Enterprise Nation

It’s the end of the week and for the Enterprise Nation team it’s the end of the roadtrip week. From Monday to Friday we travelled from North to South to meet and film home businesses. There were a couple of clear trends we picked up along the way.

The forecast looks good

At the Exeter event on Thursday night I chatted with John Lewis who asked if we had spotted similarities in what home businesses were telling us, from Scotland through to Sowton (which is where we were on Thursday)

“Oh yes” I replied … and this is what was being said:

• Now is a great time to start – the mood throughout the week was incredibly upbeat. One moment that will stick in my mind is when Patrick Elliott (CEO of Business Link in London) opened the Masterclass event on Wednesday morning with a question to the audience of ‘Do you think this is a good time to start a business?’ – a ripple of 200 voices came from behind me and it was a resounding ‘yes’ – throughout the week we met people who are starting up whilst holding down the day job and others who have come out of redundancy to realise their business ambitions. We met a wide cross-section of businesses and there was nothing but positive chat from them all.
• Freedom & control – I stopped counting the number of times these words were used in interviews. Having started up, home business owners are finding freedom and flexibility in their working lives and are relishing being in control of their creativity, working environment and earnings.
• Ethical – this is a slightly difficult one to put in to words. Every business owner we interviewed is doing something ‘good’ by being in business; whether it be Clare Nicolson who believes in giving work to the people in her neighbourhood, Emma Henderson who sources her fair trade fabrics from India or Emma Warren who offers time and business experience to a charity. They would not refer to themselves as ‘ethical entrepreneurs’ as such but these business owners are having an impact in many a varied way.
• Growth through outsourcing – the adage of ‘do what you do best and outsource the rest’ is being taken seriously by the home businesses we met. Companies are partnering up and work is being outsourced to professionals. In the case of BodieandFou, Karine Kong outsourced the design and build of her website to an expert she’s yet to meet! Technology tools such as Skype, email and project management software means there’s no need to be in the same place but for others, physical networks are important as a place to meet business partners .. but also just to have a social chat!

We’re delighted that all the businesses noted below agreed to chat to us and we thank you for your time. It was quite a week we spent with you! – Emma Jones

Filmed businesses: 

- Clare Nicolson, Clare Nicolson

- Marceline Smith, Asking for Trouble

- Claire Brown, Miso Funky

- Julia Smith, Julia Smith Ceramics

- Michelle Aaron, Covetables

- Emma Henderson, Showpony

- Prof Colin Mason, University of Strathclyde

- Malcolm Gallagher, BizVision

- Stuart Mills, useyourlocal.com

- Doug Richard, SchoolforStartups

- Louise Campbell, MyEhive

- Cath Friend, Emerald Frames   

- Karine Kong, BodieandFou

- Daniele Pond, Sugarcup Bakery

- Jim Horrill, i-maker

- Pier Mucelli, e-office 

- Rory MccGwire, Donut sites

- Emma Warren, Portfolio Directors

- Gwen Howell, Pigs in Clover

- Barbara Steadman, Another Gorgeous Day

- Derek Houghton, Houghton Images