Pictured above: Homework - Jo Jinks finds work/life balance with her sons and the computer

When Jo Jinks took redundancy there was an aim in her life - to run her own company from home so that she could enjoy her family at the same time.

So now 34-year-old Jo is running a successful virtual office business - Do You Need My Help - from the playroom in her home at Sheldon, Birmingham.

When she left her place of employment in October 2008 after 14 years, she used the many skills she had acquired along the way in HR and other administrative roles, to offer a whole range of business needs.

Jo's focusing her multi-skilled talent on business support services for small to medium-sized organisations and numbers among her clients entrepreneurs, consultants and even a psychologist.

Jo, a Solihull Chamber of Commerce member, said: "Working from home and being a virtual business I have few overheads which means lower fees, especially important in these recessionary times.

"And I have been able to achieve a work/life balance which is so important to me with a young family".

Among the services she can provide are secretarial, administration, HR, management accountancy, book-keeping as well as virtual receptionist and phone answering.

Jo said: "Because it's a virtual service I am always available and my clients only pay for the hours I work for them. And I can call on a number of other people to help in any of the services so that clients are not kept waiting".