August has done that thing where it looks relatively spacious on paper, then fills itself with client work, short family breaks and the slightly optimistic belief that five working days can fit comfortably into three.
So, before the Jessanol news, blogs and interesting things I’ve found elsewhere, here’s one useful job you can do in ten minutes.
💡Your 10-minute business reset
Give your autumn diary a reality check
Open your calendar and look at September, October and November together.
You’re not attempting to plan the entire autumn. Just check that your diary reflects what is actually going to happen.
Look for:
Fixed events, appointments, holidays and deadlines
Anything that needs preparation time beforehand
Meetings or events that will create follow-up work afterwards
Work you want completed before the end of the year
Weeks that already look suspiciously full
Now choose one upcoming activity and add the preparation or follow-up time that is currently missing from your diary.
Ten minutes won’t organise your whole autumn. It may, however, prevent October from arriving with something important you had confidently assumed September would deal with.
This diary check feels particularly relevant at Jessanol HQ.
August has combined plenty of client work with a few short family breaks, alongside more experimenting with the systemisation, automation and delegation that keeps the business moving when I’m not sitting at my desk.
There is possibly some irony in a virtual assistant learning to delegate more of her own work, but it matters. The aim isn’t to automate everything or create elaborate processes for the pleasure of admiring them. It’s to make sure the necessary work continues without every small action relying on me remembering and doing it manually.
Jessanol also currently has two websites. Not two different businesses, the existing Squarespace site and its WordPress replacement, which is gradually being built behind the scenes.
Rather than copying everything across unchanged, I’m using the migration as an opportunity to review, improve and curate the content we’ve accumulated. It is being fitted around client work, so the move will continue in stages throughout 2026.
And yes, I have still done plenty manually. We’re experimenting, not living in the future.
A FEW THINGS WORTH SHARING:
What we’re noticing, building, and sharing this month:
✓ Why timing matters when you’re planning a business event
✓ Simple ways to support learning without rebuilding everything
✓ Two interesting developments for small and growing businesses
✓ A low-commitment way to try working with a VA
THE SPOTLIGHT
Is the timing right for your business event?
I recently had a conversation with a business that was planning an event, and it prompted me to revisit an older Jessanol blog.
Choosing the date can seem like one of the simpler parts of event planning. Find a day when the venue and key people are available, put it in the diary and start organising everything else.
But a date being available doesn’t necessarily make it the right date.
What else is happening for the people you want to attend? Is there enough time to promote the event properly? Does the timing give people a realistic opportunity to notice it, make a decision and protect the space in their diary?
The original blog looks at some of the things worth checking before committing to a date, because good content, a lovely venue and careful planning can only do so much if the timing works against you.
FREE PLANNING RESOURCES
Could your business do something for learning this autumn?
Adult Learners’ Week takes place across Wales from 21–27 September, followed by Get the Nation Learning Week in England from 2–6 November.
You don’t need to organise a large event or create a new training programme to take part.
You could hold a short skills-sharing session, invite someone to demonstrate something useful, revisit an existing piece of training or simply create space for people to talk about what they would like to learn next.
The official campaign resources include ideas, suggested activities and materials to help organisations get involved.
Links:
WHAT WE’RE SHARING
Five training tactics SMEs can use this week
Workplace learning doesn’t always need a new programme, platform or complete rebuild.
This blog shares five practical ways to make existing learning more relevant, visible and easier to use in day-to-day work.
The project thought it was finished
The work had been delivered, the client handover was complete and everyone was ready to archive the folders and move on.
Unfortunately for the project, it still had to complete the reviewing, documenting and updating that makes future work easier, and stops us reinventing the wheel next time.
How do I try working with a VA without making a big commitment?
Working with a VA for the first time can feel like a big step, particularly when it involves opening up the behind-the-scenes parts of your business.
A contained project lets you get one useful job completed while finding out how the working relationship feels, without committing to ongoing support from the start.
WHAT WE OFFER
Start with one job
What has been sitting on your list for far too long?
It might be a document that needs finishing, files that need organising, content that needs pulling together or a process that exists mainly in your head.
Starting with one clearly defined project gives you the opportunity to get something useful completed and experience working with Jessanol, without committing to ongoing support before you know whether it suits you.
Welcoming new clients this autumn
I have space to welcome a small number of new clients this autumn.
You don’t need to arrive with a perfectly organised task list or plans for a long-term contract. We can begin with the job you need to get off your list, agree what finished looks like and take it from there.
If there’s something you would like properly sorted before the end of the year, now is a good time to start the conversation.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Small employers may have more to offer the next generation
This is a US-based article, but much of it resonates here too.
Younger workers are looking beyond salary, benefits and the reassuring familiarity of a large employer. Purpose, relationships, flexibility, development and work that fits around an actual life all matter.
Smaller employers may not be able to compete with large corporate packages, but they can often offer greater connection, visibility and flexibility — provided the reality matches what they promise.
Could WhatsApp become part of your CRM?
WhatsApp often becomes a business communication channel before anyone consciously decides that it should.
That is fine while the number of conversations remains manageable. As a business grows, however, customer details, decisions and follow-ups can become trapped inside individual chats rather than forming part of a clear, shared process.
This article explores how a WhatsApp CRM can connect those conversations with customer records and follow-up activity. It focuses on international sales and promotes a particular platform, so I’m treating it as an interesting starting point rather than an independent recommendation.
I do love a CRM, and I’m currently exploring whether this kind of approach could have a place within Jessanol.
Put down the rules and start doodling
I love a doodle and a collection of coloured pens, so this TED Talk was always going to get my attention.
I once tried using drawing to capture conference notes. Unfortunately, trying to make the notes structured, meaningful and presentable rather defeated the purpose for me.
Joe Whale takes a much freer approach. He explores how doodling allows one thought to become a drawing, one line at a time, and argues that imagination is a muscle we need to keep using, particularly when it is increasingly easy to hand the creative work elsewhere.
It’s a lovely reminder that creativity doesn’t always need an outcome, a neat framework or even particularly recognisable pictures.
WHAT’S COMING UP
21–27 September 2026 | Across Wales
Adult Learners’ Week Wales
A national celebration of lifelong learning, with free courses, events and resources available throughout September.
The campaign encourages adults to discover new interests, build skills, support their wellbeing or explore a different direction. Jessanol will be following and sharing ideas from the week.
Wednesday 23 September 2026 | Across Wales
Skills for Work Day
Part of Adult Learners’ Week, this dedicated day encourages organisations to celebrate and support learning in the workplace.
That doesn’t have to mean launching a new programme. A short skills-sharing session, useful refresher or conversation about what people want to learn next can be enough to get started.
2–6 November 2026 | Across England
Get the Nation Learning Week
Organisations across England are being encouraged to raise the profile of lifelong learning and create opportunities for people to take part.
The official planning resource includes ideas for employers, learning providers and community organisations — with plenty of scope to begin small and use something you already have.
BEFORE YOU GO
September doesn’t need to arrive with a completely new version of your business.
There is always a temptation at this point in the year to treat autumn as a giant reset.
New plans. New routines. Projects completed. Systems organised. Everything that became slightly untidy over the summer suddenly behaving itself by the first Monday in September.
Realistically, the business carries on while you make improvements around it.
Choose one thing to prepare properly, one thing to get finished and perhaps one thing that no longer needs to be on your list at all.
And if one of those jobs would be better placed on my list, I’m welcoming a small number of new Jessanol clients this autumn.
Have a good end to August,
Jane, Founder, Jessanol