Rising numbers of home enterprises are changing Britain's economic landscape. This month's Director magazine explores the benefits of escaping the nine-to-five grind to run your own business from a spare room or garden shed.

After a four-year campaign Emma Jones, founder of home business website Enterprise Nation, has got what she wanted - a day in recognition of home workers. Home Enterprise Day, held on 20th November, will form part of Enterprise UK's high-profile Global Entrepreneurship Week, sitting alongside days dedicated to women's and social enterprises. Jones believes the recognition is not only an opportunity to publicly raise the profile of people who have set up businesses from home, but a chance to air her grievance with government. She claims it is not doing enough to give these entrepreneurs the support and resources they need.

"In our Home Enterprise Report 2009, we will call on the government, again, to say 'you can't ignore this sector'," says Jones. "Over 60 per cent of businesses are now started from a home base, and the annual turnover of a home business is around £50,000 - it's not just pocket money. We're seeing these businesses growing through outsourcing and subcontracting work to freelance colleagues - they're increasing turnover not headcount - yet government contracts, business support, loans and grants are geared towards businesses employing people."

As any office-based employee who has worked from home will know, it can be a positive thing. Home working enthusiasts will point to benefits such as higher efficiency, a better work-life balance, increased flexibility and a more motivated workforce.

Jones claims there are further advantages. As founder of two businesses from home offices, she's well versed in them. For most individuals, cost is the biggest motivator. Operating from a spare room, attic or shed is not only convenient, it also means you don't incur extra costs for rent or travel. With no commute, you're saving precious time.

Working from home not only gives a lifeline for those who have been made redundant, home-based enterprises are also more robust than their larger, office-based counterparts. South East Business Monitor says nearly four out of five are confident of surviving the recession.

Is this halcyon existence too good to be true? On an individual level, John Grange, a Business Link adviser, notes if you're going to work from home successfully, you need to think carefully about disadvantages. "You can find yourself getting totally immersed in it [work] and always finding some work to do. It can be a drain. There's also the isolation, the unsociable hours. It can become a slippery slope."

Jones agrees that isolation is a common problem, but "there are online forums that people can go to, to find people who are doing the same as themselves. Also, there are offline gatherings - lunches, conferences, networking events - where you can meet people. That's where out-of-home office spaces such as the IoD come in," she says.

If you've planned what you need to work from home, she adds, there's no reason why it can't succeed. Her advice? Dedicate space to your enterprise. "Some people say when they work from home they never switch off. If you find a space you can walk away from at the end of the day, you feel that sense of work and life separation."

Jones also suggests getting your technology organised. Cheap and powerful IT has made it easier for more home enterprises to launch. "It's now as simple as a mobile phone and a laptop, but make sure you use all the free applications that are out there," she says.

But for society, what will be the long-term effect of thousands of people leaving the workplace to work from home? Grange asks "How will this affect the economy? Take it to extremes - what happens to transport, the service industry, the local sandwich shop? I don't know."

So, while there are economic and environmental benefits, there are also repercussions: what happens to corporations when the entrepreneurially minded among their workforce start up on their own? what is the effect on workplace culture when there are fewer people to interact with and learn from around the coffee machine?

Our smooth transition into the next industrial age depends on how well we answer these dilemmas.

This extract was taken from November 2009's Director magazine. Please visit www.director.co.uk for more information.

Did you know Business Link can help you in starting up and growing your home enterprise? We provide free business advice and training, as well as a business mentor to help with some of the barriers identified in the article above.  Skills for Enterprise are delighted to offer the Business Link service to help new start businesses - we also offer Business Networking events - contact us to find out more on 0116 242 9482.