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"It's been a really traumatic and haunting time for the people of Teesside," says 55-year-old John Buckton from Redcar.
He is one of 1,600 people who are losing their jobs as a result of Corus' decision to partially mothball its Teesside Cast Products plant.
"It's been heart-wrenching. Guys in their fifties have been shedding tears, because all of a sudden there's no work," he says.
Mr Buckton was made redundant in March, after working in the steel industry for 38 years.
Now he is in the process of setting up his own health and safety consultancy, using the skills and qualifications he obtained at work.
'Flat caps'
Mr Buckton joined British Steel in 1972, two years before the Health and Safety at Work Act was introduced.
"When I started guys were wearing flat caps and sweat towels. There was no such thing as a hard hat in those days," he says. He was a trade union safety representative for five years before leaving Corus and completed a National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) certificate in 2009.
Now he is working for his NEBOSH diploma and waiting to hear confirmation from Jobcentre Plus that they will give him a grant to help with the costs of the second year of his studies.
"Even at my age I have at least another 10 to 15 years of work in me," he says.
Mr Buckton admits that, to some degree, setting up the business is taking his mind off the redundancy and his transition to self-employment.
"It's very hard to take on board the fact that you've been wrapped in cotton wool when you've worked for the same company," he says.
"All of a sudden you're in this whole new concept called life."
Even though his business is still in its infancy, he has been surprised by the response he has had from potential clients.
"I've had loads of different companies, all the way from restaurants to small and medium-sized manufacturing companies, asking me to come down and give them a talk," he says.
"I definitely see a market out there for this."
Transferable skills
Vince Ransome, who is 45 and lives in the Dormanstown area of Redcar, still works for Corus in its Teesside Beam Mill.
In February, he put his name forward for redundancy and leaves the company at the end of May after 25 years in the industry. "In the back of my mind I've always wanted to do something else and start my own business," he says.
"So, I thought to myself 'what can I do? what do I like doing?'. When I figured it out, I made a plan."
Mr Ransome is in the process of setting up his business, called Cleveland Home and Garden Maintenance.
After studying plastering at night school and doing odd jobs for family and friends, he decided it was the career for him.
And he thinks organisation is very important in the early weeks of starting up your own business.
"I'm a brainstormer by nature so I bought a white board and I'm just listing things as I do them," he says.
"I've categorised things to do that are priorities - like registering my name, registering my company with revenue and customs and getting my business cards printed."
He says the best piece of advice he has been given so far is to keep all of his receipts in a safe place.
Funding
Mr Buckton and Mr Ransome are among the first to receive money from a new £600,000 regeneration fund announced by UK Steel Enterprise (UKSE), a subsidiary of Corus.
"We don't want to see people coming out of Corus putting all of their redundancy money into a business idea that won't work," says Simon Hamilton, UKSE's regional manager for the North East and Scotland. "It isn't easy for early stage businesses to get funding from the banks. They need to have security and a track record and that isn't necessarily there, so in the current climate there's even more need for this type of funding."
The scheme is available to anyone living in the steel area of the Tees Valley, not just steel workers, and up to £7,500 is available to successful applicants.
Going it alone
"What people are most afraid of when starting up a business is leaving the safety of PAYE and someone else providing them with money at the end of the month," says Stephen Alambritis from the Federation of Small Businesses.
And finding the funds to start a business is perhaps the biggest hurdle faced by budding entrepreneurs.
"In 2008 and 2009 banks said they were not in the business of saving small business and went into a funding freeze mode, " he says.
"But this year they've started to become more relaxed with lending but, with interest rates high, it comes at a cost."
Not everyone wants to go to the bank to get the funding they need, and rely on the support of their friends and family.
Others are able to access money available from the government.
"There's lots of help out there if people need it," says Vince Ransome.
Keys to success
He got in contact with various government-funded services such as Business Link and the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative, which pumps money into about 20 deprived areas around England. They told him that grants were available to help him set up his business.
Business Link helped him find funding for a website and they also helped him locate free start-up courses in his area.
Business Link is only available in England, and works in partnership with Business Gateway in Scotland, Flexible Support for Business in Wales and Invest Northern Ireland.
For those after tax and National Insurance advice, HM Revenue and Customs runs a helpline, including a service in Welsh, and free workshops across the UK.
"This is what you pay your taxes for," says a spokesperson for HM Revenue and Customs.
"We give this back free so people setting themselves up in business get the right advice at the outset and that will hopefully get them on the right track from day one."
And the key to successfully starting your own business?
"Get your family on board as you'll need their encouragement," says Stephen Alambritis.
"Do your market research, get the right advisors in places as soon as possible and work out what kind of commitment you want to make to your business.
"The more of your own money you can pump in, the less you'll have to rely on the banks."This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.