Based on questions and feedback we are getting on the homepreneur study, the finding that roughly half of homepreneurs have employees seems to be the most surprising result.
We weren't surprised by these results, mainly because we were surprised by this years ago when we first started researching home-based businesses. Over the years our conversations, interviews and surveys of home-based business owners have consistently shown that a high percentage are employers.
While there haven't been a lot of recent studies on home-based businesses, others have shown similar results. The Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE), a Cleveland-based small business support organization, released an excellent study on home-based businesses about a year ago. They surveyed their home-based business members. We posted on the study when it was released.
The most interesting overlap across the two studies was the number of home-based businesses with employees. The COSE survey (mostly northern Ohio COSE members ) and the SBSI survey (national) both found that about half of home-based businesses have employees.
The SBA study referenced in the homepreneur report - Startup Business Characteristics - also supports the data on employer home-based businesses.
The trends driving the growth of homepreneurs are strong. We expect to see their numbers and the number of people they employ to outgrow the overall economy in the coming years.
It's possible that you may be legally prohibited from bringing employees into your home at all. Most municipalities place special restrictions on home-based businesses
in an effort to maintain the residential character of the neighborhood. Zoning codes specifically dictate the number of employees a home-based business may have. In some cases, zoning codes even limit employees to residents and immediate family members.
Posted by: micro sd | December 14, 2009 at 03:18 AM