third sector finance blog

Emma Jones, Founder of Enterprise Nation
I have just read an uber useful report by a brilliant woman I know called Emma Jones. I got to know Emma when she was doing some work here in Cumbria a few years ago and we ended up at quite a few entrepreneurial master classes together. I was really fortunate to get to work with her on a project that she was heading up. We were encouraging entrepreneurship in our area of Cumbria and addressing the brain drain of young talented people. She is one smart woman, beautiful inside and out and one of the things I really like about her is that she always makes you feel good when she talks to you. She is a serial entrepreneur with the Midas Touch and everything she does is first class and top quality. She runs a business called Enterprise Nation which is a free one stop shop resource centre for those of us working from home. She also wrote a book a couple of years ago called Spare Room Start Up and I had the pleasure of attending the launch when she took it on a national tour. It is an excellent book, a best seller on Amazon and I always recommend it to delegates when I do trainings on start-up. My signed copy is one of my favorite books because it keeps reminding me of the crucial fundamentals of business.

So Emma sent me this report today, in response to an e-mail that I sent to her asking if she had any research about stats about entrepreneurs and their needs. I was chuffed to bits to get The Home Business Report 2009 which was launched last week. It is based on real-time grassroots information. Any reliable and valid information is rare in the home business sector and the report has answered a lot of my questions. I will be able to use this as part of my evidence base to present to funders for a local project that I am setting up to train young creative entrepreneurs. This is a unique document as there is very little information out there about the growing trend of home working.

For instance, did you know that the number of people starting and growing a business from home has risen to 2.8 million and the combined contribution to the annual UK economy is 284 billion? Enterprise Nation coined the phrase ‘Working 5 to 9’ which refers to those holding down a day job and building a business at nights and weekends. This is something that is often not admitted online by the crowd who claim that they make money in their sleep with little to no work. Any decent business takes blood, sweat and tears in the early days. You have to put the hours in. She advised that this is the best way to start as it gives you a chance to build confidence and cashflow, before making a full-time move into self-employment.

She said that one of the factors that has influenced the increase in home business start-ups is affordable technology. This is really important to me and my fellow entrepreneurs in Cumbria, it makes it possible to work remotely. In her extensive Home Business 2009 Survey she discovered:

"81% of respondents asserted that ‘technology is critical to the success of my business’ and the majority of home business owners choose websites and blogs as their first port of call for business advice." I think that this is a massively significant phenomenon. Some people think that the 'Freeconomics Era' is damaging the economy, but I think it will eventually separate the credible experts from the spammers and scammers. This will mean that anyone can prove their competency regardless of their educational background and to a certain extent their financial position.

Respondents of the home Business Survey also referred to the freedom and flexibility that they enjoy and an improved work/life balance. What was brilliant to hear was that a stunning 89% are expecting their turnover to grow during the next year. The great thing is that they are growing their businesses without taking on staff. Technology is allowing them to outsource and sub-contract and Emma calls on the Government to ensure that business support projects and policies are aligned with this modern approach to building a business. I echo this as I have seen a number of grants that are available in support of job creation or employing the unemployed, but there is little support for the development of entrepreneurs. Flying Start is good, but only available to graduates and does not always ensure the ongoing support and mentorship that is required. There is next to nothing available for start up enterprises which is crazy because entrepreneurship is what is required to lead us out of the recession. In times of hardship and recession, leverage is essential for recovery.

Emma Jones went on to describe the leverage that is possible through technology: "this re-defines our attitude towards growth which has historically been based on number of people on the payroll." This is a hugely exciting wave that we are riding the crest of and it will be fascinating to see where it goes and all of the implications it will have on economy, culture and social trends. Think about it: Not so long ago, women were fighting to get out to work and now men are working hard to find ways to work in slippers and have some quality time with their families. Some socioeconomical themes emerged in the report.


The 5 themes covered in the report are:

Growing the business without outgrowing the home

How home businesses are starting out

Bringing families together

Trading across borders

Having a positive impact on the local conomy and community.


Each theme is illustrated through stories about successful Uk home based businesses and they are really inspiring. It was very interesting to read about the top 100 home business hotspots in the UK and a summary of how business support is responding to the needs of home business owners. Is your area one of the top 100? Emma is no stranger to making herself heard in political forums and I really love that she is conducting such quality research that truly represents what is happening at the grassroots level. The home business world now has a voice and this will inform decisions made at central government level. She has a great way of communicating with policy-makers and I think she will make a difference to future policies no matter which political party win the general election.

Emma, who founded Enterprise Nation, spoke of the great strides that have been made in the past 12 months, including the UK's first ever Home Enterprise Day and Business Link's national home business guide (which I find brilliant) and the Central Government encouraging live/work developments. She goes on to say that more needs to be done to encourage home working to fully flourish and she calls on various bodies to take action within the report.

If you are an entrepreneur working from home in the UK, you would be really missing out if you don't read this report, and sign up to Enterprise Nation. It is a quality site populated with useful information and lively interactive forums that help to reduce the isolation experienced by many work at home entrepreneurs. It is the UK's largest community of successful home business owners and it is full jam packed with the kind of stuff that will give you the edge in your home business.

To find out more, visit Enterprise Nation and say hi to Emma, you will love her!