If you had to start a business from scratch tomorrow, knowing everything you know today, what would you do differently?

Would you employ people immediately? Invest in premises? Borrow money? Chase every customer? Or would you approach things completely differently?

In this solo episode of Not Finished Yet, Mark Kennedy draws on more than 35 years of experience building, managing and leading businesses to explore how he would start a company today — and why many traditional approaches to entrepreneurship may no longer make sense.

This isn't another textbook guide to starting a business. It's a practical discussion about the decisions entrepreneurs face, the mistakes worth avoiding and how experience changes your approach to building something profitable and sustainable.

Mark explores ten key decisions involved in starting and growing a successful business:

• Choosing the right business idea: Solve a genuine customer problem rather than falling in love with your own idea.

• Testing demand: Establish whether customers will actually pay before investing heavily.

• Starting lean: Why expensive offices, large teams and unnecessary overheads can wait.

• Understanding your finances: Cash flow, working capital, profitability and knowing your numbers from day one.

• Pricing for profit: Why winning customers at any price isn't sustainable.

• Using AI and technology: How artificial intelligence, automation and digital tools can transform how small businesses operate.

• Recruitment and outsourcing: When to employ people, when to outsource and how to control costs.

• Building systems: Creating processes that allow a business to operate without depending entirely on its founder.

• Finding the right customers: Building profitable, long-term relationships rather than chasing turnover.

• Creating future value: Why growth, profitability and eventual exit opportunities should influence decisions from the beginning.

Technology has changed what's possible.

Tasks that once required employees, expensive software or external agencies can increasingly be handled through AI, automation and affordable digital systems.

But technology doesn't replace the fundamentals.

You still need customers, sensible pricing, financial discipline and a compelling reason for people to choose your business.

Mark explores how he would approach these challenges today, including what he would prioritise during the first 90 days.

It's possible to build a company with impressive turnover, employees and customers while remaining responsible for every decision.

But what happens when you want to step back, take a holiday or eventually sell?

A successful business should create value beyond the person who started it.

Mark discusses why building a company that can operate independently should be part of your thinking from day one.

Whether you're starting your first business, launching another venture or running an established company, this episode offers practical insights, real-world experience and questions worth asking yourself.

Because starting a business isn't just about having a great idea.

It's about building something that works commercially, financially and operationally.

And after 35 years in business, Mark Kennedy is still learning, still building and still looking for new opportunities.

That's why we're Not Finished Yet.

👍 Enjoyed the episode? Like, subscribe and share your experiences in the comments.

💬 YOUR TURN: If you started a business tomorrow, what's the ONE thing you'd do differently?

#StartingABusiness #Entrepreneurship #BusinessStartup #BusinessOwner #BusinessGrowth #BusinessAdvice #AI #Leadership #NotFinishedYet

WHAT YOU'LL LEARNSTARTING A BUSINESS IN 2026 IS DIFFERENTARE YOU BUILDING A BUSINESS OR CREATING YOURSELF ANOTHER JOB?THE NOT FINISHED YET TEST

Does being the boss mean you have to be the smartest person in the room? And could your ego be holding back your team, your business and your own success?In this solo episode of Not Finished Yet, Mark Kennedy draws on more than 35 years of experience in business, management and leadership to explore one of the biggest challenges facing managers, business owners, directors and CEOs: the need to always be right.We've all encountered leaders who believe their job title makes them the most knowledgeable person in the room. They dominate meetings, dismiss challenges, take credit for other people's ideas and surround themselves with people who agree with them.But does confidence equal competence? And what happens when employees become too frightened to tell the boss the truth?Mark reflects on his own leadership journey, from being a young manager determined to prove himself to becoming an experienced business leader who recognises that the best people in your organisation should know things you don't.Because leadership isn't about proving how clever you are. It's about creating an environment where other people can succeed.In this episode, Mark explores:• Confidence vs competence: Why the loudest person in the room isn't necessarily the most capable.• Leadership and ego: How the need to be right can damage decision-making and business performance.• The danger of yes-men: Why surrounding yourself with people who always agree can be disastrous.• Hiring people smarter than you: Why strong leaders aren't threatened by talented employees.• Giving credit where it's due: Why taking recognition for your team's achievements destroys trust.• Experience vs arrogance: Why 35 years in business doesn't automatically make yesterday's solutions right for tomorrow.• Creating a culture of honesty: Why employees stop telling management the truth — and the consequences for a business.• Listening without losing authority: How to consider different opinions while still making difficult decisions.• Admitting you're wrong: Why changing your mind can demonstrate strength rather than weakness.• Developing future leaders: Why your success should be measured by the people you help develop.The uncomfortable question every leader should askAre you more interested in being right, or getting the right result?Mark challenges the traditional view of leadership and explores why some of the most valuable knowledge in a business comes from people on the shop floor, dealing with customers or managing everyday operations — not necessarily those sitting around the boardroom table.He also examines how leadership must evolve as responsibilities grow, and why the manager you were at 25 shouldn't necessarily be the leader you are at 55.The Not Finished Yet TestAs with previous solo episodes, Mark finishes with seven questions every manager, business owner and CEO should ask themselves, including:When was the last time somebody genuinely changed my mind?Who in my organisation feels comfortable telling me I'm wrong?Am I employing people who are better than me?And am I more interested in being right than achieving the right outcome?Whether you're stepping into your first management position, leading a growing business, managing a larger team or operating at C-suite level, this episode offers practical leadership lessons, personal reflections and some uncomfortable truths about management.Because the higher you climb, the less important it becomes to prove how clever you are — and the more important it becomes to recognise the abilities of the people around you.After 35 years in business, Mark is still learning, still challenging his own thinking and still discovering that experience doesn't mean having all the answers.And that's why we're Not Finished Yet.#Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment #Management #BusinessLeadership #LeadershipSkills #BusinessOwners #CEO #EmotionalIntelligence #ManagementMistakes #NotFinishedYet

What are the biggest mistakes business owners make — and what do you only learn after years of running businesses?In this episode of Not Finished Yet, Mark Kennedy looks back on more than 35 years in business to talk about the mistakes, decisions and lessons that have shaped the way he builds and runs businesses today.This isn't a story about getting everything right. It's about what happens when you get things wrong — hiring the wrong person, keeping someone too long, chasing turnover instead of profit, underpricing to win work, taking on the wrong customers, trying to do everything yourself and continuing with decisions long after the evidence tells you they aren't working.Mark explores 10 common business mistakes, including:• Confusing turnover with profit, cash and genuine business success• Believing every customer is a good customer• Underpricing just to win the work• Hiring people because you're desperate rather than because they're right• Keeping the wrong person in the wrong role for too long• Becoming the bottleneck in your own business• Failing to properly understand your financial numbers• Building a business around individuals instead of strong processes• Throwing more money at decisions because you've already invested too much to stop• Assuming a bigger business automatically means a better businessBut there's a bigger question running through the episode:When does a bad decision actually become a mistake?Mark argues that some of the most expensive mistakes in business aren't the original decisions that turn out to be wrong. They're the moments when you know something isn't working and carry on anyway — because of pride, ego, loyalty, fear, sunk cost or simply because changing direction is uncomfortable.The episode also tackles one of the hardest questions for any entrepreneur or business owner:Have you built a business — or have you simply built yourself a very demanding job?If everything depends on you, every decision comes through you and the company can't function when you're away, what have you really built?Mark finishes with the Not Finished Yet Test: seven questions for business owners and leaders to answer honestly about their customers, people, profitability, decisions, systems and their own role in the company.Whether you're starting a business, growing a company, running an established SME, leading someone else's business or considering becoming an entrepreneur, this is a practical and personal look at the lessons that rarely appear in a business plan.Because 35 years of experience doesn't mean you stop making mistakes.Hopefully, it means you stop making the same ones.Not Finished Yet with Mark Kennedy — real conversations about business, leadership, management, experience, reinvention and what comes next.#Leadership #BusinessOwners #Entrepreneurship #BusinessLessons #NotFinishedYet