What can be said about 2020 that isn’t painfully obvious to anyone in business?

Starting, running and growing any business can require a massive mental physical and financial commitment. Many new skills have to be developed outside the owner’s core area of competence – with mistakes along the way being part of the learning process.

We have had periods of apparent confusion for nine months over differences in COVID-19 guidelines for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales - in alphabetical order to avoid accusations of bias.  We are now facing a myriad of travel, meeting, activity and sector related issues with the new tier criteria.

I wish I’d spent more time at the office - a quote that you will rarely hear when remaining life becomes short. The opposite comment is almost invariably the case.  Lost time with one’s partner, children and grandchildren is impossible to catch up – but you can reassess the future and take action to redress the balance.

When lockdown started in March many fishermen lost most of their traditional market overnight with the closure of restaurants and the reduction in business for the food service sector with the closure of offices and factories. Prime catch was selling from the boats for a tiny fraction of its usual market rate.