Saturday, October 31, 2026
US owners lose 33 working days a year to financial worry, mostly from not knowing their numbers. Here's the 2-number Monday check that closes the gap.
It's 9pm and you're still working the phone. Another follow-up text, another "just checking in," another deal that needs one more push to close. You tell yourself the hustle is the job. Some nights you wonder if you can keep doing this.
Before you add another hour to the chase, ask a harder question: is the offer doing any of the selling, or is it all you?
Nine companies founded or co-founded, some very successful and some outright failures, taught me the same lesson about sales every time: an owner who has to personally convince every customer doesn't have a sales process. They have a treadmill.
The advice everywhere says the same thing: more calls, more hours, more follow-up, more grit. Nobody tells you that if every deal needs your personal persuasion to close, the problem isn't your effort — it's what you're selling and how. Hustle papers over a weak offer. It never fixes one.
Alex Hormozi's Value Equation gives this a shape you can actually work with: value equals the dream outcome times the likelihood of achieving it, divided by the time it takes and the effort and sacrifice required. Every "almost closed" deal you're chasing right now is weak on one of those four. Chasing harder doesn't fix the equation. Changing it does.
I've built nine companies, and not all of them worked. The ones that struggled always had the same tell: I was the offer. The moment I stepped back, sales slowed, because nothing about what we sold made the decision easy without me in the room. The businesses that grew without burning me out were the ones where the offer did that work instead.
"Kevin is an absolute powerhouse! He doubled our business's profits in the first month alone with lots more of his recommendations still to be rolled out."
— Curtis Hacon, Give A Sh!t
Fixing an offer feels slower than making one more call, so exhausted owners keep calling instead. It's the wrong trade. An hour spent tightening the guarantee, the proof or the first step pays out on every deal after it; an hour spent chasing pays out once, if you're lucky, and leaves you exactly as tired tomorrow.
This isn't for you if you'd rather keep perfecting your pitch than look honestly at what you're pitching.
If you're exhausted from chasing and the close rate still isn't moving, the fix usually isn't more hustle.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Coach, consultant, mentor or advisor? How the four roles differ, which one suits an established NZ business, and the questions to ask before you pay.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Gallup's 2026 data shows global employee engagement fell to 20 percent, even in the best-performing regions. Here's the three-question check SME owners can run this week to find out where their own team really stands.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Everyone agrees December is too close to Christmas to prospect. One sales agency's own client data says the businesses that kept going saw 19 percent more leads the following January.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Most SME owners can describe next year's budget in detail and go quiet the moment you ask about year ten. A UK study of over 1,000 companies found that gap predicts success almost on its own.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Most SME owners build their people plan around courses. The research behind the 70-20-10 model says courses are the smallest lever you have, and it is worth knowing how shaky that research actually is.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
A lead called within five minutes is up to 100 times more likely to be contacted and 21 times more likely to qualify than one called 30 minutes later. Almost nobody does it.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Most SME owners think a logo is a brand. The agencies behind the world's biggest brands have never worked that way. Here is the five-layer model they actually use.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Nearly half of SMEs have run a SWOT analysis in the last two months, yet most cannot say it changed a single decision. Here is the simple matrix that turns the list into action.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Burger King once sold a one-cent Whopper only to people standing next to a McDonald's. Here is the under-$5k version any SME owner can run, and what a 1760s potter teaches about removing buying risk.
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Most small business owners feel confident about their sales pipeline right now. New research shows that confidence is measuring the wrong thing entirely.
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Rising revenue and a shrinking bank balance usually mean the same thing: one account doing the job of four. A simple account split fixes it before it becomes a crisis.
Saturday, October 10, 2026
A coaching style that worked in your first month can quietly become the wrong one by your twelfth. The best coaches change how they coach you as you change.
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Managers now spend over a fifth of their working week in meetings, and senior leaders admit most of it is wasted. A fixed meeting rhythm fixes more than your calendar.
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Most SME owners set ad budgets and discount limits by gut feel. One number, worked out properly, tells you exactly what a customer is worth and what you can afford to spend to win one.
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Most small businesses pour their whole marketing budget into this week's sale. The research on 30 years of advertising says that is exactly the wrong ratio.