Ep 49: Should You Pivot Your Business? 5 Questions To Help You Decide + My Story

Have you considered pivoting in your business at some point this year? It has been #2020 and all, but regardless of the season, it’s sometimes worth thinking through whether you’re offering all… or what… you should be offering.

In this episode, I share a recent pivot I made in my business as as well as the questions I asked myself to make sure it was the right move.

After having conversation after conversation about this one interesting topic, I asked myself if I should be talking more about this in my business and on this podcast.

Listen in to hear how I worked through this process..

Here are those questions:

– Does it fit who you are?

– Will you still be able to serve the same audience?

– Does it multiply what you’re already working on or is it a true departure?

– Does the pivot involve a short-term trend or does it have a longer trajectory?

– Does the pivot affect you at the core? Or is it more fringe?

EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION

What’s up Podcast Nation? Ginny Townsend here and I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving week. I mean, obviously if you here in the United States Happy Thanksgiving if you’re anywhere else in the country and listening. I hope you’re having a great week as well and have a lot to be grateful for so I’m really excited about this episode. Now this fall I’ve been talking a lot about webinars and how I believe they are critical, you know to have to give you the ability to

To sell digitally to sell virtually in 2020 and Beyond I absolutely think it’s a skill set. It’s at its asset to have a webinar to be able to sell a digital product in this world right now, right? I absolutely believe that wholeheartedly but something has happened over this last month that led me to pause.

And listen and then make this episode. So was it the election here in the United States? Nope, but that did happen. Was it the announcement of a rapidly approaching vaccine? No, but that did happen as well. Yeah, it’s been a big month, right? But here’s what happened. I have been having conversation after conversation after conversation with man people all kind of threw out my spirit.

So colleagues a client trusted advisors, extended family, friends… I’ve had for like over 20 years new friends out here on the east coast is we’re getting to know people and one topic one specific topic kept coming up over and over and over very unplanned and it was almost surprised as it would come up in each conversation. And so can you guess what that topic is that kept coming up over this actually a couple of

it’s now but this last month was when I was like, okay, I should pause and see what am I supposed to take away from this theme that keeps emerging all over the place. All right. Have you guessed the conversation we had

It was the fact that I’m a rather successful Airbnb host. I bet you didn’t see that coming. Did you and I mean obviously it’s not my main thing? I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it on this podcast. But yeah, we started hosting in 2016 and you know, we found it was a way to maximize an asset that we already had it was a way to add an additional revenue stream to our household and I believe

I’ve mentioned this before but for those of you who haven’t heard did you know that the average millionaire has seven separate revenue streams. I remember hearing that for the first time in feeling like my eyes were opened, but I didn’t have to find a job that paid x amount you just you add revenue streams. That’s how you get a goal. And I remember thinking to myself when I heard that I okay challenge accepted.

and but you know here’s the actual interest in well I think there’s I think there are several interesting things about this but I think you’ll find this interesting as well is I was actually an accidental Airbnb host when I started out right and actually I’m an accidental six-figure Airbnb host so I mean it like it’s been fun and I mean how we have it set up and you know like I’m happy to share whatever to help you all out but it never took up more than

I was thinking back and looking at it like even when I was just setting up systems and setting up processes and things like that. I don’t think it really ever took more than 10 hours or so a month. Yeah, and like I said more on that later, so yeah, don’t you worry, I’ll share the goods but now back to this this this conversation, you know that I started the podcast with like, okay. I’ve been talking a lot about being able to add Revenue.

Dreams using a digital product that is sold by a webinar and how I think that’s incredibly powerful to have here in 2020.

But I feel like there is a hunger for information about short-term rentals. And obviously, when I say Airbnb that’s just shorthand for you know, there are so many other different sites that are big and also really Niche like a VRBO.com HomeAway.com and many others. So so what I’m saying by Airbnb it’s kind of like Kleenex right? They kind of they are the category king of this short-term rental experience.

Rinse, but yeah, so back to the pivot conversation, right? I help people develop strategies and marketing to help build wealth. Like it helped create wealth, right so webinars that fit squarely within this statement, right? I think so but webinars are simply like I said a digital asset that oftentimes cells another digital asset, right? So as I thought a lot about these conversations about my success

with a more tangible asset an air B&B or a short-term rental, I pondered if I should pivot what I’m talking about here on the podcast to include both digital and tangible strategies if I shared more about my success as an Airbnb host. Would it be a distraction, you know, would it be a distraction from what I’m working on and you know worse would it be a distraction from who I already helping so because

Don’t feel like adding something without having you know, some thought behind it some thought about the strategy how much time it would take the value. It would add. I brought all these questions to some trusted advisors as well as colleagues friends and so on and you know, what?

Everyone loved the idea. They all thought you know what this fits you obviously you’ve had tremendous success here as well. So why not talk about it, especially if there is like if it keeps coming up over and over and people keep asking you questions about how you did it? How do you do it? Why not? Why not open that up and help you out. So strategies are strategies, right and wealth creation is wealth creation assets are assets and now

Lie in our time we have digital assets as well as tangible assets, but I do believe that it is even though it is a pivot to include I’m not pivoting away. I’m pivoting to include more tangible assets. I’m so excited to be going for this to be able to take us all on a fun adventure to learn about having a short-term rental or you know, what depending on your goal depending on your strategy.

He’s maybe a few of them. They can bring you but even just one can bring you much closer to your financial freedom and to your time Freedom, which is at its core what this show is about right? That’s why there are strategies and also the marketing for wealth creation. It’s to create Financial Freedom in the time freedom.

Now I can almost here and this is the one thing by the way that I don’t like about podcasts is I would love to immediately know what you’re thinking as you’re listening to this but I don’t have that ability at least as I’m recording this so I know a question you may have is like well, okay. It’s 2020 how has the pandemic affected Air B&B one would imagine that people are traveling less than you know, people are yeah just they’re staying home, but I’m here to tell you shocked.

Lee it has not negatively been impacted in so many different areas now I say like if you know like the more kind of I would imagine like I’m picturing if there was an Airbnb that was targeted towards people coming into Manhattan to go to a Broadway show and things like that. Yeah that now that that Air B&B might not be doing well but ones that are outside of a very dense

City all throughout the country rates have remained the same or have increased and the numbers of nights per month have remained strong as well. So regardless of a pandemic, this market has remained strong isn’t that incredible obviously in areas where people you know, not like I said not in like downtown densities, but more out in the suburbs and into the more

Rural areas, very strong. Awesome. Okay. So another question you may have I would imagine I feel like that is I’m listening to myself. I would ask about this and accidental Airbnb hosts. So yes, so it was not this big strategic move. I had no spreadsheets involved. We actually lived our primary home was a few hours away from the San Francisco Bay area and my husband’s job transferred us there so true.

Us to the Bay so we loved our house didn’t want to sell it and we knew moving to the Babe everyone respectfully if you’re listening from the babe, you’ll I hope you’ll hear the love and what I’m saying here is like everyone lives in a shoe box. Right? And so we’re like man, we would have to you know pack up so much of our stuff and have it in storage and had this thought turns out like quite a thought. I wonder if we could rent this out furnished while were there because

so we didn’t know how long term this role would be in the bay it wasn’t intended to be a permanent move we just didn’t know how long it would be so like okay we can you know we can furnish a one-bedroom in the bay what if we just like rent it out our home a few hours away on Airbnb and other and other sites to by the way but yes so that’s actually how we became Airbnb hosts it was kind of an accident and was certainly not this wildly strategic move like I said

but it turned out to be an amazing move and absolutely amazing move okay so yet another question you may be having as I’m talking about this is have you abandoned webinars I hope I hope I made this clear but just in case absolutely not you know if feel free to reach out if you want to talk about developing your webinar or as I call filling the virtual room I’m are quoting right now but like getting people to actually show up to webinar reach

Out and you can book a time to talk with me. If you go to talk with Ginny.com. That is my virtual coffee chat scheduling links. So yeah, feel free. I have not abandoned it. I just feel like this is incredibly timely and I want to give as many resources to this amazing Community as possible. Okay, so that is a little bit story about my Pivot and my Pivot like I said wasn’t necessarily changing directions it was

more opening the stage to be able to talk about a bit more but just making sure it fit within the value that you as the listener would love to hear what I still am helping you reach your seat the same goal of Financial Freedom and time freedom and all that but I was thinking to I was like, okay, is there anything else that I can like wrap this episode up with because it’s a little bit like I’m kind of talking about my story here and I definitely want to make sure you feel served so questions to ask if

Thinking about pivoting whether it be you know, whatever the pivot is at. Whatever level it is. I wanted to come up with a few questions that I really helped me work through this and then a conversation I had with trusted advisors and I’ll have them on my website. If you go to Ginny townsend.com to cast you will see the show notes for this and I have these questions written out but in any way

To the questions themselves. Okay, the pivot questions to ask does the pivot fit who you are, you know, there may be like, oh my gosh, that sounds brilliant or whatever but doesn’t really feel like it fits. You know, I would say if it doesn’t feel like it fits that’s at least a red flag yellow flag, maybe like cause for pause maybe get some more insights and feedback on that. But if it feels like you it fits who

You are okay. Like I feel like that’s you pass the first gate right? Another question is will you still be able to serve the same audience? Will you be leaving your people high and dry are you departing from them or could you with this pivot continue to add new value to your audience? Another question is does it and it’s a similar question. It’s more nuanced, but does it multiply what you’re already working on?

On or is it a true departure? So with every business with every project oftentimes, it’s like a rocket right like a rocket. I want to say uses about 75% of its fuel just to get out of the atmosphere like to get off of the ground and out of the atmosphere and then it just you know, whatever once it’s off of the ground. It just doesn’t require as much energy and where our projects and our businesses are the same way we use

Most of our energy actually getting it off of the ground. So does it multiply the efforts you’ve already put in or is it a true departure? You just want to walk away from you know, whatever you’re working. There’s not a wrong answer. It’s just something to be mindful of another question is does the pivot involve maybe like a short term Trend or does it have a longer trajectory? So is this going to be do you think like a permanent thing or is this more of a blip in the radar you see an opportunity and

and you want to pounce and take advantage of whatever trend is is currently happening that you know has your eye and then finally, I think a question that is worth asking is does the pivot affect you your business your project at its core or is it more of a fringe like so for instance actually at the beginning the idea that we had to make our house in Air B&B was not at all the core it was kind of

Fringe it actually helped us we joked about having people pay us to store our furniture like it, you know, like obviously it was more than that. We wanted to make sure they had a great experience and all the but but effectively it solved a problem. We didn’t have to like load everything up move it to a storage unit. So that is wildly Fringe if you think about like your whole life is, you know a picture of your whole life, but sometimes pivots do effect at the core. Sometimes there are like I said more Fringe

So I hope you found those questions useful. I hope you found this episode useful to I’ve been thinking about how to approach it to make sure like I said to add value to you not just be like hey, this is what I’m working on. But I hope you’re as excited as I am to go on the short-term rental adventure and go ahead and if you have any specific questions, you would like me to cover in an upcoming episode.

please just DM me on Instagram my handle is it’s Ginny Townsend and to be honest I don’t use that a ton but I do plan on it and I will have you know I will be building more but if you go there and you’re like oh there’s just a handful of posts yep yep yep that’s me so please just DM me there with any questions you have and I will happily do an episode

to answer your question to help you out so thank you again for joining me today thank you as always for listening to this podcast and until next time continue to be up into the right