The benefits of becoming a self-employed estate planner

Switch your career easily, get out of the grind, be your own boss!

If you’re sick and tired of working every hour god sends and still feeling like you’re getting nowhere in life, becoming self-employed might be the solution you’re looking for.

If it sounds too drastic and you’re unsure if you can cut it on your own, think again. Working for yourself is easier than ever, especially with the incredible support structure available through CTT’s Professional Services network.

We offer nothing less than a complete solution, providing you with all of the knowledge, tools, and growth you’ll need to quit the rat race and thrive in the world of self-employment.

Work for yourself to your own schedule

It’s something that not a lot of people have probably thought about (we’ll try not to be offended) but becoming an estate planner and will writer is an opportunity to start again. A chance to begin a new career without having to go through university or gain years of experience. How is that possible?

CTT offers all of the training necessary, with constant support along the way, and you’ll likely be pleasantly surprised by the estate planning skills you possess already, without even knowing it.

Although working for yourself will be daunting at first, the benefits far outweigh any risks. CTT have designed a training programme to give you the confidence and tools to employ your new skills as soon as the training is over. And with our user-friendly Legacy Software, you’ll be in control of guiding your clients through the legal documentation from beginning to end.

By becoming your own boss with CTT, you will:

• Gain freedom over your time
• Be able to control your finances directly
• Become a professional adviser in a well-respected sector
• Have better job satisfaction
• Work wherever you want
• Develop at your own speed
• Be able to grow a successful business

We won’t sugar coat it, there will be bumps along the way, just like with everything in life. But it’s going to be better than how things are at the moment. All it takes is some bravery, a willingness to learn, and a healthy attitude to change.

What does it take to be your own boss?

You might think that it takes a certain type of person to become self-employed. The truth is that with persistence and hard work, anyone can work for themselves and be successful at it.

If you have any of the following skills (which we’re sure you do in abundance), then you’ll be able to work for yourself as an estate planner.

• Compassion – dealing with will writing and estate planning requires being patient and also understanding that your clients will be discussing subjects around their death.
• Empathy – hand-in-hand with compassion, you’ll need to be able to discuss possibly prickly or difficult topics with emotional skill. Anyone who has worked in a customer or public facing capacity will know how important this is in every interaction we have.
• Adaptability – no two days will be the same, being able to roll with the punches and adapt to changes in circumstance efficiently will be extremely useful.
• Strong work ethic – to be successful as a self-employed person you’ll need to work hard at it. Although CTT offers an outstanding support network, you’ll need to be able to motivate yourself to succeed and keep on going when things don’t go to plan.
• Confidence – the phrase ‘fake it till you make it’ exists for a reason. If you’re a naturally outgoing and gregarious person then good for you! For those of us that aren’t so lucky, cultivating confidence is a skill in itself. Exuding confidence usually comes from experience combined with knowledge, showing that you are confident in your own skills builds trust between you and your clients. CTT Group prides itself on inspiring confidence in our members; no matter what uncertainties you might face, our experts are always there to support your learning or simply provide assurance that you’re on the right lines.

A lot of these are termed soft skills, or transferable skills. Next, we’ll discuss why these are so important.

The power of transferable skills

What are soft skills?

These soft skills or life skills are facets of you as a person that you will have developed over the years of work and simply being alive. They are usually attributes that have been developed through interactions with people in a customer service or personal capacity.

What these skills give you is the ability to tackle any number of career paths, because they are coveted skills that cover your ability to interact successfully and professionally with other people - useful in pretty much any job.

These social and conversational attributes aren’t the only skills classed as transferable.

Examples of soft skills include:

• Critical thinking
• Leadership
• Problem-solving
• Writing
• Communication
• Team management
• Dependability
• Organisation

As you can see, it’s not only empathy, compassion, and adaptability that are critical transferable skills. Any of the above will give you an advantage when it comes to working for yourself.

Why are transferable skills important?

Having knowledge and experience in the job sector you want to switch to is important, and where CTT excel is in offering all of the training you’ll ever need to be a successful will writer and estate planner.

With skills that are formed on a deeper and more instinctual level, such as the soft skills listed above, you give yourself an advantage that others simply won’t have. It’s amazing how much having compassion and empathy for your clients makes the world of difference, helping you forge relationships that will keep them coming back to you again and again.

What about taxes?

Setting yourself up as self-employed is actually fairly easy. The first thing to do is to register as self-employed with HMRC; this makes you a sole trader. You only need to do this if you earn over £1,000 from self-employment within the tax year.

Once this is done you will need to go through the following steps:

• Register for self-assessment – this is to inform HMRC that you intend to send in your tax return form and are self-assessing your tax.
• Trade under your own name or choose a business name – there are a few rules to do with naming conventions, they are detailed on the government’s self-employment guide.
• Keep records of expenses – when it comes time to fill in your tax return you need to account for every penny that went into your business.
• Self-assessment tax return – you can either do this yourself or employ the services of an accountant.
• Pay income tax on your profits – ensure that you pay the correct amount of tax. For the self-employed this changes year by year and is based on the previous year’s income.
• If your turnover is more than 90k you must register for VAT – this is because tax rules are different over a certain earning threshold.

It’s not an exhaustive list but will give you a good idea of the actions you need to perform to make sure your transition to self-employment goes off without a hitch.

We’ve covered the nuts and bolts and the skills needed to become self-employed and the benefits of this, but that’s probably not enough to make you take the plunge. It’s a big decision, and one you need to be sure is right for you, so what will it take to make you dive, head-first, into self-employment and true independence?

So, how do you do it?

We have created one possibility for you, with CTT Group membership; a group of experts designed to support and develop will writers and estate planners.

All you need to become an estate planner is a high degree of empathy, communication skills, and a willingness to learn. If you’re used to looking after other people, in a nursing or caring capacity, or ensuring customers experience great service, whether in sales or retail, you will be able to pivot into a career as an estate planner.

After carrying out the Foundation training, you’ll have all the knowledge needed to begin creating wills for your clients. Using the Legacy Software, you’ll be able to keep clients notified of the status of their documentation, update information easily, and refer clients to other CTT services if necessary.

But you needn’t stop there, once you’re up and running after the Foundation course, the sky’s the limit in terms of your professional development. We encourage you to grow your skills and diversify your abilities as much as possible. The more services you offer, the more successful you will be. We have training focused on trusts, the finer details of estate planning, and lasting power of attorney to name a few.

We want to assure you: you won’t be doing any of this in a vacuum. We encourage collaboration through talking with other people doing the same course as you and there is the constant, amazing support we offer from our professional advisers.

We want to give you all the guidance you need, as much or as little as you require, to ensure your success. And all of this starts with a conversation.

Book a free consultation today and we’ll discuss the best ways we can help, your training options, and how we work together so you can achieve your self-employment dream.