Thursday, November 12, 2026
You fix the same problem for the third time this year. Here's why most SME "lessons learned" evaporate — and the 70-20-10 rule that makes them stick instead.
Last updated 15 November 2026. Published by Simple-Growth (Motherbase Limited). Market: New Zealand.
This is a story about an owner who wants to grow the business in the right direction — but who's been circling the same big decision for months, because every option looks equally risky and nobody's ever shown them a way to compare them properly. New market? New product? Double down on what's already working? You've turned it over in your head a hundred times, usually around 11pm, and you're no closer to an answer than you were back in July. That's not weak leadership. It's trying to choose between four genuinely different directions using the same gut feel that got you this far — when gut feel was never built for a decision this size.
Every growth decision gets flattened into one feeling: "this is scary, so I'll wait." But a new market, a new product and squeezing more out of your existing customers aren't the same gamble wearing different outfits — they carry different risk, different timelines, and different demands on you personally. Treat them as interchangeable and you'll either freeze on all four, or default to whichever feels most familiar, which is rarely the one that actually fits where the business is right now. Months disappear this way, nothing written down, no real comparison ever made.
Igor Ansoff's Ansoff Matrix splits growth into four distinct routes instead of one vague feeling of risk — and most stuck decisions turn out to be a muddle of two or three of these at once, which is exactly why they feel impossible to weigh up.
Kevin worked on 60+ global brands at DDB, Ogilvy and Saatchi & Saatchi, and the lesson that stuck hardest came not from a campaign but from watching how McDonald's actually grew. Not by chasing every opportunity in every market at once — each move was deliberate and sequenced: get the system right where you already are, prove it, then take that exact system somewhere new. The brands chasing everything everywhere at once quietly disappeared within a few years. The ones who picked a route and proved it first were the ones still standing decades later.
"…it was the most notes I have ever taken from any speaker."
Steve Holloway
Founder, Between Two Beers Podcast
Naming four routes doesn't remove the fear — it just gives the fear somewhere to go. Most owners still default to whichever option feels familiar, because familiar feels safer even when the evidence points elsewhere. This isn't for you if you've already mapped your real options against actual numbers and are confidently backing one — some owners genuinely have, and it shows in how calmly they talk about what's next. It's for the owner running the same four scenarios through their head since before winter, nothing written down, nobody outside the business weighing in.
Pick a lane with your eyes open, even an imperfect one, and you'll move further in a week than another six months of turning it over alone ever will.
A strategy tool from Igor Ansoff that splits business growth into four distinct routes — market penetration, market development, product development and diversification — each carrying a different level of risk, so an owner can compare options properly instead of weighing them as one vague gamble.
Usually market penetration — selling more to the customers you already have. It's the lowest-risk route, the fastest to test, and often the one that's been overlooked simply because it feels too ordinary to count as real growth.
Not always, but it's the highest-risk route and rarely the right place to start. It tends to work best once a business has already proven one of the other three routes and has real evidence, not just enthusiasm, behind the next move.
If you've been stuck on the same decision since before winter, that's the conversation worth having first.
Thursday, September 10, 2026
Your website works 24 hours a day, yet most SME sites haven't been touched in years. Run the five-minute audit that shows exactly where it's losing you customers.
Thursday, September 10, 2026
Most SME owners make their biggest calls alone, with no one qualified to challenge them. Here's how to build a "kitchen cabinet" that gives you real strategic pushback — without a formal board.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Revenue is climbing and you feel like you're winning — until you check what's actually left over. Here's the simple two-number habit that stops growth from quietly eating your margin.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Your accountant, a podcast, a mastermind group and a mate all just told you something different about your business. Here's how to audit that noise and consolidate around one voice that actually knows your numbers.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Every new hire without a system takes twice as long to become productive, and you end up re-explaining the same things forever. The 90-Day Ramp Map fixes that in four steps.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Your best salesperson might be the one quietly eating your margin. Here's how to audit and rebuild your commission structure so it rewards the sales that actually grow your business.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Most SME owners quietly go quiet on marketing right when customers are buying the most. Here's the simple plan to hold your ground through Nov-Jan without burning out your team or your budget.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
That pricing review, that org chart, that product line nobody will kill — they're not neutral. Learn how to spot and pay down the strategic debt quietly taxing every decision you make.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Most business owners survive the slow season and wait for trading to pick up. The ones who grow fastest use the quiet to fix last peak's bottlenecks, cross-train their teams, and renegotiate supplier terms.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
When coaching starts feeling comfortable, most owners think they've outgrown their coach. Usually they've just outgrown the scope. Here's how the Scope Reset Conversation keeps a great coaching relationship producing great results.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
At five people, the founder is the system. At twelve, that system breaks. The Ten-Employee Wall is a predictable structural failure — and here's the Systems Reset framework that gets you through it.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
January is the hardest month to sell in — and the work that prevents the January gap needed to start in September. Here's the 90-Day Pipeline Bridge framework that fills the gap before it opens.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Category managers at major retailers are making their Q1 2027 ranging decisions right now. Most FMCG founders find out too late. Here's the Buyer-Ready Proof Pack framework that gets you into the conversation.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Most businesses plan for Q4 in January — after it's already over. The owners who consistently outperform their peers write their Q4 plan in September, while there's still time to act on what they find.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
A new survey shows the average small business owner is running five jobs at once — and burning 200+ hours a year proving it. Here's the two-hat framework that gets your time back within 90 days.