Leaving your comfort zone behind and training for a new career can a very intimidating prospect, but if you've grown weary of your current role, it may be the best decision you ever make.

Here at Access Training, we specialise in career change courses for people who wish to learn a trade (such as plumbing or plastering) and make a living out of it. Our courses are designed for individuals with absolutely no experience or knowledge of their chosen trade, so even if you've never so much as changed a fuse or unblocked a sink, you can become a fully-qualified electrician or plumber within a surprisingly short period of time.

Here's a quick overview of what to expect when you train for a new career with Access Training Academies:

Industry-recognised qualifications

The key to starting a successful new career in any trade is gaining the qualifications that will mark you out as a qualified member of that particular field. Gas engineers, for instance, must undergo an ACS assessment and join the Gas Safe Register before they can start earning money.

The new career courses we deliver here at Access Training are specifically structured to get you the qualifications you'll need to succeed in your new role. Instead of researching which certificates and accreditations you need to seek out, you can simply pick a course package - like, for instance, our Professional Gas Engineer Course - and begin your training, secure in the knowledge that we've covered all the essentials.

Help from experienced tutors

All of our course leaders are qualified tradespeople with years of commercial experience in their respective fields. This means that they are perfectly placed to provide all the assistance and instruction you could possibly require.

Furthermore, we aim to keep our class sizes as small as possible, so you can rest assured that you'll have plenty of opportunities to talk things out with your tutor as you progress through your chosen training course.

Intensive training programmes

Our career change courses are designed to get you qualified as quickly as possible. Instead of signing up for an apprenticeship and waiting several years to become a fully-fledged tradesperson, you can get trained up in a matter of months and start your exciting new career right away. This is a great choice if you can't afford to take a loss of income as you transition from one career path to another.

Learn from the ground up

As mentioned above, our courses cover everything a professional tradesperson needs to know. Don't worry if you don't know the first thing about electricity - we'll start from the absolute basics and work up from there, ensuring that you get plenty of support as you learn.

Our new career courses comprise a finely-tuned combination of theory and practical work. We'll make sure you know everything you need to know about your new trade, but we'll also ensure that you leave with plenty of hands-on experience so that you're completely confident when you show up for that first paid job.

Ready to train for a new career? To find out more about our career change courses, contact Access Training today or choose from the options listed below.

New Career Training Courses:

• Electrician Courses
• Plumbing Courses
• Gas Engineer Courses
• Plastering Courses

Becoming your own boss and living the self-employed life has many benefits, like independence and freedom. Starting your own business is a dream that many people share! Although being your own boss can be challenging, the freedom and benefits of self-employment can be truly life-changing.

Considering starting your own business? Here are 6 reasons why becoming your own boss could be the perfect career choice for you…

 1. Independence & Creative Freedom

Working for yourself means that you can set your own direction without having to follow strict guidelines set out by a company. This means you can explore new ideas and creative approaches without fear of rejection from management and other team members. Your business will therefore become something that is uniquely yours, reflecting your values and vision. Let's be honest here — this is the part of being your own boss that you're really excited about. 

2. Work-Life Balance

Being your own boss means you can set your own schedule, enabling you to plan your workday around your own existing commitments instead of being chained to the usual 9-5. This flexible schedule allows you to spend more time doing the things you love with the people you love without needing permission first! 

3. Pursue Your Passions

One benefit of being your own boss is that you can select clients and projects that align with your specific interests and expertise. For example, if you prefer doing domestic trade jobs in your local area in comparison to large construction projects further afield, you can choose to do domestic jobs every day and only carry out work that you enjoy doing and feel confident in.

4. Potential Higher Earnings

If you are employed by someone else and receiving a fixed income, then no matter how hard you work, it will always be a struggle to raise your salary. Asking for a raise can be frightening and embarrassing. One of the greatest benefits of being your own boss is that there is no salary cap and you are in control of what you earn. Your earnings will depend entirely on how hard you work and the opportunities you are able to find. This is particularly true if you choose a trade career, as electricians and plumbers get to choose how much they charge each customer.

5. Personal Growth

Being your own boss requires you to take on a wide variety of roles—including manager, accountant, marketer, customer service assistant and more. Having such a diverse set of responsibilities pushes you to learn new skills and overcome obstacles independently. This can lead to a huge increase in confidence, skill development and overall personal growth.

6. Greater Job Satisfaction

There is a different level of satisfaction that comes from being your own boss. Every choice you make will directly impact your business’s success. Working a job where you feel easily replaceable and the work you do goes unnoticed is incredibly frustrating. Don't waste your time on a career that is making you miserable. Manage your own company, and watch your actions make a difference. It's super rewarding!

Tradespeople are a vital and respected part of society whose services will be needed for as long as the population continues to grow. This means that there is always a place for new tradespeople in society and there is little chance of you feeling undervalued or unneeded if you start your own trade business!

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Reasons to Be Your Own Boss

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to be your own boss, including salary and job satisfaction. So, if you’ve had enough of working for other people, join the hundreds of other Access Training students who have used the skills and qualifications learnt in our training centres to start their own businesses.

Enquire today about a course at Access Training and with the help of our course advisors, you’re bound to find the right trade course for you!

Browse Trade Courses >

Check out our blog What to Consider When Becoming a Self-Employed Tradesperson for more information to help you get started!

As a former All Black and Cardiff Blues rugby team captain, 36-year old Xavier Rush is someone sports fans have probably heard of. But after a successful sporting career at both domestic and international levels he’s finally hanging his boots up and moving on to the next stage of his life. Choosing to retrain to become a fully-fledged property developer, he approached Access Training Academies and recently completed our kitchen fitting course. Now he’s moving on toward even more qualifications to expand his trade resume and take on even more work.

We sat down with his to discuss his plans for the future and how he’s finding the change from a ball to a toolkit...

Now that you’ve retired, what’s next for Xavier Rush?

Now that I’ve finished my rugby career I knew I obviously needed to retrain in something. I’ve always enjoyed properties and doing them up so I’ve come here to get as many strings to my bow as possible. The more I can do the less people I’d need to get in for jobs and the less I’d need to pay out.

I first did carpentry when I was 18 and had just left school, but it’s great to have a facility so close to me and the speed at which you can build your skills up. I originally came to do kitchen fitting which I’ve completed, but there’s the Part P electrical component to it too which I’m doing now for the next two and a half weeks. After that I plan to crack on and do six weeks of plumbing as well!

How has the course been so far?

I’ve been really enjoying it and the tutors have been excellent. There’s always some things that you’re better at than others – some of the bends in the plumbing took some time to get my head around. But the more practice you have the better you get at it. You aren’t going to sail through every day – some days are worse than others but you often find once you’ve slept on it, you come back the next day and get it. It’s great to be learning new skills and really refreshing to have a change of career. A lot of people get a bit scared but I’m really looking forward to it – it’s life after rugby for me.

Will you miss the rugby life?

Of course there’s always aspects you will miss – the getting up for a big game like a Heineken Cup match, playing in front of a big crowd. I’ll miss those moments but there’s enough of them in the memory bank to call on every now and then. It’s nice to be on the other side of it now and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my career. I feel quite fortunate – it was a fairly long career and now I’m more excited about getting things started with my own business. It’s just time to move forward with life.

Look forward to more updates from Xavier Rush, who will be sharing his training experiences with us each week as he works towards his new qualifications. In the meantime if you have any questions you'd like to ask him about turning towards a brand new career, let us know on Twitter or Facebook and we'll pass the best ones onto him.