BEING made redundant has meant that mum of two Rebecca Young, can now fulfil her ambition of becoming a bag lady – a party bag lady.

After nine years working as an administrator for a North Shields estate agent, Rebecca was made redundant. But, instead of banking her redundancy money, she set about finding out how to invest it into her own online party bag and wedding favour making business, SJ Party Bags and Wedding Favours - named after her children Sam, 6 and Joseph, 3.

It was whilst she was at her local Jobcentre Plus that the ambitious mum met with a Business Advisor from the Business.

For Rebecca it was through talking to other mums that made her realise there was a gap in the market for quality children’s party bags for parties, weddings and christenings. The success of this side of the business prompted Rebecca to expand into offering wedding favours as part of the range.

 "Setting up your own business is nerve wracking, especially when you’ve been in the same job for nine years and you have children. From the first meeting I with Business Factory Business Advisor, David Ireland, he completely believed in me and the idea I had and having someone say ‘yes, that’s a good idea, now let’s talk about making it a real business’ gives you so much confidence.

"The Business Factory gave me a great deal of free advice and support over a number of sessions. I knew I could make the party bags, but I didn’t have knowledge of how to market them, how to set up a business account or how to network effectively to spread the word.

"We worked through the idea and decided that it was best to have an online presence through Ebay. David then helped me with my business plan and set me goals I had to achieve before each meeting, which kept me focused on getting the business off the ground.

"Having my own business is a lot of hard work and it’s not just 9am to 5pm – it’s generally 7am until midnight! But I’m able to be a full-time working mum and still spend so much time with my children, which is very rewarding.

"People shouldn’t be scared of having a business idea as there are people like the Business Factory Advisors who have supported so many people in the same situation, which really does help.