Enterprise Nation

In 1979 Michael Goodmaker set up a fashion import and wholesale business from his home in Northwest London. At the time he couldn’t afford the overhead of a showroom or shop and his bank manager would only lend money if the business traded from home. Michael looks back to those good ol’ days and shows how to run a business from home without upsetting the local council.

Working from home has never been easier providing you play within the rules set down by your local council. The ideal situation is that you can run your business from home without having to pay business rates for your home business, just council tax.

When I started out I was fully aware of the local council’s attitude to working from home, so I had to plan my business operation accordingly.

There were 3 main areas of concern for me:

1. Seeing Suppliers and taking deliveries of stock
2. Seeing Buyers/Customers
3. Holding Stock

I was buying and selling ready made stock so did not have problems with producing products at home.

Seeing Suppliers

I was very lucky, I was buying from manufacturers based in France so always went to them rather than them coming to my ‘office.’ If they did come to the UK I met them in town which meant taking them to a hotel for business meetings. I never wanted delivery drivers turning up at my house all hours of the day, illustrating to neighbours that I had stock in the house.

Now that so much sourcing is done on the internet, communication with suppliers is easier and you can always pick up deliveries from your local post office rather than being delivered to your door. With the likes of eBay, receiving boxes at home from various parcel services does not attract as much interest as it did back in the 80s.

Seeing Buyers/Customers

The local council don’t want you running shops from home, so if you advertise locally saying “come see Michael between 10am and 5pm for all the latest styles” someone will report you to the council and you will end up paying business rates rather than council tax.

Rather than have a queue of customers around your house, arrange to see a few important customers by appointment only - you are entitled to visitors!

I used to see customers off-site, in the many 4 star hotels we have in the city. Providing you can afford the £5 per cup for tea, it’s a nice environment in which to do business. I did once run a ‘party plan’ business from home but held sales in the evenings or at other peoples houses.

Holding Stock and Despatching Orders

I used to hold stock at home and, by way of insurance, put a heavy duty lock on the front and back doors, renewed the window locks, left plenty of lights on and hoped for the best!

If you do need to make a product at home it’s worth checking with your local council as to whether you must register the fact with them.

Most businesses now only need a computer, phone and perhaps a fax machine to run successfully from home so times are different and so much easier!

Thanks and Good Luck to you all.

• Michael Goodmaker, Designer Help