Pivoting your business is real, y’all. Sometimes, we want to pivot but we think that it’s a bad thing, or we aren’t sure how to do it well. I’m here to tell you why it’s totally okay to try pivoting your business and how to make it work!
Pivoting Your Business
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Pivoting your business is NORMAL
First, let’s get the stigma out of the way – pivoting your business is NORMAL! Your business can change. Our needs change, our customer’s needs change, what we like changes – and our businesses can respond to those changes. If you are feeling afraid to pivot, this is your permission slip!
One caveat here: if you are CONSTANTLY pivoting your business 180 degrees, then you won’t be able to grow in the same way. Keep that in mind.
If you have an audience, it will be harder to pivot
An audience makes it more difficult to pivot. It’s especially difficult if the place you are now and the place you want to be are pretty far apart.
There are more people watching with an audience, and more people there for what you CURRENTLY do already. So a pivot with an audience can throw you off your axis.
If you have an audience, you should pivot your business MUCH slower. Still totally possible, but slower!
Without an audience, there’s no harm in a sharp pivot. Go from basket weaver to photographer super quickly.
Pivoting your business will likely cause a dip in income
Whenever you start pivoting your business, it will cause a dip in income (unless you aren’t currently making any money).
That is especially true if you’ve built an audience who expects and buys one thing from you, and you want to offer another. That is totally okay and you can make it work! But I want you to be prepared for it.
If all of the 1,000 people on your email list came to you because of your current business and you’re pivoting to a different customer, only a small percentage of those people will probably still fit that mold. So be prepared for that when pivoting your business.
Pivots that you might want to make
- Pivot from a SERVICE to an EDUCATION model (selling courses or products)
- Pivot from a PRODUCT-BASED business to a SUBSCRIPTION BOX model
- Pivot from one SERVICE to ANOTHER SERVICE (like basket weaving to photography)
How to know pivoting is right for you
- You will feel the need to pivot – whether you’re burned out currently or really excited about something else
- Your audience (if you have one) will tell you that they want you to pivot
How fast should I pivot?
If you’re feeling PULLED to pivot and either don’t have an audience or aren’t making a ton of money, pivoting your business will be pretty easy for you. You can totally go ahead and do it!
If you do have an audience and are making money from your business, you can still pivot! You just need to take baby steps.
For example, if you are a copywriter and have an audience who follows you for that, but you want to become a fashion influencer… that’s a massive pivot. If you just make that all in one go, you’re going to lose so much money and so many followers!
Think about the bigger picture here – you want to pivot from copywriting to more of an influencer position. Start producing more content that leans into the influencer side of things. Influencers share links to things they love, curating favorites lists, and doing sponsorships. Start leaning into that business model with your current business to slowly start that transition! That can be a really organic transition if you start with an 80/20 shift and then lower the gap between the business stuff and influencer stuff from there.
In my experience, when you start leaning into the influencer role, people respond to it and ask you for links and other things that they want. Slowly start moving your content that direction and you will retain SO MUCH MORE of your audience and income than you would have with a fast 180.
Remember that pivoting might be a challenge!
If you have been in your old business model for a while, remember that pivoting might be a challenge for you.
I’m speaking from personal experience here – I really want to incorporate more vlog-style videos on my YouTube channel, but vlogging is hard for me! I’ve done YouTube the same way for years, and changing up the style of content is learning a new trick. Give yourself time and grace to figure it out, because you totally will. That’s another reason to do it slowly.
So – pivoting your business is normal and it’s okay! As long as you aren’t doing is constantly and take your time with it if you have an audience, it’ll all work out for you.
