Andy, my partner, and I have just finished watching "I love 1986"; We have been watching all of the "I love 1980’s" series as it was our era, our youth.

In 1980, when I was 14, my father gave me choice of either going on holiday abroad, my first ever holiday, or, as he knew my love for music, setting me up in my own business as a DJ. For a 14 year-old, it was a very hard choice, one that took me at least a month to decide. My decision was to become self employed, my reasoning being that I could make enough money then to go on holiday as and when I wanted. This was the catalyst for the beginning of my self employment.

21 years later here I am, again self employed. Oh, I have had my fair share of being an "employee" - being told what time to start work, what to wear, do and say; and how I hated it. I am so pleased that I could not get into the police force when I was 16, as I was too short (height restrictions were still in force at the time). I feel that my dislike for being ordered about would have got me into some serious scrapes! For 10 years, from schoolgirl to young woman I ran my own business, and very successfully too. I had a mortgage and a flash car - In the 80’s the world was mine.

Now at 34, and with 3 children under 6, the eldest being educated at home, I run one home-business, HEA, and am starting another in April. I am also in the process of helping Andy develop another one that should hopefully come to fruition in the Summer; whilst he’s at work I will run that as well.

Before having my first child, I worked abroad for 3 years as a Holiday rep for a small company. There, I was effectively my own boss. I came back to the UK and went to college, and then University. However, I fell pregnant in my first year and, in 1995, I had my first child. I was happy being "unemployed" and a full time mother. After my second child was born in 1997, their father and I went our separate ways. It was just me and my girls. Independent once again, I wondered how we were to survive the "dole trap".

Then, through the magic of the Internet, in early 1998, I met Andy. Towards the end of 1988, Andy, who is from Plymouth, found a job locally and moved in with us. Life was rosy, but I didn’t like being supported by Andy's wage, and wondered how I could contribute financially, and be with my children whilst they were young as well. I tried looking for some work from home. I answered lots of adverts, all proclaiming to offer "work from home" and all wanting some kind of financial outlay. Ultimately, all of them were scams of some sort or other. I felt that there must be hundreds of other people like me wanting or needing to work from home. Andy, secured his job through an employment agency, and I began to wonder if there was some sort of agency that dealt with people who wanted, or needed, to work from home. After a bit of investigation, I found that in fact, there was no agency in the UK, that anyone was aware of which catered exclusively for people who wanted to work from home; and so the Home Employment Agency was born.

As most of us who work from home are aware, the market for people working from home is very much in its infancy, and at times work can be slow and the financial rewards few and far between. HEA is home based, and operates 90% via the Internet (www.hea-online.co.uk). It is low maintenance, and we believe that it will be profitable one day; Due to this, I have turned a new found passion for Henna Art, and all things Eastern, into a business and will begin importing goods - mainly from India, and selling them in the UK - East on West will commence trading in April this year.

I feel that my experience of being self employed at a young age has had a definite effect on the way I choose to work today; I am more content working for myself. I hope that I am being a good role model for my three girls and that in their future they will have the confidence to choose a career and a way of working that is right for them.