The Life and Business Pivot: Your Turn to Go with the Flow

But, what about the 5-year-business plan?

So many times in life we get stuck in what we’re doing because we’ve been doing it for so long. We begin to hear the whisper of change but cling to the familiar. This applies to the foods we eat, to ways of thinking about life, and to the old stories about ourselves that we re-tell and re-tell.

There are a few specific examples from my years of working in the corporate world as a great testimony to how much people HATE change.

Remember that little book called Who Moved My Cheese? It’s all about dealing with change in life and work. I remember the CEO of my company handing out a copy of this book to each one of us right before a massive layoff. In another company, I was the training manager, so I was the one buying the book for my entire sales team because the company was about to lay off a bunch of people as well.

These are two examples of change that seems negative, and yet … when it was MY turn to be FIRED (YES, I was fired and it was a huge emotional ride), my family celebrated. They knew that I was dreaming of going full-time with my coaching business but that I was hesitating leaving the safety of my corporate job. This change was just the push I needed to go bigger, and to own my dream of having the freedom to create my business and my life on my terms.

Was it scary?

HELL YES!! But it was the fast track to figuring it out. I learned to pivot and make a new plan. Once I had more space and time for clients and was able to focus full time on my business things started shifting quickly. I began getting referrals and my income grew steadily.

Then, I went back to corporate!!

Yes, I went BACK to corporate. I bet you didn’t expect that! Me neither :)

This was another pivot I chose at the right time for me. I was offered a job that seemed perfect for me. In this new role I would get to design curriculum, train new employees on software systems and even travel a bit. I had to look deep within myself to see if was doing the right thing or just running away from the scary world of running my own business.

Ultimately I decided to leap into the opportunity, knowing that I would go back to running my own business when the time was right. It just felt like the right opportunity at the right time. And it was a beautiful experience. I worked with amazing colleagues and management, acquired skills that are so important to me today in my own business, and most importantly I followed my heart even when it didn’t seem logical to others. The sign of a true entrepreneur! It was another pivot.

If I stuck to my long-term plan at any point, I would not have learned crucial lessons along the way. Through learning how to pivot, I also learned to follow my intuition above all else. And it’s always paid off. I do make plans in my business, but I’ve also learned to listen and pivot as I go based on what I know is true and right for me.

So even as I create my plan for the future, I will stay open to the pivot…not out of fear or self-doubt, but from a place of trusting myself deeply.

As an entrepreneur I am always looking for clarity and strategy in the way I run my business. I focus on staying present with my big goals but also keeping an eye out for areas where I can be more concise, more on purpose and on path.

Sometimes this may mean I scratch an entire program, or delete entire sections of something I’ve been working on for months.

Is it scary? Yup! It helps having people in my life who really know me and “get” my business and vision. These are the people I can turn to and ask if I’m heading in the right direction and ask “does this seem like me or am way off course?”.

Ultimately, I get to make the final decision. That’s the best part of being the conscious CEO of my own life an business. But having my circle of support in life and business is CRUCIAL to my success financially and personally.