The Inspirational Women of Lancashire: Natalie Klausen
There are many people doing amazing things around the UK and the rest of the world these days, but we wanted to draw your attention to the inspirational women of Lancashire who are creating businesses that help the whole community.
One inspirational women is Natalie Klausen. She owns her own business, Let’s Abode, we got in touch and asked her to share her story with us and what the motivation was behind creating this business.
Natalie’s background
At the beginning of Natalie’s professional career she was working as a housing advisor, she then moved on to a regional housing group which covered areas such as Preston, South Ribble and Blackpool, where she was for 11 years. Natalie then made the move to work for the National housing group where she became the Lettings and Marketing Manager, enabling Natalie to promote the business on social media platforms. As well as this she turned her focus towards the community. Some of the projects Natalie had involvement with saw a group of school children go to the final of Britain’s Got Talent. She also nominated the Headteacher for the citizen of the year award and even went with him to receive a medal from the Palace!
What is Let’s Abode?
Let’s Abode is a business with multiple areas, but essentially it is about helping Landlords with their property and connecting with local authorities to find appropriate home for those who need it.
Why start the business now?
Natalie was working her normal job throughout the day and working on Let’s abode by night, she says she ‘didn’t have the confidence’ to leave her job just yet due to the financial stability. So what changed? She says ‘ I didn’t want to get to 40 and still not have done it’. As soon as she saw her logo for her business she knew it was time to leave her job and focus on her new adventure full time.
What was the motivation behind creating this business?
‘Becoming my own boss’ is one on the main motivations behind creating this business, getting away from the daily pattern she was getting from her old job. Yet, the main motivation behind creating this business is that there are a lot of people in need of assistance. There is a lot of homelessness and by creating her business it will make a massive difference within the housing crisis we have.
How helpful was Enterprise4All and Boost along the process?
‘Yusuf was helpful with so many things’. The workshops that we provide were also helpful to Natalie, she came along to the Digital Marketing workshop, the Facebook and LinkedIn workshop. She says the day after the Facebook course she went to create her page and make it look professional. Once she created her LinkedIn page she connected with lots of new people and was even contacted by people she knew who wanted to potentially work with her.
I worked with Enterprise 4 All and they helped me access the fully funded support from Boost Business Hub in Lancashire. It is a real team effort in supporting businesses.
Boost is led by the Lancashire LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership) and Lancashire County Council.
What advice would you give someone who is creating their own business?
‘Know what your market is, once you have figured that out, do your research see if there is anything coming up that is similar. Networking is just as important, get feeler out there, start to tell people what you plan to do. Keep costs down as much as you can and attend the workshops, they are a great help’. Natalie took the leap of faith of leaving her job and working for herself, after a lot of hard work the result is amazing, she has gained lots of new contacts, including one from her local authority for her help on a pilot scheme.
Natalie’s done some amazing work over the years and is planning on doing more and more as time goes on, She is our first account of the Inspirational Women of Lancashire and we have many more interesting business to share! If you would like to get in touch with Natalie please email her at natalie@letsabode.co.uk or call her on 01772 348302.
If you would like to know more about the workshops we run click here, or if you would like to take the ‘leap of faith’ like Natalie did then please get in touch.
