Her Biz October 2024 Winner
Owner of Zerenity Creates wins £500 to jumpstart her business from the NatWest funded Her Biz Start Up Business workshops.
Working with individuals, agencies and businesses, Tracey Vince, based in Kent, is a freelance web designer and developer, who specialises in WordPress custom built templates. With a passion for turning ideas into engaging digital experiences, she set up her own business, ‘Zerenity Creates’.
Tracey won £500 towards her start-up costs for Zerenity Creates after taking part in the NatWest funded Her Biz start-up workshop programme in October 2024, and submitting her winning business plan to the following optional competition, which is open to all participants.
The Her Biz programme, which is delivered by Let’s Do Business Group and supported by NatWest bank, consists of 4 x 2-hour workshops over 4 weeks, and aims to increase entrepreneurship by breaking down the barriers between women and starting or growing a business. Delivered virtually over Zoom by our expert business coach, the programme has been a long running success since it launched over 5 years ago.
What is Zerenity Creates?
Tracey Vince set up her business ‘Zerenity Creates’, back in May 2024. With over eight years of experience in web development, she honed her skills while working at a creative agency, where she initially began as a Junior Front-End Web Developer before eventually rising to the position of Digital Lead. During her new role, she developed expertise in both front and back-end development, project management, and client collaboration.
The inspiration to launch Zerenity Creates came during a pivotal period in Tracey’s life. A few months after returning from maternity leave in early 2024, Tracey faced an unexpected redundancy; however, this ultimately became the motivation for the creation of starting up her own business! Fuelled by a passion for web development and a desire for flexibility to balance family life, she channelled her expertise into creating a business that not only aligns with her skills, but also allows her to support other small businesses in achieving an impactful online presence.
“After a period of time, I thought about how I enjoyed my previous job of web development with a mix of design projects that I wanted to be able to do this whilst having the flexibility for my family.”
Specialising in designing and developing custom-built WordPress websites that are responsive, mobile-optimised, and tailored to each client’s unique brand, Tracey also offers templated website options, ensuring accessibility for start-ups and small businesses with varying budgets.
Beyond web development, she is also able to assist clients with their promotional design work and social media content. Her long-term vision for Zerenity Creates includes expanding services, building a steady client base, and becoming a go-to freelancer for comprehensive web solutions.
Thinking about the next steps for her business, Tracey is planning to outline and finalise her packages to be able to promote these in 2025, updating her Google My Business Profile by uploading portfolio photos which will provide a better reflection of her business and to plan out a social strategy by creating content across her two main channels – Instagram and LinkedIn – which she can schedule in advance, allowing for consistency.
Finding the Her Biz programme
Tracey joined the Her Biz Start Up Business Workshop to gain some clarity on the practicalities of starting her own business, and how she could set about making her ideas for Zerenity Creates a success.
The Her Biz Women’s Start Up Business Workshops, delivered through 4 x 2-hour sessions, covers everything from sales, marketing, finance, and business planning; and from this, Tracey was able to create her plan of making Zerenity Creates official, and how she could turn her hobby into a full-time business. After completing series of workshops, Tracey submitted her business plan to the subsequent competition, which is open to all attendees, and won the £500 prize towards her start-up costs.
“I am truly thankful for being recommended the Her Biz programme at a networking event. I immediately jumped at the chance to be a candidate. The course was incredibly informative in every aspect for running a business and made me really focus on creating a business plan to document my business goals, future ambitions, my challenges and competitors but the key area was understanding the financial side of a business and applying this to the services I offer.
The biggest highlight of the course was Lisa who delivered the sessions, she would adapt the scenario to our individual businesses to help us to understand fully. Lisa has been so supportive throughout and after the course the 1:1 session with Lisa afterwards is highly recommended to have that time to talk through any concerns/questions and she has always been on the end of an email. I can’t thank Lisa and Her Biz enough for running a female focused business course and highly recommend it to other females.”
Having completed the Her Biz programme with a renewed motivation for moving Zerenity Creates forward, Tracey plans to focus on researching into courses to be able to further develop her current knowledge as well as learn about new software. She also is planning to improve her community by becoming a member at local networking groups to expand her connections.
“It was a pleasure having Tracey take part in Her Biz, it was clear from the start that she is knowledgeable about setting up websites and ongoing management of the sites that she works on, in fact Tracey has already collaborated with other Her Biz members to provide support. I wish her all the best with her business which I am sure will be successful.”
All the team at Let’s Do Business Group wish Tracey and Zerenity Creates the best of luck!