Thursday, November 12, 2026
You've known for weeks exactly what needs doing. You still haven't started. Here's why "just do it" doesn't work, and the question that actually does.
Last updated 14 November 2026. Published by Simple-Growth (Motherbase Limited). Market: United States.
This is a story about an owner who wants steady, predictable new business — but who's only getting it in bursts, because the only lever they know how to pull is spending more on ads. You run a promotion, enquiries spike, you feel like a marketer again. Then it goes quiet. You run another one. Same spike, same silence after. You're not bad at marketing. You've just been taught that marketing means buying attention one burst at a time, instead of building a line of people who already trust you and tell the next person before you've spent a cent.
PYMNTS Intelligence's SMB Growth Report found 63% of small businesses that gained new customers said word of mouth was key to that growth (PYMNTS, US, 2025). That's not a reason to stop advertising — it's evidence that the channel owners trust most to actually convert is the one almost nobody has a deliberate system for. Most SME marketing plans have a line item for ads and nothing at all for "who already has the attention of the people I want, and how do I earn five minutes of it."
Chet Holmes' Dream 100, later carried forward by Russell Brunson and Dana Derricks, is simple to describe and uncomfortable to actually do: list the 100 people, publications, podcasts, communities or partners who already hold the attention of your exact ideal customer, then build real relationships with them over months, not a single cold pitch.
Kevin's seen what happens when a business stops waiting for one big marketing push and starts building a steady pipeline of relationships instead — eleven separate revenue streams at a Wanaka bike park, each one with its own small, loyal audience. With 730 season passes to sell and 300 loyal regulars renewing without being asked, that left 430 to find in ten weeks — six a day, every day, not one campaign and a prayer. The mechanic's one job was simpler still: offer fifty customers a free bike check. Repairs went up. Rentals went up. Accidents went down. None of it came from an ad.
"Kevin D'Ambros-Smith was the first coach that helped us and he was so great. He understood the business straightaway, was able to identify some of the areas where we could grow it, and some of the things to park. I don't think the ROW branding would be nearly as strong without his input. He was just brilliant."
Sarah McGuinness
Founder & CEO, Revolutionaries of Wellbeing (ROW)
Relationship-building doesn't show results this week, and most owners are measured — by themselves, most of all — on this week's enquiries. So the slow compounding list gets shelved every time a quieter month creates panic, and the ad spend goes back up instead. This isn't for you if you're already building that list every week without being told to — plenty of owners are, quietly, and it shows in how calm their quiet months feel. It's for the owner whose marketing plan is really just "spend more when it's slow," because nobody's ever sat down with them and built the other list.
A method, originated by Chet Holmes and carried forward by Russell Brunson and Dana Derricks, of identifying the 100 people or platforms that already hold your ideal customer's attention and building genuine relationships with them instead of buying that attention directly.
No — it complements it. Ads can fill the gap while relationships compound, but a business relying only on ads will keep feeling the feast-or-famine cycle this approach is built to smooth out.
Months, not days — it's a deliberately slower, steadier channel than a campaign, which is exactly why it keeps working in the quiet periods that burst-based marketing can't cover.
If your marketing plan is really just "spend more when it's quiet," that's the first habit to replace.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
Most SME task lists have no visible connection to the goal on the whiteboard. OKRs fix that gap in three simple steps, without turning your week into a spreadsheet exercise.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
Giving away a free sample, audit or pilot feels like it removes risk for the prospect. Mostly it just removes their reason to commit. Here's the structure that converts instead.
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.