Stephen is supported by StartScotland to start his own business.

Stephen had been unemployed due to difficulties with his sleep.

After working with StartScotland, he realised he had a skill he could offer to others, allowing him to be self-employed and more easily work around his sleep issues.

Why Stephen joined Fair Start Scotland

Stephen joined the service after having difficulty finding employment due to substantial and long-term sleep problems. His sleep problems proved to be a barrier to work which he needed help to overcome.

How Fair Start Scotland helped

After joining the service, Stephen’s personal adviser discussed his skills and interests, and it emerged that Stephen had excellent practical skills and strong interests in computing and gardening. Working with Employer Services, a temporary agency job was found in mobile phone reconditioning. This temporary contract allowed Stephen to build his confidence and adjust to life in employment. After the contract ended, his personal adviser referred Stephen to a local community centre for a volunteering opportunity.

Stephen commuted to the role on his bicycle, and to make the journey a little easier, Stephen converted his bicycle to an E-bike. After his adviser heard about this, it sparked an idea to potentially develop this into an opportunity to become self-employed by offering this skill as a service to others. We supported Stephen by signposting him to agencies such as Business Gateway.

Stephen is now looking into these opportunities as well as contemplating part-time work to allow him the flexibility to develop his business plans.

What’s next?

Stephen now has a clear idea of the way forward and is aware of the organisations such as Business Gateway which are available to support his progress. Thanks to the support from StartScotland, he feels he is now on the way to realising his dreams.