Home Business Alliance

According to the Home Business Alliance, six million small enterprises have less than nine employees, and the Alliance's appeal is to that lonely little group (especially the two and a half million who have no employees at all). Though the HBA is a membership organisation, which promotes home working and lobbies decision-making bodies, the advantages of membership don't seem to be huge. The bulk of the HBA information is available free to browsers on the site. The tone is friendsly and supportive, they say 'we know what it's like to be self-employed working from home, and we're here for you', and the information is comprehensive and well-targeted.


Broadly, the HBA can offer privileged access to two publications (The Boss and The Board), discounts on services to members, access to a network of business advisers including ex-bank managers (so that's where they go), and the facility to promote your particular skills to businesses looking for home workers. HBA members can add the organisation's logo to their business literature. For those too mean to join, there is plenty of information on effective home working free to air.


SPECIAL FEATURES


Legal queries are answered free by www.lawgym.com, and published first in The Boss, then posted on the site. So even if you cannot ask a question without your HBA ID number, you can read the replies. There are no guarantees that your questions will automatically be answered.


The Board is the second subscription publication, looking at the pros and cons of certain businesses (10 each month), with advice on home working scams. Without advertising, it claims to be entirely unbiased.


Working from Home is a useful feature which could do with appearing higher up the pecking order on the site, and looks at types of home working (such as teleworking and freelancing),and the pros and cons. It also explains types of advisors and gives a list of useful addresses.


The Links page lists useful web sites for B2B, including www.homeworking.com and businesseurope.com.


OTHER FEATURES


HBA members can also have privileged access to Credit Union, the organisation's independent financial, savings and loan co-operative. A monthly standing order entitles you to borrow twice your savings after six months, at 1% interest per month.