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.
Search "business coach" and you'll drown in certification badges — ICF-accredited, NLP master practitioner, six-figure-mastermind graduate. None of it tells you whether the person behind the badge has ever met a payroll, negotiated with a bank, or fixed a business that was actually losing money. A certificate proves someone studied coaching. It says nothing about whether they've built anything, broken anything, or survived the version of your problem you're facing right now.
Credentials Versus Runs on the Board
The enemy here is a coaching industry that has, in places, optimised for credentialing over experience — because certificates are easier to sell than scar tissue. That doesn't mean structured coaching training has no value. It means credentials are the wrong first filter. The right first filter is a track record: what has this person actually built, and what happened when it went wrong? A coach who has sat in the boardrooms of McDonald's, IBM and Samsung, and separately built and sold nine companies of their own, brings something no certification can replicate — pattern recognition earned from real risk, not from a workshop.
The Real Vetting Checklist
Before you hire — or renew with — a business coach, run this checklist instead of asking for their certificate.
1. Ask what they've built, not what they've studied.
2. Ask for a failure, not just a win.
3. Ask them to diagnose your business in the first session.
4. Ask what changes in the first 90 days.
5. Check whether the advice survives Monday morning.
"Kevin is a master of his craft. From creating and facilitating high-impact 'Grow Your Business in 1-Day' workshops to elite sessions for our flagship Owner Manager Programme — Kevin delivers excellence across the board. He is a powerhouse presenter and facilitator who brings an explosive blend of energy and expertise to every room he steps into. 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
Why Owners Default to the Credential Anyway
Most SME owners default to the badge because it's the easiest thing to compare on a website, and it feels like a safe, defensible choice — "they're accredited" is an easy sentence to say. But a business coach isn't a therapist or a regulated professional; the industry has no licensing body that guarantees competence, which means the credential you're actually looking for is evidence, not a certificate. That's uncomfortable, because it means doing the harder work of checking references and asking pointed questions instead of trusting a logo.
Key Takeaways
- Filter by track record first, not certification badges.
- Ask for a failure story, not just a highlight reel.
- Test whether they can diagnose a likely bottleneck in the first session.
- Demand specifics on what changes by day 90.
Kevin works personally with a select group of SME owners to build the systems, clarity, and accountability that make growth inevitable — not accidental, and not dependent on a certificate.
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.