Working for yourself

Self employment is a popular choice for many young people. It means having your own company or franchise or working as a contractor to another company. Franchise means you pay to run a business on behalf of a big company, for example, McDonalds, Body Shop, Thornton's.

The South West ranks second for the proportion of working people who are self employed. 12% of working people in the area are self employed. The average across the whole country is 10.2%

Females make up just 26% of the self-employed workforce. Almost one million women in the UK are self-employed. The figure has been rising, more so in some areas including the South West than others.

Want to run your own business? www.starttalkingideas.orghas links to websites and organisations that can help.