Monday, November 02, 2026
Research published by Adobe Acrobat in October 2026 shows 88% of UK business owners don't trust their own branding, even though 72% call it essential. Here's the gap, and the 3-step fix that closes it.
Choose The Entourage if you run a six, seven or eight figure business and want a large community, in-person events and a structured programme you apply to join. Choose Simple-Growth if you want one experienced coach working with you one-on-one on the single constraint holding your business back, with the first conversation free and no programme to buy first. Whichever you pick, ask for the price in writing and name the one problem you want fixed, or you may pay for the wrong help.
A disclosure first: Simple-Growth publishes this guide, and Kevin D'Ambros-Smith is an independent business coach, so he is not neutral. That is why this page explains who each option suits instead of ranking them. Everything said about The Entourage comes from its own web pages, read on 4 November 2026 (New Zealand time). If something here is out of date or wrong, let Kevin know and it will be corrected. Market: New Zealand.
This is not for you if you want someone to guarantee a number. Neither provider can honestly promise one.
| What you want to know | The Entourage (its own pages) | Simple-Growth |
|---|---|---|
| Price of coaching | Not shown. The coaching page offers a free 30-minute call with an Entrepreneur Development Manager. | Not published for one-on-one coaching. Discussed on the free 30-minute call. |
| Price of short courses | The Profit Program page does not state a price in its text. It offers a 14-day money-back guarantee. | Self-paced programmes from US$97. |
| Who it is for | Six, seven and eight figure businesses for Elevate and Accelerate. | Ambitious owners and founders in any industry, chosen by mindset, not sector. |
| Proof published | Ten client results with headline numbers, and totals such as 3,500 businesses. | Named client testimonials word for word, and an NPS of +72 from coaching clients surveyed through The Icehouse. |
| Free first step | Free 30-minute call. | Free 30-minute call. |
Neither of us publishes a price for one-on-one coaching, so the honest advice is the same for both: ask for a written 12-month total, excluding GST, before you commit.
The Entourage publishes strong headline results, such as one client moving from $150K to $700K a month. That is useful, and worth asking about. Two things to check when you read any provider's totals: the pages we read give different totals in different places, for example $6b revenue generated on one page and over $2 billion on another, and a community of 1m on one page and 500,000+ on another. Ask which figure applies today and how it was measured. Apply the same test to Simple-Growth: our NPS of +72 comes from coaching clients surveyed through The Icehouse, not from all clients, and our testimonials are quoted word for word with no numbers added.
Xero's small business data for the September quarter 2026, published on 29 October 2026, shows New Zealand small business sales up 5.6% on a year earlier but wages up only 1.3%, and the average time to be paid at 25.4 days. Sales are growing, so the pressure is on margins and cash. The right coach or programme is the one that fixes your biggest constraint first, whatever that turns out to be.
"Kevin understood a manufacturing and trades business from day one. No jargon, no theory, just clear advice on where to focus so that we had clear targets and ideas we could act on straight away to improve our customer acquisition and engagement."
Heidi Johnston
Windowmakers (quoted word for word)
Neither is automatically better. The Entourage suits an owner who wants a large community, events and a structured programme. Simple-Growth suits an owner who wants one coach and a focus on the single constraint first. The right answer depends on your business and how you like to learn.
The pages we read do not state a price for coaching or in the text of the Profit Program page. It offers a free 30-minute call, so ask for a written total there.
One-on-one coaching is discussed on the free 30-minute call. Self-paced programmes start from US$97. Eligible New Zealand businesses may be able to access co-funding through the Regional Business Partner Network, though funding is not guaranteed.
No. Some owners join a community for events and learning and work with a coach one-on-one on their own business. Be clear about what each is for, so you do not pay twice for the same thing.
Take the free 30-minute call, then take the answers to any other provider. You owe nothing for asking.
Be the owner who picks the help that fixes your biggest constraint first, with the written price in hand.
Not sure which suits you? A 30-minute conversation will tell you, and you are welcome to take the answers anywhere.
Sources (checked 4 November 2026): The Entourage, Business Coach in Auckland, NZ and The Entourage, Profit Program (both the provider's own claims, not independently verified); Xero, New Zealand small business jobs grow 2.5% year-on-year in September quarter, 29 October 2026 (New Zealand, Xero Small Business Insights, sample size not stated). Net Promoter Score of +72: coaching clients surveyed through The Icehouse. The testimonial is quoted word for word from the person named. Last updated 4 November 2026.
Ready to pick the option that fits your business?
Friday, October 09, 2026
The share of owners blaming the economy for not planning long-term has tripled in a year. Here's the one-page plan that actually fixes it, not excuses it.
Friday, October 09, 2026
A new market, a new product line, a second location: most lose money the same way, by skipping the three numbers that would have told them how big the opportunity really was.
Friday, October 09, 2026
Most people picture coaching as a conversation. The sessions that actually move a business are a loop, repeated every week, until it becomes how the owner thinks.
Friday, October 09, 2026
A forty-item to-do list with none of the three that mattered finished is not a time management problem. It is a filter problem, and the Eisenhower Matrix is the filter.
Friday, October 09, 2026
A good salesperson gets four real conversations a day. A good presentation, given once, can reach four hundred. Here is why most SME sales teams never use it.
Friday, October 09, 2026
Customers do not leave because a competitor shouted louder. They leave because, in the exact moment they needed someone, your brand was not the one they thought of.
Friday, October 09, 2026
Most SME owners track one number: the bank balance. The businesses that compound track four, using Kaplan and Norton's Balanced Scorecard, and catch the problem before it ever reaches the bank account.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Nearly half of NZ SME owners plan to raise prices this year. Only 4 percent of companies have a value proposition clear enough to justify it.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Revenue can climb for years while the actual value of the business barely moves. Here are the eight drivers that decide which one you are really building, and why owner independence usually matters most.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
If every session with your coach leaves you comfortable, that is the warning sign, not the proof it is working. Here is why direct feedback outperforms kind feedback, backed by Gallup's data.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
A global survey of over 10,000 workers found trusted employees nearly twice as productive as distrusted ones. If your calendar fixes keep failing, the real constraint may be trust, not time.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Most sales conversations present cheapest to most expensive. New research found flipping that order lifted revenue by 10.8 percent, with no price changes at all. Here is how to use it.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Most SME marketing budgets are weighted toward customers who already buy. The research says that is the smaller lever. Here is where brand growth actually comes from, and how to redirect your spend toward it.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Most SME strategy problems are not thinking problems, they are seeing problems. Here is the one-page model that catches the two mistakes that quietly kill most growing businesses before they show up in the bank account.