Monday, November 09, 2026
Making It Happen is a self-paced video masterclass on six implementation skills, priced at $297 with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Here is what is in it, who it suits, who should skip it, and how to use it in 30 days.
Payday is Friday, and the invoice you’re relying on still hasn’t landed. You’ve done the mental maths four times today. Nobody else in the business knows, because you’re the only one who ever sees the full picture — which means you’re also the only one carrying it. This is a story about someone who wants to sleep properly on a Thursday night, but the obstacle isn’t the cash gap itself. It’s that you’re the only one who owns it.
You’re in good company, even if it doesn’t feel like it at 11pm. In the US, 41% of small business owners name the gap between money coming in and bills going out as their single biggest stressor — ahead of taxes and payroll (Bluevine, Feb–Mar 2026, 781 owners). Most of them are carrying it exactly the way you are: alone, silently, and later than they should.
I’m not here to sell you reassurance. I’m here to show you why the ownership itself, not just the number, is the thing worth fixing.
Most owners believe the cash gap is theirs to solve privately, because admitting it out loud feels like admitting failure. So it stays unspoken — not raised with a partner, not flagged to the team, not said out loud to anyone who could actually help think it through. The problem isn’t the number. It’s that nobody else is allowed to own it alongside you.
Sir John Whitmore popularised a coaching structure called GROW — Goal, Reality, Options, Will — built on a simple idea: a good coach doesn’t hand you answers, they ask the questions that make you own the plan yourself. Goal: what does “sorted” actually look like by Friday? Reality: what’s the real number, not the hopeful one? Options: what are the three or four real moves available, including the uncomfortable ones? Will: which one will you actually commit to doing this week?
There’s a principle the Ritz-Carlton built its whole service culture on: every single staff member owns the customer’s problem the moment they hear about it, not just the person whose job it technically is. The lesson translates directly to a cash gap — the moment you say the number out loud to a coach, it stops being only your problem. Someone else is now accountable for helping you work it through, which changes how fast you actually move on it.
"One of the highlight presentations during OMP. Really enjoyed your wisdom and insight — thanks Kevin!"
— Liz Wotherspoon, Director, The Icehouse
You already know talking about it would help. The reason you haven’t is that it feels like admitting you’re not coping, and most owners would rather look like they’ve got it handled. A coach isn’t there to judge the number. They’re there to run the GROW conversation with you before Friday arrives, not after, so the next cash gap gets caught in week one, not week four.
This isn’t for you if you’d rather solve it entirely in your own head. The GROW model only works if you’re willing to say the real number to someone else first.
If you’re the only one who owns the cash gap in your business, that’s the first thing a Simple-Growth coaching conversation changes.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
An executive coach develops you as a leader. A business coach works on the business. A fair, source-linked guide for US owners, with best-for and not-ideal-if for every option.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
Not every stuck business has a mindset problem, and not every one has a strategy problem. Here is how NZ owners can tell which kind of coach they need now, and why the best ones do both.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
A franchise network or an independent coach? Here is who each suits, what is publicly known about cost and guarantees, and the questions to ask before you sign. Checked 1 November 2026.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
New 2026 research shows SME owners earning most of their revenue from repeat customers are nearly four times more likely to be profitable than those chasing new customers alone. Here is the simple shift that changes the number that matters.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
Management Capability Development funding can cover up to half of one-to-one business training for eligible NZ businesses. Here is who qualifies, what it covers, what it does not, and the order to do things in.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
Revenue can climb for years while the business quietly becomes more dependent on you, not less. Here's the growth driver most SME owners never put on their own dashboard.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
You cancelled the weekend away again. If you can't step away long enough to ask whether a coach is worth it, that's not a reason to skip the question — it's the reason to ask it.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
94% of NZ owners say they're not reaching their business goals. Not from lack of effort — from nowhere to see progress. Here's the visible scoreboard that fixes it.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
If every deal needs your personal persuasion to close, you don't have a sales process — you have a treadmill. Here's how to fix the offer so it does some of the selling for you.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
A positioning statement sits in a folder. Distinctiveness lives in the details customers actually notice. Here's the gap between knowing your difference and being remembered for it.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
Saying yes to every enquiry feels safer than growth. It isn't. Here's the strategic choice — who you're actually playing to win with — that most SME owners never make on purpose.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
Most NZ businesses are owner-run and many have no staff, so advice has to fit one person's week. Here is how coaches, consultants, mentors and peer groups differ, what is publicly known about cost, and how RBPN funding can help. Checked 1 November 2026.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
Four well-known ways to get help growing your business, compared on who each suits, what is publicly known about cost, and the seven questions to ask before you sign. Checked 1 November 2026.
Saturday, October 31, 2026
Most SME owners have a 12-month plan for the business but no vision for their own life. Here is a simple 3-step fix, plus the research behind it.
Saturday, October 31, 2026
US owners lose 33 working days a year to financial worry, mostly from not knowing their numbers. Here's the 2-number Monday check that closes the gap.