CONFESSIONS OF A CORNISH CAREER GIRL:

Summer in Cornwall – fabulous for tourists, gridlock for residents, but what does it mean for our small businesses?

Tourism businesses will be reaping the benefits of the recession and weak pound, while offices of professional services are more likely to be catching tumbleweed and squabbling over the leave diary to snatch a rare sunshine day.

School holidays in the media industry officially marks the start of “silly season” – meaning journalists are off covering fetes, festivals and the odd beach rescue.

Similarly, at mpad HQ we’ve managed to incorporate a considerable amount of chair swinging and tea drinking while we wait for the clients to get back off holiday.

Here are my top tips to survive the silly season:

Tidy your desk: It’s amazing what you find at the bottom of an in-tray. Raffle tickets, THAT business card, fave pen, paperclip necklace. Now it’s all nice and tidy to start accumulating junk again.

Visit your clients: They say the best way to win new business is speak to your existing customers. Use this quiet time to pop in and savour the client/supplier friendship.

I nipped in on fairly non-urgent errand the other day with the key purpose of showing off my new shoes to a client. Unfortunately for me they were on an important conference call but I’m sure they appreciated the sentiment – even the blokes.

Plan the office Christmas party: Or any other team-building type event – behold our company cream tea the other day.

I know it’s August but I’m already working on Christmas related PR, and now is when the party bargains crop up. You’ll thank me when all the best party dates in December have been snapped up by other businesses.

Make a sock creature: I have a fabulous sock monkey, beautifully hand-crafted by yours truly, which is brightening up my pen pot and guarding my business cards. Even better, make a sock cow, with 50p going to the Hall for Cornwall’s Loved to Bits appeal.

Go cow spotting: Check out the many beautiful cows, all part of the HfC’s Jack’s Cows project. Look out for Cow Cam – Cornwall’s very own bovine paparazzi, on the mooooove between Truro and Falmouth.

Bunk off early: Hit the pub beer garden or take an early evening dip at one of our gorgeous beaches. This is payback for all those late evenings and early mornings. You deserve it.

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