Inspiring Business by Sharing Success

School of Earning launches for young entrepreneurs

School of Earning launches for young entrepreneurs

A successful entrepreneur inspired by his own experience of living on the streets at 16 is launching a training school to nurture young business leaders.

Nearly two decades ago, Steve Allan opened Northamptonshire-based business furniture and interior specialist firm Verve Workspace which has worked on thousands of projects and provided more than 1 million furniture components to clients.

But Steve has never forgotten his early days of living on the streets following a family divorce and domestic issues.

He said:

“I lived in a bus at the side of the road when I was 14. I lived in squats and on park benches when I was 16 and found myself unable to get any state help unless I left school and sought employment instead of education.”

Wanting to finish his GCSEs and then A-levels so he had a better future, he had to find solutions and be resourceful to survive.   

As a result of his experience over 30 years ago, he has now launched the School of Earning to help young people in Northamptonshire get started on their own successful careers for free.

Steve explained:

“I feel my own experience of going from living on the streets at 16 to becoming a successful entrepreneur enables me to provide young people with a valuable and perhaps unusual perspective. My experience taught me things I would have never learned otherwise.

“The course will focus on setting yourself apart from the crowd, deciding on what you want from life – and ultimately defining for yourself early on what the meaning and responsibilities of success are.

“It’s not just focussing on making money – it’s about equilibrium and balance. It’s about ‘Earn skills. Earn respect. Earn more than a living’.

“I want to help young people to forge a mindset that makes them resilient and resourceful because we need to build leaders with strength, compassion and integrity, who focus on positivity and understand what it takes to run a successful business.

“My plan is to run the courses for young people in Northamptonshire totally for free, starting in January 2023 – it’s my way of doing something meaningful for my community.”

Initially, the School of Earning will work with young people from across Northamptonshire aged between 16 and 25.

The in-person courses will last for six weeks and will take place for two hours on Saturday mornings.

Steve added:

“Any young people who would benefit from real world advice from a proven entrepreneur should get in touch to express their interest.

“I’ll be taking applications initially, and then sending out a questionnaire to select the first course members.”

Steve is also developing in-depth and niche training courses for all age groups, which will be chargeable.

Applications should be sent to steve@schoolofearning.co.uk

For further information about Verve Workspace, visit https://www.verveworkspace.co.uk


< Back