Diamond Effect - Strategies to Scale Your Service Business as a Sellable Asset

EP # 231 - From Idea to Action: The Small Business CEO’s Guide to Making Things Happen in 2026

• Maggie Perotin

Share episode

Send us a text

Is your 2026 vision still just an idea—or will you actually make it happen? 

In this episode, we dig into why waiting for the “right moment” is one of the biggest traps holding business owners back, and how to become the kind of CEO who creates the right moment instead of waiting for it. 

Maggie shares real stories, personal lessons, and actionable strategies to help you turn inspiration into implementation—no matter what life throws your way.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Why the “perfect time” is a myth (and how to create momentum no matter what’s happening in your life or business)
  • How to break the cycle of January excitement and February drop-off, so your goals stick all year
  • The mindset shifts that help you make and follow through on bold decisions—even when circumstances aren’t perfect
  • Real-life examples of making big moves before the stars align (and how it led to unexpected opportunities)
  • Simple, practical steps to start acting on your ideas—without burning out or waiting for everything to be “just right”

Related Episodes:

Key Takeaways:

  • Don’t wait for the right moment—decide, commit, and create it.
  • Taking action (even imperfectly) is better than waiting for the stars to align.
  • Every big result starts with a small, intentional step.

Ready to make 2026 the year you move from idea to action?

Book a complimentary consultation with Maggie HERE

Hello. Hello everybody. Welcome to Diamond Effect Podcast 231. We are in December, approaching the new year, so I guess the next few podcasts we'll be. Either reflective or thinking about what's coming up in 2026, but also maybe helping you make better plans, better decisions, and coach you right here and there a little bit, how to also stick with your decisions or how to make sure that if you make plans, you implement them.

Past February because the statistic shows that most people who make some plans for the new year, whether it's in their personal lives or in business, they're very excited and they're very committed to implementing those plans in January, and by February, majority of people falls up. [00:01:00] So today's episode is partially related to that.

But ultimately I wanna talk about creating the right moments to do something rather than waiting for them. So often I talk to business owners who are like, yeah, I wanna do it, but now it's not the right moment. Or, I wanna implement this for my business, but I'm so busy, I'm waiting for that moment. And ultimately, there was never a right moment to do anything.

If you wait for the right moment, it will hardly ever arrive. I realize that in my life and in my business, I create the right moment. I just decide to do something, to implement something, to go after something.

Either the moment I come up with an idea, or at least to start that process, or I [00:02:00] really decide when that time becomes and I follow through with it rather than wait because I accepted the fact that there's never a right moment. On its own. And why is it important? Because as business owners, we and CEOs, we make decisions.

This is how our business grows right through our thinking. That then leads to decisions that then we implement or not, and that leads to our action and then therefore the results we create. And because we're coming up to the newer, and you might be thinking about, okay, I have this project that I want to do in 2026, I want this improvement, or I wanna switch this, change that, and swan.

And very often one of the.

And often one of the things that trips business owners up is [00:03:00] that they have all these great ideas and they're trying to implement them all in January. And then if that doesn't work, because very often it won't. If you try to do a year worth of work in one month, you are not gonna do it.

Then they abandon those ideas, they abandoned those plans thinking, oh, it's not gonna work because I didn't do it in January. Deciding on when to do things and following through and deciding when the right moment is, allows you to create those end. With that, create the results you want. So I'll give you two examples in my personal life and journey that if I just waited for the right moment to do things, I would've never done it.

And because I didn't, I am where I am today. So the first one was starting my business when I started it. So the idea came [00:04:00] because I burnt out in the corporate. World, but it wasn't in the moment of burning out. Right when I was in the moment of burning out and I was tired. A business wasn't even on my mind.

But as I. Decided to do something about the burnout, to focus on what I could control and let what I couldn't control, meaning certain decisions or how certain things were run in the company I worked for at the time. I started implementing high performing habits into how I operate day to day, week to week.

And with that, I realized I had more time. That I thought I ever did, even though up to that point, I thought I was pretty good at time management. I was pretty good at handling a lot of things and juggling it all right. But burnout showed me that I wasn't, and yes, there were circumstances beyond my [00:05:00] control that contributed to it, but there were things I could control.

So as I started implementing those habits I realizing that I can create time on demand and that I have more time than I thought, including for myself. I started volunteering and then I signed up for my executive MBA at Jack Welch Management Institute because it was something that I always wanted to do.

I did have a master's degree from a university back in Poland that was in international relations. Law and economics and human resources and all those things, but it was old, let's just say it right. It was 20 years or so old, and I wanted to refresh my education and see what's out there in the world, especially in the business arena and.

Up to that point, I was telling myself, oh, it's not the right moment to do it. It was like, oh, [00:06:00] I need to still work and save money for the house, and then I had kids and then this and so on. So as I was implementing the good. I decided, okay, now was the time. I'm gonna create that time and I'm gonna sign up for an MBA.

I found Jack Welch Manage Institute, which also not only had the courses and the philosophy that aligned with me, but also the way of working, meaning being online and flexible in how I could. Schedule my time to prepare for the courses and learn throughout each week, which was very helpful for me.

Remember that was before COVID, what a lot of universities did not have online options or very limited. So I signed up and then shortly after as I signed up, committed, figure it out. You know how I'm gonna manage that. An idea for the business came up because again, I had time to think and ponder.

I had this a bit [00:07:00] of an existential thoughts like, is this really what I wanna do? Continue doing the corporate career. And my fear of burning out again was strong at that time saying I don't really wanna get in that situation again. And started thinking, what did I wanna do? Then an idea for the business came up.

So if you thought about in that time, I could have easily said, it is a great idea, but like it's not the right moment. I don't have time. I still have this full-time position and I was about to get promoted again. And I signed up for the MBA, so that's a commitment of 15 or whatever, 20 hours a week, and I started volunteering and I now have time for my kids.

It's not the right time. Maybe I should wait when I finish my MBA, which for me was a three year path because I decided to choose just one course per semester. I didn't wanna overload myself trying to finish it in year and [00:08:00] a half.

But imagine if I waited three years to start my business, I would've probably never started it because shortly after COVID happened. And I don't know if I decided that would be a good time and then I would've been promoted again and I would've gone in different directions. We can never project what will happen three years.

That's such a long time. So if I think back, if I didn't start it then and told myself that there will be this perfect time, another time, I don't think knowing what happened right after I would've ever started, but.

What I did instead is, okay, I have this idea, so how can I make it happen? How can I create the time right now? How can I make this the right moment? Because this idea came to me. I did, I [00:09:00] decided, okay, I will of course run it part-time on this side. I'll take it step by step, commit to it, be serious about it, but do it in a way that works for me in my circumstances and see what it takes me.

And sure enough, shortly after, I think six months after I started my business,

and sure enough, shortly after, a few months after I started my business, COVID happened and one huge benefit that would've never thought happened, right? Nobody knew COVID was coming. That was something we could not have predicted, is that when we all went and started working from home, I saved. An hour and a half to four hours.

Each day of commute, and I'm saying four hours, because sometimes in the worst winter days, it would take me two or [00:10:00] one hour and a half, one way to get to the office. But at minimum hour and a half each day, I instantly gained.

So I had minimum five to 10 hours a week. I could dedicate to building my business on top of it. Majority of people were online, especially business owners, very prone to self development and growing and listening to new people. So as I entered the market, even though I did not have a lot of network and I had to build it from scratch we had this.

Audience that had a lot of time on their hands that was hungry of self-improvement development I started running free events and trainings that were a great training ground even for me as a coach, business owner who've never done this before, [00:11:00] to put my name out there. Start being known, recognize, practice my public speaking skills, practice my coaching concepts,

But if I didn't start my business, I would've missed all that opportunity, waiting for the right moment.

Then another example I want to give you was me deciding when to. Quit my corporate career and again, I left, I quit my job at the end of 2021, and I did it. I created that moment for myself, right? Because I could have said oh, maybe I should wait till they let me go, but they weren't letting me go.

They wanted to promote me. Or maybe I should wait for my bonus to be paid out, which usually bonuses for in my company, for my roles were being paid out somewhere in April, right? So [00:12:00] sometimes we think that oh, maybe I'll wait another four months or another six months, and so on, and. I didn't want to get there.

Like I didn't wanna wait till, oh, what happens? Maybe the bonus or maybe when I get another position because I knew the longer I waited or the more perks I gained as a corporate leader, the harder it would be for me to leave. And one thing that I always think about when I have a. Important decision in my life or career to make, and it's difficult and the moment is never right and I wanna create it.

I think about, okay, imagine yourself two years from now doing either what you're doing right now, but maybe being in a better position or whatever. How does that feel? Or being at exactly the same place. And imagine yourself having gone after what you want, even if it's not exactly [00:13:00] the ideal results you want, what would you prefer?

Where would you wanna be? And that usually validates my decision, right? Because for me, imagining myself. Keep growing in that corporate world that I was in, getting more responsibility, more stress, even if I never returned to the burnout I was in it still didn't feel aligned.

It still felt like I really don't wanna do it anymore. I became somebody different through the burnout experience and I didn't wanna continue going there. Then the decision of. When to quit and creating that moment and not waiting for something perfect became so much easier because I knew that if I didn't do it then and I waited too long, it would've become harder and harder, and I would have never stopped thinking about it or forgiven myself that I didn't give myself a chance.

So whenever I [00:14:00] wanna do something, I think about it. Why do I want to do it right? Why do I want to decide now? How does it fit with? My vision for myself, for my life, not only right now or a year from now, but long term going forward, and then that what happens if I don't do it now? What could happen in 12 months if I stay exactly the same or move in a direction that maybe doesn't feel aligned, but just is easier or it's more comfortable?

Am I gonna be okay with that? And I don't know if it comes from my upbringing being like a child in communist regime where there wasn't many exciting things happening in like short term and me learning how to have like dreams and working towards it and being okay with not having them right this moment.[00:15:00] 

But I'm really good at being able. To work for something on a longer term and go through short term pain, like just saying of changing or making a harder decision or starting from scratch or starting at a disadvantage with the hope. That I can create what I want long term and that's what also allows me time.

On my own terms created rather than wait for it because ultimately when you truly decide on something, that's the best time. To start doing it. And I don't say drop everything and forget about whatever you've had going on and go on that new idea, but at least take steps if it's important enough for you and you're very clear on how it's important and how it aligns with your life, with your business, whatever that is,

long term to start. Doing it or taking the first step, right? Like when I started my business, it wasn't like, oh, I'm gonna quit my job [00:16:00] and just start my business. Since one, no, I knew that wasn't realistic, but when I came up with the idea of the business, the first step for me was, okay, let's figure out how do I even set up a business in Canada?

The first step was just to research that, and then as I researched and found out some information sessions about those basic stuff. So I signed up for that and then I decided, okay, now I know how to start a business. Let me just set it up legally, do that pre-work, and then continue.

So just taking steps. On the decision is moving you forward while maybe you're still, doing the things you've been doing that are creating the right results for you. So for example, if it was in your business, you're thinking like, okay, in 2026, I want to invest in new technology, but I need to [00:17:00] wait.

But you don't necessarily need to purchase the technology right in January, 2026.

But what you can do is start. Maybe doing a research and allocate time in Q1 to do the research to understand what you even need first, right? What are the pain points right now that are created and what we would need that technology to do to, solve for those pain points, right? And then start doing research and then start doing so at least you get closer and closer.

To planning, understanding what you need, and then budgeting and so on.

So it's not about taking on too much at once, but figuring out that if I have an important thing that I wanna work on. How do they take the first steps? How do I fit that with my current commitments and current way of running the business? And how do I slowly move in that direction

[00:18:00] another example I'll give you just from my business currently from at a smaller scale, smaller decision. So I have an idea. I have two things that I wanted to work on in my business, and those ideas came almost at the same time, but I realized that one of them. Is more important for my business. And that's where I started.

And one of them is important, but it's both are important, but one of them is more urgent than the other. So I started working on the more urgent one, and then at first I thought oh, I'll start on the other project in January. But as I'm getting into the implementation of the first one, I'm realizing I can't.

Really give the proper focus on the second project. In January, I'll push it to Q2, so I'm deciding and planning to work on that in Q2 [00:19:00] because that will allow me to get the project one to the point where it's flowing, it's set up properly, and I can delegate parts of it to then create time for project two.

So creating the right moment for something doesn't always mean jumping in it right in the moment, but deciding and committing to that decision and not pushing it to the unknown, and maybe waiting, oh, maybe it's gonna be in two years, maybe stars will align, right? But deciding on a specific timing and creating those circumstances to help you.

Even for that second project, I still, in order to decide that I've done some research, I've did an outline of an idea, an outline of a project, so then I know that if I start on it in Q2, I already have concrete steps I will take.

[00:20:00] And I always remember something from a book, big Magic by Elizabeth Bert, where she talks about. How she has this theory that authors get ideas for books like they're floating out in the universe and they come to the authors. But if the author doesn't take it and do something with it, whether it's at least write down or the idea of a book, or start an outline or start in the chapter, if they don't.

Do anything with it, that idea will float away. So they will not do that right, waiting for the perfect time, and it'll go to another author. And in the book, she gives an example of a specific situation when that type of event happened. So I always think about that, our ideas as business owners or opportunities that we might have.

If you get an idea and if you don't do anything with it, if you [00:21:00] don't create the time to act on it, even if it's first step, even if it's to just jot it down and decide when in the nearest future, when you act on it and not leaving it to some magical, perfect moment, that idea or opportunity will pass and it will go to somebody else.

I'll give you another example from a business word. I was talking to a business owner whom I spoke with. As a potential client on the console a couple years ago, and at that time she didn't think, coaching was the right moment for her. But then recently we talked again and her business didn't grow the way she wanted and she wasn't happy

she attended an event of mine and she met some of my clients who've progressed within the time, and she thought, oh my God, if I only acted. On that idea of coaching with you at the [00:22:00] time, I would've been so much further where I am right now. And then there's some guilt that came from it that I told her like, you never wanna beat yourself up for maybe decisions that you made or for the fact that you waited.

It is what it is. You accepted. You move forward and decide what's the best course of action for you now. But then I have another. Client of mine, who made a different decision a couple years ago, right? She started a business that started as a hobby and it started taking off, and she realized that I want this business now to be much more than a hobby.

And I think I need coaching and I'm gonna lean into it and go for it. So she made, even though maybe the circumstances were imperfect, she actually had a small child at the time and she was thinking about growing the family and so on, so she could have set herself like. Oh, there's so many other [00:23:00] things that are happening.

Maybe I should wait so that I can focus on my business perfectly, because sometimes that's what business owners expect, that they'll have this perfect long, magical time where life doesn't happen ever, and they will be able to focus on their business a hundred percent of the time, which never happens. We all have lives.

And she went for it. And within those couple of years she thrived. Her business grew. She set up. Processes, hired people and set up a team and grew it in a way that still allowed her to be present for her young family, expand her family. She just had a baby this summer, right? And create life that she loves and wants and continues to growing rather than waiting for, again, some perfect time when there is.

None of the other stuff in life is happening and then deciding to focus on her business and [00:24:00] grow. And I always say that to business owners who think that they need that perfect timing to focus on their business and grow, you'll never get it. Life happens to all of us. Yes, there is pockets of time where life is great and so on, but that's never lost.

All the time. There will be after those pockets of time, there will be tribulations, right? Whether they're welcome and happy tribulations, whether they're not, we really don't have influence over it. We never know. And as business owners, as CEOs, we have to learn how to grow the business and keep it successful and profitable, and serving our clients in any.

Circumstances because it is part of our life in a way, right?

So learning how to make effective decisions and how to create the right moments for the implementation of those decisions in your [00:25:00] business and in your personal life. I think it's like a secret, skillset that anybody can develop.

And in the meantime, if you are thinking of 2026 and the growth of your business and you are planning it, but you are not a hundred percent confident that you'll follow through with this plan or you are even don't know how to plan, but would like to. Just let's get connected and let's talk. I can help you with both creating the right plan for 2026, but also helping you implement and making sure you follow through and you stick with it all year round, not just in January and a half of the February.

So the best way to get connected with me is really to book a. F complimentary consultation that I offered to any business owners. I will put a link in the show notes. I hope this was helpful. If you enjoyed it, let me [00:26:00] know if there are any other topics that you would like me to cover in 2026, something that's of interest for you, let me know.

I would love your feedback. Have a fantastic week and talk to you next week. Bye. 

Head Shot

Maggie Perotin

Host