Tuesday, November 03, 2026
Scaling Up gives a leadership team a four-decision platform. Coaching finds the one constraint to fix first. Here is who each suits, what is public on cost, and six questions to ask. Checked 3 November 2026.
The expansion decision. The new hire. The second site. It's been "under review" for three months. The spreadsheet's been updated four times, and nothing genuinely new has changed in the last three weeks — just the same fear, running on repeat, dressed up as diligence.
You're not alone in this. 68% of US small business owners say they've delayed or avoided a major decision — hiring, expansion, the obvious next move — out of fear of getting it wrong (Bluevine 2026 Business Owner Success Survey, 781 US owners). The growth you're waiting to feel ready for is usually the growth that's actually waiting on you.
Most stalled growth decisions aren't actually about the decision — they're about waiting for a level of certainty that was never coming. A growth call isn't a maths problem with one correct answer sitting there to be found with enough analysis. It's a bet, made with the best information available right now. Treating it like a maths problem is what keeps the spreadsheet open for another month.
I'm a recovering perfectionist. I used to redraft emails endlessly, chasing a version that felt finished, until I learned the rule that changed how I work: it can't work for you until it's in the public domain. Now I publish at 70 to 80% ready, and improve it live, instead of waiting for a certainty that never actually arrives. The business that waits for 100% confidence before moving is the business that moves last.
Based on fighter pilot John Boyd's OODA Loop, built for decisions made under genuine uncertainty: Observe what's actually true right now, Orient it against your goal, Decide the next move with the information you've got, then Act — and loop back fast rather than analysing forever before the first move.
"Kevin is a master of his craft... Participants don't just sit and listen; they leave buzzing with breakthrough ideas and simplified, highly effective growth strategies. Most importantly, Kevin leaves people profoundly inspired, fully equipped, and fiercely motivated to drive their businesses forward. He is the standard-setter!"
— Darilyn Kane, Coaching and Advisory Lead, The Icehouse
Owners usually know, intellectually, that waiting for certainty is a trap. They stall anyway, because a wrong growth call feels personal in a way a wrong call at a big company doesn't — there's no committee to share the blame. That's exactly where an outside perspective earns its place: not to make the decision for you, but to stop you running the same loop of analysis for the fourth time.
This isn't for you if the decision is genuinely irreversible and high-stakes — selling the business, a personal guarantee. Slow down properly for those. This is for the growth moves owners stall on purely out of fear, which is most of them.
You could take the shortcut and skip the mistakes made the hard way. The next growth decision doesn't need to be perfect. It needs a date — and that date could be this week.
Be the owner who sets a date and makes the growth decision, instead of waiting to feel certain.
If the same growth decision has been "under review" for months, that's the first thing Kevin will work on with you.
Monday, October 19, 2026
A new survey says 53% of small business owners are stuck on finding customers. Here's the one-question test that finds out whether that's really your constraint, or just the easiest one to blame.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
ActionCOACH, Business Blueprint, government-backed advice and independent coaches compared fairly for Australian owners, with best-for and not-ideal-if for each.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
An executive coach develops you as a leader. A business coach works on the business itself. Here is how to tell which one an NZ SME owner needs before paying for either.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Most SME owners can tell you their revenue. Almost none can tell you which customers are actually making them a profit. New 2026 research shows why that gap is the real growth problem, and a three-step fix.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
The average small business gets 27 percent of revenue from one customer. Here is the three-question check that tells you whether your growth is real, or just concentration in disguise.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Coaching can return seven times its cost, PwC research suggests, but rarely from where owners expect. Here is where the real ROI on a business coach actually shows up.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Gallup found managers think they give weekly feedback, their teams say otherwise. See why your business systems depend on a conversation most owners are avoiding.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
56 percent of stalled B2B deals end in no decision, not a lost sale to a competitor. Here is why your prospects go quiet after saying yes, and the direct question that gets them talking again.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
The median landing page converts at 6.6 percent, and most SME websites never get close. Here is what the top quartile actually does differently, and why fixing it beats spending more on ads.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
Most growth plans start with last year's number plus a guess. Here is the three-number market-sizing check that separates a real plan from a wish list.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Nearly 8 in 10 small business owners say long-term planning feels harder than ever. The usual fix, a better template, isn't the one that works — here's the exercise that fixes it before you build the plan.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
NZ retail lifted productivity 9.1% without adding hours, while national output per employee fell. Here's how to grow revenue before you grow headcount.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Most owners expect a coach to fix things in week one. Here's what actually happens in the first 90 days, and why that structure is the real breakthrough.
Friday, October 16, 2026
A 2026 Bain survey found fewer than half of CEOs believe their company can execute fast enough, even with full teams and budgets behind them. Here is the weekly rhythm that turns a good plan into tracked progress for an owner running the show solo.
Friday, October 16, 2026
A bank survey found 98% of small business owners do not know their company's value. Most shrug because they are not selling. That is the mistake: the work that lifts value is the same work that lifts growth right now.