Every January, the same cycle repeats. Small business owners across Australia set ambitious New Yearʼs resolutions both for themselves personally and their business. Often these overlap as running a business is such a personal journey: “This is the year Iʼll double my revenue,” or “This is the year Iʼll finally step back from the tools.”

But by February, if not already by Australia Day once the summer haze truly washes away, the “survival mode” reality of running a business usually kicks in. Inflation uncertainty, interest rate decision deadlines, unpredictable supply chains due to natural disasters local or abroad, and the daily grind of admin swallow those resolutions whole before the first quarterly BAS for this calendar year is even due.

Xeroʼs recent ʻItʼs your businessʼ report shows the impact of this. While most small business owners say Australia provides a good environment for starting a business, fewer than half have clear long-term goals. In other words, many small business owners are working incredibly hard without a clearly defined destination.

For 2026, Iʼm proposing we scrap the traditional New Year resolution. Resolutions are based on aspirations alone; success is based on the execution of many decisions to help drive towards that clear aspiration. Ultimately, a good strategy – personally or professionally – requires this. One doesnʼt work without the other.

Here is how to build an “anti-resolution” strategy – a practical, unsentimental roadmap to move from surviving to thriving. And the good news is you can do this any time of the year.

5 steps to better strategy

1.   Stop guessing: Define your endgame

Put simply, strategy is fundamentally about making conscious trade-offs. But you canʼt make those trade-offs if you donʼt know what you are optimising for.

In Australia we generally see three types of small business owners: lifestyle entrepreneurs seeking freedom and flexibility, ambitious achievers striving for growth, and situational founders who became small business owners circumstantially. Thereʼs no right or wrong reason to run a business, but each requires a different game plan.

They are also not static. We know as founders you will move across these stages depending on your circumstance, so test yourself: where are you at right now and what is your current ʻendgameʼ.

If you havenʼt thought about your endgame – whether thatʼs selling your business, passing it on to family, or closing its doors once youʼre ready – itʼs hard to make the right decisions today.

Steps to take:

• Draft a success statement for the next three years: What does success look like? Are you optimising for flexibility, growth, or impact?
• Pick the three to five metrics that matter most to your business: If your goal is flexibility, your key metrics will look very different to a tech startup looking for Stop tracking what you think you should and track what actually matters to you personally.

2.   Use data to build your preferred future

We often look at data through the rearview mirror, focusing on last month’s P&L. But it’s always been the businesses that look forward that have the advantage.

The goal isnʼt more reports; itʼs better, faster decisions. You need to spot headwinds early enough to adjust course for your goals – both now and in the future you want to design for yourself.

Steps to take:

• Create a decision dashboard: Focus on forward-looking indicators like your pipeline, cash flow forecasts, and staff utilisation
• Visualise it: Analytics tools can help turn raw numbers into simple, visual stories you can act on
• Review regularly: Don’t just look at the numbers at tax A monthly check-in allows you to ask: what changed, why, and what you could do differently?

3.   Treat your advisor as a strategic partner

Using an accountant or bookkeeper is one of the most important decisions a small business owner can make. In fact, 86% of Australian owners already rely on an advisor. However, many owners fail to use their advisor to their full potential. If your relationship is only anchored in tax compliance and filing returns, youʼre missing out on a strategic partner who can help you achieve your goals.

Steps to take:

• Rebalance the agenda: While gaining insights from historical data will help you make informed decisions, focus more on the future in your next Ask them to help you look ahead: scenarios, investments, pricing, risk.
• Discuss your endgame: Be open and honest (with yourself, too) about your long-term goals so they can help chart the
• Find the right match: Make sure they speak in your language and have seen the journey you want to be on so you get tailored

4.   Donʼt be blindsided by external factors

Even the best strategy can be thrown off course by factors outside your control – regulatory change, interest rate changes, reporting requirements, etc.

For example, the upcoming introduction of Payday Super will fundamentally change the rhythm of how cash leaves your business. You canʼt predict everything, but you can build a habit of scanning the horizon so surprises donʼt become crises.

Steps to take:

• Make “scanning” a discipline: Once a quarter, set aside time with your advisor to review upcoming changes and decide what actually matters for your
• Use tech to hard-wire compliance: Where you can, bake new requirements into your systems so they happen by default. For example, with Payday Super being introduced in July, use software to line super payments up with each pay run, rather than relying on manual

5.   Make AI work for you to buy back time

At its core, AI is another tool to help cut the “time tax” of admin so you can refocus your energy into doing the things you actually care about.

Those who use it wisely are more likely to outperform those who delay. In fact, 57% of small businesses that grew revenue in the past 12 months were using AI tools at least weekly.

Using AI for things like automating routine tasks and surfacing meaningful insights about your business will become essential for creating a winning strategy.

Steps to take:

• Start small: Automate the repetitive things first, like invoicing, data entry, and chasing
• Power better conversations: Use AI-driven reporting to get a real-time view of your numbers, giving you and your advisor a better starting point for strategy

 The 90-Day Sprint

Don’t plan for the whole of 2026 today. Itʼs too big and too easy to fail. Instead, I encourage every Australian owner to run a 90-day sprint.

Clarify one goal, set up your forward-looking data, and sit down with your advisor. With a clear destination and the right support, you can tilt the odds in your favour and make 2026 the year you finally stop just keeping the doors open and start leading the way.

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