Category: Small business

The coronavirus pandemic has affected us all. The hospitality, service and arts industries have been hit particularly hard, but the reality is that all businesses have been affected in some way. For smaller businesses with less financial flexibility than big chains, the impact of COVID-19 has been enormous.  Looking ahead, this could spell the end for some smaller businesses, unless we do what we can to support them.

What does the closure of small business really mean? For consumers, it could be the end of our favourite chocolate brownie, baked to perfection at the café on the corner, or the closure of that hairdressers where you always got a great cut. It could mean the end of variety and vibrancy on our high streets.

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Photography is a key tool for any business – you can use photographs on your website, marketing materials and social media. So does your brand’s photography have a distinct style? And if so, have you ever put it into a style guide? Perhaps you know what you like and you style your photographs accordingly, but if you ever need to brief somebody else or hire a photographer, having a formal style guide can be very useful. 

Fortunately, today is World Photography Day, so this is the perfect opportunity to build a style guide for your brand’s photography! If you’ve never written one before, here’s a short guide to get you started. 

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Lockdown has had a huge impact on the UK economy, and many businesses have struggled to adapt and survive during this unpredictable time. For those that have made it this far, there is light at the end of the tunnel, as restrictions are being lifted and there are more options for businesses to open up again – in a new way. 

But after the unpredictability of recent months, how can you bring your customers back in a way that is safe and welcoming? How can you protect both your business and the people who use it? If you’re a business owner struggling with these questions, we have some advice to get you started. 

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Life after lockdown – is it time to change the way you work?

We’ve all noticed the profound effects of COVID-19, both on the economy and on our everyday lives. Lockdown forced many of us to work from home, while for others it has meant furloughing and even job loss. But a great positive we’ve all gained is the opportunity to review our working life. Was it going well before 23 March, or is it going better now? Have we been ditched by our employers, or do we feel like ditching them?!

In this blog, we look at the impact of lockdown on our working lives, and invite you to ask yourself whether it’s time for a change.

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Many people have gone through major upheaval in the last few months due to the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. And even if you hadn’t had to deal with serious consequences, like the loss of a job, you’ve likely had some disruption, especially when it comes to your work.

As a result of all this, you might have started rethinking your career and be considering making a change. Of course, there is still a lot of uncertainty around, but if you’re thinking about a career change during this time, the good news is that it may be more possible than you might think.

To help you with this life-changing decision, we’ve put together some key questions you should be asking yourself, and some suggestions for how to lay the groundwork for a new, exciting career right now.

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Remember why you started your own business? It might have been because you’re a creative person and you recognised that you should be making a living from your talents instead of letting them stagnate. Or maybe you wanted the freedom to flex around the needs of your family, improving your work/life balance and being there for the people you love best. Perhaps hobbies or voluntary work are important to you and you wanted to be able to choose how you spend your time. Maybe it was just plain old maths – you realised you could make more from your profession if you worked for yourself than if you worked for someone else.

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Being able to ‘pivot’ is a valuable skill in business, and especially so right now, when the world is in a state of incredible uncertainty and changeability. If you’re not sure what pivoting is, there has never been a better time to learn about it, or to apply it to your own business.

Pivoting essentially means being adaptable – it means recognising that your business isn’t meeting certain expectations, and being agile enough to find a new way to do things in order to solve a problem or respond to a need. This could be a small change, a fundamental rethinking of your whole strategy, or anything in between.

Clearly the challenges of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown have made pivoting more important than ever, as businesses are having to learn to adapt to a situation that can change daily, even hourly. So if you’re keen to know more about how to master the art of the pivot, read on for our advice about nurturing adaptability in your business.

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The UK government has recently introduced new guidance allowing people who live alone to visit and stay overnight with one other household, as part of a ‘support bubble’ during lockdown. This is good news for many single people in the UK, and an important recognition that one of the biggest side effects of the lockdown measures is loneliness.

Of course, you don’t have to live by yourself to be lonely – it’s perfectly possible to feel this way within a relationship or a family, or living with a group of friends. It’s important to acknowledge that loneliness is something everybody experiences from time to time, and it’s good to talk about it. So if you’re struggling with loneliness right now, here are some useful tips and resources to help you make it through.

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If you’re new to working from home, you might be finding it tricky to switch into ‘work mode’ when there are a thousand things to distract you – the kids, the washing up, the hoovering, the cat that just has to sit on your keyboard.

Here at Get Ahead VA, we know all about the challenges (and the joys!) of working from home, and we’ve got plenty of tips to help you minimise distractions and stay productive. So if you’re struggling with this new style of working, here are 7 top tips to help you adjust.

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There’s no getting away from the news at the moment – the coronavirus pandemic is making headlines everywhere, and more and more countries are taking measures to slow the spread of this flu-like disease.

At time of writing, the UK government has not closed schools. However, Boris Johnson has advised that anybody who can work from home should do so, and he has also recommended against public gatherings in places such as pubs and theatres. Given the measures already in place, it seems likely that the schools may close, in which case children will be joining their parents at home for the foreseeable future.

Here at Get Ahead VA, we are very fortunate to have a team of experienced home-workers, many of whom also have children, and so they have a wealth of advice to share about juggling work and family under the same roof. So if you’re concerned about how you’ll handle the next few weeks, don’t worry. Here are our top tips about working from home with your kids.

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