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Nobody's business dies in a day. New Zealand recorded 3,080 formal insolvency appointments in 2025. Liquidations, receiverships, voluntary administrations. The highest annual figure since 2010. The December quarter alone was the second worst since the turn of the millennium, surpassed only by the GFC. People will read those numbers and think: tough economy, bad timing, external forces, luck. Wasn't their fault. Nothing they could have done. Poor buggers. Some of that's true.

I probably don't need to tell you this, but running a business with any number of staff is no small feat. You’re juggling sales, profits, operations, and the big picture of growth. But how do you really know if your business is in tip-top shape? That’s where a solid business health assessment comes in. Think of it as a regular check-up for your company, helping you spot issues before they snowball and uncover opportunities you might be missing. Ready to dive in? Let’s get you

In 1991 I was 21 and working in broadcasting when a colleague won Lotto. Back then there was no Powerball, and the big prize was $1.1 million. It took him about three seconds to hand in his resignation and drive straight to the Ferrari dealership. Yes, his second car in life was a Ferrari, just like Magnum PI. The man had range. Every once in a while, working a Saturday night shift, he'd show up with a different beautiful woman on his arm, jewellery catching the light, grinni

If you're anything like me, when you heard the news that Trump had bombed Iran, you rolled your eyes and muttered something like 'Oh, FFS, here we go again.' And you weren't wrong, we have been here before: the 1970s fuel crisis, the GFC, SARS, and our favourite — COVID. We've also waded through markets that boom and bust (Dairy anyone?), natural disasters and a million other business interruptions. Change isn't the exception. It's the operating environment for business. The

Almost every business has values on the wall. Integrity, excellence, teamwork, customer focus. Written in a font that suggests they were taken seriously. Framed, often. Laminated, sometimes. Almost no business has those values in the culture. This is one of the most common gaps I see, and it's worth understanding why it happens, because the fix isn't what most people think it is. The Wall Is Not the Culture Values become real through behaviour, not through documentation. The

The average small business recruits badly. Not maliciously, not even carelessly. Just badly. And the cost is enormous, even when it's invisible. A mediocre hire who stays three years doesn't show up as a line item on the P&L. They show up as missed opportunities, frustrated colleagues, customers who don't come back, and an owner who spends too much time managing around problems that should never have existed. Recruiting well is one of the highest-leverage things an owner can