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The Richard Smith - small business development for the real world.

The Richard Smith - small business development for the real world.

Auteur(s): The Richard Smith - small business development for the real world.
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 Small business, sales, marketing, how to get stuff done. Développement commercial et entrepreneuriat Entrepreneurship Gestion et leadership Marketing Marketing et ventes Réussite personnelle Économie
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  • January 2026 – For Small Business Owners That Feel Stuck

    January 2026 – For Small Business Owners That Feel Stuck
    Jan 16 2026
    Most people know me for business development. Fewer know my background is financial services. I spent over 30 years in that industry. One thing became very clear early on. Most people have serious mental blocks around money, work, and investing. There is no magic switch. No instant fix. Anyone selling that is lying. But there are ways to reset how you think and behave. When that shifts, everything else starts to move. This podcast has always focused on business. Planning. Strategy. Growth.Today I want to talk about mindset. How the brain actually works. And why so many capable people feel stuck. I am about to launch a new programme on my sister site, MoneyTrainers.co.uk. It made sense to introduce the ideas here first. We are taught a simple story.Set goals. Make plans. Follow steps. Everything works out. Business owners know that is nonsense. Plans break. Life interferes. Circumstances change. You end up somewhere you never planned to be. That is not failure. That is reality. The Buddhists say it well. The problem is rarely the problem. Your reaction is. I want to talk about being stuck. Not lazy. Not broken. Just stuck. Most of us already know what we should be doing.Get up earlier.Move more.Focus.Stop scrolling.Stop avoiding. The issue is not knowledge. It is behaviour. Your brain is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Distract you. Protect you. Preserve energy. Sit alone for an hour. No phone. No noise. You will see it. Thought after thought. Tens of thousands a day. That is not a flaw. That is survival wiring. The brain blocks action in three main ways. First, uncertainty.Your brain does not believe the effort will work. Second, distance.The reward feels too far away. Big goals overwhelm the system. Third, threat.Fear of failure. Fear of embarrassment. Fear of damaging your identity. When all three are present, action stops. This is why motivation fails.This is why positive thinking fails. You do not need more effort.You need less friction. A reset is not about dreaming bigger. It is about starting smaller. As we get older, this matters more. I am in my 60s now. Looking back, the real question is not “why didn’t I know?” It is “why didn’t I change?” For years, I did not believe change was possible. Life was fine. Career was fine. Family was fine. But something never shifted. That changed when I started working with meditation and reset principles in my late 40s and 50s. I began to understand the mechanics. We do not need another “change your life” programme.We need to work with the brain we actually have. That means smaller actions.Closer rewards.And a shift in identity before long-term goals. Identity drives behaviour. If you believe you are overweight, unfit, bad with money, or “just not that person,” then no amount of motivation will fix it. You will always act in line with who you think you are. This reset is about changing that. Gradually. Practically. Without heroics. If you are stuck, the answer is not trying harder.It is starting smaller. The programme launches soon. It will be free initially. You will find it at:moneytrainers.co.uk/reset If this resonated, get in touch. Leave a comment wherever you found this podcast. You are not broken.Your brain is just doing its job. Ready to get in touch use the form below. Get In Touch Name *Email *Subject *Comment or Message *CommentSend Message
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    8 min
  • The Future Of Small Business – Podcast Special

    The Future Of Small Business – Podcast Special
    Jan 10 2026
    Welcome back to the podcast. I’m Richard Smith. Today I want to talk to small business owners about the future. Not in a sci-fi way. In a practical, pay-the-bills way. Things are changing. Fast. Look at war. Ukraine is the obvious example. Wars used to be fought with soldiers, tanks, planes, and shells. People on the ground pulling triggers. Now we have drones. Some are still controlled by humans. Others soon won’t be. Software will make the decisions. Machines will do the work. That is not the future. That is already happening. At the same time, there’s another war going on. Cyber attacks. Digital sabotage. Systems being taken offline instead of cities being bombed. Different tools. Same goal. Disable the enemy. Stop them functioning. That matters to you as a business owner. Because the tools we use to run businesses have changed in exactly the same way. Once upon a time, there was one delivery option. Royal Mail. That was it.Now it’s DHL, DPD, Amazon Logistics, and a dozen others. We used to buy and sell face to face.Now most trade runs through platforms like Amazon. Highly automated. Warehouses run by machines. Humans barely involved. Soon robots won’t just move boxes. They’ll pick the stock too. We no longer queue in shops on Saturdays.We click and collect.We sit in the car.Someone puts the goods in the boot. Technology removed the friction. You cannot avoid this as a small business owner. There is no opt-out. No wriggle room. But here’s the problem. Your customers have not evolved at the same speed. Human psychology has barely changed in thousands of years. People still want the same things the Romans wanted. Food. Safety. Status. Comfort. Certainty.They want to feel good about what they buy.They want reassurance they made the right choice. So here’s the tension. You are forced to use new tools.Your customers still think in old ways. Your job is to bridge that gap. Use modern technology.But sell to ancient brains. That’s the real challenge. Some businesses will not adapt. They will disappear. That is not cruel. It’s normal. Others will step back and ask better questions. What is changing in my market?What is staying the same?Where does technology help me?Where does a human still matter? Because some things cannot be automated. If a pipe bursts at 4am, you need a plumber. Not a chatbot.You can find one online.You can book one online.But someone still has to turn up and fix the pipe. That physical interface never goes away. The tools change. The delivery changes. The discovery changes.But humans are still needed. Just like war.Drones may deliver bombs.But humans still build them, load them, and decide why they exist. I don’t have all the answers. But this is exactly what I work through with small business owners every day. Online presence.Reviews.E-commerce.Customer trust.Systems that work while you sleep. None of this is new.Only the delivery mechanism has changed. Bombs still kill people.They’re just dropped differently now. If you’re stuck.If you want to talk through options.If you want help using technology without losing your soul or your customers. Get in touch. Have a great day. Get In Touch Name *Email *Subject *Comment or Message *MessageSend Message
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    8 min
  • Welcome to 2026. This Is the New Reality for Small Business.

    Welcome to 2026. This Is the New Reality for Small Business.
    Jan 2 2026

    This is the first podcast of 2026.


    And yes, we have arrived.

    If you run a small business, this is for you.

    The aim of this podcast is simple.
    I take what I do every day with small business clients and strip it down into something useful.
    No theory. No noise. Just what works.

    Let’s get the obvious out of the way.

    Running a small business is hard right now.
    What used to work in marketing does not work like it did.
    Advice feels harder to trust.
    And customers behave differently.

    A big reason for that is AI.

    AI Has Moved Faster Than Most People Expected

    If you search for advice today, you do not get ten blue links.
    You get an answer.

    That answer is often close to what an accountant or solicitor used to charge for.
    AI models can now pass basic law and accountancy exams.
    That alone should make you pause.

    But there is a catch.

    AI does not understand your business.
    It does not understand nuance.
    And it does not ask follow-up questions.

    Why That Matters More Than People Think

    Ask an AI model how much tax you owe.
    Give it last year’s turnover.
    It will confidently give you a number.

    That number is usually wrong.

    A human advisor asks questions.
    Expenses. Losses. Timing. Carry-forwards.
    AI skips all of that and moves straight to an answer.

    Confidence is not accuracy.

    The Bigger Shift Most Owners Miss

    Your customers are doing the same thing.

    They no longer ring first.
    They ask an AI model.
    Sometimes the answer is wrong.
    Sometimes it is good enough to delay speaking to you.

    That breaks the old model where content led to trust and trust led to contact.

    Who Is Exposed and Who Is Not

    If you do physical work, you are safer.
    Plumbers still need to turn up.
    Builders still need to build.

    If your work is information-based and remote, pressure is coming.
    UK tax returns are already being handled using AI tools based overseas.

    This is not theory.
    It is happening.

    AI Is Not the Enemy. Blind Use Is.

    For a small monthly fee, AI is an incredible tool.
    It helps thinking.
    It helps planning.
    It helps speed.

    But it does not replace judgment.

    When someone says “I have a sales problem,” that is never one problem.
    It could be two hundred.
    AI does not prioritise.
    It lists.

    And lists create overwhelm, not decisions.

    What 2026 Really Looks Like

    More tools.
    More pressure.
    More misinformation.
    More noise.

    Also more opportunity for owners who think clearly.

    The advantage goes to people who use AI as a tool, not a crutch.

    If You’re Stuck

    If any of this feels familiar, get in touch.

    You can find out more at www.therichardsmith.com.
    If you run a smaller business, head to smallbusinessninja.co.uk.

    Tell me the problem.
    I will give you a couple of ways to think about it.
    No charge.

    Because that is still how this works.

    Get In Touch

    Name *Email *Subject *Comment or Message *NameSend Message
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    9 min
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