StartUp Buckinghamshire: A great networking opportunity for solo founders

Back in April, Enterprise Nation and Buckinghamshire Council joined forces to launch StartUp Buckinghamshire, a programme of support and investment to help the county's entrepreneurs succeed in 2024.

Aided by youth charity Launch It, the partners have spent the last few months helping to power up a generation of talented self-starters who are bursting with enterprising ideas.

A key part of the programme was a 12-week bootcamp aimed at supporting the county's growing number of young entrepreneurs. We're catching up with business owners who have been through the bootcamp to find out what they've learned.

Here, Anna Day of Successful Coaching tells us how the bootcamp allowed her to meet other business founders in the area and build her own local network.

Tell us how your business idea came about.

I started up my business when my job ended. I wanted to build a business that could work for me around me having Long Covid, being autistic/ADHD and having an autistic son who only goes to school part-time and who I raise solo.

For me, I was passionate about building back from a challenging place on my own terms. Creating this business has allowed me to be there for my son, do the work I love and make sure I put my health and my Long Covid rehabilitation and neurodivergent needs first, while helping others to do the same.

When I started out, I literally had nothing other than the business name. The website didn't come until later, and then only a homemade one at that.

I mainly began by publicising my availability to do some consultancy on LinkedIn and using my Facebook page to sell services. It's worked so well – and I still haven't had to make a cold sales call yet!

What challenges were you facing before you found the StartUp Buckinghamshire bootcamp?

It was about how to move forward from just selling my hours, which were getting in short supply. I felt stuck between being able to service my existing contracts and grow the business.

What made you think the bootcamp was the way to tackle those challenges?

I wanted to meet other businesspeople to build my own local network. I haven't been living in Buckinghamshire very long and most of the time I've been here I was working full time from home for a charity.

Being able to network with other people who are at a similar stage with their businesses as I am, I thought would be great.

I was also keen to get some learning in about running effective businesses, as I've mainly been in the charity sector for over 20 years.

I wanted to find out how to sell my services to the public and to other companies, as well as how to build out my ideas for a post-16 informal education provision for autistic young people.

How has the support from the bootcamp benefited your business so far?

It's helped me plan my business and put together a business plan and financial forecast. I've been learning about pitching, which isn't at all in my comfort zone.

But most importantly, I've gained so much useful knowledge about how to run an effective business that I hope, in turn, I'll be able to use to coach autistic business leaders and entrepreneurs.

What's the best advice you've received from the bootcamp?

I loved how Henry went out of his way to show different business models, and how you don't have to be the only business doing something in order to do it.

It's helped me to get a lot more comfortable representing my business – despite having some tough competition – and going for contracts anyway, even if more experienced companies might apply.

Finally, what's your one piece of advice for the aspiring entrepreneurs out there?

That you don't need a fancy profile, website or even sales processes to get started. Just focus on getting an advert out there for one thing you can do for your customers – the rest can follow later.

StartUp Saturday: One-day business class in Buckinghamshire

A fun and friendly one-day workshop at Buckinghamshire New University to discover how to start and grow your business. Sign up for free today!