'Swings and roundabouts': Five things we learned this week

You may have noticed that I'm a little later than usual posting this week. There's just been so much learning. Shall we dive straight in?

5. What to do with no loved-up elephants in the room

Spare a thought for independent restaurants this weekend. Normally they'd be gearing up for an influx of doe-eyed couples accidentally setting fire to their menus because they can't stop staring at each other. Not this year, however. As one chef and restaurant owner in Devon tweeted, however, it's swings and roundabouts. Sorry, #SwingsAndRoundabouts.

Simon Hulstone, who manages The Elephant in Torquay, can normally accommodate 20 couples. On Sunday, though, he'll be cooking Valentine's specials for 150 - such is the magic of the enforced takeaway model. "In reality it's one day of almost 100 that we are due to be closed so we really need to take advantage of the situation," he told BBC News.

4. How to find happiness as well as success

I've been reading a fair bit about happiness recently. Derren Brown reckons the Stoics worked out how to live a good, happy life. Sapiens author Yuval Noah Harari has a slightly more clinical definition of what happiness is - in that it's basically determined by biochemical mechanisms: nerves, neurons, serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin. Shall we bring things back to business? Yes, let's.

Mike Ferguson, an incredibly valued member of the Enterprise Nation adviser community, has long wondered why happiness is surprisingly elusive for small business owners. By studying the lives and work of 150 professionals, he's concluded that it boils down to eight things. And yes, you do indeed have to click/tap/press this link to find out what they are.

3. New £2,000 grants will help SMEs deal with Brexit

SMEs that trade only with the EU - and are therefore new to importing and exporting processes - will be able to apply for £2,000 grants via the new SME Brexit Support Fund. The money can be used for training and advice on areas including customs, rules of origin and VAT rules.

"This is excellent news for small businesses that have been hit particularly hard by new export regulations," said Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones. "Enterprise Nation first called for this in 2016 because it was clear then that there would be an extra cost burden on micro and small firms."

2. Self-made women account for fewer than 5% of the world's biggest personal fortunes (but there is a new female billionaire in town)

According to statista, fewer than 12% of the world's billionaires are female. But there was a rare new addition to the club this week, in the form of Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd. Shares in the dating app - which lets women pick the men - started trading at $76, which increased the 31-year-old's wealth from £362 million to £1.1 billion.

Bumble, which Wolfe Herd founded in 2014, is recognised as a game changer in the online dating world. With the tag line "by women, for women", the app is surprisingly unusual in that it has a 50/50 ratio of men to women. Which, for a dating service, is pretty good news (Tinder, by contrast, has twice as many men as women).

1. How to choose the right type of small business funding

I'd need an extra hand to count how many types of funding there are targeted at small businesses. Sure, there are the obvious ones - Start Up Loans if you're starting out; small business loans, which might be good if you have a decent relationship with your bank; crowdfunding, if you want to raise money and test your idea.

But what about merchant funding, which may make sense if you have card terminals? Or invoice finance, which could work if you have cashflow issues waiting for invoices to be paid? Then there's asset finance, flexible lines of credit, fast business cash… the list goes on. This guide demystifies what's available, and links to a handy tool that allows you to discover funding choices tailored to your circumstances.