Jelly, the casual, free event where home workers, freelancers, small business owners and workshifters of all kinds meet up to work together, has taken off in the UK over the last 18 months. More than 60 groups are meeting regularly across the country.

Jan Minihane, the founder of Jelly in Shropshire (where it has been particularly popular) witnessed the unique help and support that Jelly provides to small businesses and came up with the idea of a national event. She wanted both to encourage more Jelly groups to start, and to give existing Jelly organisers and attendees, who have developed a lively Twitter community, to meet up face to face.

She invited me and Fay Easton, who operates Enterprise HQ, the Ironbridge workhub that hosts some of the Shropshire Jelly events, to co-organise The BIG Jelly, as we named it. Obviously nobody would bother to travel miles to a Jelly event if they could attend one locally, so this had to be a very special day, offering Jelly certainly, but also a lot more.

With no track record for the event, large amounts of sponsorship were hard to find in the current economic climate, but we were amazed and delighted by the generosity of our speakers and all our suppliers and helpers who contributed their expertise to our not-for-profit event. The whole day and subsequent Twitter activity has proved how effective it is when home workers and freelancers help each other out.

We packed the day with three speakers, known for their small business expertise, plus a choice of breakout events run by small business experts - topics included marketing, websites and SEO, working from home, finance, social media and running Jelly events. After lunch there was a small business Q&A, and plenty of space available all day to meet people and start building relationships.

Was it a success? It was a triumph beyond our wildest dreams! The whole day buzzed with excitement, with delegates delighted to be there, meeting new people and taking on board new ideas. They continue to tell us how they are being inspired with new plans for their businesses. We have received many requests to make The BIG Jelly an annual event.

I'd love to hear your own experiences and ideas for the development of Jelly events, both locally and on a national scale. If you haven't attended a Jelly event yet, you should consider attending one!

Let's Celebrate!

Home Enterprise Day is happening on Friday, November 20th and Enterprise Nation (a resource website I founded in 2006) members are making plans to celebrate.

The Day marks the first national celebration of home business. It's being held as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week and the aim is to encourage more people to start a business from home and support existing home businesses to grow. There are a number of ways you can get involved:

Attend the Enterprise Nation Conference

We're hosting a national conference on the Day with a top line-up of speakers who will inform and inspire. Speakers like Doug Richard (former Dragon & CEO, School for Startups), Louise Campbell (founder, Myehive.com) and, from the world of media Lisa Sykes (Features Editor, Country Living), Jenny Culshaw (Producer, Working Lunch) and Jimmy Leach (head of Digital, The Independent).  The event is being held in London and on the day we'll be launching our 2009 Home Business Report and announcing winners of the 2009 Home Business Awards. Plenty of reasons to come along!

You can register for the Enterprise Nation Conference here: Register now!

Join us on a Roadtrip

In the build-up to Home Enterprise Day, we're going on a roadtrip! Starting in Scotland and traveling south, I'll be interviewing people in their working homes, talking to policy makers and hosting home business meet-ups every night, at each stop-off point. The end result of the week will be a documentary looking at the rise of home business in the UK. This is where we'll be - please come out and say hello!

*Monday 14th September  -Scotland
*Tuesday15th September - North East (Newcastle)
*Wednesday 16th September - London
*Thursday 17th September - South West (Bristol & surrounds)
*Friday 18th September - West Midlands (Herefordshire & Shropshire)

Enter the Home Business Awards

The Awards will be open in early September with winners announced at the Enterprise Nation Conference on Friday, November 20th. We'll have the same categories this year as last which are:

*Home Business of the Year
*Home Business Couple of the Year
*Young Home Business of the Year (under the age of 30)
*Home Office of the Year
 
Entry is free and you're in with a chance of winning plenty of profile and prizes.

Run your own event

If you'd like to celebrate Home Enterprise Day but unable to join us for the conference in London, why not host your own event. We've prepared a basic sheet for anyone looking for tips on how to spend the day.

Whatever you decide to do, and wherever you'll be, I look forward to celebrating the UK's first ever Home Enterprise Day with you!