Our vision of 'human support' for Yorkshire business owners: Philip Bolson

Running a small business can be tough, especially now.

Whether you are a start-up, getting going, looking to grow or expand, you may have multiple challenges and hopefully, multiple opportunities.

You may have to consider cashflow, costs, pipeline, marketing, recruiting the right staff, understanding your environmental impact, making the tech work for y ou, and a whole host o f other ‘stuff’ that is a world away from the reasons you went into business.

This can sometimes feel complicated, difficult and at times overwhelming, but that is a face that many don’t share, why would they?

Surely that would be business suicide!

We exist in a world that perpetuates the myth that we have to ‘have it all sorted’ or that we ‘know it all’.

Of course, there are many business support workshops and courses, telling us all how to ‘do it’, that they will sort out our cha llenges with a five-step process or some quick wins, but often these simply add to the voluminous noise in our minds and we leave with a longer to do list, more action plans and a lack of clarity of what to do next.

So where do businesses go for the support that helps them gain clarity, calm and confidence?

Where the support is for the human and not the business?

Where they don’t have to put on a business game face and find like-minded souls who are experiencing the same as them?

Human beings are straightforward souls, we crave complex when we need simplicity, we search for answers when we already have them, we look to others to give us clarity, when often, with support, we can find it ourselves.

The truth is, the human support in business is often overlooked, yet they are the king pin in the operation, if they are lost, then so is the business .

Two years ago, myself and Andrea Morrison created Your Small Business Board, challenging the status quo, recognising the very real need for ‘human support’, creating a safe environment that nurturing, removing those invisible blocks, like stress and overwhelm, so that growth became a natural consequence.

At its heart we bring humans in the business together, with no game face, where members are encouraged to be open, real, and honest about their business experience, whilst committing to support each other, have purpose and create mom entum, so all o f them flourish in a meaningful way.

As a start-up itself YSBB is rightly proud of its achievement, supporting over 70 business through their ‘boards’, something that has only been achieved as the York and North Yorkshire Business Growth Hub shared their vision for a fresh approach.

The results speak for themselves, and we can confidently say, that in this r egion, we’ve got you and not just your busi ness, c overe d .

Ph il ip Bols on co-founded Yo ur Sma l l Business Board