Market research and choosing a business structure

You don’t have a practice until you have clients, and you can’t plan for clients you haven’t bothered to understand. “Market research” sounds corporate for what’s really a simple habit: finding out what people near you need before you build around a guess.

Know who you’re trying to reach

Age, situation, the problem that brings them in — the clearer the picture, the easier every later decision becomes. If you’re aiming at parents of teenagers, one honest conversation with a local school teaches you more than a survey ever will. Talk to the people who already sit close to your future clients.

See what others charge, then decide on purpose

Look at local fees so you’re positioning deliberately rather than blindly. Matching the average isn’t the goal; understanding it is. A specialism — EMDR, a second language, evening availability — can justify sitting above it. Financial planning goes deeper on how to set fees you can stand behind.

Use what’s free

Google Trends, the questions people ask in local Facebook groups, the posts of yours that get engagement and the ones that don’t — all of it is unpaid market data. If anxiety content lands and nothing else does, follow the signal.

Choosing your business structure

This decides how you’re taxed and how exposed you are personally. Three common routes:

• Sole trader — simplest to set up and you keep full control, but you’re personally liable for any debts. Most counsellors start here.
• Partnership or LLP — for when you work with someone else. A plain partnership shares liability; an LLP limits each partner to what they put in. Either needs a written agreement covering money and responsibilities.
• Limited company — legally separate from you, which caps personal risk and can be tax-efficient as you grow, in exchange for more admin and Companies House filings.

Register with HMRC whichever you pick; a limited company registers with Companies House too. Gov.uk’s guide to setting up a business covers the detail.

VAT — the one number to keep an eye on

You must register for VAT once your turnover passes £90,000 in any rolling 12 months. That threshold rose from £85,000 in April 2024, so older guidance you’ll find online is wrong. Most single-handed counsellors never reach it — but add workshops, products or associates and the line gets closer.

You can change structure later; plenty start as sole traders and incorporate when it makes sense. Start simple, register properly, and revisit it when the numbers — not the nerves — tell you to.