April 12th, 2007
Confessions of a slack blogger
Yep, that’s right. I’ve been neglecting my blogging duties for ages now. Not for a lack of things to talk about; there’s plenty, but it all seems to be going into the book at the moment. There is one thing that has been a blocking force though: running my own business.
From Sole Trader to Ltd.
At the start of this month, Mark Boulton Design Ltd. started trading. This switch from Sole Trader (then LLP, then back again) to Ltd. is for a number of reasons:
- We’re set to grow. Currently Mark Boulton Design employs a bunch of freelancers on a project by project basis. The difficulty with this is, I need someone to manage that workflow whilst I Art Direct the output from the team. This is going to be much more straight-forward as a Ltd company.
- Tax. There are tax reasons for going Limited. As a Sole Trader, any income over £33,000 is taxed at 40%. As a corporation, you pay 19% (or it might be 20 with the new budget) on your profits (if your turnover is up to £300,000). As a director of a company, I’m also taxed on the salary I draw from the business. It is common-place for directors to take a small salary (which is taxed at normal rate), and then top it up with Dividends (which are taxed at 10% or 32.5%), therefore making some savings there.
Getting out of the house
That right. Hopefully—all being well— — Mark Boulton Design Ltd. will be relocating to the hussle and bussle of media central in Cardiff: Cardiff Bay. (you know, where Torchwood is filmed). I’m not going to talk too much about it in case I jinx the whole deal but it could be very, very cool.
Why move? Working at home isn’t easy. In fact, it’s really tough. I remember talking with Andy Budd about this during @media last year. The distractions aren’t really the problem. The feeling you’re not escaping the same four walls is. Also, if we’re going to grow, there’s no room and I’m going to find it difficult to recruit full-time staff if I’m not located in the capital.
Five Simple Steps
I know that book is late. I’ve not been neglecting it however, I was just very naive to think that it could be completed in a month or two. In fact, It has worked out rather well for one simple reason. The book will now be released under Mark Boulton Design Ltd. instead of me personally. I know that doesn’t make much difference to anyone who buys it, but it will mean that for every copy sold, the tax man will take £2 instead of £4.
Release date? Well, I’m not going to give a date. I have a date in my head though but I’ve learnt the lesson from last time. As I’ve told a few people now, it will be ready when it’s finished and not a moment later.
Not being slack anymore
A couple of things to talk about tomorrow. There will be an update from Flow (with screenshots) and an article on Masthead design here at markboulton.co.uk. I’ve been thinking a lot about Mastheads recently for one reason and another, and I thought it would be prudent to document my thoughts on how masthead design fits in with grids, ratios and whitespace.
Well done Mark for making a blog post out of not having time to blog! I can sympathise over the whole running a business getting in the way of blogging problem. I only manage a partnership, so I’m practically a sole trader and I still haven’t gotten round to starting a blog! So I have all these posts I writein my head with no where to go…
Anyway good luck with the Ltd business move and I hope it doesn’t get in the way of the book for too much longer — I am really looking forward to getting my copy.
Technically, Torchwood isn’t *filmed* in Cardiff Bay, it’s *set* in Cardiff Bay and has occasional shots there.
Then again, I haven’t been able to face watching Torchwood yet. *sigh*
Ahh to work on the web…
Well done there. I didn’t realise you paid less if you were limited, as I’m looking at the 40% tax band this year, maybe I’ll step up a gear myself. I’ll have to do something like that as my wife is coming on board to work as well.
Good luck with the move, but there’s no way on this planet I’d go back to Cardiff to work at the moment. Loving it down this end of Wales to much. :)
Andrew… /Dio Rolls eyes. :D
Emily: Thanks. Yeah, this blogging life is hard now I’ve got a real job!
Andrew: Semantics, semantics. Get back to your skips and dot-matrix printers.
Dio: Well, if the Inland Revenue ask, you don’t of course. As a director, you are paid a ‘reasonable’ salary and as a majority shareholder, you receive dividends from the company you own. It’s just a case of defining what is reasonable for that initial salary.
The Wife and I have talked about her coming on board, so I’ll be picking your brains about that probably. Great to hear you’re enjoying that end. Cardiff Bay isn’t that bad, although ask me again in a year and I might tell you something different.
Fabulous. Congratulations on making such a good job of the business.
And many thanks for summarising the financial issues: although anyone doing this would need full advice, clearly-written, bite-sized explanations like these are invaluable for helping folks not get lost in the details.
More importantly, when do we get to see the outcome of your recent projects? :)
Mark,
I am glad the book is taking precedence over blogging. I enjoy reading your blog, but I have been waiting for the book! No pressure ;o)
Thanks for very interesting article. Can I translate your article into polish and publish at my webblog? I will back here and check your answer. Keep up the good work. Greetings from Poland
Just curious -
If design is so important, why are the world’s most-visited websites (Yahoo, Google, eBay, MySpace, YouTube, etc.) so “poorly” designed?
Perhaps design encompasses more than the design-community is willing to admit?
Thoughts?
I agree. Great blog about not getting the time to blog!
Really looking forward to the book or is it PDF?
And congrats on your new company, a brave step from Kitchen to Office!
I sooo agree with the four walls comment. I am a sole trader myself and, for the last two years, I have been doing work for a web company based in Australia. Hence I a) never see anyone b) never get out of the house. I am seriously considering going back to permanent employment for a company to get away from it…
Brilliant idea. btw. I really enjoyed reading all of your posts. It’s interesting to read ideas, and observations from someone else’s point of view… makes you think more. Keep up the good work. Greetings
Congrats and good luck to you and your company. It’s not easy but it certainly beats cubicles.