A Staffordshire entrepreneur is urging more women to find out about a county council business support programme after it helped her business to grow.
Sophie Shelley from Shenstone near Lichfield accessed the Women in Business and Get Started and Grow programmes after taking on a franchise with House of Colour UK.
Start-up workshops, business support and mentoring, expert-led events, networking opportunities and more are available through the programmes.
They aim to build confidence, gain valuable business insight, connect to others and find out how to access practical tools for success. Get Started and Grow is for new enterprises up to five years old.
Information and how to sign up to both Get Started and Grow and Women in Business is available on the county council’s Business Support webpage.
Sophie’s works from her home studio, providing full colour analysis to individuals and small groups. She finds her customers their best colours through a scientific approach which analyses their underlying skin tone.
Sophie said:
I also offer a full styling session, so we can look at cut, shapes, lengths, fabrics. I’ll pull together a bespoke plan of how to dress to feel like the most genuine version of your best self, along with some practical information and top tips. There are clients who come back for styling sessions and then I can go shopping with them, or they message me before they make a purchase. I see my clients becoming more confident and authentically themselves and I just love it.”
Former teacher Sophie added:
It’s been a lot harder starting out than I thought it would be, so it’s great to get the support from Staffordshire County Council through programmes like Get Started and Grow and Women in Business.
Initially I didn’t realise how much I would have to rely on social media, so the Get Started and Grow session on how to use it effectively to market my business was really useful.
Then I went along to the Women in Business sessions – it’s amazing to spend that time with other women who are also taking that leap. You realise you’re not on your own. The biggest learning curve was learning to embrace social media and marketing. I’ve gone from somebody who was frightened to death of being on camera to being completely unworried about it.”
Robin Hall, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for economy and skills, said:
Our comprehensive package of business support programmes is clearly making a difference across the county.
It’s great to see new businesses like Sophie’s expanding successfully using the free expert advice and guidance available. We know that the first few months and years of a new business are critical and so we’re pleased to be able to provide a service that can strengthen their operations going forward.”
Sophie said:
Being in Staffordshire has definitely been beneficial for my business. There’s a lot of support with networking, peer support and funding, which has been brilliant for me.”
People can find out more about Sophie and her work as a House of Colour stylist by visiting her webpage.
