‘Home-based business?’ More & more entrepreneurs are running successful businesses from mobile or remote offices & workshops. Virtually Smart Ltd investigates this upward trend.
When Helena Parrott launched Virtually Smart Ltd in 2017, she had a vision. The vision was to offer exceptional expert professional Executive VA services to help support & streamline businesses.
When Helena Parrott launched Virtually Smart Ltd in 2017, she had a vision. The vision was to offer exceptional expert professional Executive VA services to help support & streamline businesses.
Helena Parrott is not alone in taking the step away from PAYE & setting up either mobile, remote working or flexible offices. Even in the PAYE sector, there is a sizeable shift in working patterns & environments, as more & more employers recognise the need to offer flexible working conditions to retain their staffing skills set.
Brexit & the current Brexit deal being pitched by Theresa May, has come under some scrutiny & a lot of business leaders are not supportive of its contents. However, ‘According to a Startup Outlook Report, UK start-ups are optimistic with 49% of entrepreneurs saying they are confident in better business conditions in 2018 while 42% said conditions would remain the same ‘(1)
Deborah Meaden entrepreneur & member of the panel in ‘Dragons Den’ feels very strongly about how the current Brexit deal could affect British businesses in a negative way. “This deal will make it harder for small and medium-sized companies to grow in the most effective and efficient way – by exporting seamlessly to our nearest neighbours and biggest markets. “(2)
However, despite these two visions of how the Brexit deal could affect the entrepreneurial spirit of the UK business sector, we continue to see more & more successful & professional people turning away from PAYE & setting up their remote/mobile businesses in their homes, workshops & shared work spaces.
Since setting up Virtually Smart Ltd in October 2017, Helena Parrott has supported & worked alongside some industry heavy weights, as well as continuing to support the SME’s she has on her regular roll. Having supported a plethora of senior leaders, Directors, CEO’s in PAYE roles, she has, since setting up Virtually Smart Ltd, supported Claire Cronin CMO Virgin Atlantic, Oonagh McPhillips Head of Organisation Development at Ricardo Plc & is now a pivotal member of the team supporting Simon Brewster CEO Dolphin N2 in her role as Director/VA of Virtually Smart Ltd. Helena Parrott has shown that by working remotely & setting up her own business, she has been able to extol the virtues of remote independent working, whilst still being able to deliver an exceptional level of proactive professionalism.
Helena Parrott is not alone in establishing a successful remote/mobile based business & the trends for more & more people adopting this way of working, are on the rise.
One sector of the remote/mobile business which is on the rise is the ‘Mumpreneur’. The term ‘Mumpreneur’, first used in an article in Practical Parenting in 1998, has been adopted to recognise a hitherto side-lined sector of our working communities. ‘Mumpreneurs’ have recognised that just because you have children, does not mean you no longer have value in the employment sector. One success story from the ‘Mumpreneur’ sector, is ‘Scamp and dude’ run by Jo Tutchener-Sharp.
‘With a long history in the world of fashion and beauty, Jo directed PR campaigns and arranged events for high profile individuals and brands such as Tom Ford, Matthew Williamson, Dolce & Gabbana, Vogue, Estee Lauder, Topshop, NARS and The BRIT Awards.
In October 2015 Jo’s life took a difficult turn when she suffered a brain haemorrhage. She had to leave her children for a lengthy stay in hospital to undergo life threatening brain surgery.
Every parent understands the feeling you get when you have to leave your child, whether it be a business trip or first day at school. That knot in the stomach and the ache in the heart.
It was this moment that inspired Jo to create a brand that helps children feel more secure when apart from their loved ones, and Scamp & Dude was born.’ (3)
Jo Tutchener-Sharp is one example of how a great business can be born from a ‘home based’ idea & has become incredibly successful. However, there are some business giants whose humble beginnings do not reflect the international corporate image they have now. Bill Gates for example, started to design Microsoft software with his friend Paul Allen in a garage. ‘Amazon.com was created in 1994 as an online bookstore by Jeff Bezos. He created the website in his garage in Washington, originally investing nearly $40,000 to enable him to order, sell, and deliver books to 48 different countries.’ (4)
With the examples above in mind, do the figures support media reports of the upward trends in self-employed & entrepreneurial workers?
‘Self-employment now represents a larger share of employment: up from around 12% of the labour force in 2001 to around 15.1% in 2016.’ (5)
Virtually Smart Ltd have explored a wide variety of entrepreneurial businesses this year & most have begun from home-based ideas or remote/flexible working notions. ‘The Body Suite, Chichester run by Business Woman & Entrepreneur Dee Bodle, means that Dee literally lives & breathes her business, with her living accommodation being physically above the studio spaces. Nixon Point custom made fashion by Entrepreneur Laura Nixon, building a fashion empire from a shared workspace, began her business from home. Mono motorcycles run by Business Man Daniel Morris, began as a mobile business from a home based beginning. Feed Me Momma run by Entrepreneur Toni Debollla Surin, continues to grow from a ‘home based’ kitchen.
These are a mere snapshot of the growing trend for self-employed & entrepreneurial businesses from a wide range of sectors & each & every one is determined to succeed not being tied to a PAYE contract & enable themselves to grow their own brand, their own vision, just as Helena Parrott of Virtually Smart Ltd continues to do so.
Written by Katy Jane on behalf of Virtually Smart Ltd.
(1) https://londonlovesbusiness.com/revealed-uks-most-entrepreneurial-city-in-2018/
(2) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/28/brexit-deal-disaster-innovators-entrepreneurs
(3) https://scampanddude.com/my-story/
(4) https://www.inc.com/drew-hendricks/6-25-billion-companies-that-started-in-a-garage.html
