Journal
Essays for the awkward middle.
Six pieces from the November 2026 issue. Read them in order if you are still employed and the side work has started to send invoices. Read the one that matches the letter on your kitchen table if you are not.
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3 November 2026 · 11 minute read
The Crossing: four gates between a side hustle and a business
Proof that strangers will pay, a price that survives costs, papers that match the way you actually trade, and people who are no longer just doing you a favour. Most readers are stuck between gate two and gate three.
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28 October 2026 · 13 minute read
Sole trader or limited company, without the theatre
The trading allowance, Self Assessment, Companies House, Corporation Tax, and the £90,000 VAT line. A map, not a recommendation to incorporate because a logo looks lonely without Ltd.
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21 October 2026 · 12 minute read
Price the leap before you resign
An illustrative month that replaces a salary badly, a month that might replace it properly, deposits, late commercial payment, and the VAT that quietly eats a price list.
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14 October 2026 · 12 minute read
The unglamorous operating system
A separate bank account, a contract with a kill fee, insurance that matches what you actually sell, consumer cancellation rights, and the Saturday helper who may already be staff.
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7 October 2026 · 10 minute read
Keeping the job while the side desk grows
Outside-interest clauses, whose laptop you are using, intellectual property, and how employment income and trading income sit in the same tax year.
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1 October 2026 · 9 minute read
Three desk notes from the middle
Illustrative composites from Worcester, Manchester, and Bristol. What each person changed, and the grown-up thing they refused to rush.
Nothing in the journal is a personal recommendation. Thresholds and rates are stated as they stood for readers in early November 2026, with the April 2027 trading-allowance change included where it is already announced. Confirm before you file.