All
Working 5 to 9
A growing number of people are setting up their own businesses while working part or full time at another job, according to a report from Enterprise Nation.
The home business experts have launched Working 5 to 9, which looks at the growing trend of people holding down a day job and building their own businesses at nights and weekends as a response to the recession.
Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, says: “We were amazed with what we found; over 5 million people in the UK earning some form of income from home driven by a desire to earn extra income in troubling economic times and an ambition to turn a hobby/passion/skill in to a way of making a living.”
The report cites evidence from other organisations to back up its case:
For example, freelancing website, Peopleperhour.com, has seen 35% of registrations from the category of 5 to 9ers in the past 12 months. Founder Xenios Thrasyvoulou says: “That's up from 15% pre credit crunch so clearly the upward trend has been pushed by the economic climate.”
Virgin Vie, a cosmetics and jewellry distributor, is recording significant increases in the number of people signing up to be home based consultants and work evenings only. According to Ros Simmons, CEO at Virgin Vie At Home: “As a business we have seen a significant uplift in recruitment and we plan to recruit a record number of Consultants in the first quarter of this year. We are seeing more and more people in full time work joining our business because of the flexibility and the security that being self employed can bring. We offer these people an extra string to their bow which, in unsecure times, is a lifeline for many women.”
Small fortune
Although many of the home businesses don’t make significant amounts of money, 50% of those run on a part time basis are growing and 26% of owners expect to be able to work full time on their own business within three months. Seven per cent said they made “a small fortune” from their business. Jones says they represent “an enterprise renaissance”.
Most of those polled worked full time – some 60% said they were doing this, but many would like to work part time in order to build up their business.
Enterprise Nation advises on the 10 main steps to becoming a 5 to 9er:
1. Come up with a good business idea that you feel passionately about
2. Print out business cards, flyers and handouts
3. Write down a good business plan with achievable targets
4. Set up a dedicated work area in your house
5. Include family and friends in your planning, for instance, you could rope the kids into doing mailings...
6. Back up business files and keep them safe from friends and family
7. Build a website, blog or shop front using tools like Blogger
8. Set up a Skype account on a new number so you can distinguish home and work calls
9. Sign up for a new email address to avoid work and home emails getting mixed up
10. Take time to relax. You don’t want to burn out.
There are currently no comments on this post.