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Quick reality check

Most small business owners are not “lazy.” They’re just buried.
But buried or not, the data is brutal:

• In one survey, over 80% of small business owners said they don’t keep track of their business goals.synnovatia.com

• Businesses that track metrics and execute against a plan are about 2x more likely to hit their goals.LivePlan

• And despite all the chaos of the last couple of years, 74% of small and mid-sized U.S. businesses expect revenue growth in 2026 and nearly 60% plan to expand.Reuters

So the opportunity is there.
Most of your “competition” is winging it. They’re not tracking. They’re not planning. They’re just reacting.

2026 can be the year you stop doing that.

This 3-part series is going to walk you through:

1. Part 1: Get brutally honest and decide what 2026 really looks like.

2. Part 2: Turn that vision into a simple, living 90-day plan and scoreboard.

3. Part 3: Build habits, maintain a good calendar pace, and use “if-then” rules so you actually follow through.

Today is all about clarity and decisions.

Step 1: Brutally honest 2025 debrief (no fluff)

Before we talk about 2026 goals, we need a clean, unfiltered picture of where you are right now. Even if it’s ugly and messy - be honest.

Block off 60–90 minutes. No email. No Slack. No “quick calls.”

Grab a notebook, a whiteboard, or an iPad and answer these for your school specifically:

1. Money & growth

• 2025 total revenue: $________

• Average monthly revenue: $________

• Revenue by program (HVAC, IT sales, CNA, Appliance Repair, etc.):

  • Program A: $________

  • Program B: $________

  • Program C: $________

• % of revenue funded by WIOA / workforce boards/grants vs. self-pay vs. other:

  Source	% of Revenue
  WIOA / workforce
  Self-pay
  VA / GI Bill
  Other (nonprofits, etc.)

• Average cash in the bank (last 6 months): $________

• Months of runway if revenue stopped today: ________ months

2. Enrollments & student pipeline

• Total new students in 2025: ________

• New students by quarter: Q1 ___ / Q2 ___ / Q3 ___ / Q4 ___

• Top 3 lead sources:

• Lead → enrollment conversion rate: _____%

• Average time from lead to enrollment: ______ days

If you don’t know these numbers, that’s not a fail—that’s your first 2026 project: get the data.

3. Student outcomes (the boring stuff that prints money)

• Completion rate per program (% of students who actually finish):

• Certification/licensing pass rates:

• Job placement or “better job / higher wage” rate at 90 days:

If you’re working with workforce boards, these are the stats that let you:

• Justify higher tuition caps

• Secure more referrals and contracts

• Negotiate priority status in 2026 funding conversations

4. Your life and your team

Goal setting without looking at your actual life is how you end up rich, tired, and miserable.

• How many hours a week did you work (average)?

• Scale 1–10: How fried were you this year?

• How many weeks did you truly unplug?

• Do you have someone who can run the day without you? Yes / No

• Name your 3 strongest team members:

• Name the 1–2 roles you know you should have hired 6 months ago:

ACTION ITEM – “2025 in One Page”

On one page (or slide), summarize:

• 5 numbers that matter most (revenue, students, completion %, etc.)

• 3 things that clearly worked

• 3 things that clearly did not work

• 1 sentence on how you felt running the school this year

You’re going to use this in Parts 2 and 3.

Step 2: Decide what 2026 is actually about

Most school owners set 2026 goals like this:

That’s not a plan. That’s a wish list.

Let’s simplify.

Pick 3–5 “non-negotiable” outcomes for 2026

Non-negotiable means: If these happen, 2026 was a win. If they don’t, it wasn’t.

Examples (customize the numbers):

1. Revenue:

   • “By Dec 31, 2026, our school will hit $50,000 in average monthly revenue, with at least 80% of it coming from WIOA funding.”

2. Enrollments:

   • “We will enroll 100 new students in 2026 across all programs (average 8 new students per month).”

3. Outcomes & credibility:

   • “We will maintain at least 80% completion and 70% job placement within 90 days of graduation.”

4. Licensing & growth footprint:

   • “We will get approved on two new states’ ETPL lists and launch at least one new high-demand program.”

5. Owner life & systems:

   • “By Q4 2026, the owner is working ≤ 35 hours/week, with all enrollment calls, workforce board communication, and day-to-day operations handled by the team.”

Your non-negotiables should cover:

• Money

• Students

• Quality/outcomes

• Growth footprint (states/programs)

• Your personal sustainability

Write them as simple, measurable sentences. No buzzwords.

Step 3: Turn “goals” into “Outcome + Evidence” statements

A vague goal:

A real 2026 outcome:

For each non-negotiable outcome, answer:

1. What exactly will be true? (the outcome)

2. How will we know it’s true? (the evidence / metric)

3. What’s our starting point? (baseline)

Example:

• Outcome: Increase average monthly revenue to $50,000.

• Evidence: QuickBooks/Stripe/bank statements show ≥$50K/month for 3 straight months.

• Baseline: We’re currently at $20,000/month.

When you do this for 3–5 outcomes, your brain starts problem-solving automatically because it knows what “done” looks like.

Step 4: Choose your single “North Star” for 2026

If everything gets chaotic (and it will), you need one number that tells you whether the school is winning.

Examples of a North Star for 2026:

• “Number of graduating students placed in better jobs this year”

• “Average monthly revenue from grant-funded students”

• “Rolling 90-day student starts.”

Pick one.

This does not mean you ignore everything else. It just means:

You’ll build your 90-day plans around it in Part 2.

Step 5: Write your 2026 story like it already happened

This is cheesy. It also works.

Write a one-page story dated December 31, 2026, starting with:

Fill in the blank:

• “…became a real business instead of a stressful job.”

• “…turned our WIOA approval into actual students and revenue.”

• “…stopped relying on random referrals and started owning our pipeline.”

Then write 4–6 bullet points in past tense:

• “We grew from $20K to $50K/month with better margins, not just more chaos.”

• “We launched our ______ program and had our first cohort of 6 students in September.”

• “We built a small but deadly-effective operations team that runs the day without me.”

• “We became the ‘go-to’ school for __________ in our region.”

This becomes your filter for every decision you make in 2026.

ACTION ITEM – Owner Homework (Before Part 2)

1. Complete your 2025 one-page debrief.

2. Choose 3–5 non-negotiable 2026 outcomes.

3. Pick one North Star metric for the year.

4. Write your one-page “It’s Dec 31, 2026” story.

Bring all of that into Part 2. That’s where the plan gets real.

Reader Corner (for non-school owners)

If you’re reading this and you don’t own a school, the same framework works for you.

• Debrief 2025: Money, health, relationships, work.

• Pick 3–5 outcomes for 2026:

  • Pay off $____ of debt

  • Drop ____ lbs and keep it off

  • Land a new job or promotion

  • Start a side hustle and get to $1K/month

• Choose a North Star: something like “net worth,” “hours of quality time with family,” or “steps walked per day.”

Then write your December 31, 2026 letter to yourself. You’ll use it in Part 3 when we talk about habits.

Until next time, control what YOU can control, take action on something, and don’t forget to smile. Like what you read? Here’s how you can help:  Share this newsletter with friends who could use a boost. Sharing is caring! Connect with me on X (formerly Twitter) – let's chat and support each other. Find me at https://x.com/TS_Secrets