e3 Coaching

The hidden cost of running a business without a clear plan (and how The Curve fixes it)

Most business owners underestimeate the cost of running a business without a clear plan - it doesn't always show up on a P&L sheet, but the cost is felt across the business.

The hidden cost lies in the constant decision fatigue of the owner - facing new decisions to make every day, and always second guessing.

This translates down to teams who waste time waiting for direction and instruction, never knowing what their priorities are.

It results in having your best team members working hard but on the wrong things.

And this makes growth feel heavier. Like a constant slog and a battle.

Everything feels urgent.

Meetings become updates rather than decision making sessions.

The day to day running of the business falls to the business owner.

You become the bottleneck.

And the cost of this?

Slow ex*****on and wasted time which leads to frustration and disengagement within the team.

Opportunities get missed, swept away by the constant focus on catching up and deciding what to do next.

You spend all of your time working in the business, rather thanworking on it.

Perhaps most damaging is the burnout you and your senior team face - and this is where you lose your best people.

The problem isn't a lack of effort or ambition. It's that the business has outgrown itself. It has stalled. It needs a new system which helps not only plan effectively but also offers the opportunity to track progress and provide a clear ROI in terms of both time and money.

This is where The Curve changes the game.

- It clarifies the stage your business is really at
- it highlights what matters most
- it cuts out the noise and focuses on priorities
- it links planning directly to ex*****on, building in reflection, tracking and accountability

It replaces complexity with clarity. It fixes causes, not symptoms.

When your plan is clear decisions become faster and easier, teams align more effectively, accountability improves.

And the pressure on you is alleviated.

The cost of not having a plan isn't failure. It's working much harder than you need to.

Want to find out more? Let's have a chat!

You don't have a strategy problem, you have a clarity problem.

Most businesses already have a strategy in place - even if it's not written down or defined. The real issue is competing priorities. When everything feels important, nothing gets done or it gets half-arsed.

A lack of clarity = time wasted. Time wasted by slow decisions. Time spent fighting fires. Time wasted by teams pulling in different directions. And time misallocated by business owners who are the bottleneck.

And time = money.

Your strategy fails when people don't know what's important right now and what can wait, or when your team don't know what a good outcome actually looks like.

A lack of clarity means that meetings become noise, plans exist but don't result in action and accountability becomes a personal issue rather than something structured into the day-to-day workings of the business.

Clarity simplifies your role as a leader - you make fewer decisions and make them faster, your team know their roles and responsibilities. The energy becomes focused on progress rather than explaining choices.

It's not about having better strategy. It's about knowing where you are, where you want to be and how to get there.

And this means that productivity increases without extra effort, that your team self-correct and you are freed up to lead rather than manage.

You don't need a better strategy, you need more clarity.

Controversial opinion? If your team isn't performing as you want it to then it's down to you...

Leading a team should feel like captaining a glorious galleon, or frigate, or whatever the image shows.

So why does it often feel like you're in a RNLI lifeboat, constantly rushing to help prevent members of your team from drowning?

Or yourself for that matter.

Your bo'sun isn't bo'suning.

You swain swains poorly.

You cabin boy wanders around lost, crying for his mummy.

You get the picture.

It's not down to your captaining skills. It's not because your team are poorly trained.

It's a lack of clarity.

A lack of clarity of the destination - means you end up going in circles around the British Isles at risk of smashing on the rocks of northern Scotland.

A lack of clarity over values and behaviour - nobody knows how they should behave or why.

A lack of clarity over what your ship's culture looks like - you haven't formalised the ship's code of conduct.

A lack of clarity over roles - your navigator keeps getting drawn into helping the cook make grog.

A lack of cross acountability - your team are always looking to you for answers, tying up your time and preventing you from getting on with the actual captaining.

So the key is to get clarity, and to co-create this with your team.

Set a clear vision, where is the X on the map which defines success?

Define values and behaviours.

Establish culture.

Create clear roles and cross accountability.

And finally, build in time an space to track, measure, reflect and design.

If that sounds like a lot, it's because it is!

Luckily though we can help do all of that in a single day.

A day of your team all in one room, building a one page plan on award-winning methodology New Level Results Limited's The Curve.

And that's how you build a team which can conquer the high seas!

26 years ago I stayed up to watch dawn break over a new millennium after a night of revelry.

This morning I was woken up to witness the dawn by my 6 month old daughter who is having something of a sleep regression lately.

Or maybe she was just excited for what 2026 will bring?

I am too - it's going to be a good year.

It's a good jobe we were in bed shortly after midnight otherwise my mood might be a little different!

The last three years have been focused on establishing two businesses - there have been highs, lows, successes and disappointments.

But mostly there have been lessons.

One of the most important is patience.

Nothing happens when we want it to.

The timeline in our heads only exists there.

But it will happen with consistency and persistence.

The second most important lesson is gratitude - no matter how hard things can get we must remember to be thankful for what we have.

The thirsty is optimism - positive thoughts lead to positive action which leads to positive outcomes.

So here's to making this year the best one yet.

The real work starts tomorrow, today is for taking some time to celebrate, to reflect and be grateful.

Happy New Year!

New Year Resolutions are a complete waste of time. Want to know how to make them stick?

Think back to this time last year - what were the promises you made to yourself?

How many did you keep?

I'll take a wild guess that it wasn't many...

And that's perfectly normal, studies show that 80% are forgotten by February. You are not the problem, the whole concept of resolutions is...

The first problem is that they tend to be reactive rather than proactive.

Eaten too much over Christmas? Better join a gym.

Been cooped up over the holidays? Better have a daily walk.

Failed to meet your goals this year? Let's make wholesale, sweeping changes.

Reactive change is based on who we are, rather than who we want to be. And this means it tends to falter.

Second issue is that NY resolutions tend to be wholesale and sweeping - a complete overhaul of who we are and how we behave.

"I need to get in shape, quit smoking, be a better parent, friend, partner, worker, boss."

"I'm going to get up at six, go for a run, meditate, call an old friend, check in with my team, eat healthily, drink 3 litres of water, not watch any trash TV and be in bed by 8 everyday."

We take on too much and in doing so set ourselves up for failure. We may stick it out for a few days, even weeks.

But as soon as one new habit slips the rest come crashing down like dominoes.

The third issue is that resolutions are based on motivation rather than discipline.

And motivation is fleeting. We can feel fully charged and committed one minute, but the smallest set back can send us reeling back to former ways.

So try this:

1. Start with a clear vision of where you want to be this time next year. Write it out in 40 words. Ensure to cover your health and wellbeing, your relationships and you work. Be aspirational but realistic.

2. Choose one thing you need to work on first and decide what the very first step is.

Need to get in shape? Want to go for a run in the mornings?

Focus on getting up at the right time first. Then on putting on your trainers. Then on going for a walk. Then for a run.

Aim for compound improvements rather than wholesale change.

3. Find an accountability partner - a friend, significant other, colleague, dog or professional. Somebody who will support you when you fail and challenge you further when you succeed.

4. Prepare for setbacks - improvement is rarely a straight line on a graph - expect there to be plateaus. Expect there to be dips. Expect there to be days of complete failure. Don't resist these, embrace the learning on offer.

So, what will you change for 2026?

🎉 New Year, New Goals, and a Clear plan....
As we move ever closer to 2026, it’s time to think about how this year could be your most successful year yet.

✅ Your best ever year starts with a powerful One Page Plan, created alongside one of our expert coaches.

We make those big plans happen – with clarity, precision, purpose, and accountability.

Do this before setting any resolutions for next year...

Everything you do can be categorised into these four areas:

Urgent & Important - the crises which cause the most stress

Important & Not Urgent - where we should focus our energy

Not Important & Urgent - menial tasks which need to be done

Not Urgent & Not Important - pointless distractions

We can't avoid crises - life happens! But we can mitigate the number we have by focusing our energy in the top left quadrant.

Take health for example, we all know it's important. Hopefully it isn't urgent!

If we make sure we are eating well, exercising, resting well and generally avoiding bad habits then hopefully it stays that way.

If we stop doing any of these, you might end up with a visit to the doctor where you are told that if you don't start/stop doing X by Y, you will end up with Z.

That important but not urgent factor has become very urgent - and this is where stress is created.

So spend as much time in quadrant two as possible - to avoid the stress of acting in quadrant one!

The same goes for your business, acquiring clients, building relationships, managing cash flow.

So, between now and setting any new goals, targets or habits sit down with a blank template and put everything you currently do into one of these four squares.

Take your time, do it with a glass of wine (if that's your bag), and think carefully.

The first quadrant is for things which you need to DO.

The second is for things which you need to DESIGN, create regular space for doing this things.

The third quadrant is for things you can DELEGATE.

And the final quadrant is for things to DITCH.

Now you can create a list of to-do's and (don't forget) to-don'ts.

What's on your list for 2026?

As a business owner or team leader a one page plan for your team on The Curve could be the best gift for yourself this Christmas.

Having spoken to hundreds, if not thousands of owners and leaders this year there is a recurring theme - people present problems.

Whether the team is high performing or disfunctional, ensuring everybody is on the same page and pulling in the same direction is always a challenge.

The people in a team are often the most difficult factor to control. People are generally messy.

Every member has their own strengths, weaknesses, ideas and experience.

Attitudes vary and opinions differ - which is where conflict and tension can arise, which if not navigated carefully can lead to an after roast turkey dinner style explosion of emotion.

We should all focus on contolling the controllable, but also on making the uncontrollable more controllable (try saying that after a Christmas Baileys!).

And this is where The Curve can help.

The Curve helps leaders co-create the template for team success through:

- building a shared vision

- co-authoring the team values

- designed desired behaviours

- creating a culture which is invested in by all

- building in space for open and honest reflection and cross-accountability

- proving efficacy and ROI with tangible results

So give yourself some peace of mind, and your team more clarity and purpose this Christmas.

Give yousrelf the freedom to lead rather than manage.

Give your team a one page plan on The Curve.

When young people learn to calm the mind and protect the body, confidence grows from the inside out. These students share how mindfulness, meditation and self-defence helps them feel stronger, safer, and more in control of their world. #mindfulness #selfdefence #youthempowerment #strongertogether #mentalwellbeing #mindfulschools #confidencebuilding #resilientyouth #schoolprograms

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