WITH her life in tatters, unemployed and without a penny to her name, brave mum Amy Johnson set up her own business as a virtual administrator, working from home.

And as a thank you to everyone who has supported her new venture, 29-year-old Amy is now offering give away 40 hours of her time - worth a whopping �640 to the lucky winner of her draw.

Amy set up her company last year. “After applying for 13 jobs in the course of a week, and not hearing from a single one, I thought enough was enough,” she said.

“With not a penny to my name but loads of enthusiasm, a little encouragement from my mum and some great support from the Wisbech Job Centre and Norfolk and Waveney Enterprise Services, I decided to use my skills and become self employed as a virtual administrator.”

Since 2008, Amy had separated from her husband, lost her home, found herself redundant, and moved away from her home town in Suffolk to Wisbech St Mary.

She added: “To top it all, the recession hit hard, and I found it impossible to find work in order to support myself and my seven-year-old son Joshua.”

Running ac-consulting as a virtual administrator means she provides back office administrative support to other businesses, not as an employee, but as a self employed sub-contractor.

Earlier this year, it looked as if Amy’s dream had hit the skids. She explained: “Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, I was left without any equipment and having not yet built up enough money to completely replace it I thought my dream had ended before it had begun.

“I was devastated, but I hadn’t counted on an outpouring of confidence and love from my friends and family. My brother provided me with a new monitor and my best friend brought the other equipment I needed to get myself up and running again.

“Without the generosity of these people my dream would have died and I would be on job seekers allowance yet again feeling disheartened at every turn.”

It was that kindness and support that gave Amy the idea of helping out another business by offering 40 hours of work. Companies can enter the draw by e-mailing her at amy@ac-consulting.org.uk. The final day for entering will be 30th April 2012 and she will announce the winner on Tuesday May 1.