By Kathy Kyle Bonomini, Co-Founder DigiKind

Today I am missing a fantastic networking event at the House of Lords with Small Business Saturday UK.

My sweet 6 year old is on day 8 of COVID isolation and although the rest of us are testing negative, some of my kids have had fevers and sniffles today and I am erring on the side of caution and keeping them home.

I am working (despite the din of “kid noise”). I might be part robot.

We at DigiKind are honoured to be selected as a #SmallBiz100 and the event is a wonderful opportunity to meet, network, and connect. I will miss seeing my colleagues and friends but today I am wearing my “#ialso100” hat and it says: Parent, Consultant, Entrepreneur, and Advisor.

As an f:entrepreneur #ialso100, I simply chalk this up to one of my #ialso duties. And I also view it as an exercise in Resilience. 

What are my 5 steps to being resilient? Because I know, I talk about there being like, 20 in my My Royal Borough training programme. 

Here are my Top Five (I love a Round Up)



  • Focus on what is important and do what aligns with your values and purpose. ✅



  • Focus on your community. Use digital and connect with people digitally. Just because you can’t be there doesn’t mean you still can’t connect with your peeps.



  • Don’t be afraid to ask for help. #TeamWorkMakesTheDreamWork



  • Be agile and Flexible. Ooh I love the F word. Flexibility. Be responsive to challenges and treat obstacles as opportunities. 



  • Be positive and create something new and share your innovation with your audience. Share love and creativity. Put something positive out into the world. 

So What am I doing today?

I am using the time to focus on the new Innovation Grant Programme I am helping to launch for my client, where businesses that attend at least 50% of our lunch and learn sessions and meet the Additional Restriction Grant (ARG) criteria, may be eligible for a £15,000 grant. I wrote a blog to help local businesses prepare and navigate the process, which can be found here.

Our highly-rated Lunch and Learn sessions offer help and support to local businesses at any level of digital sophistication (regardless of whether they are applying for a grant or not). The 5 day sessions are each an hour long and aim to provide help in a variety of ways: 

✔️ improving digital skills
✔️ identifying ways to be more sustainable
✔️ being more innovative
✔️ improving customer service, and 
✔️ becoming more resilient. 

Resilience. 

It is a word that resonates with me as a female founder of two award-winning businesses, having helped to launch a government agency, multiple VC-backed companies and a DC-award-winning PR agency. In addition to the blog to help borough businesses navigate the process, I have also updated our incredibly inspiring Breakfast Briefing Lessons Learned blog from last week with Cucumber Clothing, which you can find here.

I hope my #SmallBiz100 friends all have a wonderful time today. It starts well, now, and I hope everyone has a fab time.

Our plans for Small Business Saturday

In the lead up to #SmallBizSatUK – 4th December 2021, we are encouraging all of our client’s small businesses to share their promotions and plans with us, to sign and share our #pledge, and to list themselves in our #IndiesAtoZ, where we are sharing each biz on the daily.

I am thinking of you all and I’ll “see” you on #SmallBizSatUK. Remember, if you are a small business, Business Improvement District #BID, nonprofit, Indie, local gov agency— tag us at @BeDigiKind #BeDigiKind we will continue to promote you and your efforts, especially on #SmallBizSatUK. 

I have my own perspective on Reclaiming Black Friday and I hope you will all join me on Small Business Saturday as we share our favourite places to support local, share our favourite charities, and continue to build sustainable, resilient communities.

Because that is how we roll. 💪 
❤️ KK