Leona, from Bristol joined the Restart Scheme in August 2023
for self-employment support
Former cleaner and support worker, Leona found herself taking a break from work when her grandmother passed away in 2022.
Unfortnately, Leona was placed on reduced hours when she returned to work and due to a reduced income, she made a claim for Universal Credit.
Leona wanted a fresh start and began to think about self-employment, she knew the journey ahead would be challenging and that she needed some support.
SMART actions to help Leona
In August 2023, Leona was referred to Standguide who deliver the Restart Scheme in partnership with Seetec.
Leona discussed her self-employment plans with Adrian, her employment adviser and this sparked her journey to become a self-employed cleaner.
Leona and Adrian (pictured left) set a series of SMART* actions to help Leona to achieve her goal and training was a key part of her journey.
Becoming more business savvy
Leona wanted some training to help her in becoming more business savvy and she completed the following courses:
- Marketing
- Business Plans
- Financial Planning
- Maths Refresher Training
As a Universal Credit claimant, Leona had to meet the ‘gainfully self-employed’ criteria and a business plan was needed to demonstrate she had a viable business idea.
Signature Cleaning was born
Adrian was on hand to offer self-employment support to Leona. He helped with writing a winning business plan and ‘Signature Cleaning’ was born.
Leona speaks very positively of her experience of the Restart Scheme as she tells us; “Adrian supported my business plan and gave me the confidence to market my business and make it more viable”.
She continues; “He assisted me with a QuickBooks subscription to help me manage my business and funded a bio-hazardous cleaning course too”.
The bio-hazardous cleaning course means that Signature Cleaning can now offer bio-hazardous cleaning in addition to commercial and residential cleans.
Expand
Adrian also introduced Signature Cleaning to Seetec who – after following their processes – offered Leona a cleaning contract.
Leona was delighted to accept the contract to clean the Seetec Bristol office and grateful for Adrian’s recommendation too.
Leona’s ambition is growth; she hopes to win even more contracts and expand into bio-hazardous and end of tenancy cleans.
She hopes to eventually create jobs and grow the team at Signature Cleaning, this will leave Leona free to concentrate on growth and the business development aspect.
Want to turn your self-employment idea into reality?
Talk to your Jobcentre Plus work coach or click here to learn about how the Restart Scheme can help you.
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