Saturday, November 07, 2026
A rival just launched something close to yours and your stomach dropped. Here's Simon Sinek's Golden Circle, and the elevator test for finding the one sentence no competitor can copy.
Flat out for four months, then quiet enough to hear the till. If that's your business, you've probably told yourself it's just the nature of what you do — weather-dependent, seasonal, nothing to be done about it. In the US, 78% of seasonal businesses say they face a cash flow gap of three months or longer every single year, and more than six in ten say that gap has become harder to manage over the last three years, not easier (Crestmont Capital, US, 2026, 412 seasonal business owners). It isn't just you, and it isn't getting easier on its own.
The villain is the word "seasonal" itself, used as an excuse rather than a problem to solve. Off-season revenue for seasonal US businesses falls an average of 54% below peak — a number that sounds inevitable right up until you meet a business that refused to accept it.
What you'll miss, left as it is: another ten weeks every year spent hoping the phone rings, instead of ten weeks with a plan already running.
A mountain bike park client of mine had, by the time we'd mapped it properly, eleven separate revenue streams feeding one business — not by accident, by design. One of those streams was season passes: 730 of them, with 300 already locked in from returning riders, leaving 430 to sell in a ten-week window before the season opened. Broken down, that's six passes a day, every day, not "sell as many as we can and hope." Six a day is a target you can actually manage; "as many as possible" isn't.
The same business ran one of the simplest KPIs I've ever set with a client: the on-site mechanic offered fifty customers a free bike check. One number, tracked weekly. Repairs went up. Rentals went up. Accidents went down. One small, deliberately chosen number, smoothing a business that used to run entirely on weather.
"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."
— Darilyn Kane, Coaching and Advisory Lead, The Icehouse
This isn't for you if "that's just our busy season" is where the thinking stops. It is for you if you're ready to make the quiet months pay their way too.
If your business only really works four months of the year, that's exactly the kind of constraint we'd start with.
Sunday, September 06, 2026
A 2026 survey of 1,500 business owners found 32% have never taken a full week off. Kevin D'Ambros-Smith on why that's a systems problem, not dedication — and what the regret data reveals about coaching and support.
Sunday, September 06, 2026
Most SME growth plans have one forecast and no backup. Here's how to build a 90-day roadmap with base, stretch, and contraction scenarios — plus the trigger points that tell you when to act.
Friday, September 04, 2026
New 2026 data shows only 6% of SME owners feel ready to grow. Kevin D'Ambros-Smith breaks down why the barriers everyone blames are shared by every owner — and what actually separates the 6% who feel ready.
Friday, September 04, 2026
88% of business leaders are confident about growth in 2026 — the highest since 2019. But 74% worry about cybersecurity and only 12% plan on a rolling basis. Here's why confidence without a planning system is exposure, not readiness.
Friday, September 04, 2026
Landing the big account feels like the win that changes everything. Here's how to spot customer concentration risk before one client's decision decides your year.
Friday, September 04, 2026
"It felt useful" isn't a return on coaching. Here's how to actually measure whether a business coaching engagement is working — and what to do if it isn't.
Friday, September 04, 2026
Decision fatigue, not hours worked, is what wrecks an owner's judgment by Thursday. Here's how to batch routine decisions and protect the ones that actually need you.
Friday, September 04, 2026
The highest-probability sale in your business is sitting in your existing customer file. Here's how to systemise cross-sell and upsell instead of leaving it to chance.
Friday, September 04, 2026
Claims about your own business don't convert — customer proof does. Here's how to systemise the kind of proof that actually moves prospects, on any marketing budget.
Friday, September 04, 2026
A new 2026 survey of 1,305 owners found only 20% would trust AI alone with a major growth decision — most still want a human in the room. Here's what that, and what owners really call "winning," means for your business.
Friday, September 04, 2026
Most owners build strategy around growth targets, not whether the business would survive a buyer's due diligence. Here's why the exit-ready test is the sharpest strategy audit you're not running.
Friday, September 04, 2026
Hiring too early burns cash on capacity you don't need yet; hiring too late caps growth before anyone admits it. Here's how to time headcount off real capacity signals instead of a gut feeling.
Friday, September 04, 2026
Friends validate the decision you've already made. A good coach asks what's actually underneath it. Here's why that single question is the real value of business coaching — and why it's meant to be uncomfortable.
Friday, September 04, 2026
Constant switching between finance, sales, and operations quietly drains an SME owner's decision quality all day long. Here's how day-theming groups similar work together and ends the context-switching tax.
Friday, September 04, 2026
A single price turns every sale into a yes-or-no decision on cost alone. Here's why packaging your offer into three tiers changes the conversation, protects margin, and closes more deals without discounting.