Business & IP Centre Devon

Inspiring Stories

Every day Business & IP Centre provides support to small business owners, entrepreneurs and inventors, just like this one, helping them to grow their business.

We’ve helped 100s of individuals to move forward, through our online courses, the workshops and webinars from experts within their field, as well as providing access to our databases and IP specialists, all for free!

To start your own inspiring story, get in touch today.

From GP to Painter: A ‘She Started It’ Success Story

Hannah Oram is a self-taught painter who switched careers after working for 17 years in the NHS, the latter half as an accredited GP. A dream became a reality for Hannah after she was approached and commissioned to create a large, bespoke painting. This gave her the confidence boost she needed to switch careers and make art her new job through Hannah Oram Studio.

After a year of building up her portfolio, Hannah sought to create a professional website but wanted to sharpen her IT skills through an in-person course. She visited the Exeter branch of Libraries Unlimited to access IT assistance resources, and found the She Started It grant through the assistance of one of the librarians. Hannah jumped for the opportunity and applied for it that same evening.

Hannah intended to use the grant to help with branding and website development, through our expert Tanya RodgersHannah was also enrolled on a series of business coaching sessions with Clare Palmer of Clarity Coaching, which helped her with direction, accountability and marketing.

How has the She Started It grant improved your business? 

In short it gave me the boost I needed to keep going – without it I may not be here still following my dream career. 

“To be granted £1000 to put towards my business start-up was incredible and I used the full amount to work with Tanya Rodgers, who was amazing, and launch my website, with her as the web designer and creator. 

I now have gallery representation in two galleries and have started running art workshops from my new studio. My website is still up and running and I can add to it as and when I need to.

 

How have you found the support you’ve received from coaching? 

I was having a major slump in confidence just as I applied because everything seemed so hard, learning business as well as creating art whilst managing a household and kids at school. The help I got felt like I had a fairy-godmother and that maybe, just maybe, my dream could come true. 

The grant was brilliant and just the help I needed at a time when I had little funds.

Visit Hannah’s website: https://hannahoramstudio.com/  

BIPC Devon are proud to continue to support small businesses with free advice, events, and coworking spaces as well as our fantastic female-focused business-boosting resources. 

Ready to start your own inspiring story?

Our databases cover things like market research and statistics, finding funding, guidance on intellectual property and so much more. We provide interactive webinars throughout the year to teach you things like writing a successful business plan, ways to make an impact at networking, and how to boss social media. You can book 1-1 business surgeries with experts from a variety of fields and so much more.

All of this is available, for free, to anyone in Devon who is thinking about starting a business. Simply pop into Exeter, Barnstaple or Paignton libraries, click the “get started” button or email us at bipc@librariesunlimited.org.uk to find out how we can help you launch or grow, the business of your dreams.

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