How to know when it’s
time to pivot your brand

Pivot is a word we often hear in business as a way to describe ditching the current business model in favor of trying something new. Sometimes this can be a last-ditch effort so that the company can stay afloat, a business can pivot because the current business model isn’t really where the passion is anymore. Other times one area of the business is really thriving and so the company decides to put all focus on that one area to create something entirely new.

There are a million examples of businesses who have done this, for example, Youtube started as a video dating site. Say what?! Once they realized that people were uploading and enjoying a wide range of videos they decided to drop the dating aspect and instead focus on hosting video content on a wide range of topics.

3 reasons you might be ready for a pivot

1. Get aligned with the things you love – You’ve fallen out of love with your product or service, or realize that the customers you are attracting aren’t quite right. Or you need to realign yourself with the reason you started the business in the first place. Is your business aligned with your core desires? If not it might be time to pivot.
2. Follow the money – Maybe your bakery used to have a serious following and customers raved about your cupcakes, but recently you’ve noticed a drop in sales and now it’s donuts that are trendy and selling like crazy. If you find one offering that is making significantly more money, perhaps it’s time to pivot and focus your efforts on the things that bring in the dough….(sorry, had to).
3. Cut your losses – This is similar to follow the money. Ditch the things that aren’t working and try something new. If you’re trying your best to make it as a life coach but things just aren’t happening, instead of ditching the business altogether, can you focus on one area of your business that you are truly passionate about and that makes money and cut out all the superfluous BS that is bogging you down?

Why we decided to pivot

Technically, Goodenough & Co. is a new business, but we are not new to the industry. Our desire to pivot started last year when we decided to let go of the business we’ve had for a very long time and pivot towards becoming a small scale branding studio. We’ve been involved in the web and software design business for over 15 years. We had a wide range of clients, and we’ve built everything from backend websites, to custom software to expansive e-commerce sites. We worked with both multinational corporate entities and smaller mom and pop style businesses.

At some point in the last few years the passion for cranking out web projects that took 4-12 months to complete, was waning. We were tired of long drawn out projects, tired of long hours and just couldn’t spend one more hour on a proposal that only sometimes landed us a project. So we decided it was time to pivot.

We started to talk about the projects we were really passionate about, we love design, we love strategizing with small business owners and we love helping to tell a story. We decided to ditch the old freelance web designer model in favor of rapid branding and web design projects for small business owners.

It’s time to grow

This is not for the faint-hearted, making a huge pivot like this is like one of the scariest things we’ve ever done. The beginning stages weren’t pretty. We had no clients, no website and no following. We were trusting that by following our gut, our passion and our expertise that we would find success in business. But as our new brand began to take shape, we found endless inspiration for our new company, complete with a new name, new website, and a new logo.

If your brand needs a gentle nudge, strong push, or mother ‘effin shove into a new era of brand fulfillment, decide now that it’s time to grow. It’s not necessary that you are already successful, nor do you have to cling to the brand strategy you started with. Instead, open your mind to the endless possibilities, find a customer you are passionate about helping, find a portion of your business that really works. It might just be the change you need to keep going.