LONDON, July 30 /PRNewswire/ --

- With Photo

Whilst the media is currently full of doom mongering about the credit crunch, many Brits are turning these challenging times to their advantage by planning a career change, taking steps to create a better work:life balance or finally fulfilling that dream of setting up a successful online business.

Now is a good time to get a business online. Online trading is the one area of the UK economy that continues to expand. New figures out from IMRG Capgemini's e-Retail Sales Index show that in the first six months of 2008, UK shoppers spent over GBP 26.5 billion online despite the credit crunch. This is up 38% on the GBP19.2 billion recorded for the first half of 2007 and equates to 17p in every pound spent being spent online.

The spirit of entrepreneurialism has never been stronger than it is now in the UK with programs such as The Apprentice and Dragons Den. Levi Roots of Dragon's Den fame even set up a website for his famous Reggae Reggae Sauce with the Takeaway Website and is Mr Site's most famous fan. "Getting the website was one of the keys to my success," said Levi.

"Let's not jump on the 'doom and gloom' bandwagon of despair, for all that will do will drag us down," says Cary Cooper, Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University Management School. "We can create new businesses, we can weather the temporary economic storm and we can do better than just survive, we can grow our economy once again like we did over the last two decades."

The following Mr Site case studies below illustrate this point perfectly.

1) Geoff Milner, founder, The Image Vault. When Geoff felt the crunch begin to bite his warehouse business, he set up http://www.theimagevault.co.uk as a second income selling images to the publishing industry: "I set up the website as a way to earn a bit of extra cash but within a few months I was doing so well I was able to close down my warehouse business and focus entirely on The Image Vault, earning a fantastic wage from it and working from the comfort of my own home."

2) Alina Moat, co-founder, Duke Flores. Alina was made redundant from her job in the City last year and used the opportunity to set up her own online fashion label http://www.dukeflores.com, something she had wanted to do for a long time. Redundancy was the catalyst for her success: "It was a shock being made redundant, but it gave me the push I needed to finally pursue my dream of setting up my own sustainable fashion label using organic materials," says Alina. "I sell my pieces through the website. It has been hard work but a great success. I am really happy with my life now. I see the redundancy as one of the best things that has ever happened to me."

Note to Editors:

A picture accompanying this release is available through the PA Photowire. It can be downloaded from http://www.pa-mediapoint.press.net or viewed at http://www.mediapoint.press.net or http://www.prnewswire.co.uk.

For more info, contact Shiv Underhill, +44(0)870-803-1495 or email shiv@mrsite.co.uk