Starting A Mobile Hairdressing Business

[sretiolc]

My daughter is a qualified hairdresser with a young child still at home so she has started her own mobile hairdressing business. She already has a small client base and has registered with HMRC and got insurance. She has advertised on FB, printed flyers and delivered them locally. She has not yet opened a business bank account or decided how to keep records of her income and expenditure. Is there anyone who can advise what they did or where they got advice on things like what they could put through the business and petrol claims etc ?
Thankyou in anticipation

[ubasses]

Contact the Local Federation of Small Businesses, they offer a lot of advice and help.

[TonyV]

Initially all she needs and should do is keep a simple account book of income and expenses - a few sheets of A4 paper will be ok to start with + keep all receipts for petrol and any other business expenses

[sapelesam]

Not sure of the costs involved but a friend of mine has recently started a mobile phone repair service and uses "Quickbooks" for invoicing and accounts.

[pixie374]

I do what tonyv said and keep all bank statements and copies of invoices. We throw them at an accountant every April for £600 (we need three returns).

[pixie374]

Businesslink used to be very good- if you Google it, I think it comes under Gov.uk now.

[ummmm]

I'd just use Excel and a duplicate receipt book. Keep every receipt relating to work and keep them in order.

[TonyV]

Ummm probably doesn't need a spreadsheet for size of business but if sre's daughter wants to do it that way and is computer literate then maybe that could be a plan

[Sycamore3House]

https://www.gov.uk/expenses-if-youre-self-employed

Good advise here. Keep all receipts for absolutely everything clothes, shoes, food, entertainment etc. You can also use a portion of your utility bills as an expense. Motor expenses can be accounted for by rate per mile or claiming for each expense. Depending how big her business is a simple ledger would be sufficient or a spreadsheet on a tablet or laptop.

[fiction-factory]

The mods are being kept busy this morning.