPA, said, “Many double job start-ups want to ensure customers are dealt with immediately, and are provided with answers to common questions, or emailed basic information.

“Our PAs handle such tasks and pass on enquires to clients via email or text, flagging urgent requests, so clients working a day job can call back when available. “It means, despite being a part-time business, you can offer a full-time service to customers.”

The study revealed the most common double job entrepreneurs are men between 25 and 34 years old.

The typical sectors where people launch businesses are Digital Services, e.g. website design, search engine marketing (18% of double job start-ups), PR and Marketing (12%), Design (11%) and HR (5%).

Reuben Singh adds, “Ambitious entrepreneurs have been quick to embrace technology and services such as ours to help manage the transition from employment to running their own business.

“This is a trend the government should be reacting to by cutting red tape for second job start-ups and simplifying the tax structure to help balance PAYE with self-employment and dividend payments.

“Such businesses may start small, but they be major sources of employment and income, for years to come.”

alldayPA has been providing call answering services to UK businesses since 1999.

The company currently employs 200 people who provide call answering service to 23,000 clients in a variety of industry sectors including professional services and legal, HR, IT, finance and property.

For more information and to sign up to alldayPA, visit www.alldaypa.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Gemma Eccleston .