Put a camera in front of me, and apparently I forget how to be a normal human. Which is mildly inconvenient when you’ve decided that you really do need to include video in your socials.
October included an attempt to do something about this. We armed ourselves with a tripod, a little action camera and some enthusiasm, found a quiet spot and had a go.
I needed a full script and an autocue. By autocue, I mean my iPad, held behind the camera. I didn’t stick to the script, obviously, but apparently it needed to be there.
Two hours later, we had footage. I checked that sound and visuals existed, saved everything carefully and then put off actually watching myself.
Thankfully, this month’s ten-minute activity requires considerably less courage.
A FEW THINGS WORTH SHARING:
Your 10-minute business reset
💡Record the thing you keep explaining
Choose one small, repeatable job you know how to do but have never quite got round to documenting.
Next time you do it, record your screen and talk through the steps. Where you find things, what you check and the little oddities someone else might not know about.
Keep it manageable:
Choose a task you can demonstrate in a few minutes.
Explain what you’re doing as you go, including why a particular check matters.
Keep passwords and confidential information out of the recording.
Save it somewhere useful, with a name you’ll recognise next month.
You don’t need an introduction, background music or seventeen attempts at saying the first sentence. This is a working explanation.
I use this approach with clients because showing me a task is often much easier than writing instructions. The useful details tend to emerge as we go: “We always check this first”, “Ignore that folder”, or “That looks wrong, but it’s supposed to.”
And if nobody else needs the recording yet, it may still save future-you from trying to remember how you did something six months ago.
Back at Jessanol HQ, October has involved plenty of client work, alongside the new website quietly making it into the wild. There should probably have been balloons and cake. There was instead copious amounts of coffee.
I’m pleased it’s live, even though the list of improvements hasn’t suddenly disappeared. Apparently launching a website and finishing a website are rather different things.
Preparations for November’s exhibition are also progressing. Chocolate-box assembly has become my incentive for getting through the less appealing jobs, and exhibition supplies are steadily taking over the space under my desk. I really do need to stop pretending that’s their permanent home.
THE SPOTLIGHT
Asking for help is cheating. Apparently.
My son said this to me, and after initially laughing, I realised how familiar the idea felt. Somewhere along the way, many of us seem to decide that being capable means working everything out ourselves.
Given that this month’s filming involved a friend holding my iPad behind a camera, I think we can safely say I’m challenging that particular rule.
Not sure what you could hand over?
It’s surprisingly difficult to answer “What do you need help with?” when your immediate response is “Well, quite a lot, but I can’t currently remember any of it.”
This worksheet gives you somewhere to start capturing those jobs as you notice them. The repeated chasing, the document you keep opening and closing, the little task that somehow eats an hour every week.
You don’t need a beautifully organised list. A few recognisable examples are plenty to begin a conversation.
WHAT WE’RE SHARING
It’s not the form, it’s the feeling
I can be persuaded by a wine label with an animal on it. Apparently first impressions matter to me more than I’d like to admit.
Your enquiry form creates an impression too. A few words of welcome, questions that make sense and knowing what happens after pressing submit can make the whole experience feel rather more human.
“Just ask if you need anything”
It’s a kind offer, but sometimes I don’t know what I need. I just know that whatever I’m trying to do isn’t quite working.
This is about making help easier to accept, whether you’re supporting a client, showing someone a new system or welcoming a colleague. Sometimes “shall we look at the first bit together?” is far more useful than leaving someone to work out which question to ask.
Lovely meeting. What happens next?
I do love a good conversation and a notebook full of ideas. But “we should definitely do that” can remain in a notebook for a surprisingly long time.
A practical look at turning meeting notes into actions, with someone responsible and a date attached. So the next conversation can move things forward, rather than begin with “what did we agree last time?”
WHAT WE OFFER
One job would be a perfectly good start
For the documents, templates, processes, emails, spreadsheets and behind-the-scenes jobs that keep getting pushed to the bottom of the list.
Flexible support from £35 per hour, helping you get useful things finished without adding more to your week.
For the work that keeps coming back
Some jobs don’t stay finished. There’s always another course to organise, another client to onboard or another batch of documents needing attention.
Regular support gives us the chance to build a rhythm. I get to know how your business works, what tends to arrive and the details that matter, so you don’t have to explain everything afresh each time.
If that sounds useful for the months ahead, we can talk about what you need and what might fit.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
“I’m not creative” is quite a big decision to make about yourself
In this older TED talk, David Kelley challenges the idea that creativity belongs to a particular group of people, while the rest of us should stick to the practical jobs. He explores how people can build the confidence to create.
I’m very comfortable making all sorts of things. Point a camera at me and apparently different rules apply. It’s useful to notice where we’ve decided something simply isn’t for us.
A gap in the diary isn’t necessarily a gap in the noise
Microsoft’s “infinite workday” report looks at the messages, meetings and interruptions that spread through the day and into the evening. It was published in 2025, but the situation it describes will probably feel familiar to plenty of us.
An apparently clear afternoon can still disappear into answering things.
Microsoft’s proposed answers lean towards AI. My interest is in the question that comes before that: what keeps interrupting the work, and does all of it really need an immediate response?
Could frustration occasionally be useful?
I’m not volunteering for more of it. The website has provided quite enough opportunities.
But Tim Harford’s TED talk explores how difficulties and imperfect conditions can sometimes help us create something unexpected, using the story behind a remarkable solo piano recording.
It’s an interesting companion to the creative-confidence talk. Particularly if you’re waiting for the right equipment, a quieter week or a better set of circumstances before having a go.
I’m still reserving the right to complain about the circumstances.
WHAT’S COMING UP
3-4 NOVEMBER 2026 | NEC, Birmingham
Festival of Entrepreneurs
Stages of founder stories, workshops, practical sessions and lots of great conversations that help us shape our growing businesses.
2-6 NOVEMBER 2026 | Across England
Get the Nation Learning Week
A useful excuse to make space for learning something, particularly the thing you keep saying you’ll investigate when work calms down.
The campaign has suggestions for employers, learning providers and community organisations, including taster sessions and opportunities to share skills.
You could start with a colleague showing you how they do something. No elaborate programme required.
FRIDAY 27th NOVEMBER | Stratford upon Avon
Midlands Business Network Expo
Jessanol will be exhibiting at the Crowne Plaza Stratford-upon-Avon. The event is free for visitors, with exhibitors, seminars and networking throughout the day.
There will be a wheel to spin, things to take away and a very real person who is much happier having a conversation than talking to a camera.
Please come and say hello. After all the printing, folding and packing, I’ll be delighted to see people interacting with something other than my LinkedIn posts.
BEFORE YOU GO
The car passed its monkey inspection.
October also included baby otters, some rather bolshy capybaras and my first drive through a monkey enclosure.
With a car full of boys, I felt the expectation. I spent most of the drive fascinated by the monkeys’ teamwork while mentally calculating what replacement car parts might cost.
We made it through intact, although the footprints suggested several of them had given us a thorough inspection.
Between that and recording myself on video, I think I’ve done enough being brave for one month.
Jane, Founder, Jessanol