The recession is helping to kick-start a home-based business economy. A third of those questioned in the latest Home Business Survey said they started their home-based business within the last year, highlighting the entrepreneurial spirit that has emerged from the downturn.

The increase of 300,000 home-based businesses means there are now 2.8m businesses operating full time from home, contributing £284 billion each year to the UK economy.

At the UK Business Incubation Conference in December, I met Emma Jones, founder of Enterprisenation.com , a free resource to help you start and grow your business at home.  I’d heard about Enterprise Nation through Twitter and Global Entrepreneurship Week (they had a Home Enterprise Day).

Emma gave a talk to incubation professionals about how incubators can support homeworkers – since not all will want (or need) to take up actual residency in the incubator.  Emma’s talk and energy really inspired me; it’s so relevant to how we live and work now. Plus she’s actually an experienced entrepreneur (she set up her first business at the age of 27 and sold it 15 months later).  We heard about the growing culture of “5 to 9″ ers people who work a full time job and run an additional business at home, of an evening.   Some do this as a hobby or to unleash their creative talents – many don’t aim to give up the day job.  Truly enterprising.

Homeworkers are often underrepresented in economic statistics as home businesses commonly outsource rather than employ.  Family commitments, personal preference, cost, lifestyle, location and the environment are all reasons why people might run a business from home.

Whatever the reason, if you are running a business from home, take a look at Enterprisenation.com .  It has great resources and links to help home businesses start up and grow.  I’ve already recommended it to a few homeworkers I work with.  When the weather is this snowy, there are more reasons than just bootstrapping for working from home!

The Home Business Report from November 2009 makes interesting reading.  Homeworkers should be celebrated.  I wonder how many we have on the Isle of Man and where their customers are? I’d love to meet some tech start-ups who are currently working from home.

Business incubators can help home workers in different ways.  The need for professional, physical office space and face-to-face networking is still (if not more important) even though the majority of work is done at home.  Business planning support and advice is relevant regardless of where you’re working.

If you are setting up an enterprise or have an innovative idea or invention,  contact the Isle of Man Business & Innovation Centre -  you could work at home, from our offices or both and receive business support and more. Support is free upon successful application.  Pre-start ups and aspiring entrepreneurs, or those looking for a collaborative venture are very welcome.  +44(0)1624 820930 .

Speed Networking is a fun, energetic and dynamic way to build relationships and develop a thriving, successful word-of-mouth network

How does it work?

You will have a few minutes with each person to introduce yourself, your business/company, what you do and what you want from the evening.

At the end there will be time for you to connect with anyone you missed or to extend the conversations with those of your choice.

How do I prepare?

1. It is important to think about what you want to get out of the evening.  Some examples are:

• You need contacts within an organisation to get a job or promote a product or service you have
• You are wanting to generate publicity for an event
• You want to widen your circle of business / personal contacts
• You want to mix with like minded people

2. Have a well prepared USP or ‘elevator speech’.  Very simply this is :

• Your name
• Your company/business name
• What you/your company does
• What you want to get out of the evening

3. Make it engaging as you will be desperate to hear something entertaining and memorable by the time you get to the last person – and so will they!

4. Bring plenty of business cards or note cards with your contact info on.  Also bring extra flyers or promotional material along for those that want more information.

5. Take notes.  This will help you remember important facts about that person, their interests and goals.

6. Challenge yourself to help at least one person that you meet.  If everyone does this the impact of this event could be huge.

What happens after the event?

The real magic starts to happen when you build and continue the relationships outside of the event. So, visit the websites of the people that attended, send them an email, phone them and suggest another meeting with the intention of becoming better acquainted and finding out how you can both help each other.

Just over a year ago, the Women in Business Network was only an idea.  None of those involved knew each other that well but research, discussion and sharing ideas has worked. Now we engage with nearly 250 women on the Isle of Man with 78 Fans on Facebook and 85 members of our Linked-In Group.

In line with the theme of connecting women in business on the Isle of Man, our November Tuesday Club event is a Speed Networking Evening.

WiB members Julie Fraser and Pam Neill, who came up with the idea will be organising the event.  We’ll be seeking to create more connections at The Courthouse Club, 6pm Tuesday 17th November 2009.  Visit and register at the event page here .

Regardless of what you’re communicating, speed networking is an increasingly popular way to get your message across and meet many people in a short space of time.  Tips on getting the most out of a speed networking are found in this article by Dr Ivan Misner.   Misner is the Founder & Chairman of Business Networking International, the world’s largest business networking organization.

The Speed Networking Event will be the last Tuesday Club of 2009.  See this post for how to promote events, offers and engage with WiB online.

If your organisation would like to host, organise or sponsor an event for WiB members, please e-mail info<at>iombic.im or telephone 01624 820930.

• PR workshop s 1 or 2 day workshops, held by Strive PR in October, click here.
• Marketing Essentials, Chartered Institute of Marketing Course at IBS. It’s one unit of the Professional Certificate in Marketing, so you can just take that or go on to do more.  It starts in September so contact IBS without delay if you’re interested.

Also . . . a second workshop on Intellectual Property is to be held on the Isle of Man.  I’ll share more when I know but I’ve heard that the last one was excellent and informed a range of interested parties from business, government and education about IP issues and opportunities on the Isle of Man specifically.