Category Archives: Small business progress

Baby steps and snail’s pace

Spring’s on the horizon, traditionally a time to pick up the pace. But as February storms and relentless rain have battered spirits and prevented any meaningful return to the outside world, there have been moments when it’s been difficult to do much more than limp forward. This ongoing limbo is pants. The light is supposed

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Feast, famine and feeling the fear

Aye, we’ve all been there, hovering over a draft email, fearful of firing it off into other folks’ inboxes. But as the saying goes, feel the fear and do it anyway. If, like me, you’re a sole trader or small biz owner, feeling the fear is par for the course. The daily uncertainty of the

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Baby steps and high hurdles

As Scotland eases itself out of lockdown this April, I find myself thinking of feet. Yes, feet. These foot thoughts were partly inspired by wearing actual shoes for the first time in 13 months. Wow, that felt weirdly constricting after a year padding about in trainers, slides and slippers! Needless to say, “fashion” footwear has

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Stuff and nonsense: imagining an alternative economy

Look, I’m all about words, not numbers. But a deadly blend of pandemic fiscal fallout and Rishi Sunak statements have been sending my thoughts into unchartered economic waters recently. It feels important to set my stall out here. Despite the fact that I am a small business owner, what I know about economics could be

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The Covid cling on

Throw me a lifebuoy FFS, I’m drowning. Well okay, then not drowning, but definitely doing a lot of treading water to keep the auld napper above the waves. Some days my personal pandemic psychology is rock solid, buoyant even. However this week, spirits have taken a bit of a dip, partly because the sun has returned

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Basic instinct

I’m a bit of an animal. And so are you. It’s just that you and I seem to have lost the ability to tune in to our instincts. Unlike our furry, feathered and scaly friends we have become myopic when it comes to tuning in to hard-wired signalling. I suspect that the information revolution has

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Two wise money men

Wonga, dosh, moolah and wedge. Money has been much on my mind this month and not just because Christmas is starting to exert its ruinous grip. In fact, the economic devastation begins early chez nous thanks to the Word Up Wean’s insistence on having his birthday in November. Inconsiderate wee blighter. However, there’s nothing like the annual

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Missing in action

Two weeks on the Dalmatian coast did wonders for this old wordsmith’s suntan, but a long overdue holiday unexpectedly left me with a yawning gap in my life. This spiritual hole is not so much existential crisis, simply a severe case of ennui. That feels a bit wrong. Holidays are supposed to invigorate and energise, aren’t they? I’m

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Altogether now…

Loneliness comes with the territory when you’re a sole trader. Or at least, that’s the perceived small business wisdom. And yes, ploughing your own furrow can mean that working life is sometimes solitary and alienating. In fact, unless you are completely comfortable working on your ownio, you can go a bit bonkers without colleagues to shoot the

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Defeated by democracy

Today was momentous. Because today is the day we didn’t leave Europe. Not only did we fail to depart, but our conscious uncoupling is yet further delayed after the PM’s latest defeat looks set to leave democracy clinging on in utter disharmony for the foreseeable. But for ordinary punters like me (who didn’t want to

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