I was surprised to read that over half of all US small businesses are home-based and that's growing. http://growsmartbusiness.com/wp-content/files/Homepreneurs%20A%20Vital%20Economic%20Force.pdf
What I found of particular interest are some trends:
"The Home-Based Artisan: Most think of home businesses as knowledge, commercial or office businesses. But a new do-it-yourself movement of crafters, digital tinkerers, green advocates and other "Makers" are using their garages, basements and backyards as their factories. These new artisans are combining digital technology and tools with traditional methods to create innovative products, processes and business models."
"The New Local Movement: New localism is a trend that has been in place for years. Driven by changing demographics, technology, rising energy prices and concerns abut the environment, Americans are increasingly focusing on their families, friends and communities. Home businesses tap into this trend in two ways. Home businesses allow greater community focus for the owner, and benefit from market opportunities created by locally-oriented customers."
So, as we increasingly focus on our families, friends and communities, I'm looking forward to seeing more local, innovative, technology and/or artist-based businesses spring up and thrive in our neighborhood.
Any thoughts?
http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/12/top-10-homepreneur-trends-for-2010.html
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8 comments:
Great post, Joanne. That's really interesting. The first resident that popped into my mind is Larry Strawn, who lives on 9th & Ferry and is a stained glass craftsman and restorer.
I wonder how many other residents in the West Ward fall into the description of this article, of being artisans of some sort who run their businesses out of their homes?
This echos some of the points Dennis has been making lately about the need to relocalize our economies...
my wife designs and makes custom decorated lightswitch plates and sells them on ebay.
http://stores.ebay.com/Adrianes-Vintage-Switchplates
Noel,thanks. I wonder how many artisans we have too. Maybe we need a directory.
I hope this country becomes productive again and no better place to start than our local community. Any ideas or wish-list for viable businesses for the west ward?
EH, Checked out your wife's store. Great idea.
In our last blog poll, we asked readers what kind of businesses they would like to see open in the WW. The overwhelming favorite was a grocery store. Second was a cafe/bookstore where residents could get a cup of coffee, read the news, work on their laptops or bump into neighbors and catch up on the latest. Third choice was theatre.
But I think what this article is referring to is more a network of craftsman and artisans who work from home. I also know of writers, designers, photographers, etc., who work from home in the WW, and that makes me think think that if this is indeed a trend, that we have the beginnings of localization that could support a local grocery store, cafe or theatre if it were to open, because not everyone is gone during the day at a job they commute to. People in our neighborhood are so used to having to get in a car to drive to get everything they need that it would be great to have more within walking distance. It would also help bring the neighborhood together more, because going from house to car to store to car to house is easily isolating and doesn't encourage neighbors to know one another...
This subject matter needs more discussion and emphasis. Most of the great companies started out as garage operations. I remember a neighbor who was constructing an energy savings device in his apartment. He managed to convince Ben Franklin Tech Center to invest in his product. He lined up more investors and I think that he is on his way to becoming a multi millionaire. In fact, I was just reading about an ex Eastonian, who graduated from Lafayette, went to Texas, developed a product and made millions. His estate is now distributing his success to numerous public charities and unfortunately not Easton.
Bethlehem and Allentown have done more in this area than Easton. Bethlehem obviously took the lead because of Lehigh and benefits from Ben Framklin and the Small Businees Dev. Center. Allentown has business incubators. Easton needs to follow suit. Get Lafayette involved more in this concept and try to make something that does create jobs and uses commercial space in our city. We are behind the times and just have not put much emphasis in this area.
Thanks Joanne for your post.
Now that my business is being 99% retired to the West Ward zipcode fulltime, I can see where it's an ideal place for an entrepreneur to live and work.
Especially if the business is 'global' on the world wide web, a few clicks away while still in a bathrobe.
I know of some neighbors who live in the WW and have business locations in downtown Easton, as well as some businesses in the WW whose owners live outside the WW.
Any trip on any interstate at rush hour (actually, it should be truthfully named 'crawl hours') near any American city would convince the observer, passenger, and driver, that far too many people commute far too far twice daily to/from career opportunities that do not exist near their homes.
Most zoning and planning codes prohibit mixed-use occupancy of a dwelling in the housing communities where the vast majority of Americans live and work - outside of city limits, a.k.a., the suburbs.
This suburban planning concept was designed and built on cheap fossil fuels and cheap cars that aren't so cheap anymore, financially or environmentally.
I feel fortunate to now be immune to the uniquely-American requirement to live and work far apart just to keep the Middle East happy! Having lived and worked in cities around the world, good public transporation is a reality there. But not here so much, all by design to keep people in their cars burning up our planet, one daily commute at a time.
And to think we used to have 7 trolleys in this neighborhood! All buried in the name of the almighty car, and we are utterly oil/gas dependent. Now everyone talks about light rail as if it were new technology.
I am nervous that our local officials are not working aggressively enough to make passenger rail and light rail in Easton a reality again. Mass transit and green energy technology are critical to becoming energy independent--and localism is important to that end as well.
Anonymous,
I'd love to see a business incubator in our neighborhood. By all accounts, we have plenty of possible locations for one.
Also heard about a business who got its start at the Ben Franklin Center. It took off and they decided to stay. They're now able to provide jobs.
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