A single mother from Kilmarnock, Claire McQueen, who has struggled with mental health issues and unemployment for years, has set up her own business thanks to StartScotland’s support.
Why Claire joined the Fair Start Scotland service
Claire, 25, is raising three children all by herself and suffers with depression and anxiety. Unable to get a job that fits around her childcare duties meant she was unemployed for some time which only compounded her mental health issues.
With her confidence at rock bottom, Claire joined the StartScotland programme to start getting the help she needed.
How Fair Start Scotland helped
Claire was teamed up with experienced Personal Adviser, Sandra Grubb, who took the time to get to know Claire, her issues and her aspirations, so that she could start building a tailor-made package of support.
Claire stated that she would like to work for herself as she could potentially make it fit around the family. Claire is a trained beautician so this was an obvious area to explore but she was worried that getting a business up and running, building a client base, whilst having to arrange childcare would leave her financially better off claiming benefits.
Sandra supported Claire to complete ‘better off in work’ calculation and together they discovered she’d be significantly better off working just 16 hours a week.
Sandra also contacted the housing department to ascertain whether she would still receive some support paying rent whilst she got up and running. Claire was delighted with the outcome of both enquiries and ran full steam ahead into starting the business.
Sandra supported Claire to produce and distribute marketing materials including flyers and business cards. It wasn’t long before a salon owner got in touch.
Claire’s now hiring a chair at Salon S in Kilmarnock, she’s already got a full diary and we couldn’t be happier for her.
Looking forward
Our support hasn’t ended there, Sandra’s recently introduced Claire to funding sources, helped her to complete an application form and secured her funding for a brand new nail drill.
Claire’s a different person, her confidence has grown and now has long-term ambitions for owning a salon herself.
We can help you into self-employment too. Complete the registration form at the bottom of the page to find out more.