The main aim of Enterprise Clubs is to help people make the most of local knowledge and resources to help unemployed people in their communities set themselves up as self-employed or start their own business

Striding Out Enterprise Clubs

Striding Out has established local Enterprise Clubs across the UK to provide unemployed people interested in self-employment with a place to meet and exchange skills, make contacts, share experiences, receive support and encourage each other to work through their business ideas.

The Format

• We offer training courses which prepare you for self employment and starting a business.
Each course covers essential topics and skills to help the budding entrepreneur.
• Typically we attract 10-20 people per course.
• Resources include: Business Toolbox e-book or mobile app.
• Where funding opportunities allow we are giving individuals the chance to achieve an ILM Level 3 Qualification in Starting Your Enterprise.

If you are unemployed and interested in starting a business then register for an Enterprise Club in one of our areas:-

Birmingham - Business Start Up Courses Register Here to Attend

London -  Business Start Up Courses  -  Register Here to Attend 

Liverpool - Business Start Up Courses - Register Here to Attend   

Many young people dream about starting their own business but often don’t know where to start, so we help them to take that step. We provide inspiration, connections, training and coaching to build their confidence and capabilities to launch and succeed in self-employment.

Our Service

Step into Business provides clients with knowledge and skills to explore starting their own business. We help them to formulate their idea, lay the foundations of their business model, develop their business plan and build a support network around them, through the following services:-

• Business training workshops
• Business coaching
• Business networking events
• Inspirational role models
• E-coaching support with weekly bulletin
• Business mentoring

Our professional support programme prepares young people in the realities of starting their own business, and equips them with the support and skills if they decide to take the next step.

Our Clients

We work with young people who are interested in entrepreneurship, exploring a business idea and planning their own business. We work with young people who are within secondary, higher or tertiary education, or who are unemployed or young professionals. We have secured funding from public sector and higher education organisations to deliver Step into Business provision as well as having privately paying clients.

Track Record 

Between December 2009 and November 2010 we delivered 200 one-to-one business coaching sessions to 60 young people who were planning or already running their own business and we delivered 40 business skill workshops and networking events to over 600 young people in Liverpool and London.  A number of our workshops were funded by educational and youth support organisations, including the British Council, University of Kent, University of Liverpool, London School of Economics, University of East London, the International Danish Entrepreneurship Academy, NCGE Flying Start and Liverpool Community College amongst others.

Of the clients who received one-to-one support during the year, 20 were in the early stages of already running their business and 17 of them launched their new business venture. The remainder were developing their idea.

As a result of our support, our clients feel they have:-  

• Improved their business idea
• A greater understanding of how to run a business
• Increased confidence to actually start a business
• A better understanding of how to complete a business plan
• Developed new business skills and knowledge
• A greater sense of what makes a business successful
• Established new contacts and business relationships

Client Testimonials 

Beth Leggett, Plus V Plus

“I have had great support and advice from Striding Out where I have been given excellent coaching sessions on to develop my marketing strategy and grow my business successfully.”

Marissa-Catherine Carrarini, founder of Snowsfields Wellness

Striding Out has been a goldmine. My coach was so thorough when she helped me with my business plan and I felt she genuinely cared - which made me feel more confident and positive. Without her help - I wonder whether I would have got funding from the bank. Since then, the Striding Out talks & events, and Future 100 award have all helped with my confidence, courage and know-how in making Snowsfields Wellness what it is today and what it will become. We have also recruited a talented employee through the Future Jobs Fund.

Yaw Owusu, founder of One Hundred Global

“Striding Out has been helpful by providing me with a business coach who has offered me guidance and support when setting up this new organisation. Further I have also enrolled in the Business Growth programme which has helped refine my business plan and understanding on how and where my business will grow! I would encourage any entrepreneur to engage with Striding Out if they can.”

Nathan Williams

“Before receiving coaching from Striding Out, I saw starting up a business as a big risk. Now, I realise that you use business planning, strategy and financial forecasting to break down the 'risk' to a level which is personally acceptable, and upon which you can act with confidence. I now feel more confident and inspired to start my business”

Once you’ve launched the business, that’s when the fun begins! The fully fledged entrepreneur needs to understand and manage all different aspects of the business and Striding Out helps entrepreneurs and their teams get to grips with all of these elements from start up to growth.

Our Service

Striding Out helps an entrepreneur to adjust to the multiple management processes and disciplines required of them. We support them to build the business model and the team. The programme provides individuals with:

• Executive Business Coaching
• Training in a range of business skills
• Skill Specific Mentoring
• Introductions to Relevant Contacts and Services
• HR & Recruitment Support

Our Professional Business Coaching team have a wealth of knowledge and experience in different industry sectors alongside their coaching skills, which adds specific value to the experience we can give a client. We can blend coaching, with mentoring and training to meet the different needs of our client groups.

Our Clients

We work with entrepreneurs from a range of backgrounds, industry sectors and stages of growth, who need help to manage the growth of their business. Our clients pay directly for our services but we also deliver support through public sector funded contracts, namely the Leadership and Management Grant.

Track Record 

Between December 2009 and November 2010 we have delivered one-to-one coaching and training support to 130 entrepreneurs with a commercial or social enterprise focus. We have supported them to develop their performance and skills in the areas of marketing, leadership, team skills, business performance, sales, finance, PR, amongst others. We have run 20 networking events throughout the year that have attracted entrepreneurs at all stages of their journey.

We have engaged and supported 129 small businesses to recruit new staff through the Future Jobs Fund scheme. The scheme provided the employer with a grant to cover the costs of a minimum wage salary for a period of 6 months, to help them grow their capacity.

As a result of our support, our clients feel they have:-  

• Increased their business confidence
• Increased their business revenue
• Refined and diversified their offering
• Increased and maximised their client base
• Developed their team’s potential
• Improved their business management skills

Testimonials

Jen Marsden, Journalist and Copywriter

“Striding Out has been great as it has focused me on firm goals and helped me plan strategies in order to achieve them. Their online tools are fab as they have helped me gain validity to my work, raised my confidence and supported me through what are quite common experiences in business - the challenge of cabin fever when working from home and the means to achieve a better work/life balance through managing my time and prioritising what needs to be done with the constant deadlines. I've attended workshops that have inspired me to think about things I wouldn't normally consider like my personal legal rights.”

Chris Hough, founder of Natural Ranks

“Striding Out gave me something that I needed, time for reflection. Its clichéd but so true; sometimes you work in the business, not on it. Taking several Striding Out workshops and one-to-one meetings I was able to start to tease the businesses away from my person, letting it exist without me and freeing me to improve it without always having to worry about deadlines and new projects. Striding Out also challenged me to push myself in new areas, public speaking being just one of them. I did several talks in 2009, something that I've never done before and found, to my surprise, I quite enjoyed it. Thanks Striding Out!”

Lynda Robinson, Rowheath Pavillion

"It would have been very difficult to operate the café for as many hours as we do without the Future Jobs Fund employees. They have proved invaluable. Their presence has meant that the café turnover has been able to increase.  The administrative role has also meant that, as the team leader, I have been able to hand over many of the day to day duties which has left me free to concentrate on other areas of the job.  Having extra help in the office has also meant that the office is fully staffed and this in itself has had led to more definite bookings." 

Chris White, founder of GingerWhite.

“Recruiting through the Future Jobs Fund was a good opportunity for the business to bring a new person on board in order to see whether we could expand the business. I hired a young person to become an Art Handler and Assistant, which would help save costs of paying suppliers.  I'm pleased with the FJF and the good support from Striding Out team.  My recruit is learning new skills, adding value to the business and freeing up some of my time to focus on growing the business”.

Social entrepreneurs require differentiated support to that of commercial businesses, as their ethos, approach and processes operate in a slightly different way. The Social Pioneer programme is therefore a specialist programme for leaders of social entrepreneurs to address areas specific to this target group.  In addition to the main programme we also run the Social Pioneer Academy for young emerging social entrepreneur leaders.

Our Service

The Social Pioneer programme provides leadership coaching and training in the following areas:-

• Evaluation & Monitoring
• Values and Ethics
• Team Management
• Fundraising and Revenue Models
• Cause Related Marketing

Our specialist team help a social entrepreneur to balance the triple bottom line of their business, through looking at ways to maximise social and environmental impact as well as economic return to achieve sustainability.

Our Clients

We work with individuals in their community who want to make a real difference through establishing and growing their own social enterprise to address a cause. These individuals can be community champions, professionals, unemployed or young people who see an opportunity.  We support emerging talent through our Social Pioneer Academy and provide one-to-one and group training to established social entrepreneurs who work in a wide range of sectors.

Track Record

Between December 2009 and November 2010, we have delivered 250 coaching sessions and 40 workshops to 100 individuals on our Social Pioneer programme and four Summer Academies. 30 of these clients have been established social enterprises whilst the others have been individuals at the early stages of exploring or launching their own social enterprise.

As a result of our support, our clients feel they have:-  

• Improved their marketing and sales pitch
• Gained clarity on how to evaluate their impact
• Improved their team management skills
• Diversified their income streams
• Better understanding of funders requirements
• A better balance between commercial vs. social values

Zoe Stanton and Mary Rose Cook, co-founders of Uscreates

"Uscreates have recently been doing some coaching with a Striding Out coach and I just wanted to feedback how useful we have found the sessions. She has been a really fantastic coach supporting us in developing our own future. It is also evident that she has a great deal of experience, knowledge and expertise that she fed into the sessions. We plan to work with our coach further in the future development of Uscreates as we have found these sessions so useful.

Matthew Barrett, co-founder of Break Out Media Academy

“I have received coaching and training support from Striding Out through the Social Pioneer programme and within 3 months of launching the social enterprise we have successfully secured £60,000 to launch a pilot programme for training ex-offenders in London and Birmingham. I have first hand experience of how powerful this type of support can be and with the support of Striding Out I am now able to give other young ex-offenders the chance to restart their lives on a positive footing." 

Richard Wilde is the founder of online art and website community, Artybuzz.com

“Striding out have, and continue to help me with the development of my marketing strategies both online and offline. It is always useful to get an external viewpoint on how to improve business, and my Striding Out Coach has been very helpful with generating new ideas for future growth and development with regards to my marketing. Striding Out have also helped me become more organised with my daily tasks, and have helped to create some strong foundations that will lead to a much better organisational structure in the future”.

Laura Cave, co-founder of Just Trade

“When I began my business coaching sessions with Striding Out, the timing couldn’t be better. Starting up a business can be a challenging task but thankfully I had a friendly supportive coach. I was given the essential guidance when I needed to make key decisions.  My coach was extremely supportive and asked me all the right questions. I am now conducting fair trade projects overseas and have made an impact to women in Peru and hope to expand onto Ecuador and India. I would definitely recommend Striding Out to others.” 

Claire Watt-Smith, founder of Bobelle

“The coaching from Striding Out helped me massively. I had some very daunting yet exciting decisions to make and my coach helped me weigh up each option and go through stage by stage the advantages and disadvantages of each one. She helped with my business plan, offered advice on strategic directions and has been a fantastic sounding board for BoBelle's growth. Consequently with her help I have secured a loan, won a Marie Claire award, was able to buy enough stock for the Christmas rush, quadruple my festive sales (like-for-like) and gain the courage to do my first international trade fair. All in all, I would highly recommend Striding Out for business coaching”. 

A Business Plan pulls together the different peices of your business. 

It will help you to see the big picture and identify if there are any missing parts in your strategy.

Preparing a Business Plan will:-

• Give you confidence in why and how your business will succeed
• Help you figure out the resources and investment you will need
• Give you a plan of action of what you need to do and when
• Help you raise investment to turn your idea into reality

Turning your ideas into realistic and viable plan is a huge and sometimes daunting task. You will need to break it the tasks down into manageable chunks.

Are you:-

• Feeling overwhelmed by your business plan
• Unclear about what to include in your business plan
• Needing to increase your knowledge to complete the business plan.
• Trying to raise investment with your business plan
• Wanting to turn your business plan into a plan of action

Business Coaching can help you through this process

Our Business Coach's can help you:

• Assess and breakdown the core components of your business to be researched and developed.
• Identify your strengths and weaknsses in relation to the skills and resources you will need for your business.
• Define your Business Partnership with your co-founder (s) and team to manage objectives, goals, roles and responsibilities and expected performance outputs and outcomes. 
• Review your progress and time management, prioritise tasks, or regain direction and momentum.
• Help build the framework of the action plan, to connect and develop the essential elements, such as content, information, and budgets.
• Connect you to suitable contacts, from suppliers and customers to brand, marketing or PR consultants.
• Give you moral support. Setting up your very own business is exciting and exhilarating, yet lonely and frustrating at times.

Our coaching and training is provided on a chargeable basis, but we can access funding to provide free business support to certain groups of entrepreneurs who meet the eligibility of the funding provider. Please enquire to find out more.

Interested in Coaching Call 0845 452 4085 or email [email protected] 

The Social Pioneer Summer Academy is for young people aged 18-25,

who have an idea for a social enterprise.

A social enterprise is a business which operates for a social or environmental purpose and impact, and reinvest's its profit to further support its cause and mission.

The lucky participants will receive:

• Training workshops in business skills
• A business coach for one to one support
• Mentoring support from specialist experts
• Marketing support to design a logo and launch the brand

The academy will help the participants:

• Develop their business plan
• Design and implement their marketing/sales strategy
• Secure start up funding
• Build a team of volunteers and employees
• LAUNCH their social enterprise

The Social Pioneer Summer Academy is currently running in two locations, - Hammersmith and Fulham and the City of Liverpool. You must be a local resident aged 18-25 to be eligible to participate.

London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. - The academy is running twice, during July and August. The deadline for applications is the 21st June for the July Academy and the 12th of July for the August Academy. Request an application form by emailing Semhar [email protected] or telephone 0203 303 0468

City of Liverpool - The academy is running once during August. The deadline for applications is the 12th of July. Request an application form by Heather [email protected] or telephone 0151 267 0248

Our experienced professional coaches offer the following services to business owners and their teams:-

• Networking Events 
• Business Coaching
• Business Training  
• Recruitment Support

Our Programmes

Our Striding Out Programme supports business owners to start and develop their business, from business planning, marketing, team development, operational plans to business growth strategies to achieve success and growth. Click here to find out more

Our Step into Business Programme supports young entrepreneurs to explore their ideas and develop their business plan.  Click here to find out more

Our Social Pioneer Programme supports social entrepreneurs to maximise their social impact, by providing them with leadership and business support that is tailored to the needs of social enterprises. We also run the Social Pioneer Academy which provides emerging social entrepreneurs with the skills and knowledge to start their social enterprise. Click here to find out more

We deliver a range of ILM accredited Training programmes which are suitable for planning a business or developing your leadership and management skills as an entrepreneur. Click here to find out more

Visit our Business Toolbox for guidance and tools in a range of business topics and skills to help you grow your business. Click here to find out more

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