Barbara Leatham of Barbara Leatham Photography is sharing what's happening in her business

It’s almost the end of October and for businesses everywhere, Q4 is well under way. This month we’ve been talking to small business owners about their plans for October and what’s coming up for them during the rest of 2023.

Today it’s the turn of Barbara Leatham, of Barbara Leatham Photography, who is a commercial photographer and trainer based in Tilshead.

What’s coming up for your business in Q4?
I’ve just celebrated 16 years in business, quite an achievement for someone who didn’t have the foggiest idea of how to run a business when I started. Thankfully I’m surrounded and supported by lots of amazing people.

October represents several awareness months. Are there any that affect your business or yourself personally?
My mum had breast cancer twice, as well as other cancers before she passed away. Her operations and treatments where hardest for the breast cancer so I always feel the awareness day resonates for me. The first time she was diagnosed with any cancer I was 15 years old. The doctors told us she might have only 18 months. She fooled them all and beat the odds by 34 years, finally losing the fight last year.

Did you know October 10 was World Mental Health Day? How important is this subject in your business and in your life?
Mental health is becoming more and more spoken about, and our prejudices to the illness are slowly and surely changing with time. Personally, for me, I get SAD’s every year, so in the month when it’s getting recognised, it’s also the prelude to my hardest three months. Exhausting and draining, it can be hard to get up some mornings. Sitting in the office, knowing the weather is nice enough for a walk, there are days when going out the front door feels like the biggest challenge of the day.

Some ‘quirky’ moments this month were:

*National Poetry Day – Oct 6
*World Handbag Day – Oct 10
*Do Something Nice Day – Oct 5
*Apple Day – Oct 21
*Pumpkin Day – Oct 26

If any of these resonate with you, tell us why?
I didn’t actually know there was a World Handbag Day, I really should have.

Just this year I ordered a rather wonderful, bespoke, handbag/camera bag, handmade, from a fellow Ex RAF Photographer, Heidi Burton from Handbags and Home
It’s got a rather special compartment for some crystals that I sometimes use when doing personal work. There isn’t another one like it in the world, it was designed specifically for my needs, and I love it!
Importantly for me, my camera bag looks like a normal handbag so I don’t look obvious when I have my camera kit with me. I use it all the time, and as soon as I can afford it, I want to order another one in a different colour.

Clocks go back this month, and we get an extra hour in bed. How do you see ‘time’ in your business?
I love October, it’s the true start of autumn, warm earthy scents, when you crunch through the leaves in the woods; the weather giving us amazing sunrises, gorgeous rainbows and best of all, lots and lots of fungi to photograph. I use this time to create and capture new stock images - and I love that I don’t have to get up at 4am to get the sunrise as well.

Time is so important in business. If you are a solo businessperson, you have to make the most of every minute, but also make sure you look after yourself too. It’s always a balance, and not always one that’s easy to do. I have to remind myself that if I don’t look after myself, how can I look after my business.

Have you got any services or special offers you’d like to mention?
After many, many years, I have just spent the last month collating over a decade of images and put them on my website for fellow businesses to order for their own marketing. Many of the images have never been seen before, and more than 75% have been taken in Wiltshire. The first galleries to go up include a selection for Autumn. Just visit my website and click on the “Images For Sale” and have a look. And if you think there’s places I should go and visit and photograph, I’ve love to hear about it.

And finally, tell us one thing you love about the autumn/winter months? 
Autumn and winter are so yin and yang for me. Autumn is my favourite time of the year, by far, but it’s also the lead into the winter months.

However, it does mean lovely walks with the family and the (new) dog in the woods, crunching leaves, crips morning sunshine to blow off the cobwebs and watching out for the first signs of frost, and it also means a cosy fire, hot chocolate (with a dash of Bailey’s) and a snuggly blanket, chilling out with my family. It’s also a time for me to review the last year of business and plan for the future.

Find out more about Barbar here: www.BarbaraLeatham.co.uk