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| Now is the time of year when we make resolutions, and try and see what is coming our way over the next 12 months.
My year has already started on a high note, and looking into my crystal ball I am predicting an excellent, even vintage, year for myself and for Funky Angel. So what are my predictions for 2009 and the working from home market in particular?
* Many more people will be working from home -
* The home is the most popular location to start a business
* More than 60% of businesses are started from home; equal to more than 1,400 each week
* There are 2.1 million home based businesses in the UK, contributing £364 billion in turnover to the UK economy
* The highest growth in home business is coming from Mums, young people and the over 50’s
* The fastest growing sectors are business & professional services, personal services, online trading, food and domestic energy
* London and the South East have the largest number of home based businesses but the Northwest and West Midlands are catching up fast
* 86% of home business owners want to grow their business, without leaving home
* Home business owners are IT savvy; in entries to the Enterprise Nation Home Business Award, 98% of entrants had a business website and 64% were utilising e-commerce platforms
* Home business owners are friendly to the environment; an increase in homeworking could cut peak traffic by up to 10% within 5 years
* 87% of homeworking parents confirm that their being at home is good for the children
* Some of those people will be making a positive choice - ie those women who want/need to work but want to be the primary carer for their children, the so called WAHMs (Work At Home Mums), Home Business Mums and Mumpreneurs.
*Obviously there will be a lot who will be forced to work from home because of redundancy, or who need to make additional income from a second 'job'.
* While many traditional jobs will go, many others will be created serving the home-based market as more and more people become increasingly home focused. Since the start of the credit crunch we have already seen continued growth in home delivery pizzas and other take outs, dvd sales, and subscriptions to integrated TV and broadband packages.
The last of these is good news for internet marketeers as it'll promote a rise in broadband usage - Broadband services have enjoyed massive growth in the UK over recent years with 16.5 million households now online - and a rise in flexibility, as Pay As You Go broadband dongles enter the market.
* Many companies will close central offices and make their remaining workers home based, and I predict that more and more jobs will be outsourced as companies try and rationalise their overheads, which will lead to increase growth of 'hollow companies' (where everything that possibly can be is outsourced) and in working from home as more and more opportunities for home-based working are created, whether that's as a business, part of a franchise or part network, or as a remote worker.
• As companies feel the squeeze, the remaining workers will have to take on increasing work loads, thus making them increasingly time short. Many of these workers will be well rewarded by their employers (cheaper to give a pay rise to one employee than employ two people), thus increasing the demand for domestic and virtual support - another business opportunity for work at home business mums.
* As the interest rates and food, petrol and utility bills fall, increasing amounts of people will have more disposable income - and trends suggest they will spend this on the internet rather than in the big high street stores. Good news for e-commerce then.
So that's what I see in my crystal ball - here are some more fun predictions from elsewhere…what would yours be?
Olive magazine
In this month's issue, Olive magazine predicts that...
* More people will be cooking from scratch (and learning how to do so if they don't already know).
* More people will be starting kitchen gardens and the demand for allotments will completely outstrip supply.
* Champagne sales will continue to be hit out, but that Cava and gin are definitely on the up, and that the drinks market will see an overall boom not a fall.
* The dinner party is making a come back, whether in it's formal format or as people spurn the pub for 'top nights in' with a take out and a dvd to watch.
* Food book sales will 'rocket' and more people will search for recipes online
* Demand for local and seasonal produce will continue to rise, although organic food will probably continue to decline - it's all about sustainability now.
* Restaurant portions will fall, and more will offer doggy bags to take home.
* 'Nose-to-tail' dining will be a huge trend - Waitrose are already offering pigs trotters and a national offal campaign, fronted by Sophie Grigson, is happening in 2009.
Psychic Dean "Midas" Maynard predicts what 2009 has in store.
LIFE:
* London can expect heavy snow Mid February
* A snap general election will be called late in the year with the Tories winning by a landslide
* Summer will be the hottest in years with temperatures reaching over 25 degrees.
MUSIC:
* Classical four-piece "Escala" will have a number one album
* Girls Aloud and Westlife will split, and a new boyband will storm the charts
* The Bay City Rollers will re-unite for a UK Tour
* Kylie will marry and become a mum in 2009
TV & CELEBRITY:
* Coronation Street will lose one of it's biggest stars
* Eastenders will see the return of Grant Mitchell
* Radio 1's Chris Moyles will make a return to TV with his own chat show
* David Beckham will get a knighthood
* Cheryl Cole will have a baby, as will Victoria Beckham
WORLD:
* Zimbabwe will be on the brink of war as the UK and USA topple President Mugabe
* The Caribbean will suffer one of its worst hurricanes for years in October
* A medical breakthrough will change the world
SPORT:
* The Ashes will come back home this year from Australia
* The Grand National will be won by a 12/1 or 14/1 outsider
* England will win the Rugby Union Six Nations
All good fun, and I bet you can do at least as well as Dean with predicting what will happen in 2009! 
Professional Writer, Editor, Publisher
Home Business Expert
Funky Angel Consultant
www.funkyangel.co.uk |
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Last Login: 04 April 2009 14:37
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| | As Editor of www.funkyangel.co.uk I see movements and trends in so many areas which point to a buoyant home business market. This will be accelerated by the credit crunch and the recession - I think home-based businesses will definitely be the bright light amongst the gloom. |
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| I think your predictions are pretty much spot on.
I would only add that I have a gut feel, which I earnestly hope will be proved right, that, despite the economic climate - and perhaps because of it - there will be a surge in optimism as Spring finally comes, and the winter weather is forgotten. People will come to realise that they have more control over their lives than they thought they had, whether in employment, or working form themselves. They will understand that being optimistic creates both energy and results, whereas pessimism is a self fulfilling prophecy of inaction and despair.
As you say, many will have more disposable income, and many will be starting home businesses - either through necessity, or just in case. The need for thrift and reassessment will help people to get honest again. And that will in turn release a positive feeling of action, refreshment, control, and hope. |
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| I agree Tim - although this will recession will involve some pain to a lot of people, I think it will make people's lives better in the long run.
I read in the Sunday Times today that the size of the world economy is due to double in the next twenty years (even taking account of the current worldwide situation), so really there is an awful lot to look forward to. |
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Last Login: 02 April 2009 20:34
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| I also think this recession will be good for the planet as a whole - it will encourage more people to be more frugal and less wasteful, and actively seek out those solutions to help them stretch their budgets, which will in turn feed in to the research and development of environmentally-friendly solutions to century-old problems, such as industrial waste and fossil fuels.
I also predict an improvement for UK farmers - long overdue - which is, let's face it, one of the oldest 'home businesses' there is! I see a contraction of imports from far flung areas of the globe, and a realisation that threats from other countries and our integration with other economies makes it essential that we, like the French, are practically self sufficient when it comes to food and energy.
Hopefully, this will also apply to the areas from where we have to import, such as the cacao bean and coffee bean producers, both of whom are suffering at the moment, as well as triggering, I hope, a solution to the bee pandemic, which if it continues will have a knock on effect into every area of life as we know it.
So I think the recession will be painful but necessary - and certainly not all doom and gloom as the media would have us believe.
Professional Writer, Editor, Publisher
Home Business Expert
Funky Angel Consultant
www.funkyangel.co.uk |
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Last Login: 04 April 2009 07:15
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| Interesting post, Thanks for the provided information. Working from home is a great experience and as we all know, the amount of home business are increasing incredibly for last 2 years, I think global recession might be one of the cause for it.
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