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Posted: Wed 3rd Jun 2026
Last updated: Wed 3rd Jun 2026
12 min read
Starting and running your own business is both tough and rewarding in equal measure.
Fortunately, Enterprise Nation’s ever-growing community of small business advisers brings the expertise and experience to the table necessary for succeeding.
If you're looking for some summer entrepreneurial inspiration, here are seven of Enterprise Nation’s very best advisers and mentors sharing their thoughts and top tips.
With over 30 years of experience in the fashion industry, Beth has provided support for hundreds of businesses in the sector and has become one of the most popular and active advisers on the Enterprise Nation platform.
Keep faith with yourself; remember who you are, why you’re special and the benefits of what you offer.
Stand out from the crowd – plan, strategise, keep it sweet and simple and make your offer fun and engaging.
Karen is an e-commerce adviser who has provided training to giants, such as Amazon, Etsy, eBay and Wayfair, as well as many hundreds of small businesses.
Most of the things you think you can’t do, you’ll end up doing and doing it well!
Business owners often struggle to take time out for holidays themselves! If that is the case, then at least take advantage of other people’s holiday time.
Summer may be quieter, so it’s a great time to catch up with admin and plan for new projects. Get a head start on opportunities which may arise while your competitors are sunning themselves!
As a qualified non-executive director, senior business leader and strategic planning specialist, Mark is an expert in challenging and developing cross-functional business strategies to help SMEs grow.
Keep a very close eye on the money.
If you have a small number of staff members, ensure that each key function they perform is covered while much-earned holidays are taken so that your business continues to operate at the same level of service.
Angela is a seasoned business adviser, specialising in food manufacturing and regulatory compliance, with a focus on supporting entrepreneurs and start-ups in the industry.
Embrace failure as a learning opportunity. By being open to failure and using it as a chance to grow and improve, you can adapt your business strategies and ultimately achieve your goals.
Utilise social media platforms to engage with your audience.
With people being more active on social media during the summer months, it's a great opportunity to showcase your products or services and connect with potential customers.
Create engaging content, run promotions and contests and consider collaborating with influencers or local events to increase brand visibility.
By leveraging social media effectively, you can reach a larger audience and boost your business during the summer season.
Chris has spent over 20 years leading marketing inside some of the world's most recognised technology brands.
He translates the thinking behind world-class marketing into practical frameworks that founders and smaller teams can actually use.
Stop trying to be completely ready. If you're waiting for the strategy to be perfect, the website to be fully functional, or the barriers to getting started to disappear, you'll be waiting a long time.
None of those things will ever feel ready because readiness is a feeling, not a state. The work that builds momentum is the work you do before you feel prepared, not after.
I spent years inside large organisations watching brands overthink and underdo. The businesses that cut through weren't the most polished; they were the most consistent, and more than anything, they were the ones that actually acted.
They learnt hard lessons, they made mistakes and treated them as data to improve and create future wins, rather than failure.
So, start before you're ready. Refine as you go.
Go when everyone else stops or slows down. Many businesses treat summer as a write-off or a quieter period.
The assumption is that holidays mean disengaged audiences, so why push as hard?
The reality check is that customers are away for one, maybe two weeks, most of the time and yet you've switched your marketing off for two months.
You haven't responded to their absence; instead, you've created your own.
The summer opportunity gap is real, but it runs the other way, and if you compress your active marketing into a shorter window, you don't just lose reach, you hand it to whoever stayed consistent.
The businesses quietly gaining ground right now aren't necessarily doing anything extraordinary; they just didn't decide summer didn't count.
Your audience is more reachable than you think, don't convince yourself otherwise!
Filiz is a content creator, social media consultant and LinkedIn trainer. As the founder of Vibrant Content, she helps entrepreneurs and small business owners with content and social media marketing.
We only live once, and we all deserve to make our dreams come true. Be confident, believe in your expertise and skills.
Create your own opportunities by pitching yourself to dream clients and attending local, in-person networking events. Say yes to invitations, you don't know where one can lead you!
Show up consistently even after making mistakes. Self-belief and resilience are two things you definitely need as a business owner.
Batch plan and schedule your content for quieter summer months.
If you struggle with new content ideas, you can always reuse older posts. You can slightly tweak the content depending on the social media platform you post it on.
Another way to do this is to change the format. For example, an older blog article can become a great carousel for an educational post.
Update your LinkedIn profile, your directory entries, create a LinkedIn company page with your business name if you don't already have one, and develop your website content.
How about even starting a podcast or newsletter for your business?
Laura is a senior marketing strategist who works with founders and leadership teams to bring clarity to their positioning, strengthen their offer, and build marketing that supports real business growth.
With over 20 years of experience across agencies, brands and charities, she works as a plug-in strategic partner helping businesses step back, define what matters, and turn that into a practical, achievable growth plan that feels right for them.
Spend as much time as you can afford to understand your why, gain clarity on your offer, and truly comprehend your audience.
When people think about marketing, they often focus on the visible bits – the social media posts, newsletters, websites and adverts. I call these the shoots.
They're the things everyone can see. But successful businesses aren't built on shoots; they're built on strong roots.
Your roots are your purpose, your values, your unique strengths, your audience insight and your positioning. If those roots aren't strong, no amount of marketing activity will create sustainable growth.
And never be afraid to ask questions. Some of the most valuable business and marketing insights come directly from your customers.
Ask them why they chose you, what they value most, what challenges they're facing, what nearly stopped them from buying, and what would make their experience even better.
Equally, ask the people who didn't choose you. Those conversations are gold dust.
They help you build, strengthen and refine your roots, giving you the confidence to grow stronger shoots and, ultimately, a healthier business.
Understand the natural rhythms of your business and plan your marketing around them. For some businesses, summer is peak season.
For others, particularly in the B2B world, activity can slow as holidays, school breaks and seasonal closures affect decision-makers and buying cycles. Neither is a problem if you know it's coming.
The key is understanding your business calendar.
When are your busiest periods?
When do enquiries typically dip?
When are your customers most engaged?
Looking at past data and recognising these patterns allows you to market proactively rather than reactively.
If summer is a busy period, make sure your marketing is working hard to support demand. If it's quieter, use the opportunity wisely.
Conduct a marketing spring clean. Refresh your content, update your website, organise your marketing systems and plan for the months to come.
Most importantly, revisit your roots. Use the quieter moments to strengthen your understanding of your audience, refine your messaging and gain greater clarity on your offer.
The businesses that use slower periods to build stronger foundations are often the ones best placed to thrive when activity picks up again.
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