weeknotes 511 - business development, VAT and getting paid

I've had a busy few weeks, recently, a mix of turning prospects in to real contracts and getting up to speed with the dictation system. Business development is a big job. I've got work for clients at the minute, but I'm aware that I need to chase new work too, otherwise it might run out. I've been following up on various leads that come to me, but I've also been trying to create a niche of clients in a subject area close to my heart. It is very early days for that, so I'll leave it there, for the moment. The other thing I've figured out is that it takes a long time to get from first chat to a contract, particularly if they don't come to me first.

The other thing I did was my first VAT return, pretty straightforward using freeagent, which does the accounts and the submission. So I just needed to get my expenses in order, noting that the HMRC allow reclaming of VAT on expenses made before registration and that you can get a VAT invoice from O2.

Lastly, my first client paid me, which is what this is partly all about, so yay.