Jane Jones & Tanya Milton
The Vale Foot Clinic
In a nutshell:
Private podiatric services (treating conditions affecting the foot and lower limbs)
Sectors:
Health care and Complementary care
Region:
Vale of Glamorgan

Jane and Tanya were mature students who’d had secure jobs before deciding to go back to UWIC to study podiatry. Having scooped first class degrees, they intended to find work within the NHS, but no one had told them what to do if there wasn’t a single job to be had: “Not only was Business Support Wales instrumental in our success to date, they have enabled us to build for the future. They’ve made what could have been a difficult uphill climb a lot easier!”

Don’t write yourself off if you’re a mature student or older than you think an entrepreneur should be. It’s never too late to make use of all that experience!

Jane Jones & Tanya Milton - The Vale Foot Clinic

Not only did the pair have to make a mental adjustment, re-orientating their thinking towards setting up their own business, they also faced significant practical challenges. While most practitioners remain mobile for many years, building up a client base before renting their own premises, Jane and Tanya needed to set up a permanent clinic straight away without yet having a single patient - “we were certainly thrown in at the deep end!”

“Neither of us dreamt we’d be unemployed; we’d hardly thought about the option of setting up our own private practice right from the start. But time was getting on so we decided to go for it!”