We’re now in Q4 of 2026, and I want to warn you now that next year will not happen by accident.

You have two options:

1. You can use the next 11 weeks to rescue the result.

2. Or you can repair the business.

Most business owners will be in reactive mode, focused on #1, in a last-minute panic rush to get more customers in attempt to hit their year-end targets.

But, in reality, all that will happen is that if their leads doubled tomorrow, they’ll just be a busier business, not a better business.

And then this time next year, guess what?They’ll repeat the same thing over again and nothing changes.

Those business owners that are successful, will have a business by design – not a business by default.

They’ll move from reactive decisions, pressure on pricing, weak margins, cash surprises and rescuing their business...

To...

Confidence in their pricing, a planned margin, making numbers-led decisions, investing in the right marketing, and cash predictability.

Repeated frustration is a system outcome, so to help you break that cycle of another chaotic end to the year, and to avoid repeating EXACTLY the same as last year and the year before, start by answering these two questions:

Q1: In Q4 I am going to re-design ____ so that ____

Q2: Before 31 December, I will ____ so that next year we stop ____

Allocate 90 minutes this week to write these down as they will reduce the chance of you repeating 2026.

Martin

Martin Norbury

Investor | Business Mentor at Advocate | Author of I don’t work Fridays