Businesses in County Durham are being encouraged to embrace home working.
A recent study has shown that home working makes a big contribution to the county’s economy and latest figures show the number of businesses trading from home has increased by 33 per cent since 2001.
Sarah Weightman from Gilesgate based PR company Glow Creative is now in her third year of trading and it’s proving to be her most successful yet.
Sarah has managed to double her turnover in the last 12 months, and trades regionally, nationally and internationally from her Durham home with clients as far afield as Australia.
She said: ”Working from home has given my business a great advantage, instead of traditionally coming to an office to work we work remotely.
“It means the clients are getting a great skill set and we deliver a professional service but we don’t have the overheads so we remain competitive. If you are dedicated and motivated being based at home is an ideal way to run a small business.
“Premises aren’t a priority at the moment, I work with clients of all sizes all over the country and it means the service we deliver established our reputation, not our offices. Also, geographically our location isn’t that important, the technology that’s available now really removes any boundaries.”
Ken Jarrold CBE, Chair of the County Durham Economic Partnership said: “Studies show that the great value of home working to the economy is not recognised and we want to promote the benefits of trading from home and show that local businesses can trade nationally and globally.”
More information on Global Entrepreneurship Week can be found at Global Entrepreneur Week.
Durham County Council commissioned the study and further details of the study and recent home working event are available.