Before we even start, let's be clear.

If you come to this workshop and leave thinking you could have spent the time better elsewhere, I'll refund you DOUBLE your workshop fee.

Every big decision in your business lands on you.

Who to hire. Whether to spend. Which client to let go. Whether now is the time to push, or hold.

You make those calls with half the information, usually late at night, and often without anyone to talk them through with. Your team needs you to look confident. Your partner's heard enough about work. Your mates think you've got it sorted.

When John asks CEOs and business owners about their daily pressure, this is what he hears back: "I am the only one making all the decisions, working 24/7 with never enough time for myself or my family."

That's the part of running a business nobody puts on the brochure. It's tough at the top, and it can be lonely.

Then add an election.

When the ground feels uncertain, the easiest decision is to not make one. "We'll sort strategy out after the election." It feels sensible. It feels safe.

But do the arithmetic. Election day is Saturday 7 November. Then the official count. Then the writs. Then coalition talks, which always run longer than anyone plans for. Then Christmas, and nothing serious happens in a New Zealand business between the 20th of December and the end of January.

"After the election" is the first working week of February. That's four more months of carrying every decision on your own.

And the reason for waiting doesn't hold up.

The assumption underneath the delay is that election years are slow. They aren't. New Zealand election years have averaged 3.1% GDP growth since 1990, against a long-run average of 2.8%. Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon calls the idea that elections are bad for the economy "a bit of an urban legend". He also looked at house sales, building consents, vehicle registrations and job ads, and found no consistent pattern before or after elections either way.

So there's no election effect to wait out. There's just the waiting.

The problem isn't a lack of ideas. It's that nobody pushes back.

Most owners already know roughly what they need to do. What's missing is someone who'll challenge them on it.

Your team won't push back, you're the boss. Friends and family tell you what you want to hear. So the hard decisions sit there, month after month, and "after the election" becomes the perfect excuse.

A good coach does neither. They ask the awkward question. They call it when you're avoiding the real issue. And they hold you to what you said you'd do.

This isn't a talk. It's a working session with people who won't let you off the hook.

Most workshops hand you a framework and send you home to do it on your own. That's the problem. Doing it on your own is what got you stuck.

For half a day, John and I will be in the room working through your business with you. We'll challenge your thinking, poke holes where something doesn't stack up, and push you to make the calls you've been putting off. You'll be alongside a room of owners who'll do the same, and who know exactly what you're carrying.

What you'll get

Two experienced coaches in your corner who've run businesses themselves and aren't there to nod along
Honest pushback on your priorities, your thinking and the stuff you've been avoiding
The decision you've been putting off, made. In the room, out loud, not deferred to February
Your first action committed to before you leave. It's amazing how much harder it is to let something slide once other people have heard you say it
A room of owners carrying the same weight. Straight-talking peers to sense-check your thinking, and the relief of knowing it's not just you
A straight read on where your business is genuinely exposed right now, and where it isn't

Yes, you'll leave with a one-page plan. But the plan isn't the point. Being pushed to actually commit to it is.

This isn't a prediction session either.

We're not going to tell you the next six months will be good. Nobody knows that. What we do know is that if it's tough, the businesses that make decisions and take action will take market share off the ones that sit and wait. If it's good, they'll be the ones positioned to catch it. There's no version of the next six months where sitting still is the winning move.

Who's running it

Glenn Marvin is a Scaling Up certified business coach, founder of Connect the Dots and COO at Norling Law. He works with New Zealand business owners on the four decisions that determine whether a company scales or stalls: people, strategy, execution and cash. He also owns one of NZ's leading marketing consultancies, so sees strategy from both a business and marketing perspective. And he's sat in your chair, making the big calls alone and second-guessing them at 2am.

John McConnell has spent more than 30 years running businesses, including one of New Zealand's largest construction and property groups. His career spans construction, infrastructure and property development across the McConnell Group businesses, investment banking in New Zealand and on Wall Street, and engineering. He's a Scaling Up certified coach and a Senior Coach at Connect the Dots. In his words: "It's hard work and running them can be a lonely task. There are huge pressures to perform while making judgement calls without all the information."

If that's familiar, you'll be in the right room.

Know other business owners who keep saying "after the election"?

Refer three who register and attend, and you (or one of your clients) get 4 months free in our group coaching programme, worth $3,400. The next cohort launches in November, so four free months of support and accountability run through to the end of February.

Which is about when everyone waiting for the election will just be getting started.

Email support@connectthedots.co.nz with the names of anyone you've referred.

Please note: There might be photos and videos taken on the day of the event. If you don't want to appear on camera, please let the host know, and we will endeavour to exclude you from the recording.

Get Business Traction Before 2027 - Don't wait for the election.

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