Keeping It Simple
The fastest, simplest ways to grow your business - no jargon, no fluff. Practical strategies that actually work for SME owners in the USA, New Zealand, and worldwide.
Monday, October 05, 2026
There is no single best business coach in the USA. Here are five criteria for choosing one, a fair look at the main formats, and why an outside perspective can change what you see in your own business.
Most business owners plan for the year ahead in January. By then, Q4 is already over, the opportunities it contained have already closed, and whatever mistakes were made are locked in. The owners who consistently outperform their peers don't plan for Q4 in Q4. They plan for it now — in September, while there's still time to act on what they find.
This isn't a productivity hack. It's a structural advantage. And most of your competitors aren't doing it.
The Enemy: The January Blank Page
January planning is reactive by design. You're looking back at what went wrong, forward at a year that hasn't started yet, and trying to build a roadmap with no momentum under you. The blank page feels like a fresh start. It's actually a missed window.
The problem with January planning is that it arrives after Q4 — the most commercially significant quarter for most businesses. Retail, FMCG, hospitality, professional services: the decisions that determine Q4 outcomes are made in September and October. Supplier negotiations, staffing levels, promotional calendars, ranging decisions, campaign timing. By November, the plan is already in motion. By January, you're analysing results you could no longer have influenced.
According to research by Harvard Business Review, companies that conduct structured mid-year strategy reviews are significantly more likely to hit their annual targets than those that review only annually — because they catch drift early, while there's still runway to correct it.
The Framework: The September Strategy Reset
The September Strategy Reset is a structured half-day review that closes out the first two-thirds of the year with honest assessment, and opens the next quarter with a written plan that has teeth.
Here's how Kevin runs it with clients:
"He really got our vision from the beginning and has been a huge help in putting together a clearer plan and strategy for the next five years. Working with Kevin D'Ambros-Smith has given us the space to pause and reflect — on where we are now, where we want to be and how we get there."
— Gabby Kirk, Papier Hq
The Execution Gap
Most owners know they should plan further ahead. Most don't. The reason isn't laziness — it's a lack of protected time and a lack of a structured process to run when that time exists. The September Strategy Reset solves both problems. It's a defined process, it takes half a day, and it produces a written output that guides the next 90 days.
The owners who do this consistently don't describe it as a discipline. They describe it as the thing that finally made planning feel worth doing — because it's connected to real decisions, not aspirational targets.
Start This Week
- Pull your YTD revenue, retention, and capacity numbers today — before you do anything else
- Identify your single biggest Q4 constraint and write it in one sentence
- Block a half-day in the next two weeks for the full September Strategy Reset
- Share the output with your leadership team or your coach — accountability is what turns a plan into an outcome
If your business still plans once a year in January, Q4 is already harder than it needs to be. The September Strategy Reset changes that — and it starts with a conversation.
Kevin D’Ambros-Smith
Kevin is the founder of Simple-Growth and a business growth coach with experience at DDB, Ogilvy, and Saatchi & Saatchi. He has co-founded 9 companies, coached 200+ business owners one-on-one, and holds a 9.5/10 NPS. Every article on this blog reflects real-world experience - no theory, no fluff.
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Monday, October 05, 2026
There is no single best business coach in the USA. Here are five criteria for choosing one, a fair look at the main formats, and why an outside perspective can change what you see in your own business.
Monday, October 05, 2026
Eighty-four percent of small business owners sacrifice health or relationships to their business, new 2026 data shows. Here is the Transferability Number test that shows why, and what to fix first.
Monday, October 05, 2026
You're about to have your busiest quarter of the year. If nobody's planned for it, your bank balance is about to go the wrong way at exactly the moment the business looks like it's winning.
Monday, October 05, 2026
Ask most owners what they do and they'll answer instantly. Ask them why their business exists, beyond making money, and watch the pause. That pause is costing you customers, hires and referrals.
Monday, October 05, 2026
Ask your team to name the business's single most important goal this quarter. Five different answers from five people means you have one problem, not twelve: nobody knows what the goal actually is.
Monday, October 05, 2026
You trained your team to build rapport and never push, and your best customer last quarter still went with the competitor who pushed them to rethink the brief. Here's why relationship-selling is the weakest profile in B2B sales.
Monday, October 05, 2026
You've boosted the posts, hired the agency, rewritten the website twice, and the phone still isn't ringing. Before you spend another dollar, ask whether a stranger could explain what makes you different in one sentence.
Monday, October 05, 2026
Your competitor just launched the move you'd been 'finalising' for six months. Here's the fifty-year-old decision framework that fixes the real problem: not your strategy, your decision speed.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
EOS, Scaling Up, Vistage, ActionCOACH or Simple-Growth? A fair comparison with best-for and not-ideal-if for each option, a fit matrix and a nine-question quiz.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
What does a business coach cost in New Zealand? Published monthly and hourly ranges, cheaper options, how RBPN co-funding can help, and a checklist for judging value.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
New 2026 global research shows trust alone only earns a brand 48 percent acceptance into new territory - relevance takes it to 71 percent. Here is the two-question test that finds the real gap before you spend on expansion.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
The personal touch that built your reputation at ten staff quietly becomes the bottleneck that breaks it at thirty. Here is how to turn a habit into a system before it costs you.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
Most owners check star ratings and warm adjectives before hiring a coach. Here is the three-detail test that tells you whether a review is evidence or decoration.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
The Christmas shutdown is about eleven weeks away. Here is the one-page-per-role handover document that decides whether you actually switch off this year.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
The biggest sales research study ever run found the best reps ask, they don't tell. Here is the SPIN method, and the four questions that come before any pitch.