EP 224 - From Worried to Ready - The Small Business Guide to Thriving in 2026

Recession fears. Economic uncertainty. Tariffs. Interest rates. It's been a stressful year for small business owners, and you might be worried about what 2026 will bring.

But here's what I learned this week at a Small Business Week event with the Chief Economist from BDC: 2026 won't be as bad as you think.

Yes, we'll see slower growth. But growth nonetheless - not recession. And as a small business owner, you have way more control over your success than you realize.

In this episode, I'm breaking down the economic outlook for 2026 (both Canada and the US), what it actually means for small businesses, and most importantly - what you can do right now to ensure your business thrives regardless of what the economy does.

What we cover:

• The real economic outlook for 2026 (hint: it's not doom and gloom)
• Why consumer spending will continue and what that means for service-based businesses
• The areas you can actually control in your business: productivity, costs, customer experience, and sales
• Why AI might be your secret weapon for 2026
• The hard truth about sales: why YOU need to be doing it (and when you can finally delegate)
• The Million Dollar Baby lesson every business owner needs to hear

The Bottom Line:
You can't blame the economy for slow sales when you're doing nothing to bring clients in. People are still spending, but they're being more cautious. Your job is to show them why you're worth it.

Stop waiting. Start planning. Make 2026 your best year yet.

Ready to Plan Your Best 2026?

I'm hosting two complimentary Strategic Planning Events in November and December to help you create a clear, actionable plan for 2026. Spaces are limited.

Email me at maggie@stairwaytoleadership.com to secure your spot.

Want personalized help growing your business? Book a complimentary consultation at https://www.stairwaytoleadership.com/

Transcript

Welcome to Diamond Effect Podcast, episode 224. As the year is coming slowly to an end, and also because this week I attended a Small Business week event hosted by my local Chambers of Commerce and a Board of Trades in collaboration with Canadian Bank for Entrepreneurship, and I got an update and listened to their chief Economist on the economy and the outlook for the next year and further out.

It got me thinking about. 2026. So today I wanna share a little bit with you about the outlook on the economy in Canada. I also did some research for the us, and not to scare you, but just. Make you realize as a small business owner is that the economy does change. It might not be as bad as you're thinking and give you [00:01:00] some tips on what to look out for in 2026 and hopefully make your planning much better and stronger for the new year.

So in the last year or so we've experienced, and not just Canada, US, but ultimately the world, a lot of. Uncertainty, economic slowdown. And then of course with the change in leadership and the biggest economy, one of the biggest economy in the world, of course in US, and the unpredictability of new regulations and tariffs and all those things, it has been stressful for most of us.

 What the chief economist of the BDC was saying is that in a way that's our new norm, or at least shorter, longer term for the next three years, right? With the term of the current US administration, that affects also Canadian market. This is what it is, and as small [00:02:00] businesses.

We need to adapt and learn how to operate in that reality. Now, 2026 is not as bad as you might think it's gonna be, right? There's a lot of talk about the recession and slow down. What the experts actually think is that both in Canada and US, 2026 will be a year of growth, not recession, but it will be a slower growth. So maybe a little bit what we're experiencing this year or the second half of the year, that is not to say that people are not going to be buying things, I do wanna emphasize the fact that we will experience. Growth of the economy, just smaller to what both countries could do and what their potential is. Right? [00:03:00] And then depending on where you are in Canada or where you are in US, that also may vary. And most of the, especially Canadian economy. What propels the growth is actually consumer spending,

meaning if you are a small business that caters to people, right? You deliver services and solutions to people; people will still be spending money. They just might be a little bit more careful. It might take them a little bit more time to carefully consider their options. Because as you, they might be worried about the future, about, uncertainty and they will wanna make sure that their money goes a long way.

They will might want to be more discerning and what they buy and how much value they get for every dollar that they spent. Now, another side of it is that with the [00:04:00] slower growth, what in both countries, the central banks are going to do, they will still try to cut interest rate to stimulate a little bit the economy.

They will make borrowing and lending more affordable, which then might, incentivize people to. Buy houses or businesses to borrow money to do investments, right? So this is more of a positive impact of the slower growth.

So what can you do as a business owner to counter that, right? To make sure that your business is still getting better and stronger, still serving clients and growing. As small businesses, we never serve the majority of the market potential that we have there. So what can we do and how to best prepare for the best?

2026 you could have whatever is in your power, [00:05:00] right? First of all, what many businesses you are already doing and you might be doing. I'm definitely doing. It is to grow your productivity, meaning being able to accomplish more with less resources. AI has been a great help to many, many businesses out there.

Because of that. I feel like in my business, I have a personal assistant that saves me a ton of time that I didn't have just even last year. I'm always so grateful because I figured out ways how AI can help me in my coaching business, and it's definitely, I see that it's making me faster, more productive.

I can say yes to many more opportunities because I have ai. In my back corner. So if you are already doing it, the 2026 could be a year when you will take that to the next level. [00:06:00] If you are not using the ai, that's definitely a great time to start, not only in 2026, but you still have couple of months to think about it.

How can you use AI to. Increase productivity, utilize the resources that you have much better in your business. So your unit of time, of money, of energy goes so much further and creates so much more output than you're doing right now.

Another thing that businesses are doing that I talked before on this podcast is definitely looking at your cost and making sure that everything is streamlined when you're not wasting money on expenses that are not needed. But here I always caution businesses because sometimes we think that. Okay.

If it's a slowdown or the times are harder, I need to cut costs ruthlessly. And sometimes businesses go too [00:07:00] far where they stop investing. They stop innovating, they stop marketing and selling because all of that has a certain cost to it, and they shoot themselves in the foot, right? So what you wanna do is make sure that your costs are tight, that you're not overspending, but you're still investing in your business.

In areas where that makes your business stronger, it helps you keep current customers and gain new customers, and we'll talk about that next. Okay. So the most important couple of things that you should really focus and really think strategically about as you're going into the new year. Yes. Keeping your current customers as happy as possible so they don't only stay with you but are delighted to be working with you [00:08:00] and also think about referring you and

Rave about you everywhere they go, right? One of the ways you can do is map out your entire customer journey, involve your team members in it. If you have a team that helps you develop, that helps you deliver the services that interacts with customers and so on, they will have key insights that you might not be having because.

They're doing work that of course you're not doing. So mapping out the customer journey step by step and really being creative and strategic, thinking about how you can elevate the client experience on every step. How can you give them more value for the money that they're spending and entrusting in you to deliver the solutions you're delivering to them?

And when we can delight our clients and over deliver. They will be very [00:09:00] grateful. They will stay, not go anywhere else and they'll refer others.

And if you need help with that exercise, I am here to help you anytime. And of course, the second thing is. Focus on sales, on attracting new customers. They're still out there. They still need what you offer. Maybe they're not happy with their current service provider. Maybe they have a new need that came up because they are growing or their business is changing and they need help with that need, and you want to be in front of them.

You want to be visible to them so they can consider you as an option for their solution. And you can't do that. You can't have that opportunity if you don't do sales, right? If you don't have a sales strategy and don't do anything about it.

When the economy is great and [00:10:00] everything is going well and everybody has more resources, then sometimes things fall on our lap. We don't need to do much effort, but when times are harder. Then we need to work also a little bit harder to grow our business to keep attracting new customers. So you can't complain, that the sales are slow when you are not doing anything to bring sales in, when you are just waiting for things to happen.

You can be blaming the economy for slow times when you do nothing to bring in your clients, right? Too many business owners think that marketing should solve all the problems that even if they just are visible. On, social media, online, or they do some marketing, then clients will come and they don't have to do any sales because they don't like to be salesy or they tell themselves they don't have time because they're busy [00:11:00] in other areas of their business

however, for 90. Seven or 9% of US business owners, marketing is not enough. Yes, there are certain few industries where that probably takes care of 90% of your client acquisition, but there are a lot of businesses, a majority where marketing is the first step, and then sales need to be the second step for you to attract and close new customers.

And you need to have a process for it. And if you have a process but you are seeing that your conversion rates are not high, what you can do is tighten up that process, right? Find the leaks, find the gaps, and. Raise the conversion rates. Sometimes the raise from 38% to 42 or 45 or 50, whatever your rate is by a few percentage, can [00:12:00] mean many more clients can mean more income, and then growth of the business despite a slower growth of the economy.

Now, you might be telling me, Maggie, but I hate sales and maybe I should outsource it to other people. There's only one me and so on, and I'm gonna say, yes, of course. Depending on where your business is, there is certain sales activity roles, sales activity at some point that you can outsource it. However, if you are not.

Multiple six, multiple seven figure business, and you are just starting or you are just hitting six figures and so on, you should be doing the sales. There is couple of reasons for that. First of all, your resources are limited, utilizing you, who knows your business the best, who should know your clients the best, who is the most passionate about what you do will give you always a higher [00:13:00] conversion rate.

And this is the best time you can spend as a CEO to grow your business because you are the one responsible for the long term and short term success of your business. Another thing is. The skills that you'll learn, like sales skills, listening, communication, but also the in-depth understanding of your ideal clients.

Those are invaluable for the survival of your business and for you as the CEO. So it's a must. It truly is a must to be good at sales when you're an entrepreneur and business owner. As your business grows and scales and you have more resources, you can then get help with that, whether it's an initially generation, whether it's a market research and preparation, or then you can hire people to help you and sell alongside with you, but somebody need to [00:14:00] train them.

Own your business on what you stand for, on what works with the clients and so on. And if you don't know that, it's hard to train the people who sell alongside with you. I always remember a scene from a movie, I think it was Million Dollar Baby, with Jennifer Lawrence and Jennifer Lawrence in their place, an entrepreneur, a woman who became.

Really successful. She, and she was an inventor and I think she invented like the mop that was revolutionary at the time at some point. She got a deal to sell her product on that sales TV network. And now the name escapes me, where people were buying a lot, right? They used to watch tv and then there would be, people pitching different products and then people would buy, and at first because she didn't believe in herself and [00:15:00] she didn't think she was the best salesperson they hired, or the television hired.

Somebody to sell that product, but then the sales were horrible. Nothing was happening, not because the product was great, but the person didn't really know the product, didn't believe it, and then so on. So there is this scene when Jennifer Lawrence sees that she's at the back set of that commercial that is going on and.

Of course nothing is happening. Sales are not happening live. She got really upset about it. She stepped in and passionately without any sales training, without scripts or anything, started talking about the product she developed and then. Sales came in, right? People started loving it and started buying, and that was the first step for her being so successful.

So don't underestimate your knowledge, your passion for what you offer, and with that natural selling ability that you [00:16:00] have, as long as you're willing and have courage to do it.

Having sales process, mastering your sales and really honing that skill is the best way you can ensure your business success. Now you have to create the time, right? If you are in day-to-day of your business and you don't set specific. Time blocks in your schedule in your week to do that, it will never happen, right?

Because those things are never urgent until you have no clients in making no money, right? So then it becomes urgent. But even if you do business development activities, couple of hours a week, it will over time compound and will create results better than doing it zero time every week. So sometimes we think that, oh my God, I have so many ideas I could be doing.[00:17:00] 

All those things, reaching out to all these potential markets and clients, but then we get overwhelmed by how much work that creates. But then we don't do anything instead of picking. One idea or one strategy that you think is the most likely to give your results. Breaking it out into activities, right?

And scheduling in your calendar every week. A little bit of focus on business development. I promise you it will pay off.

So this episode is supposed to motivate you to take charge of what you can control in your business and ensure that your business grows better than the economy of your own country in 2026. Now, the best way to plan. And do the strategic planning is to also set aside time [00:18:00] and focus on it. But if you don't do it on a regular basis, if you're not sure where to even start, it will be better if you have a facilitator walking you through.

And guess what? I am creating a couple of complementary strategic planning events this year, one in November, one in December, to walk you through and help you. Make 2026 the best it can possibly be. I don't have the dates sent just yet at the recording of this podcast, but if you're interested in attending, email me at maggie@starwaytoleadership.com and by that time I'll have the dates and we'll work out which one you can attend.

Now, if you're listening to this podcast, a little bit later, once I have the dates and. Information, how to register other than emailing me, I'll put those details in the show notes, in the meantime, just email me, secure your [00:19:00] spot. There will be limits to how many people are accepting those events.

But I do wanna help you, but I do wanna help as many of you as possible. That's why I'm doing two events towards the end of this year, and I always. Prefer even for my business to have a plan before the year starts so I can hit it running rather than be a late bloomer trying to catch up in January.

So highly encourage you to sign up for one of those. All you need to do is email me and I'll hope to see you there. Talk to you next week as well. Bye.