By Rupert Cox, chief executive of Somerset Chamber of Commerce.

I FIND it fascinating how risk-averse the average Brit is and that it often takes certain times of the year to stimulate us into making some of the big decisions in our lives.

New Year resolutions; giving things up for Lent; getting engaged at Christmas; looking for a new job or school in September; booking the summer holiday in January; moving house in the spring; or using your horoscope to make decisions.

Why do we have to use these mythical timelines to give us the confidence to make big decisions that are completely unrelated to the time of year in which the decision is made?

While it might be an interesting debate, it has become a marketer’s dream as they know when we are susceptible to change, and I have done the same in my work with Into Somerset.

One of our most successful campaigns to promote Somerset as a great place to work, live and do business was in September, 2010, when we targeted the poor souls who had spent their holiday period in Somerset or the South-West, and then found themselves standing on a train station in the London commuter belt, back in the rat race of city life.

The message was simple. You can have your Somerset holiday environment every day of your life, not just in July and August.

Are you one of those people who has to be cajoled by the calendar to make a big decision or do you possess the entrepreneurial spirit of the typical Somerset small business person who grasps an opportunity that is right for them at the right time?

I think I am the latter. I am a Taurian, of course, so the phrase ‘bull in a china shop’ sits quite well on my shoulders.

Happy decision-making!

Somerset Chamber of Commerce represents and works collaboratively with the Somerset business community to encourage strong, sustainable and creative alliances that promote members’ businesses, raise the profile of the county and help to lobby for greater influence for Somerset at all levels of government. See www.somerset-chamber.co.uk