StartUp Secrets for home workers with Emma Jones

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.