The quiet ones getting on with it

Joanne Moorhouse

Helping vets & service-based businesses build a brand that is not only trusted, but helps your audience feel like they already know you. Photographer, Brand Coach, Designer, Veterinary VA & Author 🌎 North Yorkshire, UK

May 19, 2026

Let's talk about something that doesn't get said enough... entrepreneurs or businesses who hide behind the "I'm doing fine" or "things are going great" answers we so often hear, when they may be quiety worrying about how they will make their next rent payment in the background.

The world feels a bit stuck right now. Rising costs, economic uncertainty, and if you watch or listen to it, a news cycle that rarely offers much comfort. Most of us are doing our best to navigate it all, and that includes the small business owners, sole traders, and independent professionals quietly getting on with things behind the scenes.

These aren't faceless corporations with shareholders and safety nets. They're the photographer who invested years fine tuning their hobby into a viable business, the coach who built a practice around genuinely helping people, the employee who got tired of being overlooked or not being listened to, and finally did something about it, or the busy mum who was tired of spending long hours away from her family so chose to create a business to fit around her family instead. Real people running real businesses (often alone) whilst juggling caring responsibilities or personal struggles others don't see on top of everything else. They're absorbing the same price rises you are, but without others to fall back on.

Here's the honest truth. Use them or lose them! It really is that simple, and that serious.

If you can afford to hire a small or independent business right now, please do. Choose the local over the large, the independent over the chain, the person over the platform. It makes a difference that goes far beyond a single transaction, but if your budget won't stretch at the moment, that's genuinely okay, because times are hard for individuals too. There are still meaningful ways you can show up for the entrepreneurs and small businesses you believe in.

• Leave them a kind and honest review to help build trust.

• Share their posts without being asked, so they are more visible.

• Recommend them in a conversation, a group, or a message. Referrals mean the world.

• Save their details for when the time is right.

• Send them a quick note to say you value what they do. When times are tough, this can really lift up someone who may be quietly struggling behind the scenes.

None of these things cost a penny, BUT every single one of them matters more than you might realise, and only takes a few seconds.

Small businesses don't need sympathy. They need visibility, word of mouth, and the occasional reminder that what they're doing is worth something in a world that can sometimes make it feel otherwise. If there's someone in your corner of the internet who's been quietly showing up and doing good work, today might be a good day to let them know.

Joanne Moorhouse Creative offers two newslette/blogs: Studio News for timely, general content such as this, or The Siccessful VetBrand for more focused content aimed towards the veterinary industry (but still valuable for other sectors as well). To continue to receive our e-newsletters, please update your subscription HERE.

Joanne Moorhouse Creative and Joanne Moorhouse Photography are your trusted partner for all your visual communications, brand marketing, and photography solutions. Helping your practice or business stand out while simplifying your marketing efforts, so you can focus on what you do best. Discover how we can elevate your brand at www.joannemoorhousecreative.com.

Joanne Moorhouse, Founder and Creative Director, is an award-winning visual communications specialist with over 15 years of experience in the veterinary and healthcare sectors. With a degree in visual communications and a lifetime of photography expertise, she empowers professionals to elevate their brands through photography, design, strategic coaching, and branding. When she’s not helping clients shine, Joanne enjoys travelling, listening to 80s music, and supporting animal welfare and mental health charities.

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