Working for yourself
Working for yourself requires being enterprising. By reading the guidance on this page, you will learn what this means in practice, and find useful tools and resources that will support you on your journey.
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the ability and willingness to develop, organise, and manage a business venture, transforming a vision into reality. Creative professionals, for example, are almost always self-employed. Accountants or designers may work on their own. Freelancers work independently and move between projects and companies.
Being self-employed means you are responsible for your own schedule and generate your own income. If you set up your own business, you might employ other people to take on some of the work involved.
There’s a lot to consider. Developing a business takes time and success often takes many attempts. The Careers Service is here – remember, you can use it for up to three years after completing your course – and we can help you focus your ideas and build the necessary skills for success.
Running your own business
If you’d like to set up your own business, you are not alone. According to the Graduate Outcomes Survey 2025, over one in five working graduates are self-employed, running their own business, or developing a freelance portfolio
During the COVID-19 pandemic, start-up owners in the UK aged 18-24 soared from 1.7% to 8.6%. Research from 2025 shows that 62% of young adults (aged 18–30) were planning or attempting to launch a business (Enterprise Nation, 2025).
Take an entrepreneur quiz
QUEST
The best way to learn more about entrepreneurship at Queen Mary is to join the QUEST (Queen Mary Entrepreneurial Support and Training) community.
Sign up to their newsletter to find out about events and opportunities and join a network of like-minded students and graduates.
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently" Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
Self employment resources
- QUEST
- Queen Mary Entrepreneurship Society
- qNomics provides free financial guidance for tech startups and entrepreneurs, and advice on business planning, data analytics, and funding.
qLegal is an award-winning pro bono law clinic that provides free legal advice, workshops, and resources to tech start-ups, entrepreneurs, and non-profits- GOV.UK - Set Up a Business is the the primary, free resource for UK entrepreneurs, offering step-by-step guides on registering as a sole trader or limited company. You can also refer to the government website for starting a business in the UK
- The Lean Canvas can help you work out what you need to think about and put in place to get a business or side hustle going! Other frameworks include Value Proposition Canvas, Business Model Canvas and Blue Ocean Strategy; useful tools to help you include Notion, Trello, Company Craft; and for validation testing, Worthbuild, Google Trends.
