The library
Read it over a cup of tea.
Free reads and worksheets for building something of your own, alongside the rest of your life. Most take less than ten minutes.
Thinking about leaving
Thinking about leaving
Do you want a business, or a different working life?
Separate what you want to leave behind from what running a business would require, and choose a useful next experiment.
Thinking about leaving
Keep going, change the offer or stop?
Use the results of a business test to decide what deserves another attempt, what needs changing and what to close down.
Thinking about leaving
When more research stops helping your business decision
Identify the decision behind your research and choose the evidence that could actually change it.
Thinking about leaving
Is starting a business just a dream—or something I can test?
Turn an imagined business into one practical question you can investigate without committing to a launch.
Thinking about leaving
I don't trust business gurus. How do I find help I can trust?
Look beyond lifestyle promises and assess business guidance through its evidence, deliverables, support and limits.
Use it
Find what you could build
Do I have something people would pay for?
Recognise useful everyday abilities, distinguish praise from demand and identify a first offer worth investigating.
Find what you could build
Choose a business that fits the hours you can actually offer
Compare business ideas against reliable availability, customer timing and the consequences of interruption.
Find what you could build
Is there room for you when other businesses already do it?
Compare the alternatives customers actually use and identify a specific reason they might choose your offer.
Find what you could build
Would I still enjoy this if customers were paying?
Explore whether deadlines, customer briefs and repeated work fit the activity you enjoy before turning it into a business.
Find what you could build
Can I start a business if I've never done anything like this before?
Separate unfamiliar tasks from genuine capability gaps and choose a sensible first step without making the idea a test of your worth.
Use it
Test your idea
Test your idea
Ask about the last time: customer conversations that help you decide
Use a short, neutral conversation to understand a real buying problem without mistaking encouragement for demand.
Test your idea
Find your first customers without becoming a full-time marketer
Choose one practical route to relevant buyers, make a clear offer and learn where enquiries turn into completed sales.
Test your idea
Why should your first customer trust you?
Build first-customer confidence through honest samples, clear commitments and evidence that matches the risk of the job.
Test your idea
Why are customers not coming back?
Distinguish a lack of repeat need from delivery or booking problems, and investigate the right customers before changing the offer.
Build in the time you have
Build in the time you have
Build a business plan that survives a changing work schedule
Turn limited, uneven availability into a realistic next step, while protecting customer commitments and making interrupted work easier to restart.
Build in the time you have
Stop a small service job becoming an unlimited promise
Define what a service includes, handle extra requests fairly and distinguish new work from correcting something you owe.
Build in the time you have
What if your family is worried about you starting a business?
Make the money, time and unpaid help behind a business test visible, and agree limits with the people affected.
Build in the time you have
Can your business survive a week when you are unavailable?
Plan for a week when you cannot work: customer commitments, authorised help, money, communication and a manageable return.
Build in the time you have
When does hiring help actually make financial sense?
Work out whether paid help creates usable time and sufficient value after supervision, costs and working-relationship obligations.
Build in the time you have
When should you turn down a customer?
Decide when to decline work by checking capacity, competence, economics and fair access before making a promise.
Build in the time you have
How to start a business without buying another course
Turn a business idea into a manageable next action, collect useful evidence and decide what to do with the result.
Build in the time you have
Where can I get affordable help to start a business?
Compare mentoring, training, guided tools and specialist advice, then choose support that fits your task, time and budget.
Money and readiness
Money and readiness
Can you test a business when you have no money to lose?
Separate a lack of startup capital from a lack of household headroom, and choose evidence you can afford to obtain.
Money and readiness
How much of your business depends on one customer?
Assess customer dependence through contribution, unpaid balances and available time before making larger commitments.
Money and readiness
Can you afford to accept a bigger order?
Find the cash shortfall a larger order could create before accepting it, and assess changes to payment and delivery terms.
Money and readiness
Is buying equipment really cheaper than renting?
Compare buying and hiring over the same period, including realistic use, resale uncertainty and the cash needed upfront.
Money and readiness
Is an expensive business course worth it when you're just starting?
Assess an expensive business course by the task it solves, its full payment commitment and your ability to apply the learning.
Use it
Money and readiness
The one-page cost sheet
The sheet behind the example on your result. About fifteen minutes, and it usually moves the number a long way down.
Money and readiness
The conditions worksheet
How to write the conditions that would have to be true before you hand in notice, and the four ways people write them badly.
Money and readiness
The runway worksheet
How many months you could actually cover, and the three mistakes that make the number look worse than it is.
Showing 32 of 32
The Exit Note · Emails from Ronnie
Not ready yet? Each week, one short email from Ronnie: a practical tip to try something different and a bit of encouragement to keep going.
- One email a week
- Practical, no fluff
- Unsubscribe any time