What does Scarborough’s £250 self-employment programme cover?

Yorkshire in Business, working with self-made studio, has launched a self-employment programme starting at £250 that runs from 17 September 2026 through to March, with no obligation to actually go self-employed. It covers eight paired sessions, from finding your business idea through to funding, sales and pitching, structured so you can test whether self-employment suits you before committing to it.

There's a lot of talk locally about "having a go" at self-employment, and not much practical structure to back it up. This programme is our answer to that gap. It's built with Graeme and Emma, who bring fresh energy to how enterprise development gets delivered in this area, and it's aimed squarely at people who have an idea but haven't worked out whether it's a business yet.

Who is this programme actually for?

It's for anyone in the Scarborough area sitting on a business idea they haven't tested. That includes people currently employed who want to try something on the side, people between jobs weighing up self-employment, and people who've already started trading informally but want proper grounding in marketing, finance and sales before they go further.

Because there's no obligation to go self-employed, it also suits people who simply want to find out if an idea has legs. You can join at any point rather than only at the start, which matters if you're the sort of person who decides in November that this year they're finally doing something about the idea they've had since spring.

What happens in each session?

The programme runs as four pairs of days, each with a morning theory session followed by an afternoon action-focused session on the same topic. That pairing matters: you're not just told how to do market research or build a content plan, you get afternoon time to actually start doing it while the morning's ideas are still fresh.

The schedule:

  • 17 September: Ikigai, purpose and business idea development (morning); Marketing and Social Media (afternoon)
  • 18 September: Action-focused Marketing and Social Media (morning); Personal Branding 101, Content Creation (afternoon)
  • 1 October: Action-focused Personal Branding 101 (morning); Organisation, Productivity and Planning (afternoon)
  • 2 October: Action-focused Organisation, Productivity and Planning (morning); How to network, negotiate, pitch and communicate (afternoon)
  • 15 October: Action-focused networking, negotiation and pitching (morning); Client and Customer Experience (afternoon)
  • 16 October: Action-focused Customer Experience (morning); Sales Strategy (afternoon)
  • 29 October: Action-focused Sales Strategy (morning); Funding and Finance (afternoon)
  • 30 October: Action-focused Funding and Finance (morning); Action Planning and Accountability (afternoon)

The programme starts with purpose (your "why", not just your revenue target) and ends with a concrete action plan and accountability structure, which mirrors how we approach advisory work generally: start with fundamentals, finish with a plan you'll actually use.

Why does the programme start with purpose rather than a business plan?

Because a business plan built before you know your "why" tends to fall apart the first time trading gets difficult. The Ikigai session on day one is about identifying the purpose behind the idea, what you want beyond making money, before any marketing or sales content gets built on top of it.

This isn't a soft add-on. In our advisory work, the clients who've clarified their purpose and their target market early on make faster, better-grounded decisions later, particularly when funding gets tight or a customer relationship goes wrong. Skipping that step to get straight to a logo and a social media page usually means redoing the groundwork later, at a point when it costs more time.

Why does market research get so much airtime in a self-employment programme?

Because most business plans that fail were written without anyone talking to a real customer first. Understanding your target market isn't a box-ticking exercise before the "real" work starts, it's the research that tells you whether your idea solves a problem people will actually pay for.

Through sessions on marketing, personal branding, and customer experience, the programme pushes participants to engage directly with potential customers rather than guessing at what they want. This is consistent with how we work with established businesses too: talking to real customers before finalising a plan very often reshapes the business entirely, sometimes in ways that save months of wasted effort chasing the wrong audience.

How does the funding and finance session fit in?

It comes near the end, on 29 October, once participants already understand their purpose, their market and their sales approach. That ordering is deliberate. Funding conversations are far more productive once you know how your business will actually make money and deliver value, rather than treating funding as the first hurdle to clear.

Given how complex funding options have become for new businesses, having this session grounded in a business model you've already worked out (rather than a plan built to impress an investor) puts you in a stronger position when you do go looking for finance.

Common questions about the self-employment programme

Do I have to commit to going self-employed to join?
No. The programme is explicitly no-obligation. It's designed to help you test an idea and work out whether self-employment is right for you, not to push you into a decision.

Can I join after 17 September?
Yes. While the programme officially starts on 17 September 2026, people can join at any point and the programme runs through to March, so there's flexibility around when you get involved.

What does the £250 cost cover?
It covers all eight sessions across the four paired days, running from idea development through to funding, sales, and action planning. Details on exactly what's included alongside enrolment are confirmed when you sign up.

Do I need a business idea already, or can I come with nothing?
The first session, on Ikigai and purpose, is designed for people still shaping their idea, so you don't need a fully formed plan to start. It's built to help you develop that idea from first principles.

If you've been sitting on a business idea and wondering whether it's worth pursuing, this is a low-cost, low-risk way to find out with proper support behind you rather than guesswork. Graeme and Emma are running the sessions, and we're genuinely looking forward to seeing what participants bring to the table. You can enrol now through our sign-up form, and places can be booked at any point as the programme runs through to March.