Business is the Best Therapy

Running a business has been a long standing ambition for Louise Latus but it wasn’t until she found the right idea that she could turn her dream into a reality:

"I attended Runshaw College where I studied Complementary Therapies which includes massage, aromatherapy and reflexology. I have always had the intention of starting my own business albeit I didn’t know what. When I started the course I knew that this was what I wanted to do. At college I met my business partner, Nicky Trafford, and we just clicked. We both have the same ambitions and we get on really well.

I heard about Orvia through Jobcentre Plus, I gave them a call and booked onto their Head for Business course which I followed up with one to one appointments with a business adviser.

The adviser from Orvia has been absolutely brilliant! He has been at the end of the phone whenever we needed him to answer our questions and he always got back to us with information when he said he would. He has helped us to create the business plan, construct the cash flow forecast and understand the Tax and VAT implications. When we had a bad week he was always encouraging us, offering us ideas and solutions. He has been simply brilliant!
 
Money has been our biggest barrier; Nicky and I are both single mums with very little money and we didn’t want a loan as we knew it would be difficult repay, our adviser encouraged us to save whatever money we could and what was left at the end of the week we put into the business. It has been tough but we were determined to succeed.

We are currently renting a single room in the Hypnotherapist Association on Crown Street in Chorley but our long term ambition is to grow the business and open our own holistic salon. This would allow us to offer a wider range of therapies including Thai and Hot Stone massages, provide a more comfortable environment for our customers and enable us to stock a wider range of natural skin care products.

In the short term we are planning to get our website up and running and we have started planning some event days in local nursing homes."