As is tradition, around the 5th December I like to take stock of the financial year that has passed, to see if I can quantify the answer to the perennial question “What is it you actually DO, Lisa”.
2025 has been a tough year for many people. The market is at best weird, and at worst teetering on the precipice of fundamentally altering “the way we do things around here”. However, the year that came before was harder – 2024 was an interesting year for my business. Not the worst year I’ve had by a long shot, and still featuring some really interesting projects, but nerve-wrackingly quiet at times. Lots of projects delayed or deferred, or, well, just crickets. However, this year, FY25, for Lisa Riemers Ltd, it’s been a different story.
Direct and trusted partnerships
In 2025 I’ve been busier than I’ve been in several years, actually back to pre-pandemic and pre-Brexit levels for me. In the past I’ve often worked as a second or third pair of hands, or on a longer term piece of work, as part of a much bigger team. This year, most of the work I’ve done has been directly with clients on my own, as the project lead, or in real partnership with people I trust. I’ve worked with multiple clients at once, brought associates along for the ride, and was thrilled to get to collaborate with with Matisse Hamel-Nelis to finish Accessible Communications and see it published. It’ll be interesting to see how small the “royalties” line will be on next year’s figures.
Meets are back on the menu, boys
This year I’ve gotten to do more face to face stuff, getting together in person for workshops and training, and facilitating meetings (pleasingly, an intention I set last year too). I still hate commuting and relish the fact I can do a lot of work remotely, but getting people together in a physical room has a different vibe from even the best-facilitated online sessions.
The (mainly taller) yellow bar in the graph shows this year’s gross income vs last year’s white bar. Content strategy and design have been my biggest areas of work, with training, discoveries and copywriting coming in behind. It doesn’t take into account that some of this has gone straight out again to associates, and my costs have been higher as I’ve invested in training too, but it’s overall a much healthier place to be in for me, after a series of quieter years. I’ve continued reviewing intranet software, including my independent work for the Clearbox reports . I love speaking, and paid opportunities have started to come my way.
Speaking of speaking
A real highlight of my year was getting to participate in Marcus John Henry Brown’s Speakery summit, which I wrote a long love-letter about back in September. It was a really remarkable event, made me rethink how I deliver presentations, and informed the session I did at IABC Turbocharge, which I think might have been my best yet. This glorious write-up from Lucy Eckley suggests I might be onto something here with my accessible approach. I also need to do a write up about the magic of going to my first #Congregation last week, after a chance conversation in the breakouts at Turbocharge.
SharePoint, AI, accessibility
29% is much higher than last year’s 8.6% working on AI related projects, and probably higher than I’d realised before looking at the statistics, too. Accessible content design and training is something that has also been ticking along, although so far have been much smaller projects – some of that is carrying over into FY25/26, and a lot of it involves *stage whisper* PowerPoint!
However, the biggest story in the numbers is the 56% revenue about SharePoint. Not intranets, generally, but specifically SharePoint sites, making accessible content strategy, template design and updates. This time last year I had no real concept of just how much of my time and energy this year it would consume; thank you Simon Thompson for joining me on this quest.
I’ve been bowled away by the improvements and possibilities now in modern SP Online. Flexible sections are a game-changer, but open up editors to all sorts of inaccessible fiddly shenanigans if you’re not careful. The editorial cards that Susan Hanley told me about at Kurt‘s brilliant IntraTeam event have been invaluable to improve on-page presentation too. Sitting around a table in a pub and in a meeting room in Denmark with this bunch of brilliant consultants helped me reinforce my knowledge, know my worth and it was fabulous to share experiences with such brilliant intranerds.
You are not the user until you are
This week I went to Interact’s last comms event of the year, where I got to listen to some fab practitioners, catch up with folks I’d not seen in AGES at the very fancy St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, and be reminded of the absolute joy of the first time you find your people at a comms conference.
I remember my first intranet conference was run by Interact who know how to put on events, many moons ago, on my birthday. This year, Fanny Le-Tanter called me iconic, in actual writing, in her post on how it was her first comms conference, so that’s going with me to retirement.
It can be easy to get laissez faire about the importance of events when you hear speakers saying things you’ve heard before – or when you see stuff posted on LinkedIn being written as a “new” discovery when it’s something you’ve been working on for years. The thing is, so many folks don’t have that network to tap into – or even realise it’s there, until you do.
Here I am wanging on about connection again
After the event I staged an ambitious crossover and brought some intranerds I know along to the WB-40 Christmas dinner. It’s definitely a crossover, not a takeover. I love being part of the WB-40 Podcast community. What Matt Ballantine and Chris Weston created is really special. It brings together folks who work in and around business and tech, and is one of, as Andrew Doran says, my “favourite places on the internet”.
Every gig and opportunity I got this year was through someone I know. From the channels and networks I’ve been an active participant in over the years, making connections, like the brilliant Jane Ruffino, helping people solve problems and connect them to the right people. And a lot of that has been repeat business, with people I’ve worked with or for before, like Christine Cawthorne as well as other brilliant clients (thank you for trusting me with your work.
I know that markets and priorities change immediately. I’ve had lots of conversations with folks recently who’ve noticed clients ghosting, deferring, or closing down altogether again.
After a year like this, reflecting on what’s to come for the year ahead, it’s Interesting Times with some real excitement in the mix. I am delighted to say I already have a few speaking gigs lined up next year and look forward to Matisse joining me in the UK for some of them, too.
What has your year been like? Do you need support in 2026? If you’re looking for someone who can talk, train and deliver on accessible content and communications get in touch! I’m on lisa [@] lisariemers.com or connect on LinkedIn.
