You want to grow your small business? Well, there are 5.7 million private sector businesses in the UK. Three quarters of them, some 4.3 million, are run by the owner with no staff.
That’s a huge number of people who’ve backed themselves. People who looked at a job, a skill or an idea and thought “I could do this on my own”.
Not all of them make it. Fewer than four in ten UK businesses are still trading five years after they start. But that figure hides something useful. The businesses that keep going, and keep growing, rarely have a secret. In my experience they tend to share one simple habit.
They look at the whole business. Regularly. Not just the bit they enjoy.
Growth Comes from Balance, Not More Hours
After 26+ years in business, and many of them mentoring people who run businesses on their own, this is the pattern I see most.
When a business isn’t moving forward, the owner is usually putting almost all their energy into one or two areas. Typically the work itself and a bit of marketing. The other areas get less attention, and that’s where the untapped growth is sitting.
That’s good news. It means the next step often isn’t working harder. It’s working on a different part of the business.
I learned this myself after the 2008 crash, when I had to rebuild my business from scratch. What made the difference was a simple routine: checking five areas of my business, not just the ones I liked. I call them The 5Ps, and I still run through them every quarter.
Here are the five checks. Each takes a few minutes. Answer honestly and you’ll know exactly where to put your energy next.
Quick test: If a happy client recommended you to a friend, what would they say you do? Does it match what you’d say?
Check 1: People. Know Exactly who You Serve
Why it matters: When you know precisely who your customer is and what they want (not what you think they need), everything else gets easier. Your messages land, your offers make sense and the right people recognise themselves straight away.
Quick test: Can you describe your best customer in one sentence, including the problem they’d pay you to solve?
Your next step: Look at your three favourite clients from the past year and write down what they have in common. That’s your ideal customer, drawn from real people rather than guesswork.
Check 2: Product. Make It Easy to Buy From You
Why it matters: A clear, focused offer is easier to explain, easier to recommend and easier to say yes to. Customers who understand what you sell are far more likely to buy it.
Quick test: If a happy client recommended you to a friend, what would they say you do? Does it match what you’d say?
Your next step: List everything you currently offer. Circle the one or two things that sell best and that you most enjoy delivering. Those are where your focus goes.
Check 3: Price. Make Sure the Business Pays You
Why it matters: The right pricing gives you breathing space. It means fewer clients to hit your targets, more time to do the work properly and a business that actually supports the life you want.
Quick test: Do you know how much you need to earn each month, and how many sales at your current prices it takes to get there?
Your next step: Work out your monthly target and divide it by your average sale. If the number of sales you need looks unrealistic, your prices are the first thing to look at.
Check 4: Promotion. Do More of What Brings in Customers
Why it matters: Marketing works best when your time goes where your customers actually come from. Get that right and you’ll do less marketing with better results.
Quick test: Where did your last three paying customers come from? Is that where most of your marketing time goes?
Your next step: Pick one thing that has brought you business before, whether that’s networking, referrals, talks or partnerships, and put it back in the diary this month.
Check 5: Productivity. Give Yourself Time Back
Why it matters: Every hour saved on admin is an hour you can spend on clients, marketing or simply switching off. When it’s just you, time is your most valuable resource.
Quick test: How many times last week did you write the same email, look for the same file or rebuild the same document?
Your next step: Choose the admin job you do most often and turn it into a template. One job. One template. Then enjoy the time you get back.
Where to Start
Look at your five answers and pick the area with the most room for improvement.
Just one.
Focusing on one area at a time is how real progress happens. Give it your attention for the next few weeks, then move on to the next.
There are around 13 weeks left of 2026. That’s plenty of time to make a noticeable difference to one area of your business, and possibly two. And over the coming weeks this blog will take each of the five areas in turn, with practical steps you can put to work straight away.
How I Can Help
This is exactly the work I do with my clients. I’m a Business Mentor for ultra small businesses and for people who run businesses on their own: Solopreneurs, Freelancers and Side-Hustlers. Together we look at the whole business, work out where the growth is and put a practical plan in place to get there.
This Case Study will tell you more.
There are two easy ways to start:
- Get my free Back to Business guide. Back to Business: 7 Simple Steps to Boost Your Income and Impact This Autumn walks you through practical steps you can take before the end of the year. It’s the perfect companion to the five checks above. Download the free guide
- Find out how to work with me. If you’d like support to put all this into practice, how my 1-2-1 Mentoring works and how to get started. I have two client places left for the rest of 2026. Find out how to work with me
Sources
- Business population figures: Department for Business and Trade, Business Population Estimates 2025
- Five-year survival: Office for National Statistics, Business Demography UK (39.4% for businesses born in 2018; the most recent release puts it at 38.4% for 2019)