Self employed in NZ

[stanley]

Hi just wondering how many of you are self employed in NZ, how does it compare to being self employed in the UK, It seems this is the only route open to myself and my family to gain residency in NZ. Whilst i am not afraid of hard work, and work very hard and long hours in the UK anyway, would love to hear from people how they find things.

[Taffy]

Hi,

You'll be pleased to know that running a business in NZ is much easier to the UK. Tax, GST etc is all very simple to understand, and if you employ people, once you get used to tax, ACC etc that too is all quite easy. Running a business is, in my opinion, also more rewarding than the UK as people are keen to use you to give you a go, and if you look after them, they stay with you and are very happy to spread the word about you.

It's my belief that businesses in the UK fail due to competition, and domination by large chain stores and waryness by the public that a new business is probably a con, or is unreliable. Here, businesses only seem to fail through poor management or lack of customer service skills. Of course, there's probably many other factors involved, but I would say these are the defining ones.