Saturday, November 14, 2026
40% of US owners have considered giving up their business this year (Xero, 2026). Kevin's own wins-and-losses story shows SME owners why doubt isn't failure.
Last updated 14 November 2026. Published by Simple-Growth (Motherbase Limited). Market: United States.
This is a story about an owner who wants to believe they're built for this — but who lay awake last night genuinely wondering if they can keep doing it. You haven't said that out loud to anyone. Not your partner, not your accountant, definitely not your team. You've just kept showing up, looking steady, while quietly doing the maths on how much longer you can carry this feeling before something has to change. You're not weak for wondering. You're paying attention.
40% of US small business owners have considered giving up their business altogether, and owners lose an average of 33 working days a year to tax and financial stress, according to Xero's 2026 Emotional Tax Return research (Xero, US, 2026). If four in ten owners have genuinely thought about walking away, "not sure I can keep this up" isn't a rare, shameful thought. It's closer to the median experience of actually running a business — just one almost nobody says out loud, because the story we tell about successful owners has no room in it for doubt.
Kevin is open with every client about this, because he's lived it: across nine companies founded or co-founded, some have been genuine wins and some have been genuine failures. He doesn't frame the failures as a prelude to the wins, or a story that only makes sense in hindsight. "Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn" is how he actually talks about it — not as motivational framing, but as the honest shape of what thirty-plus years in business has actually looked like, including the parts that cost him money and sleep at the time.
That reframe matters because the alternative — treating every hard month as evidence you're failing at something other owners have figured out — is what actually drains people, not the hard month itself. The owners Kevin's coached who come back from a genuinely brutal stretch tend to do one specific thing differently: they stop asking "what's wrong with me" and start asking "what is this one thing teaching me, and who can I say that out loud to." That second question is the entire job of a good coach — not to remove the hard months, but to make sure you're not carrying them in silence, telling yourself a story no outsider would actually agree with if they saw the whole picture.
"Keeping me sane and focused during uncertain times."
Rachel Williams
Icehouse Coaching Programme
Saying it out loud feels like admitting the business — or you — have failed, so most owners manage the doubt privately, which is exactly the condition that makes it heaviest. This isn't for you if you've already got someone you tell the truth to every week, no performance, no spin — some owners genuinely have that, and it shows in how they carry hard months. It's for the owner who's been performing "fine" for months, to their team, their family, and themselves, because nobody's ever made it safe to say otherwise.
Yes — 40% of US small business owners surveyed in 2026 said they'd considered giving up their business altogether. The feeling is common; it's rarely discussed, which is what makes it feel unusual.
Saying it honestly to someone outside the day-to-day — a coach, a mentor, a trusted peer — rather than carrying it silently while performing "fine" for your team and family.
Regularly. Kevin is open that across nine companies founded or co-founded, some were genuine wins and some were genuine failures — doubt and real achievement are not opposites.
If you've been performing "fine" for longer than you'd admit, that's your real starting point.
Friday, November 13, 2026
Three self-paced programs, three different jobs: faster sales, finishing what you plan, or deciding where the business is going. Prices, guarantees and a four-question chooser.
Friday, November 13, 2026
Four kinds of help, four different jobs. Here is what each one does, what it costs you in time and money, who it suits, and six questions that settle the choice.
Thursday, November 12, 2026
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Thursday, November 12, 2026
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Thursday, November 12, 2026
A practical two-week away test for owners who cannot switch off: name the few calls only you can make, write down the rest, pick one weekly number, then step away and log every interruption.
Thursday, November 12, 2026
Owners working 60-plus hours a week are 12x more likely to say the business has seriously damaged their personal life (BizCover, Australia, 2026). The Freedom Ledger shows SME owners how to build hours that actually buy freedom.
Thursday, November 12, 2026
Regional chambers now run business training, some with the Icehouse, and many carry Regional Business Partner funding. Here is what a Hamilton programme and a Nelson workshop actually offered, who each suits, and when a coach by video call is the better fit.
Thursday, November 12, 2026
New Zealand unemployment rose to 5.7% in the September 2026 quarter. More people are looking for work, but that does not make every hire a good one. Here is how to choose between a hire, a better system or a coach, with five questions and a 30-day plan.
Thursday, November 12, 2026
61% of surveyed US business owners have never had their company valued. The real cost isn't at exit — it's every day you're building something that might be worth nothing without you in the room.
Thursday, November 12, 2026
You've known for weeks exactly what needs doing. You still haven't started. Here's why "just do it" doesn't work, and the question that actually does.
Thursday, November 12, 2026
You fix the same problem for the third time this year. Here's why most SME "lessons learned" evaporate — and the 70-20-10 rule that makes them stick instead.
Thursday, November 12, 2026
You follow up on every lead the same way, hoping persistence wins the deal. The best salespeople do something closer to the opposite — and it's why they close more while working less.
Thursday, November 12, 2026
4 in 5 US small business owners say their marketing is only "somewhat" effective, at best. A one-sentence positioning exercise, borrowed from brand strategist Marty Neumeier, shows SME owners why.
Thursday, November 12, 2026
You keep hearing "we went with the cheaper option." It feels like a price problem. It's actually a sameness problem — and a one-sentence fix, borrowed from first-principles thinking, can solve it before your next quote.
Thursday, November 12, 2026
Strategic Coach publishes a price and an eligibility bar. Here is what the Signature Program offers, who it suits, who should look elsewhere, and six questions to ask before you choose.