CORPORATE photographer Liz Hall, owner of Liz Henson Photography was highly commended in the Part-Time Business category.

Last year’s Part-Time Business winner Liz, from Stacksteads, found the pandemic severely affected her business as annual events she covers across theNorth Westhad to be cancelled leaving her diary with many empty pages.

She said: “I did one job on March 27, just after lockdown, and it took until June 9 for me to go out on another paid job.

“Mentally I struggled with this as it’s the longest I’ve not worked and I have been working since I was 14.”
Her daughter should have been starting nursery, but that was postponed to September so she was also looking after Darcy full-time, while trying to focus on retaining her business.

Liz upskilled by joining GrowTraffic’s courses including Better Blogging and Social Marketing courses and she online networked intensively, attending meetings, webinars and one-to-ones to learn more about the clients she works with and she presented at local business meetings, online.

She said: “With each of these speaking opportunities, my confidence in public speaking has grown. Each one has been a step in the right direction in self improvement and raising awareness for my business.
“When the first lockdown happened, I took the time to make a list of all my clients from the past 12 months and contacted them just to say hello and ask if there was anything I could help them with.
“I was delighted to be awarded a highly commended certificate in the Part-Time Business category this year. I am confident that I will be able to move my business forward next year while still retaining the work-life balance.”

The award is sponsored by Winter Solicitors, Bacup.