For businesses, the combination of the recent rise in National Insurance Contributions and the lowering of the salary threshold will be an absorbable expense. But we probably all know businesses - of all sizes - for whom this is having a considerable, if not detrimental impact on how they operate.

I’ve spoken about areas of professional life that we all know are important, but we find difficult to focus on - prioritising our mental wellbeing at work probably falls into this category for many of us. The theme of this year’s recent World Mental Health Day was workplace mental health, something that needs to be given attention all year round.

Summer is here along with an abundance of competitive sports, from the Euros, Wimbledon, and as it’s a leap year, the Olympics are also just around the corner. Interestingly, it’s been 100 years since the Olympics were last held in Paris, and the city will become one of only two cities to have hosted the games three times (the other is London).

A few years ago, I hired an office. I had taken on some associates a few years before that, and a high street location felt like the next natural step. While work remained consistent, the shine soon wore off. The costs felt unnecessary and I wasn’t really getting the visibility I’d imagined.

Last year, I made a shift in my career. While my virtual administration company is still my main focus, I started to look at ways to diversify and use my skills in different ways. As a result, I’ll be taking on some auditing and assessment work this year.

At Business Owl we are often called upon to support employers with their staff’s career development, this could be in-house training, CPD or even accreditation. While this is a crucial part of growth for any SME and business owners themselves, lack of time is often cited as a reason why employers don’t invest in this area as much as they should.

A friend of mine told me about a recent conversation she had with her five-year-old daughter. The young girl had read the word ‘fax’ on a business card and thought the ‘a’ was a mistake and the word should be ‘fix’. My friend relayed how she struggled to explain what a fax was to her daughter, but was also surprised a fax number would still appear on a business card in 2023!

We were recently announced as a finalist for the VA (Virtual Assistant) Awards again, which got me thinking about the recent barrier-breaking victory by the women’s English football team this summer and the barriers women face in business. One of the many things the Lionesses’s World Cup win showed us, is that a win for women, is a win for all.

‘The cost-of-living crisis’. It’s the phrase on everyone’s lips at the moment, but another big crisis which we don’t hear about as much is the climate one. We are repeatedly told we are facing a climate emergency, yet because the impact doesn’t have the same immediacy as a financial crisis, in times of economic challenge our climate concerns tend to take a back seat. But what if there is another way? What if we as businesses owners and professionals could marry up the two? What if by becoming a greener business, we also reduce our costs and create systems that mean we save money in the long-term?

As we step into spring, there is a lot for Yorkshire businesses to be optimistic about. Yes there are challenges for many about how they get past the damaging effects of the pandemic coupled with rising costs and volatile markets. But there is something coming on the horizon which presents an incredible opportunity for the business community at large, not just culture. And no, I don’t have a crystal ball!

For many businesses – and people – 2020 was the year of survival. 2021 has been the year of adaptation. Hundreds of thousands of new businesses have been launched in the UK as the pandemic drove entrepreneurial spirit and people responded to challenges like redundancy, furlough and being couped up at home. In fact, data from HMRC also shows that in March 2021 more new businesses were created than in any other month since records began back in 1989.

I think a lot of us at the beginning of the year thought we would be in a slightly better position right now when it comes to COVID but, here we are in July 2021, and the challenges are still coming. Although the lifting of restrictions is in sight, a return to complete ‘normality’ still seems somewhat out of reach. As the ongoing uncertainty continues to add pressure and complexity to industry, many businesses are still trying to find their feet with new ways of working and, perhaps most notably, the changing attitudes of the workforce.

A North Yorkshire based virtual assistant who expanded her team after securing a number of new client contracts throughout last year’s lockdown, is encouraging businesses to be agile if they want to thrive in a post-lockdown world. Jen Workman of Business Owl, who supported a number of businesses in their transition to remote working last year, believes those lessons learnt are what will help small businesses as we gradually return to ‘business as normal’ and fight the challenges of a post-covid and Brexit world.

After a career in the legal sector and then as a PA at the University of York, I decided to combine my skills and experience and I founded Business Owl, a virtual assistant business. Initially I worked from the dining table on my old laptop, which was so slow that I had to switch it on before breakfast, to give it time to warm up! Thankfully as the business grew I was able to replace said laptop and I now have a bespoke office at home. We’ve also grown to the point where I work with a small team of associates.

We’re fast approaching the anniversary of when we first entered lockdown. Who would have guessed, what we thought might have been a temporary, three-week lockdown would turn into three lockdowns? While the compounded impact of the current lockdown has proven detrimental for so many, the signs of progress are encouraging. The road to recovery for many Yorkshire businesses will be very long, but we’re a hardy bunch and based on the work I’ve done with businesses over the past year, I do believe we can enter the post-covid world with more resilience than ever before.

A North Yorkshire based virtual assistant has expanded her team after securing a number of new client contracts this year. Jen Workman of Business Owl is now working with two associates – including one who specialises in transcription. It comes at a time when businesses have been forced to become more agile and think creatively about how they work following the pandemic.

A Northallerton businesswoman has been shortlisted for an award for her virtual business. Jen Workman runs Business Owl from her home office in Northallerton, providing specialist business support to the legal sector. Jen said that little did she know three years ago when she decided to concentrate on the business full-time, that the experience she would gain working from home would prove so relevant.