On Thursday 8 January 2026, Ian from Caboodle Business Support joined Howard Longstaff of Red Fish Coaching to deliver Refresh, Refocus & Restart 2026 at the Old Fire Station Enterprise Centre in Salisbury.
Delivered on behalf of Salisbury & District Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the 90-minute business coaching workshop was designed to help business owners step away from the reactive daily grind and move towards a more intentional, CEO-style planning mindset for the year ahead.
Moving from reactive to intentional
When you are running a business, urgent tasks can easily take priority over the work that will make the greatest long-term difference. The workshop created space for participants to reflect on the previous year, consider where their time and energy had been going, and identify what they wanted to approach differently in 2026.
This included looking back at the year’s biggest wins as well as the activities that had been most draining. Both are valuable: successes can reveal what is working, while recurring frustrations can highlight where boundaries, systems or priorities may need to change.
What the workshop covered
The session explored a range of practical coaching and planning topics, including:
- Reflecting on the previous year’s biggest wins and most draining activities
- Understanding the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset
- Reframing limiting beliefs to support more empowered decisions
- Using self-compassion and realistic expectations to create sustainable progress
- Matching energy levels to task priorities
- Making regular, valuable “CEO time” away from day-to-day delivery
- Using a coaching approach to align personal goals with business ambitions
- Effective quarterly planning and SMART goal setting
- Using key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor progress
Making time to work on the business
One of the workshop’s central themes was the value of making regular CEO time. This means deliberately stepping back from immediate tasks to think about the direction of the business, the decisions that need attention and the goals that matter most.
It also means recognising that personal energy is a business resource. Matching demanding tasks to the times when you are best able to focus can be more effective than expecting the same level of performance throughout every working day.
Turning plans into measurable action
A goal becomes much more useful when it can be translated into realistic actions and reviewed regularly. Quarterly planning gives business owners a manageable timeframe in which to decide what matters, set priorities and make adjustments as circumstances change.
SMART goals can then provide clarity about the intended result, while carefully selected KPIs help show whether the business is moving in the right direction. The aim is not to measure everything, but to choose information that supports better decisions.
Business coaching in Salisbury
At Caboodle, we understand that running a successful business involves more than reviewing the numbers. Business owners also need the time, confidence and perspective to make decisions that support both their commercial ambitions and the life they want to build.
Our coaching-led approach helps business owners find clarity, establish meaningful priorities and turn their plans into practical action. Find out more about personal coaching for business owners, or contact us for an initial conversation.
You can also view the original Facebook post about the workshop.