Welcome to The Strategy of Change Roundtables! I’m so excited to have a team of prolific, savvy, and experienced business owners on our panel.
In today’s conversation we’re tackling the topic: How to Pivot When You’ve Plateaued, Confronting What No Longer Works and Finding a Path Forward
This conversation features:
Jennifer Hutton, Dr. JPop, Pediatric Physical Therapist, Author & Activist
Jessie Ginsburg, Sensory Integration SLP and Creator of the Sensory-based training for SLPs and Parents
Karen Wilson, Pediatric Neuropsychologist, Founder of Child Nexus
Sue Monhait, Founder of Gift Biz Unwrapped and The Ribbon Print Company
We answer the challenging questions with unprecedented transparency. Questions like:
- What has it felt like when you realized you needed to PIVOT?
- What STRATEGIES did you draw upon to find your new direction?
- What gifts/positive nuggets did you receive as a result of being brave enough to face something that wasn’t working in your business
- What have been some of the challenges of growth, following the new path?
For me personally, the need to pivot came after 10 successful years of growth. My business grew every year for 10 years — until it didn’t. Last year.
I talked in the last roundtable about the impact of this and the fact that this contraction was the very genesis of this roundtable initiative and the relaunch of the Empower Publicity Podcast: Strategy of Change Roundtables.
(let’s be clear, I had a successful business by any standard…it just didn’t GROW…)
It was a disorienting experience that took me on a journey through some tough emotions and realizations. It was only when I realized that the contraction had information in it that I was able to understand what was going on. And in part — the plateau, the slowing — might have been a reflection of what was going on for me and my reaction to what I had been doing for 10 years.
I needed to look at what actually lit me up in the business.
But what was painful about it was the meaning I assigned to this. To the need to pivot. That the need or desire to pivot that was a reflection of my own judgment…of myself, of the marketplace
The Second Arrow…Buddhist concept — the original pain and then there’s the second arrow…
A lot of the pain we experience is optional — and it’s embedded in our judgment of ourselves and our situations.
The second arrow…
So what it felt like to me when I realized I needed to pivot —
It was scary.
It was discouraging.
Alarming.
My fears always seem to go back to being a single parent, provider…In it alone.
But then I came to understand…the wider context of a pivot…It’s unrealistic to think that what always worked will work forever. And it’s unrealistic to think that what lights us up will remain constant for our entire careers. Yet when confronted with this evolution we panic!
The reality is, this is evolution…
And on the point of “being in it alone…” my default negative thought…
Evolution does not happen in a vacuum. External forces prompt us to evolve…whether it’s the webbed feet on a toad that enables it to live in algae filled waters. Or market circumstances that cause a business to have to reconsider the way it’s operating.
So, if evolution cannot happen in a vacuum, then by definition, I’m not in it alone. Of course, I have the support of a great team, a great partner, a great family…But also, there are universal forces at play.
And RESISTING evolution is what causes the most pain. You’re not equipped to confront the changing environment. You make it harder for yourself.
So my big learning was…
ALLOWING the evolution (removing all the judgment and the fear…the panic). When I began ALLOWING the evolution it started to happen quite quickly.
And the part of ALLOWING that is so hard for me — stepping out of the “DOING” the grasping the “making it happen” — became a constant PRACTICE. Literally practicing it every day because the habit to DO to “make it happen” is SOOOO deeply ingrained.
In the allowing…in following the POSITIVE energy as opposed to clinging to the old…I’ve realized that the part of my business that is emerging is a opportunity for me to work much more deeply with some of the right clients in the function marketing advisor embedded inside their organizations….making sure the strategies I usually consult on are actually getting implemented and adding that missing person to their team…the one who can oversee the marketing tactics and position them for exponential growth.
And I’m excited to see what evolves….
If you feel like:
Your business isn’t growing the way you want…
You are doing all the things but your business isn’t responding…
You feel frustrated because all your efforts aren’t resulting in the momentum you need…
You’re experiencing the strategy gap: the space between where you are now and where you know your business can go.
You’re not alone…
You and I can chat about how we’re getting you to the other side.
Offering you a free call to explore the gap:
- We’ll talk about where you want to go
- What obstacles you’re experiencing (they aren’t usually what you think they are)
- And we’ll create a strategy roadmap to guide you toward the growth you’re seeking
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