For years, home-working has been a remedy for people who need to work flexibly. While some companies have led the way in this respect, others have taken a more cautious approach in allowing their employees to work from home. However, with many firms seeking to reduce overheads during the recession and a tightening job market, there is a growing realisation that home-working can offer a flexible solution.
This is especially the case for women who need flexibility in their working day, says Helen Cook, Women’s Enterprise Manager at the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), saying “As the recession bites and work prospects become more limited, it is expected that more women will turn to ‘necessity entrepreneurship’ by setting up and running their own business from home. This can be their first step on the enterprise ladder”.
Research in 2007 by Enterprise Nation showed that over 60% of new businesses are now started from home and home-based businesses now account for around 28% of UK employment, with a combined turnover of £364 billion. Some 2.1 million small and medium sized businesses in the UK are based at home and the majority of these are in the South East and London.
According to research conducted by the London School of Economics, mothers who run businesses from home now contribute £4.4 billion to the British economy each year. However, in the South East region, only about 27% of all self-employed people in the region are women and 15% of businesses are majority-owned by women. This under-representation,” says Helen, “is a lost opportunity for the region and an increase in the number of female entrepreneurs in the South East could have the potential to transform the lives of individual women and their families, particularly in the region’s most disadvantaged areas.”
SEEDA is responding to this need by delivering a strategy for realising the potential of women’s enterprise in the South East. This includes a regional women’s enterprise advocates programme involving the recruitment of a number of women entrepreneurs to act as role models for other women and to promote the benefits of being in business.
Home-working can be an ideal solution for those seeking to make the move into enterprise. Many women decide that setting up their own business is a suitable way forward for them, not least because they need to have flexibility around childcare and their family needs – a constraint often experienced with previous employers or when seeking a return to work following maternity leave.
Sonia Blizzard set up Beaming Limited, a niche ISP (Internet Service Provider), three years ago. Before then, she had been working for a global telecoms company but found it difficult to fulfill a full-time, employed position and organise her son, who has special needs. To help her do that, she uses the technology which she sells through her business which allows her to work from home when her son is not at school, with hours which fit in with family life. Sonia believes that running her own company has made the best of her family circumstances and adds: “With success comes financial security for my son’s future”.
Whilst working for yourself does not necessarily mean
there are fewer hours to be worked, being your own boss is certainly useful
when it comes to planning where and when the work will be done. This flexibility in the daily routine can help
the planning of childcare support, with more parent and child time than perhaps
would be the case in an employed role.
Helen Cook, SEEDA’s Women’s Enterprise Manager recommends the following top tips on making your home-based business work:
Know yourself: Make sure you have the right qualities of discipline and self-reliance to be happy working on your own.
Create
a business plan: Be realistic
when you estimate turnover and costs, especially during a recessionary
period. Click here to look for help.
Get
the financing right: You
may want to borrow money but you don’t have to commit everything you own. It’s possible to build a business by starting
small – pilot your idea and let it develop naturally. You may even be able to do this alongside your
“day job”.
Keep to what you know (and love): You will do better in your business if you choose to work in an area you enjoy and where you have special expertise.
Learn new skills: Keep yourself up to date with new thinking and technologies – you don’t want to get left behind.
Strike a work-life balance: Just because you work at home doesn’t mean you should work all hours. You need to set a regular time to log on in the morning, but also remember there’s a time to “shut the office door” at night.
Keep networking: Working on your own can be lonely. Join local business groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce. Click here to find your local Chamber. Sharing problems and successes with others is a great learning forum. Alternatively click here to join the Women’s Enterprise South East Ambassadors Network.
Find yourself a mentor: They can bring objectivity and years of experience to your business. Click here to accses the Business Link website, which contains useful information on how to access mentoring and networking.
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