What was once a lifestyle choice is now a necessity for many as job losses will see a rise in self-employment and freelancingBy Ewan Fergus
FOR some it's the dream scenario - a chance to be your own boss and go to work in your pyjamas, if you like. Now experts are predicting that by 2015 as many as one in five UK workers will ditch the office and choose to work from home.
Despite Scotland traditionally lagging behind other areas of the UK when it comes to starting small businesses, there is evidence that some nascent tartan entrepreneurs are starting to see setting up at home as the way forward.
Internet outsourcing websites such as PeoplePerHour.com, which match freelancers with work, are reporting intensified interest from Scots.
Since April this year PeoplePerHour say the number of Scots selling their services via their site is up 22% - which is a faster rate of growth than any other UK region.
For people such as graphic designer Nicola Vallance, 35, the option to work from her home in Prestwick was a no-brainer.
Nicola, a 35 year-old Australian with Scottish roots, had been working in the Sydney office of a design agency for more than 12 years. But when it became clear that her only career path within the company led to management, and the continued grind of office routine, a holiday in Scotland got her thinking.
She said: "My family is originally from Scotland and I was born here. I came here on holidays and I met my partner Mark and decided to move here. When I moved here I thought, I'll set up my business from home'.
"I thought, If I want to give 100% to my job I'd either have to find a design studio locally or set up for myself. Setting up on your own is not easy, I wouldn't say that, you have to have some sort of savings or something you can fall back on until things pick up.
"I was lucky that my partner owns his house and I don't have many overheads, but for the first couple of years it was quite difficult.
"I did a lot of freelance work in Glasgow and I put in a lot of unpaid hours setting up. I had to devote myself full-time to building the business.
"I got a lot of help from Business Gateway, I went to their courses and learned how to set up tax-wise.
"They were a lot of help passing on my information to small businesses that came in for help, which led to quite a few contacts and from those contacts I got more work."
Nicola set up her own company, Rockpoolgd.com, three years ago and has not looked back.
She said: "The support was good. Especially these days with internet freelance websites where you can work remotely. They've been a lot of help.
"I've always been fairly self-motivated. It's important if you want to set up by yourself.
"I've always been a bit of a loner, I like working on my own. In fact I'm happier working by myself, so it's not been difficult to be motivated.
"But there are good points and bad points. You have to go without financially for a while because you're not getting a regular income.
"When I was working in the city you have your little corporate outfit and you go to the office every day and have your coffee. I can't do that sort of thing any more. You have to make cuts financially in things you buy, but for me I'm happier this way.
"Business now is going well, despite the current climate. I don't have any regrets, I love it here. It's great."
Stuart MacKinnon of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Scotland said that despite the recession the number of Scots who are setting up their own businesses has remained broadly static.
He said: "The level of reward that is out there for people willing to set up on their own is immense. Recent figures suggest that almost a third of Scotland's small and medium enterprises run their business from home.
"And despite the economic situation, our membership in the FSB has stayed static at about 220,000 members across the UK."
A report that was published at the end of last year by Enterprise Nation and British Telecom found there were more than 2.5 million businesses operating from home in the UK - a 16% increase in one year.
PeoplePerHour.com expects the growth in home-working to accelerate in 2009, particularly as thousands of people recently made redundant turn self-employed.
The company expects the trend to continue when the economic recovery kicks-in, with around a 20% in home startups year-on-year as broadband internet becomes more widespread and people recognise the benefits of working from home.
By 2015, PeoplePerHour.com estimates the number of Britons running home businesses and freelancing from home will reach 7.5 million - or roughly one in five people of working age.
