The Power Of A Pivot
Almost five months ago, I had to make the really difficult choice to close down my company. I also stepped away from social media.
Since then, I’ve processing those two things, with massive insights that I wanted to share.
Some unwise business choices at the end of last year left me vulnerable.
Practicalities like late-paying clients and a super quiet Q1 of 2018 meant it just wasn’t in a fit state to keep trading; and to be fair, I’ve been fighting this for months.
If I’m honest, maybe years.
So what stopped me from shutting it all down before, and stopping?
Honestly? Ego. And fear. #realtalk
I was genuinely worried that my peers, colleagues and audience would see me as a lesser person, a failure, someone who hadn’t “made it”, who hadn’t achieved what others have achieved, who hadn’t hit the dizzy heights of the multiple seven figures, or the lifestyle that everyone else had.
But here’s the thing; when I realised, on that critical decision day, that actually, none of those things mattered to me anyway, it was a real relief.
I was devastated to have to tell some clients, who were currently under membership groups, that our work had to stop. It was hard to face letting people down.
I was also heartbroken to admit to myself that I had to change tack. It was honestly been a grieving process, not unlike a relationship breakup.
But the truth of it is, nobody died.
I am still here, and in fact, I’m in a better head space than I was before.
Because, it turns out, hustling every day and trying to make things work, is really, really stressful.
In hindsight, what I should have done is taken a break earlier.
I would have got super lean with my costs as soon as things started getting tricky.
I would have looked at other ways to bring in income, before it got to critical mass.
Although I was always trying to make sales — mostly successfully, I should add — I hadn’t taken enough of a break and taken stock of the situation, to be able to view the landscape with a clear head and hustle-free brain.
I was also so much embroiled in the determination to Make It Work that I couldn’t see other options right there before me.
I allowed myself to process that feeling of failure, and when I unpacked it, and looked at it, I realised that it’s not failure at all. Far from it.
The fact that I have been running this limited company for eight years, I’ve been self-employed for 12 years, with many different models, with various strands of business, is a success.
Failure would be to not try at all.
Failure is when you’re desperately unhappy and do nothing about it.
I chose to stop and to make a change.
So what’s happened?
Well, when I decided to take some space, I also stepped away from social media, from all I think has been a groupthink effect on my business, and something that probably held me back more than I realised.
Maybe you can relate.
Whilst some of my audience, customers and clients are on Facebook, in the online business to online business space there’s quite a culture that is different from anywhere else.
I wanted to step away from that particular echo chamber, because I realised that, before immersing myself in that space, I was still earning income and considered myself successful.
I was a consultant, a teacher, a graphic designer, a blogger, a writer, and none of those things, when I was looking for success in those areas, depended on me having a certain income or appearing a certain way to have success.
Stepping away from the noise also made me realise that I had begun to look at success in a very different way.
Ask anyone who’s down the personal development rabbit hole about success, and there’s often the need to dream big.
Now, I want to dream big; I think we should all have visions of what we want. We should also, however, recognise what we already have.
I wasn’t allowing myself to enjoy and experience the NOW.
When I was younger, maybe like you, success was about getting the grades at school, passing those exams, going to uni, and getting the first job.
Success was about hitting those targets, those achievements, less about the kind of human being that I am, which is what I want to instal now, in my daughters.
Later on, success became about creating a lifestyle for myself.
When I went self-employed, I purposely redid it to create some balance in my life, and several times, over the journey that lasted 12 years, I’ve recreated a cubicle for myself. And each time, I’ve had to tear it down.
Re-evaluating what success means has been HUGE.
Success for me means being there for my daughters every day after school. It means earning income in a flexible way that supports my health needs.
It means allowing space for my values of creativity, family, flexibility, and brilliance.
At the time, I thought I was having to stop all I had worked for.
Now, I see I just needed to go lean, to take a break, and to re-assess and re-group.
I never actually stopped working. In fact, when I made The Big Decision, clients flooded in from nowhere as I got into my flow and relaxed.
I was able to reduce my costs, re-design my business model, and go back to basics.
A pivot is so powerful.
As with creative thinking, the ability to embrace a new perspective and build in space allows new ideas to come, and new approaches.
A moment to pause reaps phenomenal rewards.
Hey, I’m Jo. I help awesome people to brand their brilliance without #samesame syndrome. Get started with a bundle of free goodies right here.
