Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Considering walking away isn't rare — 4 in 10 US owners have thought it. Here's why saying it out loud, to the right person, changes what happens next.
There's a decision you've been circling for months — a new market, a new hire, a new product line. You've thought about it in the shower, on the drive home, at 11pm when you should be asleep. You want to actually make it. What you've done instead is build a very detailed list of reasons it might go wrong, and used that list as a reason to do nothing at all.
Bluevine's 2026 US survey of small-business owners found 68% had delayed or avoided a major decision — hiring, expansion, a new line — because they were scared of getting it wrong. The enemy here isn't the decision itself. It's the habit of listing risks forever instead of ever turning the list into a move.
A SWOT list — strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats — is where most owners stop. Management theorist Heinz Weihrich took it one step further with what he called TOWS: instead of just listing the four boxes, you pair them up and force out an actual action from each pairing.
Kevin worked on 60+ global brands at DDB, Ogilvy and Saatchi & Saatchi before founding or co-founding nine companies, and one client from that era still shapes how he coaches growth decisions: McDonald's. What struck him wasn't the size of the brand — it was how systemised everything was, so a decision made once got made properly once, instead of being re-litigated with fresh panic every single time it came up. Big-brand thinking, small-business clarity, applied to the exact decision you're circling right now.
Pick the decision you've been circling and give it a real deadline this week — not ‘soon’, an actual date on the calendar, the same way you'd commit to a client delivery. Run the TOWS pairing with one other person in the room, even if that's just a trusted friend over coffee, because the fourth box — what would actually sink you — is almost always smaller and less likely than it feels alone at 11pm. Owners who've made a big call this way tend to say the same thing afterwards: the decision itself took an afternoon. It was the circling beforehand, sometimes for months, that actually cost them the time and the sleep.
“You make success tangible. Help me go from a wish to reality. Now have clarity of purpose and belief. You made tripling the size of my business go from seeming impossible to really possible.”
— Lina, Good Gravy
A risk list grows forever when there's no deadline and no one else in the room. Left alone with it, most owners just add another row. This isn't for you if the decision genuinely needs more information first — go get the information, that's sensible, not avoidance. It's for the decision where you already have what you need and you're circling anyway. That's the moment a second pair of eyes, and someone willing to hold a date against it, actually earns their keep.
If you've been circling the same decision for months, that's exactly the kind of thing a second opinion could unstick this week.
Thursday, October 22, 2026
Only 30 percent of business change efforts fully succeed. Here's the three-part diagnosis, borrowed from strategy academic Richard Rumelt, most owners skip before fixing anything.
Thursday, October 22, 2026
Close to six in ten of this year's US holiday shoppers are already buying, in October or year-round. Here are three sales moves to make this week before Black Friday arrives.
Thursday, October 22, 2026
77.6 percent of US consumers used AI to help with a purchase decision in the past six months. Here are three moves that make your small business visible when customers ask AI about you.
Thursday, October 22, 2026
54 percent of US business owners have no real plan, and only 11 percent have anything detailed. Here's the one-afternoon exercise that gives your business a sharper three-year direction than any spreadsheet.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Before you spend another dollar on ads, staff or software, find the one step that limits your growth. Here is a one-hour spend-gate test you can run this week.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
ActionCOACH began in Brisbane, Australia. What does its story tell US owners about where good growth ideas come from, and how to test an outside idea in your own business?
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
SME owner confidence is climbing, but for most, revenue isn't following. Here's why time isn't your real constraint, and the three-step framework that finds the one that is.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
49% of business owners question monthly whether running the business is worth it, a US survey found. Here's what changes when someone else is asking that question with you.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Nearly half of NZ SME owners are planning Christmas trading changes, MYOB research found, and most of it is a discount. Here's how to build memory before you build the offer.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
46% of New Zealand business owners aren't paying themselves, Xero research found. Here's the Profit First fix that changes the order money moves through your business, not the hours you work.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
The share of businesses reporting serious dead stock has doubled since 2024, new research found. Here's why rising revenue can still mean tightening cash, and the three numbers that catch it early.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
42% of business owners named efficiency their top 2026 priority, a US survey found. Here's Michalowicz's Clockwork system for building a business that doesn't need you in every decision.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
B2B win rates fell to 19-21% in 2025. Here's why a quiet Q4 pipeline is usually a budget deadline in disguise, and the three moves that use it instead of waiting for January.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
Chemical and industrial distributors rarely have a product problem. Here is how to find the real constraint, escape the price war and build a 90-day plan.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
97% of small business owners believe branding matters to their success — only 18% have an actual strategy for it. Here is the 3-question Brand Key test that closes the gap without a rebrand.