Business Startup

Joe has several years experience working as a Body Shop Technician in local car body repair workshops. But the recession led to him being made redundant in early 2009. After several months on Jobseeker’s Allowance and unable to find work, and with a partner and young children to support, he decided to set up his own business providing a mobile cosmetic vehicle repair service (treating scratches, small dents, interior trim damage etc.). Joe saw this as an excellent opportunity to turn his life around, and he also realised that he soon got bored “working in one spot all the time”, so going mobile was ideal.

Joe discussed setting up his own business with his JobCentre Adviser who referred him to Enterprise4all for their DWP “Self-Employment Coaching Programme”. This helped Joe clarify his business idea and build his confidence in becoming self-employed.

After about a month, Joe moved on to Enterprise4all’s free Intensive Start-Up Support Programme (funded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency). The first step was to write a Business Plan which detailed all of the key aspects of his business idea, including start-up costs, pricing policy, marketing, and financial forecasts.

The next step was to access start-up funding to cover the cost of getting the business up and running. With help from Enterprise4all, Joe applied to Lancashire County Developments Limited (part of Lancashire County Council) for a “Kickstart” business loan. Whilst his loan application was being processed, Joe developed his business skills through a series of one-to-one meetings with his Business Adviser at Enterprise4all, and also attended several training Workshops covering the key skills required for self-employment, including Marketing,Tax, Social Networking and Customer Service. Joe also began to re-visit his contacts in the local motor trade, and to generate potential new business through local taxi companies, car hire fleets, car dealers and private car owners.

His loan came through and Joe was then able to start getting everything in place to start trading. He hit the ground running with several jobs already booked and more in the pipeline.

Joe says:-

“A really big thanks to Enterprise4all for all they have done for me, and for their professionalism and making things easy to understand. The interest and care they took in helping me get my business started was second to none”