Badassery Magazine November 2017 Issue 18 | Page 25

W
hat happens when Plan
A isn’t working? Do
you sit around in frus-
tration, make excuses, and feel
sorry for yourself? Or, are you
adept at pivoting in business?
Are you comfortable scrapping
a plan that is not working and
starting over? Successful entre-
preneurs are experts at pivoting.
There was a time when, if I'm
being honest, I would sit around
being frustrated, angry, de-
pressed, and make a lot of ex-
cuses about why my plan didn’t
bring in the results. The thing
about business success is not
every plan you execute is going
to work. No matter how genius
you think the plan is, there is no
such thing as a 100% success rate
in business.
In my younger days as an entre-
preneur I got caught in the trap
of "things were happening to me".
It was easier for me to look for
something or someone to blame,
instead of being accountable for
where I had failed.
Here are 8 ways to learn how to
pivot in business
FAIL FAST
If you've been an entrepreneur
for any amount of time or read
any books on business success,
you have heard the phrase "fail
fast." It's a catchy term. But what
does it really mean?
It means that once you have a
plan, you execute it immedi-
ately. You go all in. You not just
toe-dipping to test the waters.
You go 100% in with the plan.
Then you begin monitoring
results. When you see the plan is
not delivering the results need-
ed, draft Plan B and get to work
again.
This is how entrepreneurs pivot
in business. Having the ability to
"fail fast" with your plan or strat-
egy requires you to not be tied to
the outcome in a way that makes
you unable to scrap the plan and
start from scratch, if needed.
In this past week, pivoting in
business, seems to be the theme
for me. As I prepare for the
launch of my new book, "How to
Fire Your Boss and Start a Busi-
ness After 40" and a new prod-
uct, I have been knee-deep in
planning and implementation.
OWN YOUR RESULTS
This week it became apparent
my implementation plan was
not delivering the results need-
ed to achieve my launch goals.
That was a hard pill to swallow
for a bit on Thursday. Especially
when one of your key support
team members says to you, "what
we are doing is working, but we
think you need to re-think your
offer." Ouch!
I could have easily blamed this
sub par performance on my
team. Or blamed it on timing.
Or blamed it on the Universe,
or mercury in retrograde, or any
number of things. But the bot-
tom line is this...the results are
my results. I am responsible. I
am accountable. I cannot afford
to be so tied to Plan A that I am
unwilling to make necessary
changes.
Was I frustrated? Of course! Did
it sting? You bet! Was I a little
discouraged? Yes...ok maybe
more than just a little discour-
aged. But what I have learned
from over 30 years as an entre-
preneur and expert in process
improvement is, I cannot sit
around and do nothing if I ex-
pect different results.
It’s like the old saying, "doing
the same thing repeatedly, but
expecting a different result is the
definition of insanity." So true.
Plan A was not working. Doing
more of the same or waiting lon-
ger to see if results changed…that
is just crazy.
The true litmus test of a suc-
cessful entrepreneur is not only
can you pivot, but can you pivot
quickly. Here is what I did to
recover from the fast fail and get
back to implementation.
Get Support from Your Network
I am fortunate to be part of a
Mastermind group, of like-mind-
ed female entrepreneurs, and
have an amazing business coach.
The first thing I did was reach
out to my network for support
and feedback. I did not neces-
sarily need them to solve my
problem. What I needed was
support, feedback, suggestions,
and accountability.
Develop a support system of
peers or team members you can
tap into for feedback, support,
and accountability. You will
be amazed about what a good
brainstorming session can do for
your perspective. By quickly go-
ing to my go-to support system,
I went from frustrated back into
planning mode very quickly.
Analyze the Problem
What is not working? Where
did this fall off track? Figuring
out the root cause of failure is a
critical step. This requires you
to look at your work to this point
and ask yourself, why you missed
the mark. How could this be
better? How can I do this
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