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Home Enterprise Day (Friday 20 November) is a day to celebrate anyone and everyone who is starting and growing a business from home and there are plenty of ways to get involved…

And there’s plenty of ways to get involved:

Read about the home business roadtrip
Enter the Home Business Awards
Attend the Enterprise Nation Conference
Run your own event

Home Business Roadtrip

1,233 miles, 18 home businesses and 5 clear trends

In mid September Enterprise Nation, the home business website, went on a roadtrip. Starting in Scotland, the touring team traveled south to meet and film home based businesses in what will become a mini documentary charting the rise in this modern way of working. Whilst out and about, the crew picked up on a few clear trends.

From Scotland to Shropshire

Packing everything in to a single week meant we were able to get a very quick overview of what’s happening in the home business sector across the UK. This is what we found:

Now is a great time to start – the mood throughout the week was incredibly upbeat. One moment that will stick in the mind is when Patrick Elliott (CEO of Business Link in London) opened an event 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 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.

Technology means trade – all of the businesses we filmed are making the most of technology, whether it be Stuart Mills, www.useyourlocal.com who is applying the web to the pub world, or Malcolm Gallagher, www.bizvision.biz who is communicating his business message through online videos; produced cost-effectively from a home studio. Many of the craft businesses are using sites such as www.Etsy.com and www.MyEhive.com to sell their products to a national – and international – audience. Technology is clearly broadening the trade and partnering horizons of many a small business.

Freedom & control – we 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, www.clarenicolson.com who believes in giving work to the people in her neighbourhood, Emma Henderson, www.showpony.co.uk who sources fair trade fabrics from India or Emma Warren, www.portfoliodirectors.com 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!

It was a crammed and fascinating week that shone a light on what is a bright and vibrant business sector. The documentary will be aired for the first time on Home Enterprise Day [Friday 20th November] when home business owners will be travelling to us!

Emma Jones is Founder of Enterprise Nation and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up – how to start a business from home’

The home business roadtrip took place in week commencing 14th September and was sponsored by Orange.

Take a look at the Roadtrip photos:

Home Business Roadtrip

Enter the Home Business Awards

Enter the 2009 Home Business Awards to win profile and prizes

The 2009 Home Business Awards run by home business website, Enterprise Nation, are now open for entry. There are five categories with thousands of pounds worth of profile and prizes to be won. Deadline date for entry is 6th November with winners being announced at the Enterprise Nation Conference on Home Enterprise Day on Friday 20th November. The five categories are:

Home Business of the Year
Home Business Couple of the Year
Home Office of the Year
Young Home Business Owner of the Year (under age of 35)
The 5 to 9 Home Business (open to anyone holding a day job and building the business at nights and weekends)

Now in their third year, the Home Business Awards are the biggest and the best when it comes to rewarding businesses being started and grown from home.

‘Deciding on a winner in these Awards is always a difficult task’ say the team at Enterprise Nation so this year they’ve kept the same four categories as in previous years, as well as adding a new one to recognise the increasing trend that’s seeing people ‘Working 5 to 9’ – holding down a day job and building the business at nights and weekends.

By entering you are automatically in the running to win the title ‘Home Business of the Year’ but you can also tick a box to apply for any or all of the categories

Prizes

It’s free to enter and winners will receive some amazing prizes. They include:

Prominent profile on the Enterprise Nation site and in a national newspaper
Thousands of pounds worth of prizes in home office supplies and technology from companies including Regus, Staples, HP, Douwe Egberts, Access Storage and Moneypenny
A brand review with top creative agency, Jump To, who act for a number of home grown businesses such as New Covent Garden Food, Tyrrells and Bacheldre Mill
Free entry to the Enterprise Nation Conference
A romantic get-away break for the Home Business Couple of the Year!

Judges

Joining Emma Jones (Founder, Enterprise Nation) on the judging panel will be:

Rachel Bridge, Enterprise Editor, The Sunday Times
Mark Dixon, Chief Executive & Founder, Regus
Karen and Mike Hollands, co-founders of Toniks and 2008 Home Business of the Year

How to enter

Entry to the competition is free and open to any home business in the UK. The closing date is Friday, November 6th with winners being announced at the Enterprise Nation Conference on Home Enterprise Day, Friday 20th November.

To enter, simply click on the link below to download and complete the one page form.

http://www.enterprisenation.com/detail/2009_Home_Business_Awards_are_open_for_entry/3040/1.aspx

Register for the Enterprise Nation Conference

Join us on the BIG day itself for an event that has a top line-up of speakers who will inform and inspire. Come listen to them, meet your peers and be the first to congratulate winners of the 2009 Home Business Awards.

There are only 150 seats available so register your place soon at: http://enterprisenation.eventbrite.com/?ref=ebtn

Download the conference schedule

Run your own event

Want to do your own thing on the day?

Download a PDF for ideas of activities

Remember to register your event so it can be promoted as part of the entire Global Entrepreneurship Week.