VFR800 - I'm in a similar situation. Not self-employed, but can only take a limited amount of time off work each year. Here's how I'm doing it:
First of all, when I made the decision to go for the fATPL, it was summer 2001 and I already had a PPL and about 70 hours. I was very fortunate to be made redundant at this point.
While out of work, I did some serious hour-building - 2 months (Dec 2001/Jan 2002) in the States, logged about 100 hours. I now pretty much had all the minimum hours requirements taken care of - I planned on continuing to fly, for my own enjoyment, on weekends, and this would bring my hours up the required levels without any extra thought.
When I got back from the States, I found myself a new job, and also started working on a Distance Learning course.
My annual leave in 2002 was taken up with the brush-up and exams for module 1 - total time needed, 14 (working) days. I carried 4 days holiday over to 2003.
My annual leave in 2003 will be split into two parts. In Jan/Feb, I took a further 14 days leave to do the module 2 brush-up and exams. In November, I will be going to Florida to do a single-engine CPL, taking 18 days leave (3 weeks for the CPL, and a few days spare "just in case"). The reason for Florida is because my timescales don't allow for any weather-related delays, and this is the only way I can achieve this. Also in 2003, I've got myself an IMC rating, having two lessons each weekend for a couple of months. This is useful for people in our position... keep reading.
The plan for 2004 is to use my annual leave for an IR. However, I think I'd be unlikely to get enough time off work in one block to be able to do a JAR IR comfortably. Hence the IMC. Although IMC hours don't count towards the JAR IR, they do count towards an FAA IR. So the plan is to take two blocks of holiday in 2004. For the first block, I will go to the States and do an FAA IR. Can't remember the exact rules, but it's something like 45 hours, of which at least 20 must be an approved course, and the rest can be anything you like. (I may have the numbers wrong.) So the IMC work I did for my PPL, as well as the IMC course, and any IMC flying I've done since getting the IMC rating, all count - and I hope to be able to complete the rest of the hours in 3 weeks. Then, later in the year, I will convert this to a JAR IR, which requires a minimum of 15 hours - I hope to be able to complete this in 2 weeks.
The plan for 2005 is to look at the market, and depending on what type of jobs are available, either get a flying instructor rating, or a multi-engine rating, before looking for work.
I think the timescales I've set myself are achievable. I've allowed more than enough time for the flying aspects. The whole thing will take several years, but since the market is so bad at the moment anyway, there's no particular rush. The only thing I can think of which might slow you down with this approach (thankfully, I've already passed this particular hurdle) is if you don't manage first-time passes in all the exams.
I hope that's useful, and that you can adapt it to your situation!
FFF
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