It’s been a busy and challenging year, especially personally, after the death of my mum, but it’s made me more focused to the job I love.

One of my favourite things about running a PR agency is the variety of what each day brings and that was the main aim when it launched four years ago.

I’ve always been interested in people and when it comes to business, I love finding out what they are passionate about and what drives them. It is very difficult to run a successful business unless your heart and soul are in it – and I love helping people share their passion and show what makes them stand out from the competition. The most important thing is doing something you enjoy and can earn a living doing.

When I was reassessing everything after losing mum, I decided to follow my heart and do what I enjoy – as well as stopping things I didn’t.

One of the most important aspects to running a business is to have several strings to your bow. But that doesn’t mean you have to play every instrument in the orchestra yourself. 

You have to know your limitations. There is nothing wrong with pushing yourself to those limits, but you have to know when to bring in the experts when you are out of your depth. It will deliver much better results for your clients and will ease your worries about things going wrong.

I have spent my professional career writing and editing, so it was natural to continue with that, although now it takes a variety of forms from press releases to content creation for websites and social media.

Almost 20 years of my newspaper career involved page layout, which I also loved, but for some reason steered clear of when I launched my own business. I think I was so focused on launching the business that I concentrated on writing and social media. Now I can once again enjoy spending hours immersed in InDesign, creating everything from leaflets and posters to reports and publications.

Photography is a real passion of mine and I have enjoyed picking up my camera again. As well as offering a release, it means I can give clients an even more bespoke service – but I still know when to turn to the big guns. While I enjoy my time behind the camera, I also know my capacity and capabilities. I might get a great shot which the client is happy with, but I can’t spend all day trying to capture it. I have worked with many talented photographers over the years and I am spoilt for choice. They are real pros who deliver on demand.

On International Cat Day, I must also pay tribute to Lilly and Freddie, the original Mike Crutchley Media cats, both of whom we sadly lost this year, aged 20 and 16. We now have triplet kittens who are probably more cute than useful in the office, but time will tell.

As I look forward to year five – something I wasn’t sure would happen this time last year – I must say thank you to those who have made it possible.

The first is a huge thank you to my family for all their love and support. They are the reason I’m able to do something I love.

Huge thanks also go to Chris Pracy and the Patons Insurance team for standing by me at such a difficult time. I will never forget it.

And thank you as always to my long-suffering accountant, Graham Edgington, for all your help and support, and for always being a calming voice!

So that’s me signing off year four and raring to go into year five. Let’s hope it’s a good one!