Hello again simonhillier1.
I hope i can shed some some light on your business thoughts and that you can trust me enough to not throw abuse at me this time. I have been running a sports coaching business for 10 years now and it all started off with football.please check on my posts and you will find more detail on this.
It is quite a minefield so ill try to address some of the more important points. Firstly i trust you have a CRB check - Criminal Record Bureau. Its an obvious 1 but it needs a mention. Its basically a background check the main point of which is to establish that you are fit to work with children and vulnerable adults. It has no relevance to whether you have a caution for shoplifting. That is not what is been checked. Being in the 6th form im not sure if your age exempts you or not. What i do know is that anyone intending to work with children must have 1. If you dont have 1 i suggest you ask a school to apply for 1 for you as you cannot apply for 1 for yourself current cost is between £51 - £56 if you intend to use it in a paid capacity. If you are working for the school the chances are you wont get charged. This is academic if you have 1 but if you dont then the school are are in a grave position because if they were to have an inspection ie ofsted - as things stand then they would stop you working there straight away and also severely reprimand the school possibly to the point of failing that inspection. It really is that serious at the moment. If you have 1 thats great as you can show it to each school you work at as its not necessary to have each school do their own. So it makes things easier for you in the long run. I dont want to sound doom and gloom its just that this is the single most important part of it all.
Next is the issue of Insurance - The cost varies. If you wish i can give you contact details of my insurers if you wish to go down the business route (by far the best deal i could get). Dont be fooled into thinking that you are covered by the schools insurance. In Theory you are, However its only when something goes wrong that the small print becomes visible. If you run it as a business then you will have to have small business insurance and public liability insurance and thats actually the law. If its just some casual work that the school pay you for then im sure that their insuarance will cover you for it. However think of it like this, if a parent decided to sue you for negligence then the school wouldnt step in and say to sue them instead it would cost to defend you and if you lost theres the pay out too. Also what if the school decided that damage done to there property was done by you needlessly. Its something you need to think about. If a child broke there ankle by turning it on a hole in the field they could actually sue the school. However, If you were running a business and using the school field that responsibility becomes yours. Rule number 1 is make sure the area being used is safe for the purpose. It would be a wise move to check with the schools on this matter.
Enough of the serious stuff and now for some fun. SHOW ME THE MONEY!
Lets make up some numbers and situations. 4 after schools at 1 hour each. each school pays you £20 for it thats £80/pw as a part time hobby thats great, but as a job you'd have to work till your a 100. No school is going to allow you in to do football all day im afraid so consider this. If you charged the parents you could earn more money the only problem is its bums on seats the more the merrier.
10 kids at £4 each at 4 schools sees you return £160/pw - problem is that its bums on seats and what happens at this time of year ie not all schools have facilities such as floodlit astro turf or good size sports halls and in the case of primary schools the indoor facilities are almost non existent with most dining halls doubling as sports halls.
it would be quite easy to say ill get 20 kids but trust me once you start charging people you will soon find out whose serious also bear in mind that 20 kids would require you to have another coach if you want to provide quality sessions. Thinking big is good but be realistic. Find the right price and dont sell yourself short. Just think 20 kids x 4 schools = £320/pw now were talking.
Also remember that schools are closed for a total of 3 months a year so how do you plan to earn money in that time. Those simple figures above ie £320 per week would mean that potentially you would be missing out on £3840 if you did not secure any work to make up for when the schools are closed.
With regards to becoming official as in a business what you really need to think about is how much time you want to devote to this job. 70% of new businesses fail in their first year and thats a fact. Its not necessarilly because the ideas are bad its a whole host of reasons. (I suppose i must be doing something right to still be around after 10 years). Anyway back to official - If you decide to do it just go into your local tax office and they will explain everything to you and your allowed to earn something like £3500 before you become liable for tax etc. If you decide to trade as a business then register as 1 sooner rather than later.
1. CRB Check
2. Business and public liability insurance - if you have anyone who happens to work for you then include employee liability too.
3. Check out the viability of the business in your area and cost it properly. No harm in thinking big, but try to be realistic. Its a cliche but walk before you run. Dont sell yourself short, work undertaken has to be worth your while, but be prepared to throw out some freebies to get feet in doors. Ultimately serious people will pay good money for a good service but not everyone can afford it despite how cheap it may seem so an idea is think affluent areas (thats just good business sense nothing more nothing less).
4. Think seriously about how you will generate income through school holidays and in the winter months when after schools becomes difficult in terms of weather and light.
5. Hope the info was informative and not too negative for you. There are obviously a lot more pointers i could give but if you want them then just ask.
6. Im not such a bad guy after all. ha ha
7. Good Luck!
