Thursday, November 05, 2026
An Auckland physiotherapy clinic wanted to stand apart from every other clinic. Here is the positioning, the work behind it, what we can and cannot say, and four steps to copy this month.
Every week Kevin gets some version of the same question from a founder comparing programmes: should I join a group coaching cohort or work with someone one-on-one? Most people answer it by budget, which is exactly backwards — the right answer depends on the stage your business is at, not what's left in the marketing line of your profit and loss statement. Get the format wrong and you can pay for the right advice in the wrong container and still barely move the needle. After running both formats himself, and referring clients into whichever one actually fits, Kevin's view is that the stage of your business predicts the right answer more reliably than almost anything else.
The assumption that group coaching and one-on-one coaching are simply different price points on the same product is where most owners go wrong. They're different tools solving different problems. Group coaching is powerful when the problem is common — pricing discipline, delegation, marketing fundamentals — because you learn as much from watching ten other owners solve it as from the material itself. One-on-one is powerful when the problem is specific to your business — a leadership team not functioning, a pivot decision, a founder conflict — because nobody else in a room of ten needs to hear the details of your cap table.
1. Name the problem — Write down the single biggest thing holding growth back right now. Be specific, not "everything."
2. Ask if it's common or unique — Would fifty other SME owners in different industries recognise this exact problem? If yes, it's likely a group-coaching problem. If it's specific to your team, your numbers, or your history, it needs one-on-one.
3. Check the stage, not just the topic — Pre-$1M businesses usually get more from group cohorts, where the fundamentals still apply broadly. Past the first team-led transition, most owners need the specificity one-on-one provides.
The businesses that get this wrong most often are the ones who join a group programme for a problem that was actually unique to them, and leave saying coaching "didn't work" — when the format, not the coaching, was the mismatch.
"You make success tangible. Help me go from a wish to reality. Now have clarity of purpose and belief. You made tripling the size of my business go from seeming impossible to really possible."
— Lina, Good Gravy
Budget conversations happen before stage conversations, almost every time — group coaching is priced lower, so it gets chosen by default, regardless of whether the problem actually fits it. The honest fix is a conversation before enrolment, not after three sessions of frustration: what's actually broken, and which format was built to fix it. A good coach will tell you when their own group programme isn't the right fit for your specific problem — that's a signal worth paying attention to, not a sales objection to push past.
If you're not sure which format fits where your business is right now, that's a five-minute conversation worth having before you enrol in anything.
...and you become the owner who chooses the coaching format that fits your stage, not just your budget.
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Most small business owners already believe AI works, but barely one in ten has invested in using it properly. Here is the simple ladder for turning casual AI use into real, compounding productivity gains.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Vet and allied health practices rarely have a clinical problem. Here is how to find the real constraint, keep patients returning and build a 90-day growth plan.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Most SME owners are fixing the wrong problem. Here's the 3-step method that finds the one constraint actually holding your growth back, before you spend another dollar.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
A third of US small business owners say they don't know whether they have the tools — AI included — to grow next year. That's not a confidence problem, it's a visibility one, and it's fixable in an afternoon.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Confidence up a quarter, down the next, tariffs easing then tightening — waiting for certainty is its own decision, and usually the wrong one. Here's a simple way to keep deciding well when the ground keeps moving.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
There's one role almost every SME owner has avoided filling for a year or more — while quietly doing it themselves instead. Here's the Who Not How framework, and the three-step test that makes the hire obvious.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
They nodded, asked great questions, said it's exactly what they need — then disappeared. Here's why warmth isn't a buying signal, and the three-message sequence that gets stalled deals talking again.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Most SME marketing describes the product and targets a demographic — and both miss why people actually buy. Here's the Jobs To Be Done framework, and how to find the job your business is really being hired to do.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Nearly half of businesses miss the target they set for themselves — and it's rarely because the team didn't try hard enough. Here's the three-number check that builds a 2027 target you can actually hit.
Monday, October 26, 2026
ActionCOACH, an EOS Implementer or an independent coach? A fair, source-linked guide for US owners, with a six-question test to match the help to your biggest constraint.
Monday, October 26, 2026
Gallup's 2026 global workplace data shows manager engagement is collapsing faster than everyone else's. Here's the research-backed 3-step fix for SME owners wearing the manager hat too.
Monday, October 26, 2026
Only about a third of seasonal businesses hold enough cash to cover their leanest months before the slow season hits. Here's the ten-minute reserve check before this year's peak trade.
Monday, October 26, 2026
A well-known coaching ROI study found a $7.90 return per $1 spent. Here's an honest look at where that number comes from, and what actually transfers to an SME owner.
Monday, October 26, 2026
Only around 20% of companies complete 80% of their strategic goals, and fewer than half of employees know what's expected of them. Here's how OKRs fix that at SME scale.
Monday, October 26, 2026
Bain research shows winning a new customer can cost up to 25 times more than keeping one you already have. Here's the CLV/CAC discipline that flips where your sales effort goes.