Andy Walter, Author at Andrew Walter Associates

Different Industries. Same Problems.

Below £5m? The Constraint Isn’t Your Market. I work with scientific manufacturing, general manufacturing, joinery and cabinetmaking, property development, hot tub retail, HVAC engineers, classic car restoration, aerospace, training organisations and engineering firms. Different sectors. Different products. Different technical challenges. Same problems. Lack of clarity.Wrong customers.Margin pressure.Operational inefficiency.Owner dependency.Inconsistent leadership. Read more

By Andy Walter, 3 hoursFebruary 24, 2026 ago

Leadership

You Don’t Have a Time Problem.

You Have a Design Problem. When I sit with business owners in the £1m–£5m range, I tend to hear variations of the same frustrations. They sound different on the surface, but they usually fall into five broad areas. And they all share one missing ingredient. Design. The first is a Read more

By Andy Walter, 1 weekFebruary 17, 2026 ago

Leadership

The Difference Between Involvement and Dependence

Most business owners don’t wake up one day and decide to build a stressful business. It happens gradually. What started as being involved becomes being relied upon.What started as oversight becomes control.What started as pride becomes pressure. And before you realise it, the business still runs — but only because Read more

By Andy Walter, 2 weeksFebruary 10, 2026 ago

Leadership

Why Trying to Fix Your Business From the Inside Is So Hard

Most business owners don’t ignore problems. In fact, it’s usually the opposite. When something isn’t working properly, they lean in. They stay closer. They work harder. They take more on themselves until they’re sure it’s fixed. That instinct is understandable — and early on, it often works. The problem is Read more

By Andy Walter, 3 weeksFebruary 4, 2026 ago

Leadership

When Experience Starts to Feel Like a Weight

There’s a point in many businesses that doesn’t get talked about very much. It’s not the startup phase.It’s not crisis.And it’s not failure. It’s the point where the business is working… but it is just harder than it should be. Most owners at this stage are experienced. They’ve made good Read more

By Andy Walter, 4 weeksJanuary 27, 2026 ago

Leadership

When Running Your Business Starts to Feel Heavy

I have a lot of conversations with business owners who, on paper, are doing fine. The business is trading.There’s work coming in.The team looks capable. And yet, privately, they’ll say something like: “I don’t know why this feels so hard.” That sentence matters. Because most of the time, the issue Read more

By Andy Walter, 1 monthJanuary 20, 2026 ago

Uncategorized

Why many business owners don’t really want to grow

I hear business owners say it all the time: “I don’t really want to grow much more.” On the surface, that sounds perfectly reasonable. Sensible, even. Not everyone wants a bigger business, more people, more responsibility. And to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with choosing not to grow. But here’s Read more

By Andy Walter, 1 monthJanuary 13, 2026 ago

Uncategorized

Every January I ask people a simple question:

Have you set any New Year’s resolutions that would actually make your life better? Not the vague ones. Not the recycled promises. I mean the kind that would genuinely change how you feel about your work, your time, your health, or your future. Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: most New Read more

By Andy Walter, 2 monthsJanuary 6, 2026 ago

Leadership

Ending the Year Well

The Most Important Work You’ll Do This Christmas As this year draws to a close and as this is my last article until January, I want to take a moment to wish you a genuinely Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. But more than that, I want to invite Read more

By Andy Walter, 2 monthsDecember 16, 2025 ago

Leadership

Why Wouldn’t You Want to Grow?

This always confuses me. Yet I hear it all the time. “Oh, I wouldn’t want to get much bigger.”“I don’t want to grow much more.”“We’re fine as we are.” Whenever someone says it, I always pause—because it’s confusing. These are business owners who work incredibly hard. They’ve taken risks, invested Read more

By Andy Walter, 3 monthsDecember 9, 2025 ago