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Charlotte Haye 11th October 2019

Working as a Self-Employed HGV Driver

Being your own boss is the dream for many people across the UK. Being able to set your own hours, choose your own customers and do things exactly the way you want to – the concept offers a lot of perks. In the HGV driving industry, there are a lot of opportunities to break away from traditional employment and go it alone. But no matter what industry you’re in, there are some steps you need to take to make sure your business can be successful and support you for years to come. To help you get started, we’ve put together a few of the things you will need to do in order to legally set up your own HGV driving business.

Identify Your Blank Spots (And Seek Help)

Unfortunately, no one person can know everything – it’s just not possible. But that’s ok because there are other people out there who do have the knowledge and skills you don’t. So before you set out to start your business, take a step back and try to identify any gaps in your knowledge. Are you not great with numbers? Communication not your strength, or don’t know your head from your tail when it comes to marketing? Once you know what your weaknesses are, you can find a professional who can help you with them – so your business can benefit from the strengths of you and of others.

Hire An Accountant

Even if you’re a passionate numbers person, we recommend you hire an accountant. Making sure your accounts are ready at the right time every year is not a small task, especially when it comes to filling in all of the extra forms and giving the right information. An accountant is an absolute must for any business owner, as they can take a lot of strain off your plate and allow you to focus on running your business.

Register Your Business

Before you can start trading as a business in the UK, you have to register your business with HMRC. This means you need to understand what kind of business structure you want to run – as a sole trader or a limited company? Both have their merits, so it really depends on how you want to run things. For clarification:

Sole Trader: A sole trader is essentially a self-employed person who is the only owner of their business. It’s the simplest type of business structure out there, and it’s often how small businesses start out. That’s one of the reasons it’s the most popular business structures out there too! It’s really easy to set up, but you will still need to register as a sole trader for tax purposes.

Limited Company: A limited company can run in a lot of similar ways to a sole trader, except the business has its own legal identity. This type of business structure separates the liability of the businesses from the individual business owner, shareholders and managing directors. You can run a limited company even if you are a one-man-band – it’s just a matter of structure.

Of course, like almost anything in life, there are pros and cons to each business structure, so it’s important to look carefully at the options before making your decision. If you’re not sure which will be right for you, you can always ask your accountant for help.

Open A Bank Account

If you want to take payments, you need a bank account. Shop around a bit and check out what business deals the main banks are offering, and then choose the one that makes the most sense for you. You need to have registered your business before you do this, and it can take a week or two to get your business account up and running, so it’s best to do this quickly.

Get What You Need (And Get Organised)

Now that all of the big set up bits are done, it’s time to look at the little things. During your HGV driver training, you will have discovered that there is a lot of paperwork involved in being a driver – and there is even more involved in being a business owner. So pick yourself up some basic office essentials – including a good printer, a filing cabinet and some in trays to help you stay organised. Set up a system for how you want to work now, and it will make it much easier to manage later on. Now is also the time to pick up some tech gadgets that can help you drive safer and improve client interactions so that you are ready to hit the ground running.

Market Yourself

Now that your business is set up, it’s time to sell yourself! After all, you can’t run a business without clients. Get yourself out there and work to build relationships with other transport companies and employers, make sure that you are marketing yourself at every chance you get. If you aren’t sure how to do that, have a chat with some marketing companies and see if they can help you out.

At Easy as HGV, we pride ourselves on supporting new drivers in achieving their ambitions, whatever they may be. That’s why as a standard part of our training we cover employment vs self-employment, the benefits of each and how to get yourself set up in both. Our experts are on hand to help, and we can wait to see you realise your dreams. To find out more, get in touch with us today.

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