Hello, I’m Kevin Appleby

Mentor, Business Coach and Podcaster 

My mission is to help equip you for the new challenges of the 2020’s and help you stand out 

I work with the leadership team at GrowCFO, building a community for finance leaders. I specialise in helping you with your business planning and I help you become a catalyst for change in your business. GrowCFO provides you with a huge range of resources to help you with both your personal and professional development. 

Outside of GrowCFO I’m a consultant and coach helping businesses with finance transformation and business change.

I’m also a podcast host. Podcasting is a great way to increase your personal influence and I’m always looking for interesting guests to join me.

Do you want to work with me? Book a call and lets have a chat

Kevin Appleby hosts the GrowCFO Show

Kevin Appleby hosts the GrowCFO show

While there are lots of business podcasts around, there are very few that are dedicated to you, the finance leader. The GrowCFO show brings you something topical to listen to each week. As with everything in GrowCFO we want the content to be driven by you, so drop over to the community and chat to us about what you want to hear about.

Kevin is the regular host of the GrowCFO show, and he is always open to ideas and suggestions, and always looking out for interesting guests to interview

Listen to Kevin Appleby every week on The Next 100 Days Podcast

The Next 100 Days Podcast is a leading UK business show. Through this podcast, Kevin and Graham reveal strategies you can use to improve your business and take it to the next level. In addition to featuring their own advice, Kevin Appleby and Graham Arrowsmith host amazing guests from across the business world. Often the guests are successful, but lesser-known business owners and entrepreneurs, enabling the show to bring fresh content and stand out from many of the US based business shows.

Graham and Kevin believe that business change comes about when a business owner focusses on just one thing that will make a real difference to his business. That might be product development, a new product launch or a marketing campaign. Focussing for less than 100 days, or focussing on too many things generally won’t deliver the results you need, Equally, its difficult to maintain effective focus for much longer than 100 days without re-assessing priorities.

The Next 100 Days Podcast is your source to learn how to move your business forward, with practical advice and guidance that you can put into action and make a difference in your own organisation within the next 100 days.

Business Goals

Half way to your 2022 goals? – 5 things to get you back on track

July is nearly gone, and the holiday season is upon us. So how are you doing with all the things you wanted to achieve in 2022? Are you going to make your 2022 goals?   Whats left to do in the run up to Christmas? Will you get to where you need to be?   Now is a good...
7 simple steps to create a linkedin strategy with Kevin Appleby

7 simple steps to creating a LinkedIn strategy

LinkedIn is a powerful tool for business owners and professionals alike. It can be used to build relationships with other professionals, promote your brand, and grow your influence. If you aren't using LinkedIn to its full potential, you're missing out on a lot of...
PESTELO analysis

Scanning the horizon – PESTELO or PESTLE?

PESTELO analysis isn't common in small businesses. There are plenty of situations where it should be. PESTELO adds an extra element to PESTLE analysis. PESTELO makes you look at whats happening in organisations on which your business depends. Let me explain: What is...
Are you a vital business accountant? Be vital or become extinct

The Vital Role of the Business Accountant

Are you a VITAL member of your business team?   Unless you can answer that question with a very positive yes, then you might be out of a job in the very near future. There is a big threat to the accounting profession on the horizon. Automation. To overcome this...
Strengthsfinder 2.0 play to your strengths do what you do best every day

Do you know your strengths?

When you work with your business colleagues you will be most effective if you play to your strengths, and to the strengths of others in your finance team.  But people are very quick to point out your weaknesses. Your annual appraisal most likely uses these to inform...
Hedgehog Concept learning to say no

Learning to say no

Which part of ‘no’ don't you understand? Working toward your Business Goal requires focus. If you want to go from good to great then very quickly you have to recognise that you must make tough choices. To be brilliant at the one or two things your customers really...
Key Performance Indicators KPI

Linking KPI to your economic engine

In the last post we looked at the Hedgehog Concept, and how it could be used to develop the vision, or Big Hairy Audacious Goal for your business. One of the elements of the hedgehog concept is the economic engine. Lets consider how we can start linking KPI to your...
Hedgehog Concept

Become brilliant with a Hedgehog

For most businesses, carrying on the way you have always done things is no longer an option, you need to change and adapt to survive. In this article we take a look at the hedgehog concept and see how that can help us . The world changes very very quickly. New...
Are you too busy to realise your goals?

Are you too busy to realise your goals?

When I ask small business owners about the challenges of taking their business to the next level there are usually three standard answers I need help setting goals that will get me there I need more sales, can you help me? I’m too busy keeping the business going to...
Your values must drive your business plan

Your values must drive your business plan

Over the past few days I've been giving a lot of thought to values, and how they need to form the basis of your business plan. This has mainly been due to a paper I'm writing for a client. However, It occurred to me that I'd never actually written down the values for...

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Join the discussion and meet lots of like minded people in The Next 100 Days Facebook Group.

The Latest From The Blog

7 simple steps to creating a LinkedIn strategy

7 simple steps to creating a LinkedIn strategy

LinkedIn is a powerful tool for business owners and professionals alike. It can be used to build relationships with other professionals, promote your brand, and grow your influence. If you aren't using LinkedIn to its full potential, you're missing out on a lot of...

read more
Scanning the horizon – PESTELO or PESTLE?

Scanning the horizon – PESTELO or PESTLE?

PESTELO analysis isn't common in small businesses. There are plenty of situations where it should be. PESTELO adds an extra element to PESTLE analysis. PESTELO makes you look at whats happening in organisations on which your business depends. Let me explain: What is...

read more
The Vital Role of the Business Accountant

The Vital Role of the Business Accountant

Are you a VITAL member of your business team?   Unless you can answer that question with a very positive yes, then you might be out of a job in the very near future. There is a big threat to the accounting profession on the horizon. Automation. To overcome this...

read more
Do you know your strengths?

Do you know your strengths?

When you work with your business colleagues you will be most effective if you play to your strengths, and to the strengths of others in your finance team.  But people are very quick to point out your weaknesses. Your annual appraisal most likely uses these to inform...

read more
Learning to say no

Learning to say no

Which part of ‘no’ don't you understand? Working toward your Business Goal requires focus. If you want to go from good to great then very quickly you have to recognise that you must make tough choices. To be brilliant at the one or two things your customers really...

read more
Linking KPI to your economic engine

Linking KPI to your economic engine

In the last post we looked at the Hedgehog Concept, and how it could be used to develop the vision, or Big Hairy Audacious Goal for your business. One of the elements of the hedgehog concept is the economic engine. Lets consider how we can start linking KPI to your...

read more
Become brilliant with a Hedgehog

Become brilliant with a Hedgehog

For most businesses, carrying on the way you have always done things is no longer an option, you need to change and adapt to survive. In this article we take a look at the hedgehog concept and see how that can help us . The world changes very very quickly. New...

read more
Are you too busy to realise your goals?

Are you too busy to realise your goals?

When I ask small business owners about the challenges of taking their business to the next level there are usually three standard answers I need help setting goals that will get me there I need more sales, can you help me? I’m too busy keeping the business going to...

read more
Your values must drive your business plan

Your values must drive your business plan

Over the past few days I've been giving a lot of thought to values, and how they need to form the basis of your business plan. This has mainly been due to a paper I'm writing for a client. However, It occurred to me that I'd never actually written down the values for...

read more
Never select measures from a list of KPIs

Never select measures from a list of KPIs

If you are designing a scorecard or a performance dashboard you will, no doubt, be tempted to look at what other organisations measure. If you look around the internet there are lots of lists of KPI for all sorts of situations, for different industries, for different...

read more
Good to Great in 5 Easy Steps?

Good to Great in 5 Easy Steps?

If you want to take your business from good to great there are 5 key things you need to get right 1) Set a Vision. Clarity of where the business needs to go is vital. You need to take the business team on a journey to a destination. The business vision tells them...

read more
The Big Hairy Audacious Goal or BHAG

The Big Hairy Audacious Goal or BHAG

“I need a BHAG? Whats a BHAG? Kevin you really have lost the plot this time, what on earth are you banging on about?” I can still hear the voice of my client, but he listened and worked with his team to set one at the start of developing their business plan. Later he...

read more
SWOT analysis: 4 easy steps to start a business plan

SWOT analysis: 4 easy steps to start a business plan

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool for identifying and understanding the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats affecting your business. If you are starting up in business for the first time SWOT is a great way to start getting your mind around some...

read more
How to create a PESTLE analysis

How to create a PESTLE analysis

The PESTLE analysis is a great tool to use as a starting point in developing business strategies and plans. It allows you to look at the market through a number of different perspectives and assess the changes that are likely to impact in the next 3-5 years, and...

read more