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Meet Rose, 19, to find out more about owning your own cosmetics company. Part of our Bitesize world of work series.

I decided to create my own range of cosmetics that matched my ethical values.
  • Rose found it hard to find affordable, vegan, and cruelty-free cosmetics on the high street
  • With just 拢25, she decided to start making her own lip balms and lip scrubs in her kitchen
  • Skills Rose learnt in her GCSEs and A-levels have helped her build her Business 鈥 Maths helps her calculate profit and revenue and English helps her write descriptions of her products on her website.
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Rose's career path
Rose's career path
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Rose owns her own business creating natural cosmetics.

What to expect if you want to be a business owner

The salary and working hours when you own a business can vary enormously but what's most important is that you work hard and love what you do.

Working for yourself looks different for each person and each business, but in general it means you:

  • run your own business and are responsible for its success
  • can decide how, when and where you do your work
  • charge an agreed, fixed price for your work
  • sell goods or services to make a profit
  • can hire people at your own expense to help you or to do the work for you.

You can be both employed and self-employed at the same time. You can work for your employer during the day, for example, and run your own business in the evenings and at weekends. It鈥檚 important to for advice if you鈥檙e not sure if you鈥檙e self-employed.

You can , through the government鈥檚 business support services, for example, for advice about tax or about how to find funding to start your business.

This information is a guide (source: ).

For careers advice in all parts of the UK visit: , , and .

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Work experience can help you make informed decisions about your future career.

Find out more


Find work experience placements with Workfinder.

Tips and advice
Help with interviews, writing a CV and all things work experience related.

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Work experience can help you make informed decisions about your future career.
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