I am amazed that with the governments push to reduce disability payments and get those who are disabled back to work there is not more emphasis placed on, or training provided for setting up a Virtual Home Based business.
Many disabled people would love to work, but not only does their disability prevent them going out to work, despite the Equality Act 2010, employers are failing to recruit the disabled and those that are in employment are regularly dismissed on the grounds of Incapacity/Capability.
As a disabled person myself, running my own Virtual Support Business for the past 8 years, and with more than 80% of my team also having a range of disabilities, including Fibromyalgia, Sleep Apnoea, Anxiety & Depression, Arthritis, Meniere’s Disease, long term Back Problems, and an inoperable Brain Tumour, I think I have a good insight into the rewards and challenges working from home brings
Now, i’m not saying that every disabled person can work from home. What I am saying is that it is a viable option and one that should be encouraged and supported.
Firstly, lets look at some roles that could be undertaken from home.
- Administration
- Appointment Booking
- Call Answering
- Call Handling
- Case Management
- Credit Control
- Customer Services
- Customer Support
- Data Entry
- IT Support
- Online Training
- Order Processing
- Reception
- Sales Support
- Software Support
- Telemarketing
- Telephone Triage
- Telephone Counselling
- Telephone Training
- Typing
At some point throughout the past 8 years, I have undertaken all of the above role’s for a variety of clients in the UK, Europe and Worldwide.
If you already have a home telephone, fast broadband and an up to date PC, you can set up your home business with little or no additional costs.
There are a mountain of Free tools available online to help you run a home based business, such as Google, Skype, Slack, Switchboard Free, Wave Accounting, Setmore, and a host of others.
You can find clients by advertising your business on free sites and online directories like The UK Business Forum.
Listed on UKSBD
You can also find businesses that are looking for help on freelance sites such as People Per Hour.
With more businesses turning to home workers for support, especially when they cannot afford to employ a full time staff, or when weather conditions are bad (we get a lot of uptake of our services when there is severe snow), I think it is high time the DWP and Job Centres offered support and training in this area.