As you organize your fall planning, you’ll probably realize you can’t afford to do everything you want, or at least, not all at once. Before you plunk down your hard-earned cash to join a program or write some plan that will be outdated before you finish it, ask this question: 

What could I improve without money, people, or technology?

Finding growth in your business might be easier than you think. Often, we can find significant improvements by communicating more clearly, simplifying or reducing process steps, or defining one repeatable way to do things. This is especially important if you want to use more AI tools in your business.

Here’s the thing: if you feed a bad process into a machine, or accelerate it with money or people, you just get a bigger, badder result. A good process can be accelerated by tools and investments. 

The other thing about strategy is that you have to commit and be consistent for more than a couple of weeks. To make a strategy stick, consider these non-tech management approaches:

• Time blocking: use your calendar to define time blocks for you the person, business management, and paid work in the business. Some folks do this in 25- or 90-minute sprints; others block whole days, like no meeting Fridays.

• Decision fatigue: none of us has infinite capacity to make decisions. While science says we make up to 35,000 decisions a day, we use a lot of them on things like finding the car keys, choosing snacks for lunches, and matching our socks. As the day goes on, the quality of our decision-making decreases. Define routines, habits, and systems to protect your energy for managerial decisions. Pace your work realistically.

• Simplicity: here’s a thought exercise: what if a child had to execute the thing you wanted done? How would you explain it? What kind of visual and instructional tools would you use? Identify a few critical tasks that anyone who works with you should be able to do independently and at a high level of quality, and radically simplify them.

• Repetition and consistency: tell me if you’ve had this experience. Someone you’ve told multiple times hears what you do and says, “I wish I knew you did {blank} a few months ago when I needed it!” Don’t beat yourself (or them) up. While classic marketing says it takes seven repetitions to move someone to remember you and take action, current estimates are more like 14-20. And they need a periodic reminder. You’ll need to repeat yourself a lot, for longer than you expect, to initiate action.

• Values alignment: sometimes we stop doing things because they just don’t feel like us. Check your strategies with an eye to alignment with whether they help you do the things you want to do in the world. Respect what’s not for you. 

You’ll note that none of these things requires more people, money, or technology. Each could be enhanced by those things, but you can get meaningful results immediately through these simple tactics.

If process-driven thinking is challenging for you, consider investing in support. It will set you up for success when you’re ready to accelerate your growth.

It’s go time, people! Early voting has already started. If you haven’t yet checked your registration, you may have as few as ten days left. Use vote.org to check your registration prior to your state’s deadline. 

If you’re in these seven states, you’ll need to allow time to register in person. If you live in Arizona and want to vote in state and local elections, you may be required to update proof of citizenship prior to the registration deadline.

Also, give your team a nudge to check their registration and make a voting plan. Time off to vote is protected in 30 states and it’s mandatory to post about it in California, New York, and District of Columbia.  Put a reminder for November 5 in your company holiday calendar.

October AMA

Please note, my October AMA is moving up by a day to Wednesday, October 9 at 10 AM Pacific. (On the 10th, I’ll be at LA’s summit on supplier sourcing opportunities for the 2026 World Cup, 2027 Super Bowl, and 2028 Olympics.) 

Have a question for the AMA? Submit it here. Use this link to add the details to your calendar.

Media Kit 

SBA: While I chase my little slice of Los Angeles’ sports sourcing action, the federal government has a goal of spending at least 5% of its budget with women-owned small businesses each year. (That’s $310 billion each year.) Want to see if you qualify? Check out sba.gov/wosb. The SBA and Office of Government Contracting have teams on standby to help you qualify. 

Horizon Media: what does it mean to be a sports fan now? Horizon Media has published a report about how Gen Z relates to and consumes sports. Betting! Fashion! Pants falling down! It’s gonna get More Taylor before it gets Less Taylor. Read this if you work with fan-driven groups.

NPR: Hey, remember back in April when the Biden administration gave TikTok owner ByteDance 90 days to find a non-Chinese buyer? Well, TikTok was in court last week to appeal the divestiture requirement. At the time of writing, no rulings have been made. If you rely on TikTok for your lead generation or sales, start working on Plan B. 

CNET: Meta announced new Instagram account standards for teens aged 16 and under. Accounts will be set to private by default, more content filters will be applied, and parents will have more time controls. As this girl noted, though, this won’t help undo body image issues and bullying impacts. Expect more voluntary changes from social media companies as revised and enhanced online child safety legislation COPPA 2.0 and KOSA get closer to reality.