Being made redundant gave Susan Newman the push she needed to go to college and retrain as a Swedish massage therapist.
Having become interested in how a body recovers following her own back problem, Susan completed her diploma before turning to Business Gateway Clackmannanshire for advice on how to launch a mobile massage business.
After attending a range of start-up courses, and having worked with advisers on her website and business planning, Susan launched, Optimise Therapies, in May
Since then she has added nutritional therapy and kinetic taping to her list of services and sells Aloe Vera products to a growing number of regular clients. She will also shortly begin studying for a diploma in remedial and sports massage.
She said: “Being made redundant was a shock, as I had no idea what I would do, but I’d had back surgery in 2014 and went through a lot of physio. That had made me interested in how our bodies function and what support we can give it so I decided to re-train as a massage therapist.
“Starting a business can be daunting but going to Business Gateway gave me a lot of confidence. The courses built my knowledge and my advisers helped with business basics and gave me a lots of ideas on how to fine tune www.optimisetherapies.co.uk which was invaluable.”
Michelle Carr, Business Gateway, said: “Redundancy can often provide people with an opportunity to take control of their working lives. For Susan, starting up on her own was something she’d never thought of but with the help of our full funded courses and one-to-one advice is steadily increasing her client base.”
To find out how Business Gateway Clackmannanshire can help your business call 01259 208426 or visit www.bgateway.com/clackmannanshire.