Late Getaway.com

Deborah Abbott runs no less than three internet based businesses from her farmhouse near St Neot on Bodmin Moor, so flexible working is a godsend for her!

Late Getaway is a website offering deals on late availability cottages, villas and sites in France, the UK, Spain, Florida and Ireland.

The business has gone from strength to strength and now features in the top three on several search engines.

Deborah puts this success largely down to broadband and flexible working practices such as telework.

"We got broadband through actnow in July 2005 and it has transformed the way I run the business" she says. "With dial up, it was a nightmare. We receive and upload photos of properties to the website. It used to take an age. Now, the whole process is fast and simple, increasing productivity.”

Deborah continues "I also carry out a lot of research online, for example, checking out competitive sites and because of the speed of broadband, this can all be done in far less time, so now I am able to spend more time focusing on building the business."

She has also benefited from being able to use the telephone line for the Internet and telephone calls simultaneously. "The effect of this has been that it has freed up one of our existing phone lines so we are now able to have a dedicated business telephone number, which we did not have before."

As the mother of two teenage girls, Deborah greatly values the way broadband enables flexible working. "Because of broadband, I am able to operate professionally from a farmhouse in a remote location and work around my family commitments such as the school run, improving quality of life. I often go back onto the computer late at night, after the girls are in bed, and carry on with the business then. Broadband means I can achieve that elusive work life balance.”

Because the business has grown since the installation of broadband, Deborah was able to recruit an additional member of staff in March 2006 and she says "Michelle takes care of the everyday running of the business now, freeing me up to grow the business further."

Michelle also works flexibly through teleworking. She works an agreed number of hours each week but there is complete flexibility about when she works them. Deborah says "Michelle is a single mum with young children. Sometimes she may come in at 9, sometimes at 11. Also, because of broadband, she is able to carry out some of her work teleworking  from home, so she can work whilst caring for her children. She can update our website from home through remote internet access and keep up to date with emails from our customers."

The additional time created by recruiting an additional staff member has allowed Deborah to build her newer website based business, www.exchangeholidayhomes.com

And, as though that were not enough for anyone, Deborah also runs a holiday cottage business. "This year the cottages have been almost fully booked months in advance - and 100% of the business has come through the Internet, either directly through our website, www.southdraynesfarm.co.uk or through the portal sites on which we advertise.

"I really don't know how I would manage without broadband and the flexible working it enables. With it, the geographical limitations of being based in one of the most remote spots in Britain simply don't matter. My website based businesses are able to compete on a level playing field with companies worldwide."

www.lategetaway.com