Danielle Holmes of Black Nova Designs has a busy end to the year happening!

IT’S NOVEMBER! The year is coming to an end and Q4 is well under way. We’re talking to businesses about their plans for the final two months of the year.

Today we're talking to Danielle Holmes who is Sales and Marketing Director at Black Nova Designs, a web design and hosting company based in Calne, Wiltshire.

What’s your business highlight for this month or last month? 
This month we’ve had the pleasure of working with lots of new website clients and that’s always a highlight. It’s fun and rewarding to see someone’s vision and dream for their website take shape and work with them to bring it to reality! We’re always adding new client website projects to the portfolio pages on our website, so make sure you have a look! Seeing the success of our clients’ websites brings us all so much pleasure.

https://blacknovadesigns.co.uk/portfolio/

And what about a personal highlight? 
Honestly this month it’s been about coping and keeping my family happy and healthy! The kids made it to the October half term in one piece and we all got through it alive! Now, we’re counting down to Christmas with the same aim…But honestly, they’ve been great - they were both well behaved, no calls from the school which means no one is in trouble, they had clean uniforms each week and they’re loving their after-school clubs. Sometimes a personal highlight is as simple as keeping up with the weekly washing.

November represents Movember – Men’s Health Awareness Month and International Men’s Day (Nov 19). What does this mean to you? 
Men's mental health really is very important to me. I hate to admit it, but it wasn’t something I was even aware of around five years ago. I think like many people we didn’t realise that men need just the same mental health support as women but tend to stay quiet. It’s such a good thing that men are now being encouraged to focus on their mental health and speak out more than ever before. I know that knowing he can speak out and that there’s much less of a stigma about asking for help has been such a great support to my husband Kyle.

Are you doing anything in November or December for charity or for a community or volunteer project? 
We haven’t done as much for charity this year as before, but we did attend the Wiltshire Mind corporate lunch a few weeks ago. As I touched on in the last answer, mental health is a subject close to my heart. It was great to meet the team and discuss our plans for next year when we will be back on form and supporting more charities - watch this space! 

What’s your top tip for being positive as we enter the last month of autumn? 
Don’t try to fix everything at once, take small steps forward. It’s easy to get totally overwhelmed when you have a huge to-do list and a million things weighing on your mind. But try to just focus on one thing at a time and you’ll make progress. 

Did you know November 13 was World Kindness Day. Has anyone shown kindness to you in the last month or so? At home and/or work?  Tell us how you view kindness in your business or professional role?
Kindness is a huge part of my life, professionally and personally. I’m aware that I put myself out there online and the online space can get very nasty. I think no one should type something that they wouldn’t be comfortable saying to someone in person - it would quickly make the internet a nicer place! I’m also passionate about teaching my kids what it is to be kind and that you should treat people how you’d like to be treated yourself. 

It’s also Black Friday this month which is now quite mainstream – do you participate in this within your business? Or do you prefer the Buy Nothing Day? 
We offer cost-effective pricing all year round, so our prices stay the same, even when the world is going potty for Black Friday! It might interest people to know that we’re at least 20% cheaper than most other hosting companies locally - so you could say it’s Black Friday every Friday for our customers! 

Are you preparing for Christmas in your business? Can you share what your plans are going to be? 
Christmas is a bit different for us this year as we will be in Australia! It’s the trip of a lifetime and we are all looking forward to it so much. We have lots of website projects to keep the team busy while we’re gone, and our customers will enjoy all the usual support if they have any issues. But, Kyle, the kids and I will be on the beach for opening stockings this year rather than gathered around the tree. That is extremely exciting!

Have you got any events planned for November or December you’d like to shout about – either that you are running or attending?
We’re getting ready to go to the Horse & Hound awards Wednesday 22nd November evening which will be amazing! This was a magazine that I grew up pouring over every Thursday when it came out and to be sponsoring one of the award categories is just a dream come true. The awards ceremony is attended by Olympic and Paralympic riders and lots of equestrian business owners so it’s going to be a very memorable evening and excellent networking! 

Have you got any services or special offers you’d like to mention?
We have lots of space for new hosting clients, so if you would like your website to be hosted by a family business with support based here in the UK -rather than a faceless huge corporation - why not get in touch? Our sites are hosted in a data centre that runs on renewable energy too, so it’s a green choice! We can move your website to our hosting with no downtime and transfers are all taken care of. 

And finally, is there anything else you’d like to say? 
We have worked hard on our own website recently and we would love for you to have a look and let us know what you think! We might spend nearly every day looking at websites, but it’s so different working on our own. Check it out here: blacknovadesigns.co.uk

For more information visit https://blacknovadesigns.co.uk