Every now and then something happens that makes you look at your own business slightly differently.
Last week we discovered that Wilson Design Associates has been named as a finalist in the Best Business Enabler category at the 2026 National Entrepreneur Awards run by the Entrepreneurs Circle.
Obviously, I'm delighted that we've made the final. Awards are always nice, particularly when somebody else has looked at what you do and decided it's worthy of recognition. But the more I've thought about this one, the more I've realised that it's the category itself that I'm particularly pleased about.
Apparently, I've been enabling businesses for years. I just didn't know I was doing it!!!
What does a Business Enabler actually do?
I've always described myself as a graphic designer. I've been doing it for more than 40 years and Wilson Design has been around for over 30 of them, so I'm probably a bit late to start pretending I'm something else. And I'm certainly not about to start calling myself a business coach.
But what I have come to realise over the years is that clients very rarely come to us just because they need a piece of graphic design, even though they might think they do.
They'll ask for a leaflet, a brochure, a new logo, a website, some packaging or an exhibition stand, but usually there's something else happening behind that request. They're launching something, trying to reach a different audience, preparing for an event, repositioning the business, trying to look more professional or simply attempting to get more people to buy what they sell.
The design is part of the answer, but understanding what they're actually trying to achieve has always been the more interesting bit. It's why conversations with clients regularly start with one thing and end somewhere completely different.
Sometimes the job becomes something bigger
We've seen that several times recently. When InnerCode needed to prepare for an event at Cowdray Polo Club, it wasn't simply a case of designing a gazebo. We helped create everything the business needed to arrive looking like a credible, established brand, from exhibition graphics and flags through to leaflets, packaging, giveaways and the website itself.
And our relationship with Chichester Shutters has lasted more than 15 years, during which time we've worked on pretty much everything from their identity and website to brochures, folders, signage and vehicle graphics. We've simply continued providing whatever the business needed as it grew.
That's probably what Business Enabler means to me. It's not about having all the answers, but having enough experience to ask the right questions, spot things that might have been missed and occasionally say, "I'm not sure that's what you actually need."
From designing things to helping businesses
The older I've become, the more comfortable I've become doing that.
I joined Entrepreneurs Circle back in 2012 and I suspect if you'd called me a Business Enabler then, I'd have looked over my shoulder to see who you were talking about. I was a graphic designer running a design business.
Fourteen years later, after working with hundreds of businesses, becoming an EC Ambassador and spending a lot more time talking to other business owners about what they're trying to achieve, I see my role slightly differently.
I'm still a graphic designer and I still thoroughly enjoy the "colouring-in" bit, but more and more I recognise that the experience behind the design is just as important as the design itself. After four decades of working with businesses of all shapes and sizes, you start to recognise patterns. You know when something feels right, when something is missing and, occasionally, when a client needs to be talked out of the thing they originally asked you to do.
Perhaps that's why being shortlisted for Best Business Enabler feels particularly appropriate. It's recognition not simply of what we make, but of the part Wilson Design has played in helping other businesses move forward.
We'll find out what happens at the National Entrepreneur Awards on 7 September. We're up against some excellent businesses and I'm genuinely delighted just to have made the final.
Although obviously, now we're there... I'd quite like the trophy.