It’s not unusual for freelancers to pivot. A pivot is generally described as a shift in your business direction. It doesn’t have to be a complete change in direction either; it can simply be a matter of further narrowing your niche, serving a different audience, offering an add-on service or changing the way you charge – or even reducing your hours.
Sometimes, pivots can be brought on by market conditions, and other times, due to a personal desire to explore another avenue or even a change in circumstances.
Whatever the reason, here are 4 key questions to ask yourself before taking a leap to make sure you pivot for all the right reasons.
1. What’s your true motivation for change?
Let’s start with the big one! What’s your true motivation for change?
If you are forced by circumstance to pivot your freelance business (think of the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, where many freelancers had to rethink their business models), then you may think this question is superfluous. But it still needs to be addressed as even if circumstances force you to change, you don’t want to end up doing something you really don’t want to do long term – now is the time to choose wisely. If you love what you do, then it’s worth reviewing your business and seeing if there are any things you can tweak and improve upon rather than implementing a full-scale pivot.
A pivot may be the perfect course of action if you are running on empty or no longer finding joy in what you do. But again, it’s worth contemplating if this is a temporary blip until there is an uptick in the market, if you’re suffering a bout of shiny object syndrome or if you’ve seen someone else doing well with a particular business model and think you can thrive in a similar business too. In the latter case, it’s worth bearing in mind that we don’t always know what’s going on behind the scenes with other people’s success stories.
Likewise, if there’s a slight downturn in the market or you’re experiencing the freelancer feast or famine cycle, all these can impact your decision-making.
Of course, once you’ve taken these points into consideration and have pinpointed your true motivation, you can take steps to implement your new, fresh direction!
2. Who do you really want to serve?
If you are no longer enjoying your work or seem to be consistently attracting unsuitable clients, then it’s probably a good time to take a step back and consider what type of client you really want to help and how. It could be that there’s an issue with your marketing message, and therefore, you’re not attracting the right clients, or the right clients aren’t being articulated to clearly enough as to how you can help them.
You can find out more about defining your ideal client at our post here: 5 Ways to Help Define Your Ideal Client.
Now is the time to determine the ideal outcomes you want to achieve for both you and your clients. What type of clients do you love to work with, and what’s something you can do to make a positive impact on their business and help solve the issues they’re facing?
Could you serve them better with a product or new service offer? If you want to change how you deal with clients, instead of one-and-done projects, could you offer a retainer or subscription service?
These are all points worth considering that could impact how you run your freelance business in the future.
3. Do you have the necessary skills and tools?
This isn’t a black hat question, as conducting a skills audit may reveal some areas that need reviewing in your current business model.
When you feel stagnant from a growth and learning perspective, it can lead you to think you need to pivot when you may just need to brush up on some areas and keep up to date with your skills and training to bring new life into your business.
By performing a skills audit, you may also find you have plenty of cross-over skills to bring to the table that will help you with your new business direction. And if there are some skills you are missing, now is the time to start investing in them so you can put your pivot dream into action.
When it comes to tools, one tool you’ll need if you want to get paid fast and on time is good invoicing software that offers multiple payment gateway options so you can get paid at the click of a button.
Invoice Ninja is a leading free invoicing software for small business invoices, fast online payments, expense tracking, and billable tasks. It also includes attractive, professional invoice template designs you can customize with your logo and brand colors.
Try it for free here.
And on the subject of money…
4. Is it just about the money?
There’s nothing wrong with pivoting to become more successful and make more money. That’s one of the core goals of running a business! But the thing about money goals is they can lend themselves to change and increase over time to an extent that we never quite reach them. The goalposts are always moving!
If you are thinking about the money element alone, then you could sacrifice job satisfaction along the way or overwork to such an extent in an effort to reach your money goals, which could lead to freelancer burnout. So, it’s worth considering what your actual money goals look like. Is it a specific number? Is it to give you and your family a good standard of living? Have you taken into account quality time with loved ones in your new pivot plan? In other words, have you asked yourself what ‘enough’ is to you to make you happy?
What’s going to bring you the most joy? You may find that it’s not just about the money.
~
It’s not unusual for the paths we start out on to morph into something else entirely or for our career paths to overlap. Gone are the days when people had jobs for life; even then, their jobs and careers were typically changing throughout their working lives. People nowadays have more opportunities to be multi-passionate and have many different skills (and careers).
So, if you want to do something you love, go for it!
We hope these questions have given you some food for thought so you can successfully pivot for all the right reasons.
