What a Business Pivot looks like in Action

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You, my friend, are not alone. Let me give you a big warm welcome into the world of entrepreneurship.

A couple of things before we get into my top 3 steps to pivoting in your business.

Let’s have a little pep talk:

“You are not alone, you’re worthy of everything that you desire, and this too shall pass.”

I get it. When people ask ourselves how business is going, we tell them that everything is going great because we’re too afraid to show the reality of how it feels like everything is actually going to shit. Again, I will say that you are not alone — this is key.

But as you prepare to read the wisdom that I’m about to share with you in the following sections, I need you to prepare by reading this with an open mind and an open perspective:

• You don’t know what you don’t know

In order to get to where you want to be, you will have to let go of the things that got you here. As in, you will need to shift your mindset, embrace new discomforts, and further realize that you don’t know everything. Entrepreneurship is truly one of the hardest and most rewarding things you could ever work on. So celebrate that you’re trying and you shall soon prevail…you’re closer than you think.

So, with that being said, let’s share some wisdom!

#1 Go back to the basics

The reason why most businesses don't succeed is because they haven't laid a solid foundation. It almost feels like you're throwing a spaghetti of ideas on the wall, hoping and praying that one of them will stick. And while that may have worked for some time now, for some of you, it may not be a long term sustainable strategy.

I need you to go back and define your target market. Most entrepreneurs skip this part, they don't take the time to do proper research and then wonder why they have no buyers in their pipeline.

Or, even worse:

They create a generic product that serves everyone, but attracts no one. They don't niche down. People think they are missing out on opportunities if they only serve an exclusive niched part of the market - this couldn't even be further from the truth.

Most people want to start from the widest part of the triangle because they see a wide audience of potential buyers; but because they haven't taken the proper time to establish themself within a marketplace, they are only but a fish in the water in an ocean of competitors.

Most people need to start from this direction:

They need to start from the tippy top of the triangle and then move their way down to a large part of the market.

Here's why, when you master a very small niched part of the market, you create an opportunity to have a very loyal set of buyers that will follow you as you expand into a larger part of the market. Once you've mastered the tippy top and max out all the potential buyers in one segment of the market, THEN you're able to move on to a larger part.

Which brings me to my second point:

Only after you've identified your ideal client, then can you apply solid marketing

Hold up, what is an ideal client?

"Your ideal client is essentially your ideal customer, think, your dream customer. If you don't know how to figure this out, I want you to imagine your dream client."

If you met them in person ask yourself these questions:

• What do they look like?
• Where do they shop?
• What are their favorite book genres?
• What problems keep them up at night?
• What social media platforms do they spend most of their time on?

Which leads me to a third part:

Only focus on one marketing strategy, and master that.

I'm tired of seeing courses on how to master the next big [insert social media platform]. Platforms come and go, but it's how you attract and retain your customers that matter most.

Do you know what marketing strategy never goes out of style?

Talking directly to your customers.

Whether it's through conversations, emails, or creating content that speaks directly to them - you always want to direct your marketing efforts to your one ideal client.

So, it doesn't really matter which platform you pick, just make sure it has these following criteria:

• You can directly communicate with your customer
• Your marketing efforts can be searchable beyond just a onetime occurrence - no more 24hr access to your Instagram stories

I like Medium, Pinterest, and Facebook. If you need conversation guides and scripts, you can grab my $27 fb group funnels script here.

What matters most beyond a social media platform is that you take the time to communicate with your audience, and nothing is more direct than a straight conversation with them; don't waste precious hours thinking about how to create your next Instagram caption, hoping and praying that your client will reach out to you - instead, reach out to them.

Which bring me to another major lesson:

#2 Follow the money

You know what entrepreneurs are great at? Making things more complicated than it needs to be. We like to think we need ABC before we can do XYZ. We want to be good at everything, but whether you're just starting out or you're a seasoned entrepreneur, you should know that that's just not the case.

If you're at a point where you need to pivot your business because your efforts yield no revenue, then consider refocusing your efforts.

Ask yourself where the majority of your revenue comes from?

Does it come from one particular product or service?

Why aren't we focusing all our efforts on that instead?

Similar to the whole target market concept we mentioned earlier, when you focus on everything, you literally get nothing.

So why don't we just focus on one thing and see what happens?

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Strip down all your efforts from other revenue sources and focus on mastering one revenue source first. Once you've mastered the one, you can have a well-oiled revenue machine in the background running while you venture off to pursue another one.

It's hard, I know. But you signed up for entrepreneurship and I hate to break it to you, but business can be hard sometimes - but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Instead of looking at as the next big looming challenge ahead of you, look at it like a game that needs some skill and practice in order to win.

Finally, now on to my last point of wisdom:

#3 Get out of your own way

I hate to break this to you:

"BUT YOU'RE NOT GOOD AT EVERYTHING"

So stop trying to be. It's safe to assume that you want your business to be big, bold, and beautiful; but like all big, bold, and beautiful businesses, they require talent - and you can't be the talent that does it all.

So, instead of trying to be a master at everything, be a master of one thing and hire out the rest, so it looks like you're the master of everything from the outside.

Also, give trust in order to gain trust. Nothing's worse than a control freak that hovers over every little task that you do. Don't be that asshole. If you hired that individual to accomplish X goal, allow them to do that. If they need help, then of course assist them when needed. But, know that like you've made mistakes, they will too - give them a little grace the same you will need to during this hiring and outsourcing process.

. . .

In final thoughts, it's absolutely critical that you know who your ideal client is - I'm talking about it being totally okay to be a crazy stalker that knows every little thing about them; you will want to know all the dirty details. All jokes aside, seriously, if you fail to know your target market, I can be almost certain that failure will follow afterwards. Why? Because your marketing will be misaligned and won't attract nor convert buyers for your product or service.

Also, it's important that you follow the money. Stop wasting time, energy, and efforts into something that isn't yielding the highest return on your time. Pick one revenue stream that's provided the bulk of your revenue and do more of that. Only once have you mastered that revenue stream can you decide to move onto something else.

Find the talent, don't become the talent. The same way that people say it takes a village to raise a baby, it takes a village to build a business. I mean, let's be honest, your baby is your business at this point. Seriously, stay in your zone of genius and hire out the rest. When you have a team behind you that are masters in each segment of the business, the business unit will be more than likely perceived as a master in its market.

One more time, stop focusing on everything, focus on one thing at a time. Master one, then the next one, and soon you will master all.

Client testimonials are from Siesta Wrap. Check them out!

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