Zoe is a Leeds-based make-up artist with a talent for helping people feel their very best. She was also one of the very first people to take out a pilot micro-finance loan from Trust Leeds, using the opportunity to turn her skills and passion into a business of her own.
Before becoming self-employed, Zoe worked in business as a nail technician renting a chair in a local studio. She struggled with her mental health and needed to take considerable time off work, and in 2019, she decided to take the plunge and set up on her own. She began test-trading her make-up services with friends and family, and before long, she was sharing photos of her work online. Word spread quickly, and her client base grew through Instagram. But living on health-related unemployment benefits had meant she couldn’t save money, and she was only just keeping on top of her debt repayments.
With the help of a Trust Leeds £1000 loan, Zoe was able to create a professional studio within her home, a space that is both welcoming and accessible for clients. The loan gave her the foundation she needed to grow her business with confidence. Her first three months’ trading exceeded expectations, but then, like so many self-employed people, Zoe’s plans were disrupted by the COVID pandemic in 2020. Trust Leeds stepped in to put her repayments on hold until things opened up again. By the time restrictions eased, Zoe’s mental health had suffered and she couldn’t work for many months at a time. She was determined to pay back her loan, so Trust Leeds agreed to accept a tiny repayment each month. In the meantime, Zoe does occasional make up jobs for family and friends and has ad hoc use of a ‘chair’ at a local salon. She’s also investing in refresher courses to keep up with the latest make-up trends and styles.
Zoe hasn’t just been building her own kitchen-table business around her mental health challenges; she’s also inspiring others to do the same. She’s a regular speaker on Trust Leeds’ Be Your Own Boss programme, sharing her experiences with new and unexpected entrepreneurs. Zoe talks about her top tips, how she deals with feelings of failure, and the advantages and disadvantages of being self-employed (and how to turn the negatives into positives!). She’s also really up-front about things she’d do differently, and how she’s managed with mental health challenges.
By telling her story, Zoe shows that setting up a business doesn’t have to follow a set path, it can be shaped to work for you and your life. Zoe’s journey from nail technician to make-up artist, and mentor to others, is a brilliant example of what can happen when determination meets the right support. We can’t wait to see where her creativity and hard work take her next!