2026 Resolutions: What’s the Point?
(Warning: Contains strong language, British grumbling, and at least one unnecessary metaphor)
Right. Gather round, you magnificent indie business weirdos, because Entry Ten of the chaotic chronicles has arrived and frankly, it’s less a diary entry and more a group therapy session with biscuits.
So here we are. Somehow. 2026.
I don’t know about you, but I distinctly remember making New Year’s resolutions about “better work-life balance” and “being more organised”, and then immediately answering an email at 6:42am while standing in the kitchen in my pants, holding a phone in one hand and yesterday’s Frjj banana milkshake bottle in the other.
If you think the entrepreneurial landscape has mellowed since last year, you’re either lying to yourself or sipping something considerably stronger than my morning banana milkshake fix. LinkedIn, meanwhile, is fizzing with optimism. Apparently there’s been a 69% surge in people calling themselves “Founder” on LinkedIn, which is either a sign of unstoppable entrepreneurial spirit… or that everyone accidentally clicked the wrong dropdown and just went with it.
Every other post now starts with:
“I didn’t plan to become a founder, but here we are…”
Yes, mate. Here we all bloody are.
But let’s cut through the corporate fluff, the hustle porn, and the posts that end with “Agree?” and get real. Because running a small independent business in early 2026 feels roughly like trying to run a market stall in a thunderstorm while the council slowly raises your pitch fee and asks if you’ve tried smiling more.
Here’s what’s actually rattling around in the heads of us indie lot right now — IMHO, obviously.
Cost Chaos Is Still King (Long Live Cost Chaos)
Despite what shiny reports and smug headlines might tell you, small businesses across the UK still fear rising costs like cats fear cucumbers (no, really, that’s a thing, search YouTube for it!)
Energy bills continue to arrive like unwanted PPI calls and inflation may have “eased”, but nobody bothered to tell rent, insurance, coffee suppliers, or literally anything else.
A recent survey said 57% of UK small businesses expect costs to rise again in the next three months, and a worrying number reckon those increases will be completely unmanageable. Which make sense, because many of us are now squeezing budgets like a soggy tube of toothpaste, desperately hoping there’s one last bit left if we really believe in ourselves.
Spoiler: there isn’t.
New Tax Stuff You Didn’t Ask For (we were just a bit sick in our mouths)
Ah yes. Making Tax Digital. Is it just me or does that sound a bit MAGA!
Because what the self-employed really needed was more admin, more software, and more opportunities to wonder whether HMRC can sense fear through WiFi.
Quarterly submissions. Approved platforms. Passwords you definitely didn’t write down properly and a general sense that at any moment you might click the wrong thing and accidentally declare yourself a goat farmer in Dorset (I could be down for that career change though to be fair!)
People keep describing MTD as “streamlining”.
This is fascinating, because I’ve spent hours setting things up and achieved nothing except mild rage, three forgotten passwords, and a newfound hatred of dropdown menus.
Many small businesses aren’t ready for this, not because we’re idiots, but because we’re already juggling sales, marketing, customers, suppliers, staffing, cleaning the loo, and pretending we’re fine.
Footfall Down, Overheads Up, Spirits… Variable
High streets up and down the country are feeling it. Footfall’s down. Spending is cautious. Customers still want excellent service but would also quite like it if everything cost what it did in 2019.
Meanwhile, overheads continue to behave like they’re training for a triathlon.
Business rates. Rent reviews. Insurance renewals that make you laugh out loud before quietly staring into the middle distance.
A small grocery owner on Reddit summed it up beautifully:
“Revenue’s dropped over 30%, costs keep rising, business rates again in April 2026… feels like we’re being squeezed to death slowly.”
If that doesn’t make you want to weep gently into your porridge, I honestly don’t know what will.
AI: Saviour, Headache, or Just Another Thing to Learn?
Meanwhile, everyone and their gran is banging on about AI like it’s the second coming, usually in a LinkedIn post written by AI, explaining how to “sound more human”.
To be fair, lots of small businesses are genuinely using it now, for marketing, ops, admin, and answering emails they emotionally cannot face. That’s not a bad thing.
But, and this is a big but (still funny, sorry), there’s a real risk we spend more time trying to get ChatGPT to write the perfect post than actually talking to customers, improving what we sell, or fixing something that’s quietly annoying people.
Tech is helpful.
It is not a personality.
And it definitely doesn’t replace turning up, doing what you say you’ll do, and being decent.
Cyber Nastiness & The Great Skills Scramble
As if all that wasn’t enough, cyber threats are up, scams are sneakier, and even the tiniest indie business is now apparently a “target”. Many of us are running on Red Bull and duct tape and optimism when it comes to security and GDPR fines are not exactly a fun team-building exercise.
On top of that, finding and keeping good people without selling a kidney is hard. Training takes time. Wages cost money. And everyone’s tired. Thankfully The Cluster is just me at the moment.
So yes… you’re juggling recruitment, retention, tech, and sanity.
Have fun with that.
The Bit Where I Pretend to Be Wise
Here’s the truth. If you spend more than five minutes online, you’d think small businesses are all slick, scalable, high-growth machines run by people who wake up at 5am, journal, meditate, smash a workout. God I hate them!
They are not.
Most of us are just trying to pay the bills, keep customers happy, and not accidentally miss an email that ruins our entire week. If you’re selling AI tools to people selling AI tools – fair play, enjoy your yacht. The rest of us are celebrating small wins like “the fridge stopped making that rattling noise” or “nobody blocked the loo today”.
Running an indie business isn’t about scaling to the moon. It’s about survival with vibes. It’s about getting through the week, having the odd win that makes you think “OK, maybe this is working”, and then doing it all again on Monday.
So before I disappear back into the chaos, probably to answer an email I’ve been avoiding since Tuesday, here’s some actually useful, reasonably sensible stuff from someone very much in the thick of it:
A Few Things That Actually Help Me
Focus on cash flow, not clout. Likes don’t pay rent. Customers do.
Use tech where it saves time. If it adds stress, ditch it.
Build a community, not an audience. People who know you will support you.
Plan for real costs. Tax, energy, rates – get a spreadsheet and act like an adult (occasionally).
Stay bloody human. Kindness, honesty, and showing up still win.
Running a small business in 2026 isn’t easy. It’s more like playing Squid Game but without the neon tracksuits and thankfully zero chance of being shot if you mess up your invoicing. If you’re still here, still trying, still building something that matters to you, well, that’s the rebellious, brilliant bit of indie entrepreneurship right there.
Till next time.
Stay strong. Embrace the chaos. And maybe have a lie down.
