Get Ahead - East Surrey

01/09/2026

Diaries fill back up fast in September. New goals get set, new terms start, and there's a strong pull to treat the month as a fresh start and throw everything at it at once. Action for Happiness have called this Self-Care September, and their calendar is a useful nudge in the opposite direction, small daily prompts that ask you to pace yourself rather than sprint straight into autumn.

These daily suggestions work particularly well if you recognise that urge to do it all at once: no plans day, make time to slow down and be kind to yourself. Avoid saying 'I should' and make time to do nothing. Notice the things you do well, however small. You are not being asked to stop – unless you want to – just to build in a bit of breathing room alongside the momentum.

For anyone running a business, that balance matters more than it gets credit for. Ambition and rest aren't in competition with each other, and this month's calendar is a nice reminder that the second one earns you more of the first. Take a look and see which tips you are drawn to.

26/08/2026

Happy International Dog Day from Roxie - Natasha’s gorgeous chocolate Labrador. And yes those eyes do ensure she secures herself the most treats and is forgiven anything!

24/08/2026

Have you ever watched two people in the same business give a client two completely different answers to the same question? That's not usually a training problem, it's a clarity problem. Nobody's confused because they're not paying attention, they're confused because the business never quite spelled out where it's going or who owns what.

There are five things that tend to close that gap:

1️⃣ Purpose, the why behind the business, and whether your team would describe it the same way you do
2️⃣ Vision, the actual destination you're all meant to be working towards
3️⃣ Strategy, the plan and the marketing and communications that carry it
4️⃣ Priorities, narrowing a long list down to what genuinely matters right now, outsourcing the rest
5️⃣ Accountability, being clear on who owns what, so people feel secure rather than guessing

Get those five sorted and the payoff is simple, clearer direction, faster decisions, and a team that's actually pulling the same way.

23/08/2026

Another one for the cabinet!

Get Ahead recently picked up Business Support Service of the Year at the Prestige Awards. I was thrilled to be there with founder, Rebecca.

It's not the first award our business has won, and I don't think it'll be the last, but each one means a lot. What struck me watching Rebecca speak was that she didn't make it about her, she made it about the network, everyone across the country who's actually doing the work with clients every day. Sixteen years on from a kitchen table start, that's still exactly where the focus goes.

Most of my week is spent heads down with clients, sorting out the stuff that's piling up in their inbox or their diary, so a night like this is a nice reminder that it adds up to something bigger. It was brilliant to be in the room for it.

Well done Rebecca and Team Get Ahead HQ, and thanks for inviting me!

https://getaheadva.com/blog/get-ahead-business-support-service-of-the-year/

18/08/2026

Join me and the Metro Bank team for our first Get Connected event of the new school year!

Local networking with a relaxed vibe.

Do join us - I look forward to hearing all about your summer!

Link to book - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/get-connected-kingston-upon-thames-tickets-1988401329904

13/08/2026

Running a business or having a demanding career often means your work life is well organised while your home life picks up the slack. The boiler service you keep meaning to book, the trades who need letting in, the second home that'salways "nearly" ready for guests, it all still lands on you, usually late at night.

Get Ahead East Surrey & West Sussex, offers a Lifestyle Manager service built around exactly this. Your dedicated manager becomes a single, trusted point of contact for households across Surrey and West Sussex, coordinating trades and suppliers, overseeing property maintenance and keyholding, planning events, and keeping on top of the personal admin that otherwise would build up when nobody is specifically responsible for it.

It's discreet, flexible, and scoped to what each household actually needs, so you get more time for living and less time managing.

If you would like your home life to run as smoothly as your business does- do get in touch with me.

https://getaheadva.com/lifestyle-manager/

11/08/2026

Clarity in a business often gets confused with having a plan, but they're not quite the same thing.

You can have a five year strategy written up and still feel foggy about what you're actually doing this week and why.

Real clarity is more everyday than that: knowing who you're serving, what you're offering them, and what you personally need to be spending your time on rather than everyone else's to-do list. It's often easiest to see once someone outside the business helps you look at it properly.

Keep an eye on our socials over the coming weeks as we take a deeper look at ways of achieving clarity in business.

06/08/2026

Search engines and readers are chasing the same thing when they land on a page: something that actually answers their question, written by someone who sounds like they mean it. Get Ahead's latest blog points out that keyword stuffing was never the goal, useful, well-structured content in a recognisable voice is what actually improves visibility while still sounding like the business behind it.

That consistency is important well beyond SEO. A defined brand voice gives every piece of writing, from a proposal to a customer apology to a LinkedIn post, the same underlying character, even as the tone shifts to suit the moment. It also makes life easier internally, since a shared sense of how the business sounds cuts down on the back and forth over whether something "feels right" before it goes out.

Full blog here: https://getaheadva.com/blog/using-your-voice-to-communicate-your-brand

If your team is still guessing at tone every time they write something, Get Ahead's experts can help you get it defined.

Find your brand voice and use it with confidence to create clear, consistent, SEO-friendly communications that build trust and connect with your audience.

01/08/2026

Altruistic August is here, Action for Happiness's theme for the next few weeks, built around one simple idea: small kindnesses add up. Their calendar has a different nudge for each day, things like paying it forward, donating items you no longer need, or sharing a piece of good news to brighten someone's feed.

There's something nice about having a reason to slow down and notice other people a bit more, especially when life gets busy. It doesn't take a grand gesture, just a bit of intention.

If you're looking for a place to start, try one thing this week: a kind word to a stranger, a call to someone you've been meaning to check on, or passing on something useful to someone who could use it.

Tell us in the comments what kindness looks like for you this month