Danielle Holmes from Black Nova Designs - Summer August Q&A 2021

It's August and the height of summer although the weather may not always reflect that. Often in business it can be a slower month as children are not at school, parents take time off and many people take a break. Will this year be as different as last year? Time will tell.

We've been talking to various business owners about their summer and autumn plans and today we're talking to Danielle Holmes who is sales & marketing manager and co-owner at the web design and IT specialists Black Nova Designs. The company is based in Calne in Wiltshire and working with customers all over the UK to help them with website design and hosting, Wi-Fi networks, hardware repairs, software and antivirus solutions and CCTV installations. 

Your full name, job title, name of business, what it does, where it’s based and one link to your website.

I’m Danielle Holmes, I’m Sales & Marketing Manager and co-owner at the web design and IT specialists Black Nova Designs. We’re based in Calne in Wiltshire and work with customers all over the UK to help them with website design and hosting, Wi-Fi networks, hardware repairs, software and antivirus solutions and CCTV installations.

How is August looking in your business? Does this month hold any special significance in your business? 

I’m so excited to be recruiting for a business development and sales manager to work alongside me. We have big plans for Black Nova Designs and I’m hoping to find someone really special to help me sniff out new business and grow our company. I love working on sales and marketing for Black Nova Designs and am looking forward to someone else bringing more ideas and a fresh perspective to the table! I’m proud that the business has kept growing and we’ve created more jobs throughout the pandemic.

We’re also working on a very exciting application to take the Black Nova Designs trade stand (which doesn’t actually exist yet…) to one of my all-time favourite events. We work with a lot of brands in the equestrian and countryside sector and this event is one of the biggest international events in the sport of 3-day eventing. To be there as an exhibitor and surrounded by the businesses we’ve worked with and helped to grow would be amazing. Watch this space…

What are your personal plans for this month – if you are happy to share? Can you give us a ‘tip’ for places to visit during this summer month?

My personal plans this month mostly revolve around keeping my children fed, watered and happy whilst juggling full time work running the business. The summer holidays do put pressure on but I’m grateful that the business is doing well enough to make me busy.

We are lucky to have some great kids craft weeks in the local area, but my main personal plan for this month is to enjoy time with the kids as well as effectively prioritising and delegating work between the team. I want to ensure all our staff, who are also parents, get plenty of time together with the family while their kids are off school

The Olympics – Tokyo 2020 – are drawing to a close now though the Paralympics will be back? Have you seen anything which touched or inspired you?

I loved every moment of the Olympics and it’s hard to choose one moment which inspired me the most! I’m a big fan of equestrian sport so to see Charlotte Dujardin become the most successful female Olympian was wonderful. The 3-day eventers winning team gold (and individual silver for Tom McEwen!) was wonderful, especially for Laura Collett who is lucky to BE alive after a terrible riding accident 8 years ago.

The two high jumper competitors who shared a gold medal was rather special too. They had both cleared the same height but couldn’t clear an Olympic record-equaling height. The next step would normally be to go into a jump-off but, knowing they had reached their limit and instead of pushing themselves to failure, they asked the official if they could share the gold medal position. How incredible, and instead of dejection and failure defining the final standings it was celebrations!

Finally, I’d also like to highlight how amazing it is that after so much disruption to their lives, their training and their competition preparation, these athletes still put on such a wonderful show. Even a year late and without huge crowds, it was great to have an event like the Olympics back!

Did you know August 21 is World Entrepreneurs Day? What does this word mean to you and do you apply it to yourself?

The term ‘entrepreneur’ gets thrown about quite a bit online these days, but to me the meaning is simple - it’s someone who creates a new business, risking their money and putting their time and energy into something to create money. But I also like to view it as a chance to create impact and help people, as well as making a living.

Our work here at Black Nova Designs is technology-based and I relish the chance to help demystify different areas of IT so that people can make the most of it. Whether that's helping a business owner get a website which is fast, responsive and beautiful to take their brand to the next level, or helping a family finally get a strong reliable Wi-Fi signal to every corner of their house, it’s so rewarding. It’s what makes me march into the office every day and love what I do!

Can you name one business you’d like to give a summer shout out too? Who has gone the extra mile for you recently? 

This month I’d love to say a really big ‘thank you’ to all of our current and hopefully future customers for supporting us. Now that life feels almost back to normal it’s a good time to reflect on the ups and downs of 2020 and this year so far. I’m beyond grateful that the business is thriving, and we’ve been able to help people use IT to solve problems and challenges during the pandemic. We’ve built websites for people who normally relied on events to sell, helped people working from home stay safe online and even refurbished and donated laptops to local schools.

We are lucky to have so many incredible clients and we can’t wait to support more!

As we move further through the pandemic, how are you feeling about the future of business in general in August 2021?

I’m feeling really positive about the future at the moment. We’re getting lots of enquiries about web design and are working on tweaking the packages we offer so that there’s something suitable for all budgets. We work with everyone from sole traders who just want a basic website all the way through to brands who need big ecommerce websites. The pandemic certainly accelerated the need for virtually every business to have an online presence, and that isn’t slowing down any time soon.

We’re also working on lots of Wi-Fi networks as those who own or manage larger premises (manor houses, hotels, pubs, conference centres and so on) realise the benefits of fast and reliable Wi-Fi. The relaxation of social distancing and group numbers means those businesses are looking to the future again and starting to invest in their services.

August is often a slightly quieter month for us as people naturally head off on holiday and care for their children. This year I’m using the time to drive awareness of our web hosting services (more about that later!) and making marketing plans for the rest of the year. It’s been an incredible 18 months of growth but we’re not resting on our laurels. Our targets are really big so there’s plenty of work to be done to make sure we hit them.

Have you got any events planned for the autumn you’d like to shout about – either that you are running or attending?

We’re not running any events ourselves at Black Nova Designs, but we were delighted to attend the Simply Soph opening day last week. Sophie is one of our clients and she has done my nails and eyebrows for many years, so seeing her go self-employed, creating a brand and launching it (all during the pandemic) has been incredible. She’s such a resilient lady and her shop in

Lyneham is a beautiful, calming retreat. Take a look at her website here: https://www.simplysophbeauty.co.uk/

Have you got any services or special offers you’d like to mention?

This month we’ve been raising awareness of website hosting and the impact it has on your website. If your business relies on your website for lead generation and sales, I promise you it’s worth reading up on hosting and looking and changing your supplier ready for the final quarter of 2021.

Think of it a little bit like this - your website is your car and hosting is the fuel you put in it. Everyone needs it and good hosting will make your website load and run more quickly. That then boosts SEO and helps to convert website visitors into customers. Your website can be beautifully designed and full of lovely high-res images, but if your hosting is slow and unreliable, it won’t be working hard for you.

Our affordable hosting packages will improve site load and running speed, our servers are secure, our team is UK-based and ready to answer questions and we guarantee 99.9% uptime. We also take a backup copy of every website once a day should the worst happen! It might not be the sexiest of subjects, but website hosting is really important. Drop us a line to learn more about Black Nova Designs website hosting.

And finally, August 16 is National Tell a Joke Day? Can you tell us a joke and raise a laugh?

In the spirit of exam season and to mark National Tell a Joke Day, I’ve dug out a clean, school-based joke for you - enjoy! And if results day (yours or your kids!) are causing you stress this month then just remember how many very successful people have made it without the ‘right’ exam results. They are important but they’re not the end of the world; there’s a lot more to life than academic success.

My teachers always told me I'd never amount to much because I procrastinate so much. I told them, "Just you wait!"

Find out more about Black Nova Designs HERE!