Home Based Businesses Keep Office Location Top Secret

According to a recent survey¹, more than half of Australian home based businesses choose to keep their clients in the dark about operating from home for fear of losing business. The survey by Serviced Offices International, a provider of serviced offices and virtual offices in the Sydney CBD, found 56 per cent of business owners believe prospective clients are hesitant to work with a business that is home based.

Managing Director of Serviced Offices International, Michelle Mills (pictured) said: “There are nearly one million people running home based businesses across Australia², but it is no surprise that such a large number keep their place of business a secret. Image is very important, especially for a home operator who has to convince customers that home life will not infringe on the quality of product and service provided.” Read more

Online Diva Hollie Turner on the run from creditors

Founder of OnlineDivas.com.au, Hollie Turner (pictured), is currently ducking creditors and a long line of dissatisfied members who are demanding their money back from the women’s networking site.

Australian Women Online has spoken to several women who say they have been let down, ripped off and in some cases, verbally abused by Hollie Turner, who is reportedly in the United States at present and can’t be reached. When reports surfaced last week that the TV program A Current Affair, were interested in doing a story on the Online Diva, Hollie Turner silenced her critics by promising to pay what she owed. Read more

2009 Australian Home Based Business Awards

Nominations are now open for the Australian Home-Based Business Awards (AHBBA) which will be presented during the Australian Business & IT Expo (ABITE) on Friday August 21, 2009, at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, in Melbourne.

Many people talk about it, many dream of doing it, but not many actually take those first steps to get it all happening. As the 9 to 5 becomes the exception rather than the rule, where drive times and fuel costs are getting exorbitant, and families spend less time together, the home-based business steps in to reinvent the way we live.

More than two-thirds of Australian small business owners are home-based. Everything from accountants to wedding planners, adventure tours to web design is shifting out of the CBDs and into the spare room. Technology provides a convenient platform to advertise and conduct business, and entrepreneurs are heading home in droves to rearrange their lives. Read more