Small Business Owner
Also advertised as: angel investor, angel investors, Company Director, financier, financiers, Founder
Runs your own trading business, from finding customers to managing the money.
What the job involves
Running your own business means owning every function at once: sales, delivery, pricing, tax, and often staff. Many people start alongside employment. Skills built in operations, trades, hospitality and retail transfer directly, but the financial and legal side needs deliberate learning.
Typical responsibilities
- Find and keep customers
- Price work and manage cash flow
- Deliver the product or service
- Meet HMRC, insurance and legal duties
- Hire and manage any staff or subcontractors
Common employers
- Self-employed
- Franchise networks
- Trade partnerships
Pay, hours and working environment
Typical pay
£0 – £25,000 a year
With experience
£30,000 – £80,000 a year
Typical hours
Highly variable, often more than 45 hours early on
Working environment
Varies by trade
Remote working
hybrid
Demand for this work
steady
Pay ranges are indicative guidance drawn from advertised UK vacancies and published careers information. They are not an offer, and actual pay varies by employer, location and experience.
Skills and qualifications
Core skills
- Sales
- Cash flow management
- Self-discipline
- Customer service
- Basic bookkeeping
- Marketing
Transferable skills you may already have
- Running a shift or site
- Costing jobs
- Dealing with suppliers
Requirements employers ask for
- Sales
- Cash flow management
- Self-discipline
- Customer service
- Basic bookkeeping
- Marketing
- Register as self-employed or form a company with Companies House
- Depends on trade: gas, food hygiene, licensing, DBS
- business analysis
- analyse financial performance of a company
- apply technical communication skills
- build business relationships
- analyse financial risk
- decide on providing funds
- make strategic business decisions
- assess financial viability
- analyse business plans
- business valuation techniques
- perform business analysis
- create a financial plan
Useful but not essential
- Running a shift or site
- Costing jobs
- Dealing with suppliers
- Level 4 Business Innovation and Growth
- Bookkeeping short courses
- financial forecasting
- review investment portfolios
- holding company activities
- apply credit risk policy
- establish investment funds
- analyse loans
- analyse market financial trends
- debt systems
Helpful qualifications
- Level 4 Business Innovation and Growth
- Bookkeeping short courses
Licences and checks
- Depends on trade: gas, food hygiene, licensing, DBS
Ways into this career
A degree is only one route. Where an apprenticeship, work-experience or qualification route exists, it is listed here alongside the academic option.
Apprenticeships and work-based routes
- Business Innovation and Growth (Level 4)
- Experience route — Build evidence in a related role, then move across using your recorded achievements.
- Self-employed route — This work can be done freelance or by running your own business.
Degree and college routes
- Related subject: Business
- Related subject: Any trade or specialism
Where this career can lead
next
Employing a team
next
Multi-site business
next
Selling the business
The good parts and the hard parts
What people enjoy
- Full control over the work you take
- Income is not capped by a pay band
- Builds an asset you own
What people find hard
- No guaranteed income or sick pay
- You carry every risk
Common questions
- Do you need a degree to become a small business owner?
- No. As well as degree routes, this career can be entered through an apprenticeship or by building experience and qualifications on the job. not_required
- How much does a small business owner earn in the UK?
- Typical advertised pay runs from £0 to £25,000 a year, rising towards £80,000 with experience. Figures are indicative guidance rather than an offer.
- What skills transfer into this career?
- Skills that transfer well include Running a shift or site, Costing jobs, Dealing with suppliers.
Where this information comes from
- National Careers Service
- Institute for Apprenticeships
Last reviewed 14 September 2026.
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