Emma Jones: "The future is here and I’m enjoying it from home!"

“The future of enterprise in the UK will be based at home. The home is now the most popular location to start a business – over 60% of new companies start out at home. And most of them are staying there too, as home business owners enjoy all the benefits of this way of working.

As founder of the home business website www.enterprisenation.com, I hear from people of all ages who are delivering a professional service to their clients without having to take on the cost of a second office. Oh, and the 6 second commute from the bedroom to the home office is a popular upside too!

Young people starting up at home are friends to the environment as they’re not clogging up roads at peak travel times and they are growing their businesses by using the power of technology to promote themselves and partner with others. Spare rooms, kitchen tables and garden offices across this land are buzzing with enterprising activity!

Take Chloe Hamblen, the 27 year old fashion designer who is developing a lingerie label from her bedroom and 25 year old Jessica Buswell, who runs a highly successful dog grooming salon from the family home. This is just a glimpse into the range of businesses we hear from, but it shows that you can do anything from the comfort of your own home; from fashion to cleaning furry friends.

As the number of home businesses continues to grow, and in view of their positive impact on the economy and the environment, we are calling on the Government and Regional Development Agencies to take note of this important business sector by offering tailored business support and tax incentives. It’s not a ‘to-do’ action for the future – the home business revolution is happening right now!”

About Emma

Emma is founder of Enterprise Nation, the home business website, and has successfully started two businesses from home offices in London, Manchester and rural Shropshire.

Following a career with an international accountancy firm, Emma started her first home based business at the age of 27 and successfully sold it just 15 months after launch.

She then started Redbrick Enterprises Ltd in 2002 to advise the public sector on effective homeworking.

Spotting a gap in the market to provide information and inspiration to homeworkers, Emma launched Enterprise Nation [www.enterprisenation.com], the home business website, in January 2006. The website is a free resource for people starting and growing a business at home and has a readership of more than 250,000 people. As well as site content, there is also a free fortnightly e-newsletter and podcast.

Emma’s first book on how to start a business from home is available now.

For more information, visit www.enterprisenation.com

Emma is also a guest blogger for the Make Your Mark blog: read Emma’s blog posts