Case Studies

Mr Soot

Growth and expansion for one of our customers

David Sudworth, Director of Mr Soot, joined the EnterprisingYou business growth programme in March 2020. David is the director and owner of a Chimney Sweeping business and worked with business coach, Adam Butler, over a period of 6-months. David’s aim of the programme was to look for support in ways to grow his business.

As part of the EnterprisingYou programme, David accessed training and personal development with a view to refreshing some of his marketing skills. David was also matched with a business mentor, who supported him in growing his business.

David felt that he benefited most from the support offered by the business coach, and he gained a lot from the conversations discussing ideas how he could grow his business. He welcomed that the business coach had real life business experience and was relatable to David’s business. Offering a professional and reliable service and putting the customer at the heart of everything he does, David wants to differentiate himself from his competitors. He also offers advice around the environmental considerations of using a stove and fire, where he dispels some of the myths around these.

Since joining the programme, David’s business has really taken off and he has expanded his business to include the recruitment of 2 permanent staff, an online booking function and has extended his reach into other areas to include Wigan, Liverpool, Manchester and Salford

Myles Gurstang

Myles Gurstang starts up unique gaming business with PeoplePlus Enterprise support

We want to introduce you to our client from Leeds, Myles Garstang, founder of RuneFable Ltd. His business idea was to make and sell handmade artisan resin dice for tabletop gaming, offering ‘functional art’ to customers that desire designs to fit their own stories at the table. He hoped to sell directly through a website and bring an artisan level product to boardgame/gaming shops.

Myles previously worked in academia as a scientist, he had little experience with the financial and promotion side of business. He came to PeoplePlus to join the Start Up West Yorkshire programme hoping to gain support with starting his own business. He felt he needed someone to hold him accountable to commitments he set himself and have someone available to offer advice to help him set up his own business.

StartUp West Yorkshire equipped Myles to move his business forward

Myles was assigned a business advisor Jelani who held him accountable and provided encouraging feedback on his progress. Myles said:

“Having an advisor to go to with issues of concerns I may be having has been extremely important and has helped me stick to a business plan and commit to seeing how something plans out before changing tact”

Myles also joined a lot of the PeoplePlus online webinars on financial, marketing and bookkeeping which helped him get to grips with crucial aspects of running a business that he had no experience in. He found the breadth of courses amazing, and thought the information was very personalised in many cases, which is priceless. Myles said:

“I have, thanks to Start Up West Yorkshire, now got a particular and tailored business plan, my social media strategy has honed, and I’ve developed the confidence and building blocks to move RuneFable Ltd forward. I am doing something I love and have produced products that I am passionate about”

Plans for the future

Myles hopes to secure orders with local and national gaming stores in hope that they will stock his artisan dice. He plans to attend many conventions and scale up on production. He hopes that this will allow him to have the business as a sustainable sole income for himself.

Ellie Herbert

Ellie went from post pandemic struggles to owning her very own business.

Ellie Herbert joined the Enterprise programme at the very beginning of the pandemic with the idea to start her own Aesthetics business. At the time, she was renting a space in an existing salon and was just barely able to cover her rent and product costs.

Despite the challenges brought by the pandemic, Ellie was very active whilst on the programme and made sure to make the most of her business coach's time, taking all advice on board. She also participated in a range of webinars, covering topics such as marketing, social media, cash flow, building relationships, and health and well-being.

As a result of her active participation and determination, she was referred to a personal finance specialist who helped her secure two grants, each for the amount of £2000. This allowed her to put in all that she learned into action and exponentially increase her turnover.

However, Ellie also faced some health conditions that limited her abilities for a short period of time during her time on the programme. Nevertheless, her dedication and commitment to Enterprise paid off, and her Aesthetics business transformed from a barely profitable venture into a thriving one, despite the challenging circumstances brought by the pandemic.

Tracy Boylin

Tracy is ecstatic with the help she has received from her coach.

Tracy joined EnterprisingYou and started working with her business coach James, who offered his support, guidance and ideas. Tracy initially joined the programme as a sole trader looking to have access to someone to act as a soundboard, a knowledge pool who would be objective, whilst having new ideas to compliment her own that would enable her to move forward with her plans and business objectives.

Additional support services and workshops that Tracy has attended during her journey so far include:

• Social Media workshop: to improve knowledge and understanding of the benefits of using social media to help with the launch of her new app.
• Cashflow Workshop: to increase financial controls, which is invaluable to her business moving forward.
• Health and Wellbeing: to improve physical activity in way that fit in with her everyday routine and making it a long-term habit. Access techniques for managing anxieties by improving the mindset and problem-solving abilities whilst working on self-care tips to value wellbeing.

With a passion for ensuring organisations connect and engage with their people, and the poor outcomes that result in this connectivity not being a priority, Tracy utilised her network and reputation, to secure several contracts and People Genetics Ltd was born September 2019.

Prior to setting up the company she had been working on an app which would deliver the intelligence and data needed to educate and demonstrate how organisations put their people first. Tracy had secured an agreement to pilot within the NHS and then the pandemic hit.

Tracy says that “Being a start-up is hard enough, but then to only just get going and enter a pandemic was unimaginable”. The projects and pilots for the app had to be put on hold whilst families, organisations and individuals dealt with the challenges faced as a result of the pandemic. The resulting impact could have halted Tracy’s progress, but instead she decided she would look for ways to diversify and continue with her dream business, with unwavering belief in People Genetics Ltd products and services, and their ability to meet demand.

With James' support, Tracy realised that you can have all the best plans in place, and have considered potential impacting factors, but you should also have the ability to face challenges from the unknown, with change and evolution being key to success. If the pandemic is what the country needed to focus on, then that is where she would focus, managing to secure work on one of the COVID testing sites. Tracy’s rationale behind this being “The quicker as a nation we can all put our efforts into addressing this the better, then we can turn our efforts into getting the economy back on track”.

Tracy felt it would be critical for the economy for as many businesses as possible to still be able function and operate again in aiding our economy after this pandemic. To assist with this as a result she has undertaken a contract to deliver a business support network for the Cumbria area.

Tracy has said that being able to think creatively, with support from her coach has been a great support in assisting her and her business “Starting a business can be a lonely place to be but James has made it so much easier”.

A final note from James “A piece of advice I have given to Tracy is to never lose sight of the product/market fit and to invest time in working with early adopters to achieve a high degree of product market/fit to significantly reduce the business failure rate”.

Julie Green

Julie's Journey: From Supporting Her Community to Founding a Successful Charity!

Julie had always been passionate about supporting her local community, but the COVID-19 pandemic really highlighted the urgent need for close bonds within neighborhoods. With her experience in delivering hot meals, food parcels and and prescriptions to the vulnerable and elderly during lockdown, Julie decided to take her community work to the next level and start her own community interest company.

She joined the Enterprise programme, hoping to receive guidance on how to be successful in funding bids and giving her business plan a bit more structure. Her idea was to create a programme that would support mental wellbeing, upskilling, and friendships through a local support programme where everyone's ideas are heard. Her vision was to create social change, new-found strength, and connections for the community to grow and recover.

PeoplePlus Enterprise offered Julie all kinds of support, including CIC registration, bid writing, how to use social media to her advantage, and how to employ staff. Julie's results from joining Enterprise were amazing! She had a more solid approach to her CIC and transitioned into a charity. She understood where she needed the extra support and secured a funding bid that would cover the costs of the charity for up to 12 months. She had regular catch-up sessions with her coach, who provided guidance and motivation when needed.

With the help of the Enterprise programme, Julie was able to open up her second unit and is confident she will continue to grow the charity in the next two years. Julie has said the following: "I have received fantastic support from the Enterprise team and never felt overwhelmed by the information given to me by my coach."

Julie's story is a testament to the power of the community and the difference one person can make. Her passion for supporting others led to the creation of a charity that will change lives and create a better future for the community.