Sunday, November 08, 2026
Coaching is largely unregulated, so the vetting is yours to do. Here are 12 questions to ask any business coach in NZ before you sign, with what a good answer sounds like.
Short answer: Making It Happen is a self-paced online masterclass for a one-time US$297 payment. It is built for owners who already know roughly what to do and keep not doing it. If your real problem is that you do not yet know where the business is heading, start with Know Your Future instead. If you need a quick sales lift, look at Quick Wins.
A disclosure first: Simple-Growth publishes this guide and sells Making It Happen, so read it with that in mind. Everything about the program below comes from its live sales page, opened on 10 November 2026.
The sales page describes self-paced video training, pre-made templates, a key points summary, real-world examples from large and small businesses, and Kevin D'Ambros-Smith's practical tips. A workbook is mentioned in an image caption only. The page lists six modules:
The page does not state a total running time, video count or module length, so we cannot tell you how many hours it takes. Payment is $297 once, and the page offers a 30-day money-back guarantee: if it is not useful, you can ask for a refund.
Planning is rarely the bottleneck. The U.S. Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey (data collected 14 December 2025 to 3 May 2026) found that AI use among US businesses stayed between 17% and 20%, and that firms with four or fewer employees were below 20%. Our reading, which is a judgment and not a Census finding: a tool that exists but is not being used is an implementation gap, and that gap is common in small firms where the owner is also the person doing the work.
How much does Making It Happen cost? US$297 as a single payment, with a 30-day money-back guarantee according to the sales page.
How long does it take? The sales page does not say. It is self-paced, so you set the speed.
Is it the same as coaching? No. It is recorded training with templates. Coaching adds a person who diagnoses your constraint and holds you to account.
Can I talk to someone before buying? Yes. Kevin offers a free 30-minute call, and there is no obligation.
Results vary and depend on the work you put in; nothing here is a guarantee.
Next step: See Making It Happen · Take the five-question check first · Book a free 30-minute call · All online programs · Growth tips hub
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Large Firms With at Least 20 Employees Biggest AI Users (May 2026) · Making It Happen sales page
Checked 10 November 2026. Last updated 10 November 2026.
Friday, October 09, 2026
A new market, a new product line, a second location: most lose money the same way, by skipping the three numbers that would have told them how big the opportunity really was.
Friday, October 09, 2026
Most people picture coaching as a conversation. The sessions that actually move a business are a loop, repeated every week, until it becomes how the owner thinks.
Friday, October 09, 2026
A forty-item to-do list with none of the three that mattered finished is not a time management problem. It is a filter problem, and the Eisenhower Matrix is the filter.
Friday, October 09, 2026
A good salesperson gets four real conversations a day. A good presentation, given once, can reach four hundred. Here is why most SME sales teams never use it.
Friday, October 09, 2026
Customers do not leave because a competitor shouted louder. They leave because, in the exact moment they needed someone, your brand was not the one they thought of.
Friday, October 09, 2026
Most SME owners track one number: the bank balance. The businesses that compound track four, using Kaplan and Norton's Balanced Scorecard, and catch the problem before it ever reaches the bank account.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Nearly half of NZ SME owners plan to raise prices this year. Only 4 percent of companies have a value proposition clear enough to justify it.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Revenue can climb for years while the actual value of the business barely moves. Here are the eight drivers that decide which one you are really building, and why owner independence usually matters most.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
If every session with your coach leaves you comfortable, that is the warning sign, not the proof it is working. Here is why direct feedback outperforms kind feedback, backed by Gallup's data.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
A global survey of over 10,000 workers found trusted employees nearly twice as productive as distrusted ones. If your calendar fixes keep failing, the real constraint may be trust, not time.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Most sales conversations present cheapest to most expensive. New research found flipping that order lifted revenue by 10.8 percent, with no price changes at all. Here is how to use it.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Most SME marketing budgets are weighted toward customers who already buy. The research says that is the smaller lever. Here is where brand growth actually comes from, and how to redirect your spend toward it.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Most SME strategy problems are not thinking problems, they are seeing problems. Here is the one-page model that catches the two mistakes that quietly kill most growing businesses before they show up in the bank account.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Four pillars, one real constraint and a 90-day plan. Here is how the Simple-Growth System works, plus a 45-minute test you can run this week.