Our mission is to provide a combination of personal and enterprise development, delivered from a starting point of possibility for every client.

Outset is quite unique in its focus on growing the individual. We believe you cannot build a sustainable, successful business without building the person who is going to lead it – the two must be developed in parallel – and you can’t expect people to behave differently if you don’t give them the tools to think differently first. That’s why our programme includes a dual focus on both developing both personal and business skills.

Some clients face multiple barriers to enterprise that need addressing before progress can be made; others may have thought about starting a business but don’t yet have a fully formed idea.

In the early stages of engagement, we focus on identifying a person’s real or perceived barriers to enterprise and work with them to overcome these challenges. Our advisors work to restore confidence and self-esteem, help people discover transferable skills and build self-belief and motivation. We also introduce the idea of exploring enterprise as a credible employment option.

In our programmes, particularly our first stage ‘Introduction to Enterprise’, we cover a wide range of topics including time and stress management, building confidence, improving personal dynamics, understanding body language, improving decision making and coping with change through planning.

Our 1:1 coaching service is also typically used in tandem with this module to give clients an extra helping hand to overcome these challenges.

As a result of this work, clients become more aware of their interest in enterprise and will either choose to continue working through our workshops, or positively deselect themselves from the programme, having decided that enterprise is not for them.

The later is a perfectly good option – it takes total commitment to start a business, with a high investment of time, money and effort. This may not be the right choice for many people.

Anyone who engages with Outset doesn’t leave empty-handed though – if we can’t be of service, we are happy to refer people to one of our partner organisations, with the person taking a new set of skills with them that can be used in a variety of different employment scenarios.

They arrive with a new awareness of their own strengths, weaknesses and interests, having had their abilities identified and an action plan set.