You’re here because you want to know how to pivot your business without taking an income hit. I hear you, and I’ve got a plan for you. But first, let’s take a second to talk about pivoting, or shifting your business.
If you’ve been an online service provider for any length of time, you know that making some tweaks to your business – or even doing a total 360 – are a normal part of the evolution of your business. Pivoting can look like a complete overhaul, or just switching up the way that you offer your services.
Here are just a few of the most common reasons you might find yourself needing or wanting to pivot your business:
You’re unhappy. Look, not all days will be good days – regardless of what you’re offering – but if you find yourself unhappy and dissatisfied with your business most days, that’s a good sign it’s time to take a close look at how you can pivot and make some changes.
You’ve capped your money-making potential and it’s time to scale. This is a very common one. Maybe making a full-time income was your only goal when you started your business, but now that you’ve reached that goal, you realize you can’t possibly make more money without cloning yourself. Scaling your business often requires some key pivots in what you offer, how you offer it, and who you offer it too.
You want to offer something new. Maybe it’s a new idea, or maybe it’s just the realization that what you’re currently offering isn’t your passion anymore (see reason #1). There is nothing wrong with deciding to create a fork in the road when your current path starts to feel like a drag.
You realize your client base isn’t ideal. It’s possible that the #1 reason you need to pivot is that you no longer want to work with who you *thought* you wanted to work with when you started. It’s impossible to know what you don’t know – that only comes through action and trial and error – so it’s very common to become an established online service provider and then realize…this is really NOT who I want to be working with, even if you still want to offer the same service.
Your reason for pivoting might be completely unique to you, but whatever your reason, it’s possible to do it without taking a hit to your current revenue. Ready for the HOW? Let’s get into it!
Step 1: Your Vision
I know you want to talk about money and logistics, but I’m going to stop you right there. BEFORE you start burning your business down around you, take some time to work through an INTERNAL pivot. And it all starts with your vision. It’s absolutely essential to get crystal clear on a few things:
Your BIG vision.
What is your north star? What is your mountain top? If you could wake up tomorrow to your dream life with ZERO edits, what do you see? Nailing this down is going to help you make the most powerful pivot and give you the clarity you need to make the micro decisions that will come with it.
Your business vision.
What is the vision you have for your business? And does it get you closer to your BIG vision? If your big “life” vision and your business vision are not in alignment, you’re not going to achieve either one of them.
What do you want?
What do you want your business to look like – or NOT look like? This might sound overly simplified, but if you can be honest with yourself on what YOU want your business to look like – then your pivot will go so much smoother.
Step 2: Your Offers
The reason you’re pivoting is because you want or need to do things differently. This is almost always going to boil down to what you are offering, or how you are offering it. So let’s take a look at your offers:
Offer structure and scalability.
Anytime you are pivoting your offers and restructuring, we should always restructure through the lens of scalability. Ask yourself a simple question: Can I scale this offer? You need offers that will allow you to keep making money without continually investing more time in exchange.
Scalable product suite.
Whether you are overhauling your whole product suite or just one offer, you should make sure that there is a way to upsell and down-sell to maximize client retention. Think about your client journey as you work through your offers. This is a great time to revisit your foundational business pieces, like working through ideal client avatars, conducting market research, and making sure you understand your ICA’s pain points. Basic? Yes. But vitally important at every stage of your business.
Pricing.
Take an honest look at your big vision and your business vision and price your offers accordingly. This is about finding that sweet spot of pushing yourself past your comfort zone, while feeling completely confident in your prices. And that confidence? It only comes when you truly understand the value of your offer).
Step 3: Your Internal Systems
The details matter, especially when it comes to the logistics of a pivot. What goes on behind the scenes is so important is just as important as the client facing part of your business. Having a perfect product suite without any internal systems is the equivalent of owning a Ferrari, but never putting any gas in the tank. That perfect product suite will never make you any money just sitting in your driveway. Trust me on this one: internal systems are the key to profitability and sustainability.
Scalable systems.
Your systems can be broken down into three specific parts: Your internal systems, your client systems and your sales systems. If it’s something you do regularly, you need to develop a system (and ideally, an SOP) to go with it. Here’s my only caveat: your systems and processes will evolve, so don’t feel like you can’t make the pivot unless everything you touch has an SOP.
Team & leadership.
If you’re bringing on team members, do you know how you are utilizing them? Do you know how to lead them and communicate with them? This is a specific area that will require special attention as you work on your internal systems. It’s all about owning your role as the CEO and taking responsibility for steering the ship.
Step 4: Your Brand
You’ve likely spent time and effort building your brand and have built authority in your niche, but if you’re heading into a pivot, it’s time to take another look. Here are some specific areas where you’ll likely need to make some adjustments or changes:
Your messaging.
How you position your new services or offers and how you’re shifting your authority are going to be crucial for gaining momentum around your pivot. Think about what you want to be known for, how you want to make an impact and how you want people to feel, and then make sure your brand and your messaging reflect that.
Your visual branding.
This is honestly where most people start, and although it’s important – it’s definitely something that can be put on the back burner until you’re close to launching your new offers or services. Do you need to revamp your logo? Do you need visual branding elements to represent your new services? Put it on your list, but don’t get hung up on it.
Step 5: Your Marketing
Developing your marketing plan should be one of your first priorities when you are planning your pivot. Focus on how you will GET visible and STAY visible to the right audience. Remember: finding, attracting and selling to your ideal client is how you stay in business.
Lead magnet.
As you create your marketing plan, don’t forget to include a lead magnet that supports your new pivot. This would ideally include a powerful nurture sequence on the back end.
Lead Generation.
Decide where you will be focusing your lead generation efforts (Will it be IG, Facebook, LinkedIn, warm emails?). The goal is to have a system and a plan for identifying leads and purposely getting in front of them.
Powerful Content.
Once you have the attention of your leads, you need to be sure that you are consistently creating powerful content that supports your pivot, your offers, and also positions you as an authority in your industry.
Step 6: Your Launch
Once you’ve done all the work it’s time to tell the world how you can help them! Whether you want a big flashy launch or a subtle announcement, here are the bare bone essentials of what you need to plan for:
Your promotional content.
Think posts, videos, emails, ads (optional), affiliates, and direct outreach. But, remember: you are absolutely allowed to keep this super simple!
Your launch.
Big or small, put together a plan for when you’re officially pivoting. This can be a launch on social media, or a launch through email, challenge, waitlist or masterclass. It can be through social media only, or involve many different moving parts. Do what feels aligned for you and your goals. Don’t forget to check out this blog for more ideas on how to launch!
Your existing business.
Now it’s time to talk about that whole “without taking an income hit” thing. Because while you are planning this pivot, you’re still running your existing business. So how can you maintain your income while you make the shift?
Here’s the most important part: you don’t need to let go of anyone or any service right away. You get to do this intentionally and systematically until you’ve made a full pivot. The key here is not to drag this process out for months. Create a plan for phasing the old out and bringing in the new or you’re going to feel like you’re on a hamster wheel forever.
First, take an inventory of your clients – every client that you currently have, what you offer them in detail, what they pay you each month and when their contract ends or is up for renewal.
Next, systematically go through that list and identify who is not aligned with your pivot, who can potentially be shifted to your new offers perhaps, and who you’d like to continue serving.
Then, start with one to three clients. Identify how much money you’d need to bring in to replace them, and actively work to bring in an aligned client. As soon as that income is replaced, give your notice to your existing client. Repeat this process until EVERY CLIENT is an aligned client and everything you are offering feels amazing!
It’s all in the details
One last piece of advice: break each of these six steps down into a series of micro-actions. Take bite-size action every day, and give yourself a realistic timeline.
Is there more to it than this? Of course. But making big (or small!) changes boil down to a series of small details that when put together, equal a powerful pivot. It doesn’t need to be scary or overwhelming. In fact, working towards offering services that you actually love and enjoy can be incredibly fulfilling and can breathe new life into your business.
And in case you didn’t know…I teach you how to build a scalable business that allows you unlimited growth potential inside GROW Business & Marketing Academy. Enrolling now!
