Top 20 tips for running your own business

Running your own business can be all of the following: exciting, draining, liberating, stressful and rewarding. Still, it doesn’t matter whether you’re aiming to start up a shop or become the next Richard Branson – if you follow the 20 tips below, you’ll find your life – and business – will be made much easier!

• Start small and keep overheads low
• Cashflow
• Make a plan
• Network
• Sales, sales, sales
• Avoid borrowing if possible
• Set up passive income streams, where possible
• Get online
• Don’t buy advertising because you’re offered a deal
• Have an exit strategy
• Give people what they want
• Keep your finances in order
• Outsource, where possible
• Use targeted marketing
• Get into a niche
• Get mentors
• Take time off
• Be Selective about who you spend your time with
• Get what you can for free
• Have fun!

 

1. Running your own business – Start small and keep overheads low

Don’t spend any more than you have to on your start-up. Loads of big businesses start small: Laura Ashley began on her kitchen table, M&S started out as a market stall and Tesco was just a couple of local grocer’s shops in the beginning.

So, before you fork out, unnecessarily, consider:

• Your office can be a laptop computer at your kitchen table
• Don’t forget insurance, as your household insurance may no longer be valid if you’re working from home. This is something you’ll need to check with your current broker, as you may need to upgrade your insurance. Take a look at our comparison tool to find the right home insurance for you
• Set up a separate bank account for your business. (If you mix up your personal account with your business account you’re asking for trouble – it’s confusing, extra hassle and no benefit to you at all when it comes to planning your business and life in general.) It doesn’t need to be an expensive ‘business’ account, it can be an ordinary current account – either with your current bank or with a different provider. Look for one with integrated finance software like FreeAgent or Xero, to prepare your business for the changeover to Making Tax Digital soon
• If you need to send any parcels, you could try Parcel Compare – a fab website that could save you a fortune on package delivery. Its special comparison tool means you can find the cheapest shipping company for your needs.
• Consider other costs such as electric and gas. If you do decide to rent or buy an office, take the time to do an energy comparison to make sure you’re not overpaying for your energy consumption.
• Packaging and labels are essential for shipping products. Make sure to invest in quality packaging to protect your items and professional labels to maintain a good brand image. You can find cost-effective options by comparing different suppliers.

 

2.Cashflow

Don’t assume that people will pay on time as they normally don’t. Instead:

• Cut down your waiting time by getting them to agree payment terms at the start
• Be clear in your invoices that you will charge 8% over base rate for any invoices that aren’t paid within 30 days
• Get in the habit of invoicing in milestones – a deposit, commencement, and delivery fee
• Don’t spend money now on an assumption that you’ll receive payment from your clients straight away. Plan your business expenditure so that you are not creating debt and are not dependent on anyone paying on time
• Have more than one income stream – even if that means doing a part-time job or taking in ironing
• If you’re having consistent problems with unpaid bills, then consider joining the Federation of Small Businesses (£195 for the first year), so  you can use their legal assistance to chase your debtors.
• Forecast your revenues and calculate your run rate to understand your business health and future earnings

3. Make a plan

As the saying goes: ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail’.

Therefore, even if you’re just setting up as a freelancer for a side hustle, you need to give yourself a clear idea of your monthly costs and how much profit (or other income) you must generate to keep yourself afloat.

Work out what your monthly income needs to be. Make yourself a chart for the next 12 months showing the growth in revenue that you can realistically generate and be clear on how you’ll generate those new clients.

It’s a tough thing to guess, but just the action of thinking it through will provide you with earnings goals and points to consider as you run your business. The Prince’s Trust and the Start Up Loans websites both host business plan templates that can be downloaded for free at the touch of a button.

 

4. Network

A business without a strong online presence is missing a great opportunity. Set a strong online presence from the start, since everything is going digital and people are always on the internet searching for goods and services they need.

Consider creating a professional website with a catchy name. And make sure to use the popular .com extension so it’s easy to remember.

The more you’re ‘out there’ touting for work the more likely you are to get the work. With the internet it’s possible to meet people without leaving your desk.

Join online networking groups and forums and start giving useful advice on areas directly relevant to your business. This raises your profile in a positive way. But don’t spend too much time on it – allocate a certain amount of time each week and stick to that.

Get business cards printed, get out to networking events in your area and make sure you take your business cards wherever you go – you can meet interesting and potentially useful people anywhere.

Have something beneficial that you can offer people when you meet them – make reference to it on your business card or on the website that your business card should refer new contacts to. This is called a lead magnet: something that makes someone get in touch with you after you’ve met. It could be downloading a free guide, booking a free consultation call with you, or something else that is easy for you to do at little cost, but builds trust and starts the client relationship.

Don’t go out and try to ‘sell’ your business or your service. Networking is usually a two-way street, where you create support by being useful to people who then go elsewhere and talk about you in a positive light. Don’t thrust your business card at other people – ask them for theirs and don’t give them yours until it’s asked for. Once you’ve met someone send them an email within 48 hours providing something useful, or the place where they can find that useful thing (e.g. on your website). They now have your contact details and a positive association with you.

 

5. Sales, sales, sales

Don’t shy away from the sales and marketing aspect of the business. Learn how to do it. Study it and practice it. You will probably find it nerve wracking at first but get through it! Question everything you do in the business, asking ‘how is this going to make money?’ If it won’t lead to a profit, then don’t waste your time doing it.

YouTube is a fantastic resource for all things startup, whether that’s Canva tutorials to make your marketing materials or how-to guides on creating sales funnels or best marketing strategies for your industry and business type.

6. Avoid borrowing if possible

While it’s tempting to borrow money to get started, try to avoid it as you could end up in a debt you can’t afford to repay. Instead:

• Try to grow your business organically. Use your own savings, or earnings from another business or income stream to fund it
• Barter services rather than paying for them – offer up your skills in one area in exchange for someone else’s in another
• If you want to go big time straight away and feel you need external funding to do it then put together a professional business plan and discuss it with your suppliers, customers, prospective customers and other ‘known’ potential investors before stepping into the shark-infested waters where venture capitalists and ‘angel’ investors roam.

7. Set up passive income streams, where possible

This is money that comes in when you’re not working.

• Consider incorporating Google Adsense on your website (these are adverts generated by Google that are relevant to the content on your website)
• Think about writing an eBook on different elements of your business subject and selling it on your website, eBay, and elsewhere on the net.
• Automate as much of the selling process as possible by installing PayPal payment on your site and having non-physical products that don’t require any human fulfilment such as delivery or packaging etc – PDF zines, comics and documents for sale are ideal for this
• Affiliate marketing with Amazon Associates is ideal if you discuss products on your website. If readers choose to buy a product that you’ve mentioned through a link on your site, then you get a small percentage from that purchase

 

8. Get online

If you haven’t already, get online. Use online services such as WordPress and Wix to build a website that is totally free.

You should always shop around to find the best possible deal for your web host.

Once your website’s up and running, here’s how you can keep visitors returning to your site:

• Create a community of people by providing a genuinely useful, free, newsletter that’s sent out regularly
• Provide useful content on your site that gives your potential clients the first couple of steps in addressing a problem that they might have
• Include audio and video on your site and use that content on YouTube and similar sites to promote your site
• Provide an easy response mechanism (e.g. blog comments or an email address) so you can find out what your community thinks and wants
• Ensure your business is secure to prevent unforeseen losses with software such as antivirus or VPN.
• Optimize your website for search engines (aka SEO). This is especially important for small local businesses.

 

9. Don’t buy advertising just because you’re offered a deal

If you need to advertise (and it’s better to promote yourself for free to start with) make sure your advertising is targeted, specific and within an advertising budget. Before exploring online marketing packages, think about the following:

• Work out who your customers are, where they are, where they live, what they read, what worries them and what excites them.
• Work out what the message is that you want to communicate so the right people will take action right away.
• Decide what is the best medium to use to communicate this message to your market.
• Take no notice of calls from advertising salespeople from publications you don’t know, even if they’re offering serious discounts and start telling you about all your competitors who are advertising with them.

 

10. Have an exit strategy

Serious business owners set up with an exit strategy in mind from the start as this allows them to plan the business and know why they’re doing it – only then can they effectively plan how they’re going to achieve what they want.

Acknowledge why you’re in business – what’s the lifestyle that you want to achieve? Is this business going to help you achieve this? And at what point will you know that this has been achieved?

What kind of profit level do you need to reach to command a decent fee, and what will you have to do to create that profit? At what point will you want to sell the business or hand it over to your kids to run?

 

11. Give people what they want

Don’t make the mistake of being blinkered about what you want to produce/sell. You have to be very aware of what your potential and existing customers want – not just what you think they want.

Do speak to potential customers – before you start up your business and as an ongoing habit. Take them to lunch, pick their brains, ask them what they want and need, what they hate and what they’d pay extra for. Keep a realistic perspective of what’s selling as your business develops. Is there a sideline product or service that’s very popular and takes less effort than the main offering? If so, focus more effort on it. Do be honest with yourself about what works, what doesn’t and why you’re in business. If you have to make enough to pay the rent, you need to be brutally honest about the success or failure of products pretty quickly.

 

12. Keep your finances in order

Admin is a drag, everyone hates it – but it must be done.

Make sure you:

• Put money aside for your forthcoming tax bill (at least 30% of every invoice)
• If you can, speak up front to an accountant (recommended to you by someone you know) about how much you should put aside for tax and other similar issues
• However if you’re just starting up, you probably won’t have to pay VAT as you’re allowed a £85,000 turnover before you have to pay it. If you’re planning on going over that then you’ll have to contact HMRC to register for VAT. You can use VAT software to help you.
• Keep good records of your incoming and outgoing revenues, your receipts and other related information. Again if you speak to an accountant they will give you guidance on what files to keep, how to organise them and what to do to keep your accountancy bills down
• Accountants too expensive? Though a good accountant is invaluable, you don’t necessarily need one when you’re first starting out. Plenty of people do their own accounts on paper or using an Excel spreadsheet. However, it is smart to hire an accountant for an expanding business or if you can’t handle your accounts on paper. A great accountant can provide audit and assurance services to ensure your company’s compliance, detect and prevent fraud, increase your chances of accessing credit, and ensure better resource utilisation.
• Furthermore, taxes are a nightmare for many business owners due to their complex forms and hefty late fines. This is going to be even more important as Making Tax Digital is rolled out to all businesses earning over £20,000 by 2027 – HMRC will be looking for people making mistakes in the new system, so going via an accountant can be beneficial to prevent costly errors.
• Remember that accountants and bookkeeper fees can be written off as an expense on your tax return as it is a legitimate business cost.

13. Outsource, where possible

Now that we have entered the virtual world, it’s getting cheaper and more efficient to outsource large chunks of a business to UK and Asian-based  services.

A Virtual Assistant can do everything from responding to calls and emails through to bookkeeping, serious business research, and web development for around £12 an hour. Search the internet for Virtual Assistants  and test three at the same time with small, but very similar tasks. Rate them in terms of value for money, accuracy, responsiveness and common sense (this is very important).

 

14. Use targeted marketing

This is an extension of tip number nine (don’t buy advertising).

Work out a detailed profile of your target market: where they live, what they read/watch/listen to, if they have children, if they drive a car or own a home, whether they’re professionals, in a particular business sector or part of the country. Work out an interesting and relevant letter or email blast to send to these people offering them something genuinely useful up front. Put a time limit on the special offer so that they have to take action.

 

15. Get into a niche

As the American industrialist Andrew Carnegie said: “The men who have succeeded are the men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.”

Don’t try to enter a competitive market that requires a great deal of capital and experience. If you’re reading this then you probably don’t have the capital and experience combination that’ll be required! Stick to something that you either know a lot about already or something that really interests you so that you’ll want to find out a great deal about it. If you carve out a niche and personalise it (e.g. be friendly and talkative on your website or in your correspondence), this will differentiate you from everyone else in your market. Combine this ‘difference’ with your market knowledge and the fact that you’re in a relatively small market and your chances of success will be increased.

 

16. Get mentors

You become like the people you associate with so associate with people who are like minded. Join appropriate industry associations – these will also give you the lowdown on relevant industry threats, opportunities legislation and the like. Meet or converse with other entrepreneurs who have nothing to do with your market sector. They’ll be happy to share solutions and encouragement with you in a way that your current friends cannot because they don’t really understand what you are going through or why.

 

17. Take time off

Setting up a new business can be a 24/7 activity and it’s very tempting to spend all your waking hours in the office. But to make sure you’re not overstretching yourself, re-charge your batteries every so often.

Book time off for yourself in your diary (including evenings off to do a sport or socialise). Set hours that match with your most productive times and allow yourself to spend time with your loved ones – they’ll need to know when you’re not going to be working! Revisit your tasks and see what you can outsource cheaply (see tip eleven). Prioritise tasks and see what you could ditch – temporarily or permanently. Be brutal and honest about this – don’t do certain tasks because you enjoy them, do what brings in a profit.

 

18. Be selective about who you spend your time with

Don’t undo your good work by spending time with people who are dismissive of what you’re trying to achieve. Don’t spend too much time with people who make you question your goals and ambitions. People will always criticise what they don’t understand; find someone who you can teach and help. That’s when you really learn AND it’s one of the most rewarding elements of being in business.

 

19. Get what you can for free

Make a habit of looking for a free (or at least cheaper) way of doing what you need to do. Contact colleges and universities to find people who want to build their CV or portfolio and will do free or cheap work on websites, photo shoots, design etc. Put an advert out to schools and colleges, as well as social media networks, for work placements and internships if you feel there are jobs that can be learnt fairly quickly and that will benefit the person doing them even if only through the experience of the real world.

Keep talking to other entrepreneurs, government agencies and business organisations to find out about free things you could get your hands on. See if you can get hold of office equipment through community pages like Freecycle.

 

20. Have fun!

Running a business should be creative, satisfying and enjoyable. It’s a chance to express yourself, meet interesting and creative people, potentially make a lot of money and create a whole new life for yourself.

So do everything you can to enjoy the process of being in business. And make the most of the good times – when you get a big contract or when you complete a difficult task – because the challenging times will come around soon enough.

 

Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.

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Make money by creating a TV game show format

TV companies are always looking for interesting programmes to keep their audience entertained. With the UK’s TV industry in a lot of financial difficulty lately, everyone is looking for the ‘next big thing’ that they can make fast and cheap – and that means gameshows are coming back in fashion. Just look at things like the recent Gladiators revival!

Game shows are ideal for broadcasters and the people who make TV, because the overall budgets are much smaller than big drama productions. They can be made quickly, and because they usually involve recruiting the public as contestants, there is a much smaller bill for salaries compared to shows that need to pay big-name actors.

If you are the creative type, you can make money by creating a TV game show format.

This is because these programmes are in high demand and really successful ones, like ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’, can make millions for the TV company and, over time, for the person, or team, who came up with the idea.

Be warned, though, a good format is a remarkably difficult concept to come up with. Even professionals can take years to create a good one. But if you’re a game show fanatic, you could be in a good position to come up with an idea.

• What’s involved in coming up with a TV game show format?
• How do you do it?
• Case study: Hugh Rycroft – co-creator of Tipping Point
• Tips from an expert in creating a game show format
• How much can you make?
• Contacts

What’s involved in coming up with a TV game show format?

 

Basically, you have to think up an idea and sell it – easy money.

Well, unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it sounds to make money by creating a TV show format.

To be honest, this is a very hard industry to break into, but IF you can come up with a good idea and hone it into a killer format, you may not have to work – ever again. To break into this industry, you need a lot of patience, and you must be very persistent.

You will spend a lot of time contacting production companies and probably never get a reply. Indies (independent companies) can be impossible to contact, will refuse unsolicited submissions, or sit on your ideas for months.

Even if you get your foot in the door, there is no guarantee that you will ever come up with a winner. It can be a hard business. It could take you years of trying and failing to come up with an idea that is even optioned, let alone bought.

If you’re the creative type though and have a passion for game shows, give it a go – you won’t know if you don’t try.

 

How do you make money by creating a TV game show format?

Step 1: Brain storm!

This is a great excuse to watch TV in the name of research and making money! Study some popular game shows. Watch them regularly and work out what their basic elements are and what makes them work. The idea should be simple but fun. See if you can find an ‘ideas buddy’ with whom you can brainstorm and come up with formats together.

Putting a bit of reality into the game show, and vice versa, has opened up the game show format to more than the traditional three podium format. There is an endless variety of elements you can include in a game show – you just need to find the right ones that click. Dramatic tension seems to be one thing that makes a great game show, especially at key moments of choice for the contestant.

To really have a chance to make money by creating a TV game show format though, you need to let go of all your pre-conceived ideas of what a TV game show is, let go of traditional ideas and invent new ways of giving audiences entertainment programmes.

Step 2: Target production companies

Once you’ve got your idea, look at the channel’s website, or simply the closing credits of the show to see which production companies have made the most popular game shows. Target these with your idea. You will need to search for companies that produce factual television, not scripted drama. There are two parts of the TV industry – ‘scripted’ and ‘unscripted’ – and game shows come under unscripted.

Experience is the most valuable way to learn about what ideas companies will buy and produce. Regardless of whether your ideas are purchased, each time you pitch to executives in the industry you are building relationships with people who you can contact later and talk about how to make your ideas work.

Step 3: Presentation

Producers are busy people, so to ensure your pitch gets read, format it into a brief synopsis with a highly marketable ‘logline’. You should be able to fit the description of the show format onto no more than one A4 sheet. Hone it down to the simple rules and a few gimmicks and send it to TV production companies.

With your full script, ensure you have these headings:

• Title of the show
• Format of the show – Game Show
• Author Name
• Logline – a few sentences to describe your concept
• Treatment – Synopsis or Outline. This is a detailed description of your show as it would be seen on TV, to interest or provoke the reader make sure you ‘show’ the reader what the audience is watching.

Case study: Hugh Rycroft – co-creator of Tipping point

Hugh Rycroft, one of the creative minds behind the popular ITV game show Tipping Point found inspiration for his game show format whilst visiting a seaside arcade in 2003.

Hugh acknowledges that the game show industry itself is a tiny market and a very hard one to succeed in, “I estimate that fewer than 30 new game shows appear on British TV in any given year, out of the (literally) thousands of ideas that are generated… Having said this, in the specific case of ‘Tipping Point’, the fact that it DID finally end up on TV 9 years after I first had the idea suggests that persistence can pay off!”

So if you really think you have a great idea and you are serious about wanting to make money by creating a TV game show format, you have to be patient and persistent.

 

Tips from an expert in creating a TV game show format

• For a complete TV ‘outsider’, by far the most important things will be to network with TV people. The best idea in the world will never make it onto TV if it never lands on the right desk! Not all production companies will look at unsolicited material, so write to them first before sending your idea, or check out their website.
• Remember, a single, big slightly whacky or left-field concept, even if it’s not particularly well thought through, is far more likely to get someone’s attention than a show relying on more traditional game show themes, which development teams can think up in their sleep!
• If you do find a production company that likes your idea, be open to them playing around and changing the concept, because on the whole these people do know what they’re talking about.
• Persistence can certainly pay off – TV is littered with examples of things that were turned down dozens of times before they became huge hits. Ideas can be rejected for all sorts of reasons, so keep trying. Likewise, if you keep trying you might succeed and make money by creating a TV show format.
• Finally, for a complete beginner, the best pitch advice is to keep it simple. What you’re trying to sell is the unique and brilliant core concept at the heart of your show. Good luck!

 

How much can you make?

As we’ve mentioned above, managing to make money by creating a TV game show format is a tricky business, so we wouldn’t advise you to give up your day job yet.

HOWEVER if you come up with a winning idea, the sky’s the limit!

It’s a very difficult industry to crack but if you really do love game shows and have the passion to commit and persist who knows what might happen. Just remember it often takes 40, 50 or even 100 ideas to be pitched before a TV station will consider buying one!

Regardless, once they buy it, you are in to earn big bucks because they pay an upfront fee ranging from $500 to 10,000 based on the show. Likewise, you may get a set-up bonus depending on how well you negotiate. There is also an on-stage credit standard fees and nominal percentage from the fees paid to the production company. The major income for you, however, comes from episodic fees, which is a percentage of the budget per episode. It ranges from 2-5% but is negotiable.

 

 

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How to Give to Charity Without Spending a Penny

However much we might want to give to charity, often it’s just not possible to sign up and commit to a direct debit every month. 

So, how can we do good and help out charitable causes when we haven’t got that much money to spare ourselves? 

Luckily, there are a few ways you can incorporate helping out charities into your daily life, without having to spend money you don’t have. Here are just a few of them…

• Donate via a cashback site
• Give to charity online: search engines that pay charities with each search
• Remembering to tick the Gift Aid box
• Give to charity by donating your stuff
• Play games online and give to charity

 

Donate via a cashback site

You might already use a cashback site – but if you don’t, ask a friend if they use one that they can send a referral link to. This means you both get some cash as an incentive when you sign up! TopCashBack, Swagbucks, and Quidco are popular choices. 

You can choose to keep your cashback earned from your purchases for yourself, or donate to charity – either some or all of it. This helps you give back without spending anything more than you would have anyway!

Give to charity online with charity cashback sites

The alternative to using a cashback site of your own is to use one that manages the donations on your behalf. EasyFundraising.org and Savoo are both great examples of websites that have been set up to make sure consumers don’t pay anything extra, but instead of giving you cashback, they donate their commission from your sale to a charity of your choice.

Savoo is a particular favourite, because it also has a wide range of discount codes and offers, which means you save money while also raising money for charity.

Remember to tick the Gift Aid box 

Never really been sure what Gift Aid is? It’s a nifty government scheme can help charities, with literally no effort from you at all. 

Gift Aid is a long-running government scheme that gives charities a basic 20% tax relief on whatever you’re donating to them, as long as you’re a UK taxpayer. The scheme has been in place for 30 years, and has gifted charities billions of pounds in that time. All you have to do is tick the Gift Aid box whenever you’re making a donation, sponsoring your neighbour to run that 5k, etc, to ensure Gift Aid is included. Easy! 

Gift Aid doesn’t cost you anything extra – but means the charity gets the tax relief on your donation. This puts more money in their pocket!

Give to charity by donating your stuff

You don’t need to be giving money to charity to be helping them out. Instead of throwing out that old chair or pair of jeans you’re bored of, or those kid’s shoes that don’t fit anymore, why not drop them off at your local charity shop instead? 

Of course, you can support charities by shopping in their high street stores too – books, DVDs, clothes and lots more will be significantly cheaper than they would be in other retail stores, and you’ll be doing a good deed in the process. Remember to hand your donation bag to a member of staff and ask for the Gift Aid form to make sure they get the most from your donations, too.

Play games online and give to charity 

Did you know you can raise money for charity just by playing games online? Turns out you can! 

Our favourite find is the Free Rice website, from the World Food Programme. For every correct answer, the site’s sponsors will send the cash equivalent of 10 grains of rice to the World Food Programme, who will funnel it into feeding those in need around the world. Spending time on your phone has never felt so worthy! 

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How to make money while you’re on holiday

Unless you join the Navy or work for an airline, you will probably struggle to earn money while travelling.

Scrounging free flights and hotel stays is getting increasingly difficult in the post-lockdown, post-‘influencer’ world, and even professional travel writers now struggle to travel the world for free like they used to.

But there are still some ways to recoup the cost of your holiday, from renting out your home and driveway to looking after someone else’s pet while you sightsee.

Cut through the hype and discover what tips do and don’t work now, with our expert guide.

• Continue work while you’re away
• Earn money renting out your home while you’re away
• Rent out your drive
• Make money pet-sitting
• Sign up as a mystery diner for free holiday meals
• Make money selling your holiday pics
• Travel for free by becoming a ‘group leader’
• Earn cashback on your flight and hotel booking

Continue Work on Holiday

OK, OK, so being on holiday means taking annual leave or time away from your freelance job. But if you can negotiate working at least a couple of days a week remotely while you’re away, you won’t eat into your leave days or holiday fund quite so much. With remote work so common in a post-Covid world, it is easier than ever to negotiate a longer holiday overall, if you can arrange to work remotely a few days a week.

Speak to your boss about how you could work while you’re away, and make sure clear boundaries are set about when you are working and when you are on holiday. If you are travelling to a country that has an office for your company or clients, consider offering to spend a day carrying out in-person meetings (and some smooth-tongued employees can even use this to ask for expenses towards air travel and a hotel for a portion of the trip).

Freelancers can usually work from anywhere, which means it’s easy to up sticks for a week or two without dipping into your savings too much. Working a couple of hours a day ensures the income continues to roll in, but you can take advantage of doing it by a beach or in a beautiful historic city! And remember, if you can tie your travel to work somehow, such as a research trip, some of your expenses can be offset on your Self Assessment.

Earn Money Renting Out Your Home 

Renting out your house out while you’re away is a simple – and pretty lucrative – way of recouping the cost of your holiday, especially if you live in a tourist hotspot.

Airbnb has obviously cornered the market in casual holiday lets, but there are a whole host of apps and websites out there that you can sign-up to, including Holiday Lettings, Vrbo, and Booking.com, all of which are quite easy to create and manage a listing on.

General rental sites like Spare Room or Monday to Friday are another good way of finding people who might want a full two weeks in a city, where, let’s face it, most Airbnb guests only want to stay for a day or three.

Which site is best?

Spare Room and Monday to Friday tenants are usually young adults or business people looking for a stopgap while they find more long-term accommodation. Sites like Booking.com and Air BnB let you list for short-term lets, which can give you more cash if you’re going away at a peak time.

There are just a few legalities to check before letting out your home, like whether you need to up your insurance. Airbnb, for instance, covers you for up to $1m in insurance, but your own home insurance provider may also need you to pay a small fee to include renters to your policy.

If you have a mortgage, you need to check if it’s okay with them too, as not all lenders allow you to offer your home out for short-term lets.

Home Swap

If you don’t want to rent out your home – or doing so would mean expensive changes to your insurance policy – you could consider a home swap with a friend or vetted person, instead. This is where you switch homes for the period of time: you live in their house, they live in yours. This was made popular with the Christmas film, The Holiday with Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz. We can’t guarantee you’ll find the love of your life, but you might discover a cheap way to regularly visit a place that you love!

There are completely free home swap services, but going through an agency like HomeExchange with a small annual fee means you will have additional protection insurance and other support as part of your membership. Home swaps save you so much money on travel, it can be a way to explore the world on a limited budget – so paying an agency fee, where people are vetted to join, can be well worth it.

 

Rent Out Your Drive 

If your mortgage broker doesn’t allow you to let you rent out your house, or maybe you just don’t fancy having someone else stay in your home while you’re not there, you could always rent out your empty driveway instead.

Having a car on your drive will also do more to keep away would-be burglars than that hall lamp on a time switch ever could! You can also make a fair whack by simply letting someone else park on your property for a week or two. Again, the amount you could earn depends on where you live – if you’re live in a big city or near a major sporting venue, like Wimbledon or Aintree where parking is a major problem during certain weeks of the year, your drive will obviously be more in-demand than if you live on Dartmoor.

There are loads of companies that specialise in driveway rentals, including JustPark.com, ParkOnMyDrive.com, Stashbee.com and YourParkingSpace.co.uk. You’ll also find people listings their driveways on Gumtree, Facebook and other less-specialist sites, so it’s worth checking on those too to see if you could earn more by advertising on one of them.

Setting up an account only takes a minute or so, and the sites then either take a small cut from you, the leaser, or, in the case of JustPark.com, add an extra commission on to bill which the person renting your drive pays.

How much can I charge to rent out my drive?

The three cities most in-demand by space-shy parkers are London, Edinburgh and Brighton, where parking near the centre typically goes from £15 a day (if you exclude the chancers charging £50+). Even in the suburbs, the going-rate starts from £10 a day in Brighton, rising the closer you live to bus routes.

It may not sound a huge amount, but added up over a fortnight, you could (conservatively) look to make between £70 and £135 renting out your parking space – and that’s assuming you list at the very bottom of the market. Most of those drives are not in the most in-demand parts of Brighton, like near the beach or station.

It’s a similar story with other touristy cities like York, where city centre parking has just rocketed in April 2025, to a whopping £4.85 an hour in city car parks (up from 80p an hour just a month before!).

Will I earn more in other cities?

If you’re lucky enough to live in central London, Edinburgh, or York, your drive will pay for more than a few Magnums. You can easily make £20+ a day for each parking space. If you’ve a double drive or double garage, you’re looking at £40+ a day – which adds up to £560 in revenue during your two-week trip away. Have space for three cars? You could earn £840 to put towards your spending money.

Obviously, you will need to check with your home insurance provider to ensure that renting out your driveway or garage doesn’t affect your policy, and any extra cash you make over £1000 in a year must be declared to HMRC on your tax return.

Can I Make Money Pet Sitting?

As well as renting out your own house/drive to make some money, you could try getting paid to stay in the place you’re staying – or, at the very least, stay there for free. Most people don’t pay for house sitting anymore – unless you’re required to also look after pets.

The obvious way to do this is by offering your services as a house sitter. Not everyone can get a house swap, such as those who rent their homes rather than own them, but you can still register on a house sitting site to stay in someone’s house for free.

There are a number of reasons why someone would want you to stay in their house rent-free.

An increasing number of people own more than one property or spend long periods of time away on business, and would rather pay someone to look after the place than risk being burgled.

Burglary rates are highest during holiday periods, which, let’s face it, is probably when you are looking for somewhere too. Hiring a house-sitter also makes financial sense for home owners with lots of valuable contents, like priceless art and memorabilia, so having you on-site could actually help lower their insurance premiums.

What does house-sitting involve?

House sitting is typically very easy. Your job is to keep things dust-free and tidy, perhaps keep on top of the garden and water any plants, and, of course, you may be required to look after a pet too.

There’s quite a demand for those who are good with dogs, cats and other animals, given many pet owners don’t want to send their pets to expensive kennels and catteries, so if you enjoy walking and grooming animals, and can be trusted to keep them alive for two weeks, you’ll be ideal.

Not all house-sitting companies pay, but you’ll save hundreds of pounds on hotels and B&B by taking on the roll of unpaid dog-walker/night-watchman when you’re not off exploring the local tourist sites.

How do I register?

Most the main house sitting websites charge would-be sitters a small fee to register on their site. HouseSittersUK, for instance, charges £29 a year for access to its portal, which, as its website points out is ‘a fraction of the price of a night’s hotel accommodation’. Once registered, you can then begin searching for home owners in the area you’re hoping to stay, and chat directly with them to negotiate what they want and need from you. If they pay, they will typically mention this in the advert, but you can always ask about any remunerations or expenses when you message them. If they’re asking you to look after pets or be mindful of particular errands that could cost money, make sure you have in writing that they will cover any expenses incurred (like dog food).

Can I house-sit in another country?

If you’re looking for accommodation abroad, MindMyHouse.com has listings across the US, Canada and Mexico, which account for over a third of all ads, as well as lots in the rest of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

Again, you have to pay a small yearly membership fee of $29 (roughly £25) but there are lots of nice looking listings in exotic destinations. Of course, the home owners are generally looking for help on specific dates (usually when they themselves are going away), so if you’re looking to visit California, for example, it may make sense to look up who is listed in that destination – and when they are looking for house-sitters – and, organising your trip around that, rather than booking your flights first and then being disappointed when you discover there are no Californians looking for house-sitters the fortnight you’re going to be there.

Can I specify what I will and won’t do? 

The interesting thing about this site is house sitters and home owners sign an agreement detailing exactly what is and isn’t included in the agreement, covering everything from payment (or otherwise) to the situation regarding utility bills, damages, and any chores/responsibilities. The contract also guarantees your stay, although each party can cancel the agreement up to seven days before you are due to arrive, so there’s always a chance you may have to find alternative accommodation if they cancel more than a week out.

Another popular site is Trustedhousesitters, however its joining fee is a lot more expensive, starting from £119 a year for a ‘basic’ membership. If you go down this route, it may not be a bad idea to upgrade to the £129 ‘standard sitter’ membership, which includes accidental and third party liability insurance, in case anything goes wrong during your stay. The premium membership of £249 is ideal for those wanting to house sit more than once a year (it’s still cheaper than a hotel!) as it includes sit cancellation cover.

If you apply for five house sits and aren’t successful with any of them, the standard and premium plan includes a refund on your membership cost.

Can I charge a fee to house sit?

Although payments are not the norm, you may be able to negotiate a small fee if there are pets to look after or any other additional tasks, so definitely give it a try if you feel you deserve a small daily amount.

One lady we know of at MoneyMagpie regularly makes £50 a day as a house-sitter. She only spends the evening and night in the house, before going to work the next day.

The reason for this high rate of pay is the fact that the owner of the house has seven dogs.

It would cost at least £10 per dog per day to put these dogs into kennels. By paying £50 to a house-sitter who knows the dogs, the owner saves £20 a day.

Generally, though, pay is minimal and starts at £10 a day. Some sitters ask for a food allowance of £10 a day, much like an employee can do when having to travel for their company. These sitters will often ask for 45p per mile for fuel, again much like employees get paid for using their private vehicle for work. Both of these payments are non-taxable, unlike any actual remunerations, which should be declared to the taxman if you meet the minimum threshold.

Another example of when a Magpie has been paid to house sit was when the person had a home business that required lots of sending and receiving parcels. They paid £10 a day to cover the trip to the post office, and to make sure the Magpie stayed at home during the set delivery times to take in parcels.

If you are more focused on earning money rather than just finding somewhere free to stay, you’re probably better looking at a specialised pet-sitting site, although you probably ought to be a real animal lover to bother applying to these. Most owners aren’t going to leave their beloved pooch with any Tom, Dick or Harry.

How do I become a pet-sitter?

The pet-sitting platform Rover doesn’t charge you to register and instead takes 15% of any money you make, much like Airbnb does. A lot of the sitters on its site are pros who either own boarding kennels and catteries, or run professional dog walkers services, and they obviously charge big bucks. That said, there are others who offer a more traditional house-sitting service, which is obviously preferred by many pet owners whose animals are too nervous or old to go to a kennel or cattery, so you might be able to undercut the pros, and net yourself a decent fee to help offset some of your other holiday costs. If you have a police DBS check and can get references from other pet owners attesting to your dog-whispering prowess, you’ll also seriously boost your chances of getting selected.

Again you’ll find listings across the UK on Rover, as well as in popular tourist destinations like the US, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and Norway – where hotels are notoriously expensive.

If you plan to look after someone’s pet, you really ought to look into getting public liability cover, in case the dog bites someone while you’re out walking them, for instance. Many professional house-sitters take out public liability insurance even if they never look after pets. You never know what sort of any blow-back you might get from the home owner if things go wrong, so it’s always better to be safe than sued!

 

 

Get Free Meals and Hotel Stays as a Mystery Diner and Visitor

There are lots of agencies out there that employ people as mystery shoppers for hotels and restaurants. Some pay but most offer simply the expenses back of the meal or accommodation. They will often stipulate whether you need to order a particular thing, ask for help (such as ‘may I have an iron brought to my room?’ to test room service), and other such things. You will need to allocate some time to complete the tasks – but it will result in free stays and meals.

What will I have to do?

Typically, mystery diners are given a simple questionnaire to fill-in after their visit, asking them to rate how friendly the staff were, how clean and presentable the restaurant looked, and other perhaps brand-specific questions, like did the meal arrive within a certain time after ordering.

Lots of students and retired people do mystery shopping or mystery dining work as a part-time job, but if you’re really only interested in doing it every so often to cover those dinners away, you could try signing up for a site like MysteryDining.

While most people who use the app review restaurants in their local area, it let’s you update your preferences if you’re travelling, meaning you can select to review restaurants and hotels, for example, while you’re elsewhere in the UK. They even have some international partnerships, meaning you could eat for free while on holiday in parts of Europe, the Middle East and America.

Can I get paid for reviews?

MysteryDining doesn’t pay you for each review, but offers ’capped reimbursements’ – ie. money to pay for the meal or hotel room you’ve been asked to review. It works on a tiered system (with bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels, depending on how many reviews you’ve done). Not surprisingly, the best gigs, like hotel stays, spa visits, meals at high-end restaurants, and afternoon teas, are reserved for people with more experience – which you gain, initially, by reviewing a lot of ‘quick service’ eateries, like Pret A Manger.

If living it up for free isn’t enough, you can find paid gigs here, although they require a bit more commitment and effort, and, are frankly, more of a job than something you can just casually do while enjoying a much-needed break.

 

Make Money Selling Your Holiday Pics

If you’re travelling somewhere a bit unique or off the beaten track, however, and are a good amateur photographer with a DSLR camera, you might as well give it a go, as it’s surprising how few images the photo agencies have of vast swathes of Africa, for instance.

What sort of images will sell?

Obviously there’s very little demand for new images of Table Mountain or Kruger National Park. But you’d be surprised at just how few images there are of other relatively mainstream African destinations on most picture libraries.

For instance, if you type ‘fisherman + Gabon’, ‘hyenas + Namib-Naukluft National Park’ or the name of a beach in Zanzibar or Mozambique into a photo library search bar (like a picture editor looking to illustrate a story would do), very few images will likely come up.

Even if there are a few relevant images on the site, there’s a good chance those that those photos will already have been used by the picture editors at specialist publications (or even mainstream media houses), meaning your snap could be exactly what they’re looking for next time they search one of those terms.

If you’re going even further off the tourist trail to visit relatives in Nigeria, for example, then you could really clean up. You’d be shocked at how few good images there are of a country of 200 million people!

Where do I sign up?

There are lots of online agencies. Some popular sites include:

• Alamy
• Shutterstock
• Getty Images
• Adobe Stock

When you register your details, the site will usually ask you to send between five to 10 photos so it can test the quality and type of photos you send them. If your photos don’t conform to the site’s requirements, they will be rejected.

If this happens, don’t worry – just try again, taking their comments into consideration. Sometimes it may just be because they already have too many of the sort of photo you’re sending.

After your pictures have been checked and cleared you’ll be notified when they go live on the website, usually after about 24 hours.

Then there’s nothing to do after that except wait until people buy your photos. Once your account reaches a certain limit you can get your hands on the cash.

Legal issues to consider

There are a few legal issues to consider before you upload any pics on to a photo library. For instance, pictures of identifiable houses or models (any person who is in the photo) will in most cases need a release form. This is signed by the model or house owner to cite that their permission has been given for you to profit from their personal belongings. Each website has a release form for you to download if you need it.

You should also avoid taking pictures of car registration plates, company logos (these might be Registered Trade Marks) and anything that could be considered inflammatory (racist graffiti, for example). You need to check the laws of the country you are in to ascertain what you can and can’t take photos of in a public space, too.

Travel for Free by Being a ‘Group Leader’

A lot of travel companies offer a discount if a large group is booking together. These include major brands like Virgin Holidays and Eurostar, which will give large groups of 10 or more a 10% discount. The practice is also common among specialist tour ops that arrange skiing trips, walking holidays, biking tours, golf breaks and safaris. These specialists often allow the tour ‘leader’ or person who arranged the group booking to travel for free, as a thank you/incentive for organising the trip and to encourage them to arrange more in the future.

If you set up a group holiday for friends or family you could be rewarded for your effort by pocketing that discount yourself (agree it with your friends first of course).

Not only will the travelling be cheaper, you might then be eligible for cheaper entry into attractions, too. These may be museums, amusement parks etc. It’s essentially just another way of buying in bulk.

Earn Cashback on Flight and Hotel Bookings

The other easy way to make free money on your holiday is by paying for as much of your trip on a credit or debit card that pays you money back every time you spend. Even better if you can also purchase via a cashback site like Quidco or Topcashback, to stack the rewards.

A lot of bank cards are now de facto ‘reward cards’ that pay you every time you use your card to buy goods and services. Often this reward cash is a flat percentage rate, which you earn each time you use your card. Other banks may team up with specific companies, which often change on a monthly basis, and offer money back or extra money back each time you buy something with one of their partners that month.

Obviously, if you’re travelling abroad, the small fee you earn each time you spend will (usually) be offset by foreign transaction fees, but you could make a fair chunk of cheddar if you use a reward card to book flights, pay for a package holiday, or if you book hotels and other holiday essentials through a UK website before your trip begins.

Earn Avios points when you spend

An alternative to using cashback is to earn Avois or Virgin Reward points on your daily spending to save throughout the year, for discounted flight, airport lounge, and hotel costs. The British Airways credit card and Virgin Reward card offer these – but check out others like Amex Rewards as they may also be part of a points scheme.

You can often get extra bonuses too, such as a free companion voucher once you’ve earned a certain level of points – meaning you can take a friend or partner on your trip for free, too.

The post How to make money while you’re on holiday appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Act Now to Get Free West End shows for kids this summer

Free Theatre for Kids This Summer? Yes, Really!

If you’re looking for an affordable way to entertain the family during the summer holidays, you’re in luck. Kids Week 2025 is back—and it’s bigger than ever!

Running throughout August 2025, Kids Week offers free theatre tickets for children aged 17 and under, when accompanied by a full-paying adult. It’s one of the best deals in the London entertainment calendar—and yes, it’s 100% legit.

But these tickets go FAST. Read on to find out how it works, which shows are included, and how to grab your seats before they’re gone.

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What Is Kids Week?

Kids Week is an annual initiative run by Society of London Theatre, aimed at making theatre more accessible to young people. Despite the name, it runs for the entire month of August, not just one week.

How it works:

• One child aged 17 or under goes free with a paying adult

• Up to two extra children can attend for half price

• Many shows also offer free activities, such as cast Q&As, backstage tours, or dance workshops

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When Do Tickets Go On Sale?

Booking opens at 10am on Tuesday 11 June 2025

Tickets sell out quickly—set an alarm and be ready to book early that day!

You can only book through the official site:

Official Kids Week 2025 Booking Page (OfficialLondonTheatre.com)

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What Shows Are Included in Kids Week 2025?

The full line-up will be confirmed closer to the booking date, but based on previous years, you can expect a mix of:

West End family favourites:

• The Lion King

• Wicked

• Frozen The Musical

• Matilda

• Mrs Doubtfire

• Back to the Future

Musicals and plays for older kids:

• Les Misérables

• Six

• The Play That Goes Wrong

• Phantom of the Opera

New or lesser-known shows often sneak in—great for bargain-hunting theatre fans!

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How Much Can You Save?

The savings are substantial. With West End tickets often costing £50–£100+, Kids Week can save you:

• £50–£150 per family

• Up to 3 children per adult can benefit (1 free, 2 at half price)

• Some matinees and weekday performances offer the best seat availability

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Tips to Get the Best Seats

Be flexible with dates and times
Mid-week shows often have better availability
Book early on 11 June—popular shows sell out fast
Create an account on Official London Theatre before tickets go live

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Make It a Budget Day Out

Here are some quick tips to keep the rest of the trip affordable:

• Travel off-peak and book trains early

• Bring snacks or eat at a family-friendly spot like Pizza Express (kids eat free deals often available – check out our deal’s pages for the most up to date offers)

• Combine your trip with a free London museum or walk along the Southbank

Check out our guide: Free Things to Do in London with Kids

 

The post Act Now to Get Free West End shows for kids this summer appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Easy ways to make quick cash

Updated 17th April 2025

Want to make quick cash right now? Check out our ten top ways to make money fast, with the least amount of effort possible.

Perhaps you’re looking for easy ways to make money online from the comfort of your sofa, or perhaps you want to make sure your credit report is accurate and up to date so you can get the best deals.

Here are our 10 easy ways to make quick cash, and don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter for weekly quick-cash-making and money-saving ideas.

• Earn with Pawns.app
• Join inCompass
• Make Money with Toluna
• Claim Your Free Money-Making eBook
• Save on Your Energy Bills
• Get Paid for Your Opinion
• Get Paid to Use the Internet
• Have a Free Financial MOT
• Make £400 a Month Mystery Shopping

Earn an average $12 a day with Pawns.app

You might have heard of apps like Swagbucks and Toluna, well, Pawns.app is in the same vein of money making apps. However, it adds an extra competitive advantage: there’s a leaderboard where, each week, top users could win an extra $300, as well as other unique earning opportunities.

Pawns.app is available in 190 countries, including (of course) the UK, and in 2023, it paid out $3.8million to users with an average daily earning for each user of $12. You can pay out as soon as you’ve earned $5.

Pawns.app works on desktop for Windows and MacOS, as well as Android and iPhones. You can claim an additional $3 dollar bonus just for signing up via this page! 

 

Join inCompass and earn £20 for your first month

Join Ipsos MORI inCompass and earn £20 for your first month and £10 every month after.

All you have to do to join is complete a five-minute questionnaire and install the free app, which is available on Android and Apple phones.

If that sounds like you then what are you waiting for?

Sign up here. 

Make Money with Toluna

Toluna is a great site to join. You not only earn points which you can later redeem for fantastic prizes, but you also have the opportunity to get free goodies.

Click the appropriate device to complete the survey! iPhone, Android, Desktop

 

Claim Your FREE Money-Making Email & eBook

Sign up for FREE to our Make Money Newsletter and every Tuesday we’ll send you the inside tips YOU need to succeed.

Grab hold of our expert cash advice and run with it – it’s been created with the sole purpose of making you quick cash. What’s more, each issue also contains a lot of special bargains designed to save you cash.

You could also hop over to our eBooks section and grab a FREE copy of our ‘Make £1000 Before Christmas’ eBook.

 

Win £850!

Want to win a nice wad of cash?

Then enter Pick My Postcode – all you have to do is enter your postcode and email address.

They give away hundreds of pounds a day and have so far given away over £100,000.

Enter now for your chance to win.

If you’re still not sure what it’s all about, you can read our article all about it here, which tells you everything you need to know so you can start winning.

 

Save Money on Your Energy Bills

Now is a perfect time to fix your deal as energy prices continue to rise or fluctuate dramatically. And check out lots more ways to save on your energy bill.

If you want to find the very best deal before you fix, shop around!

Click here to use our comparison tool and find a better deal for you.

 

Be Paid for Your Opinion

This is a sporadic way to make quick cash and it brings in a relatively small income, but it’s low effort and you’ve nothing to lose. It’s a great way to make quick cash from the comfort of your computer but make sure you NEVER pay to join an online survey site or reveal your credit card details.

Inside tip! Here are our favourite online survey sites. They’re completely free and have received a big thumbs-up from many of you. For maximum earnings set up a separate email account (so your personal one doesn’t get flooded with survey-related emails) and then register for free with all of them:

• Branded Surveys
• Swagbucks
• InboxPounds
• Toluna
• LifePoints

If you like the sound of making quick cash through filling out online surveys make sure you check out our full article right here on the safe way to earn money by taking paid surveys.

Earn for Using the Internet

Fancy making money in your pyjamas without any effort?

Sign-up to InboxPounds and earn cash for reading emails, completing surveys, watching videos and more.

You even get a pound just for signing up!

Sign-up for free today.

Get a Free Financial Health Check

Sense check your finances with a free financial health check – a 30-60 minute call or meeting with a local, well-rated IFA.With more than 4,500 independent financial advisers and over 60,000 reviews, VouchedFor is home to the UK’s top advisers.Simply leave your details and VouchedFor will find the best adviser to conduct your free financial health check.Get your free financial health check here.

 

Make Up to £400 a Month Mystery Shopping

Fancy getting paid to eat out, shop and even go on holiday? Try mystery shopping!

Our editor Jasmine has been a mystery shopper for over five years now, earning decent money on the side while bagging brilliant freebies left, right and centre.

Now you can too! Read all about it here.

The post Easy ways to make quick cash appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Make Money as a Sensitivity Reader

Did you know that your lived experience could earn you cash? Sensitivity readers are used by writers and TV and film production companies to make sure a particular topic or demographic is fairly and accurately represented. Here’s how to make money as a sensitivity reader.

What Is Sensitivity Reading?

Who Can Do It?

Create a Sensitivity Reading CV

Sensitivity Reading for Authors

Story Consulting for TV and Film Companies

Setting Boundaries

What is Sensitivity Reading?

We’re living in a far more connected, more aware world these days. And people want to see that diversity reflected in the content they consume. More than that, many writers will create storylines outside of their lived experience – so they want to make sure they are representing people fairly and accurately, without leaning into dangerous tropes.

A sensitivity reader comes on board a project to read the manuscript, pitch document, or other documents to ensure that areas within their speciality are fairly represented. They may have input into challenging dangerous representations or tropey stereotypes, to make sure a character or storyline portrayal is realistic.

The reader will look over documents or manuscripts in detail, and outline where the storyline or character representation is either accurate or could use improvement. This means you will need to have an analytical mind and be able to present the information in a clear and concise way in your report.

Who Can Do It?

Almost anyone can be a sensitivity reader if they have critical thinking skills and are good at communicating. They need to be able to explain why something is an unfair representation, too – so they need to be aware of cultural and political nuances, and be able to discuss how one person might seek offence at a portrayal where another of the same community would not.

Sensitivity readers are there to ensure characters and storylines are three-dimensional representations of people, rather than ones that focus on the trope or stereotype. They recognise that some stereotypes exist for a reason – and that using them as a basis can be useful, if done with awareness.

Lived experience is the key term when it comes to what makes you a sensitivity reader. This could be living as a person of colour in a predominantly white environment, or living with a disability or as a carer to a disabled person, or being in the LGBTQIA+ community. Sensitivity readers are also sometimes called authenticity readers.

Being Freelance

Sensitivity readers are freelance. This makes it an ideal side hustle to run alongside your day job, especially when you’re starting out. Just make sure you’re realistic about how long it will take you to read and write up a report on each project.

Being freelance isn’t for everyone, but it is ideal for flexible hours that you set yourself, and sensitivity reading is done from home so it’s a great remote option. It is not likely to bring you a full-time income for a while as you get started and build up a regular client base, so make sure you factor that into your finances and career decisions.

Create a Sensitivity Reading CV

This is an unusual document compared to a normal CV, as your other work experience might not be relevant to the role. What you should do is look for examples of sensitivity reading reports online to get an idea of how they are written, and pick a few books, films and/or TV shows to write up a sample report on. This will form your portfolio.

For your CV, your work experience is relevant if it is related to either the subject matter of your area of expertise, or within communication skills. For example, if you studied an English degree, that is useful to list. Or, if you work with underrepresented voices in your day job industry, list that. Make sure you think about more than your work experience, too.

Your personal lived experience is what is important when it comes to sensitivity reading. Describe the areas you would be a reader for – such as LGBTQIA+ topics, disability representation (even better if you can be specific about the type), being working class (both publishing and the screen industries have a class issue), being a parent, living in different countries or cultures, or being neurodivergent.

Understanding the nuances of these topics is really important. While your personal experience is very relevant as a sensitivity reader, it’s important to understand and represent alternative viewpoints of others in similar experiences. For example, a common phrase when it comes to autism inclusion is ‘when you’ve met an autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person’ – meaning, every autistic person’s experiences are different, so they cannot all be painted with the same brush.

Sensitivity Reading in Publishing

Publishers are the most common companies that hire sensitivity readers. This is because books are often filled with many characters and it could be impossible for the author to have a realistic understanding of every single background of each of them. It’s particularly important if a main character is not the same as the author’s lived experience.

Reach out to publishers to offer your services. There are tons of small presses who would be a good place to start, as the Big Five publishers will opt for established and experienced readers. Gain your experience with small publishers first.

You can also reach out to independent authors who are self publishing their book. In fact, this is a big and growing market, and it can be easier to connect directly with authors on platforms like Threads and Instagram to find clients. Indie authors won’t have a huge budget, but they are a solid community who will provide regular work through word of mouth for those who prove themselves to be great sensitivity readers.

It can help to have a website if you can afford one. If not, make your social media profiles public and update your bio to include your lived experiences, as well as post regularly about being a sensitivity reader. Create a profile on platforms such as Fiverr to help publishing companies and indie authors find you, too.

Story Consulting for TV and Film

Production companies use sensitivity readers – also called story consultants – in a similar way to publishers. They are often brought in fairly early into the development process, to ensure a pitch is fairly representing all communities and characters. They may also be brought in on long-running dramas like soaps such as Emmerdale, Eastenders, and Coronation Street, when a character has a storyline related to a particular subject. With this in mind, they will often reach out to charities to support the development of a storyline, so having a good relationship with charities linked to your area of expertise can help open these doors for you.

Approach production companies with a short email detailing your experience and interest in supporting their work. You might not hear back from anyone for months on end, but when a relevant project comes up they will get in touch. This can pay very well, into the thousands per script, but it’s hard work to come by so you need to be persistent.

Keeping Sensitivity Reading and Your Personal Life Separate

When you’re a sensitivity reader, it can be easy to overshare. You want to explain why you’ve made certain comments about a character or storyline because of how it relates to your personal experience.

While this might seem useful, it can be a huge emotional labour on yourself. You will need to set boundaries, and that includes being able to recognise that you have the right to not share your personal, specific, experiences with anybody you don’t want to.

In addition, sharing some more personal experiences that are not directly related to the manuscript can cause difficulty for the other person you share with. You may accidentally trigger someone’s fears, worries, or own experiences in a way that can cause harm. This is why it’s important to stick to the provided material (which they are expecting to discuss) and provide your report based on the broader knowledge you have about your communities and experiences, rather than your own specific details.

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