successful home working
Posts tagged Enterprise Nation
Emma Jones on why now is a good time to start a business
42 months ago
by Judy
in Home business
The How to Work from Home – The Inside Guide session with Emma Jones was jam-packed with excellent tips and anecdotes about her business career. One of Emma’s points was that despite all the economic bad news about double-dip recessions, a second credit crunch and the collapsing euro, now is actually a good time to start a business. Why? For three main reasons:
1. It’s cheaper than it’s ever been to set up – you used to need a lot of capital to start in business, but now for the price of a laptop and a mobile phone you can connect with potential customers all over the world. There are good deals to be had in stock, equipment and all kinds of professional services, as employees who have been made redundant go freelance or decide self-employment is actually less risky than relying on one employer.
2. Technology is ever-evolving and becoming cheaper, and the growth of social media enables a small business to quickly make themselves known in the marketplace for little investment other than time. You can engage a VA you may never meet to undertake the parts of your business you dislike and aren’t so good at, with none of the risks and costs inherent in employing somebody.
3. There is so much business support available. Business Link may only exist online these days, but there is help and advice to be found at business events, on countless websites such as Enterprise Nation, through Emma’s own organisation StartUp Britain, and numerous networking organisations.
And I can’t leave out my own favourite reason why small business has never had it so good – the growth of coworking spaces and Jelly. Now there’s no reason to get lonely and demotivated at home – you can go and work in a business-like space with fellow freelancers and business owners who’ll happily help you out with tips and may even be the source of future work.
Obviously bear in mind Emma’s four key tips about what not to do when starting a business, but whether you leap or are pushed, there could be no time like the present to put that idea into practice.
What not to do when starting and running a home business, by Emma Jones
102 months ago
by Judy
in Home business
A month ago Emma Jones of Enterprise Nation and StartUp Britain shared her startup secrets with attendees of How to Work from Home – The Inside Guide. I’ll be covering her key points at a later date, but just as important is knowing what NOT to do when setting up and growing a home business! Here are 4 things Emma recommends you avoid:
1. Don’t do any research. It’s so easy to assume that because you love what you’re doing, so will plenty of other people, who will also want to pay you money for it. Test before committing yourself that there is a market, that it’s a sustainable market, and there is space for you within it. For example, carry out a simple customer survey, do some research to check the trends and find out how well existing suppliers are currently doing.
2. Don’t spend a lot of money committing yourself to stock, premises, investment, employees etc until you are sure there is a market. Emma coined the term ‘5-9 working’ a few years ago when she identified the new phenomenon of people starting businesses alongside their day job. Keeping the regular income going allows you to test out your idea with little risk. Check out my review of Emma’s book Working 5 to 9.
3. Don’t go for too wide a market and end up appealing to nobody. It’s tempting to think you’ll get most sales by going for the wider market. Instead, focus in on a niche that you understand and can fill really well. For example, if you’re a personal trainer, think of the clients you’ve had the most success with, or the problems you’ve beaten yourself, and tackle that market – the personal trainer who helps clients shed 2 stone, helps new mums get back into shape etc.
4. Don’t assume you must rely entirely on your own resources to get going and then to develop your business. A mentor can provide vital support, but also bear in mind you may need more than one person. You may find a technical expert helps with problem-solving, and a good all-round listener with encouragement, confidence-boosting and an objective viewpoint. My Work from Home Audit helps to quickly gain clarity when you can’t see the wood for the trees!
StartUp Secrets for home workers with Emma Jones
23 months ago
by Judy
in Events for home workers
StartUp Secrets was the title of yesterday’s How to Work from Home -The Inside Guide meet-up at Central, and who better to reveal the factors contributing to business success than Emma Jones of Enterprise Nation and StartUp Britain?
Emma grew up in a family that ran restaurants throughout her childhood and expected that she and her brother would play a full part – to the extent of her brother standing on a box to reach the till! Her self-confessed initial slacking at university was turned around by spending a year in Japan and experiencing at first hand the hard-working Japanese culture.
She worked for Arthur Andersen for only five years after university before leaving to start her first business, which attracted a sale within two years. The inspiration for Enterprise Nation came from reading the biography of Martha Stewart, the American home and lifestyle guru. Emma realised that women no longer simply want to create a nice home, they also want to make an income from home. Nobody was providing information on home business so she stepped in to fill the gap in the market.
After the Enterprise Nation website came books and Working 5 to 9 featured startup Claire’s Handmade Cakes, which was two years old and going strong on Wednesday. As you can see from the photo Claire brought along a batch of biscuits beautifully decorated with her logo, most of which had disappeared before we all left!
We covered lots of ground talking about attendees’ experiences and discussing their current challenges, so I’ll be covering some of Emma’s startup tips in future blogs. Look out for posts covering the importance of being a business information sponge, Emma’s top things to avoid when you’re starting a business, and how to use your weaknesses to your advantage.
StartUp Secrets for home workers
63 months ago
by Judy
in Events for home workers
I’m very much looking forward to the next How to Work from Home – The Inside Guide meet-up at Central on Thursday 27 October. Our guest this month is Emma Jones, who founded the website Enterprise Nation from her home in Shrewsbury in 2006 to help people starting and growing a business at home. Enterprise Nation rapidly grew a large community and within a few years Emma was being asked to advise government on small business.
This year she has co-founded StartUp Britain, the campaign by successful entrepreneurs to get more businesses started, and has been travelling round the country in a double-decker bus spreading the startup word far and wide! Emma spoke on the main stage at the recent Conservative Party conference and is in demand as a speaker at leading conferences and events (like The BIG Jelly in March this year!)
We’re deliberately restricting the number of places at the event (so book yours here quickly!) to retain the informal, conversational atmosphere we’ve created at the meet-ups, and so that all attendees get a chance to ask Emma their own questions. She is down-to-earth and open as well as being extremely knowledgeable, so I’m anticipating another fun and inspiring evening like the recent ones with Clare Flynn Levy, James Layfield and San Sharma.
Emma will be talking about her amazing success and the factors she believes have contributed to it, and which you can use too to reach your business goals. I wonder whether she’ll mention the role of family as a launchpad for the successful would-be entrepreneur? I worked with her mum, Fay Easton, on the organisation of The BIG Jelly earlier this year and learnt a huge amount from her in doing so. Fay runs Enterprise HQ, a contemporary workhub stylishly carved out of an old industrial building in Coalport, Shropshire, and works tirelessly for her local business community. Surely having an entrepreneurial parent has got to give you a headstart?
A moving experience
101 year ago
Moving house is supposed to be up there amongst the most stressful events of a lifetime, and if you run a business from home, there’s even more to consider. We’ve moved our home and two businesses several times in recent years and so I’ve distilled my experiences into a short guide ‘How to move house when you work at home’ published by my pals at Enterprise Nation.
What I’ve learnt is that there’s plenty you can’t control about a house move (such as whether your utility suppliers actually provide what they’ve promised, as I described in Moving in more ways than one) but you’ll have less to worry about if you prepare as much as you possibly can and keep track of what others are doing. Often things will happen that you didn’t predict, but I find it helps to bear in mind that it will all work out in the end, even if you can’t sort it out straightaway!
Working 5 to 9
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I’m also delighted that Emma has teamed up with another of my favourite entrepreneurial people, Nick Williams, and is talking about spare time business at the Inspired Entrepreneurs’ Club on 23 June. Nick recommends taking baby steps on your way to making money from something that fulfills you, so it’s the perfect match! A copy of the book is included in the ticket price and there’s literally only a handful of places left, so book now for an inspirational evening. I just wish I was able to go!
