Recently, David Abel from Vision Dental Wealth and I sat down to discuss what it’s really like running a business in 2026. We cover a lot of ground in this discussion from how to start your career to what we’re most afraid of facing in the future.
AI comes up, as it does in most conversations I have with business owners at the moment. If you read the headlines, it’s either going to completely revolutionise your business by next Thursday or replace half your workforce by next month.
The reality, I think, is a lot more interesting.
Right now, most people are looking at AI purely as a tool to cut headcount and slash costs. And sure, that efficiency will happen. But focusing only on that means missing the much bigger opportunity: using it to create more value.
Take financial planning. AI is already making the technical side of our work faster, the analysis, the research, the heavy admin. For a firm like ours, that’s fantastic news. Not because we want a smaller team, but because it frees up our time for the one thing technology still spectacularly struggles with: the human element.
A brilliant piece of software can tell you if you can afford to buy another business. But it can’t sit across the table from you and ask if buying that business will actually make your life any better.
It can’t challenge your assumptions, or gently point out that you’re still chasing a goal you set ten years ago that doesn’t even matter to you anymore. And it definitely can’t talk you out of making a £500,000 mistake just because you’re tempted to take the very first offer that lands on your lap. That’s where real advice lives.
Our conversation also covers the realities of business ownership and work-life balance, and why some professional services firms will thrive over the next decade while others quietly fade away.
We don’t have a crystal ball, and we aren’t making grand predictions. Just two business owners trying to make sense of what’s changing, and figuring out where the real opportunities are.
I’m curious, how are you looking at AI in your own business right now? Is it a cost-cutter, or a value-creator?
As always, if you’d like to discuss your business with me, get in touch.
