ACPR Blog

When starting a home business, you know there are loads of benefits. You’re in control of your time, save hours on your daily commute and have a comfortable place to work. Now, new research from home business website Enterprise Nation shows that you can gain in the region of £30,000 by starting a business from home. A home office will add to the value of your home PLUS you will save on  ever increasing fuel costs and motoring expenses. (more…)

Emma Jones of Enterprise Nation has a brand new book out, and has some tips to share if you want to run a successful home business:

1. Do something you love. Let your business idea be based on a passion, hobby or skill. That way it will never really feel like work! (more…)

We all know it is a juggle to fit in looking after the kids over the summer at the same time as keeping your business going. I’ve just had two weeks ‘off’ but still checked the emails every day, and even fitted in an urgently needed press release over the weekend. A new survey from Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank shows that entrepreneurs are taking less time off than they did three years ago, and for those who do manage to get away, it is hard to switch off. You might be one of the 10% of entrepreneurs who have sacrificed their holidays completely for their business, (more…)

From the author of Family Friendly Working, inspiring ideas for making money when you have kids

Are you trying to make a tough decision about returning to work after having a baby? Has having a second child made the cost of childcare outweigh what you earn? Or are you struggling hard to combine being there for your schoolchildren with your job? If you are looking for a solution, visit www.familyfriendlyworking.co.uk and sign up for the new free e-course. It is packed with ideas to help you create your own family friendly business and find out your rights to flexible work. What is more, it comes straight to your desk top for you to fit in when you have a moment: no need to arrange childcare. (more…)

The second annual survey from jobsite working working mums found that women who ask about flexible working before they go on maternity leave are likely to get it.  However, a large percentage of women are still not making that request. 

Ø     57% of mothers who discussed the possibility of flexible working either got what they wanted or were able to reach a compromise with their employers (more…)

There are several things a mother can do to help get back to work. Gillian Nissim of WorkingMums.co.uk suggests:

Ø Find out what your rights are by looking online, and talk to friends who have requested flexible working (more…)

Entries open for Home Business Awards
Enterprise Nation is  looking for some of the UK’s best home businesses for the second Home Business Awards competition. This year the Awards are bigger and better than ever! There are more prizes to be won - and new categories too. Read on to find out how you can enter.

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1,400 home businesses are started every week in the UK and ‘mum’ businesses contribute an estimated £4.4billion to the economy, and now HMRC are putting their weight behind the growing trend, with new tax breaks for people working at home. 

New guidance in HMRC manuals, published on their website, contain examples of the level and nature of home expenses that can be claimed. There are two areas of particular interest: specific expenses and mixed use of premises.

A new element is termed ‘fixed costs’ and includes mortgage interest, Council tax and home insurance, and for the first time HMRC are allowing a proportion of these costs to be claimed against the income of your business if certain criteria are met, such as: (more…)

Mambino Organics is a NEW range of 100% natural skin care for mothers and babies. Safe to use during pregnancy, the ingredients are synergistically blended without the use of chemicals or additives….ever. Choose from treats for you and your baby that will make you feel pampered: (more…)

New survey from Workology shows Family Friendly Working is on the up

11 June 2008 – Forty-one per cent of flexible workers would forgo a 100 per cent pay rise if it meant giving up control of the way they work, according to the results of a new survey by Workology, an online community that supports flexible workers, freelancers, portfolio workers, and self-employed professionals. When the incentive to return to traditional 9-5 was lowered to a 50 per cent pay increase, nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) claimed that they would prefer to keep control of their work arrangements.

Today’s working environment sees more and more people working outside the ‘traditional’ 9-5, and flexible working to support issues such as Family Friendly Working or cost savings is supported by legislation and many corporate employers. But the Workology survey suggests that the desire to take control of our working lives goes deeper than just practical considerations (i.e. a desire to pursue more personally fulfilling career avenues) Workology questioned more than 1000 flexible workers – made up of part-time or flexi-time workers, freelancers, self-employed professionals, ‘portfolio workers’, and remote workers - about their attitudes to work and their motivations for working outside the traditional 9-5. It also asked them to assess whether the benefits of non-traditional working outweighed the concerns about leaving the corporate environment. (more…)