3 Reasons to Pivot in Your Online Business

I always think it’s odd to hear that someone thinks that to pivot in your online business somehow means that you aren’t doing something right. 

Oh my goodness. 

Would you believe that since starting my first online store more than a decade ago I have pivoted about 87,323 times?  

Now, that might be an overstatement—or maybe an understatement—but the fact is that I’ve had to pivot in my online businesses A LOT. 

Sometimes I needed to change something about the model of my business; for example, I went from having just one product for sale a day to eventually having multiple products for sale. 

I went from being the only seller in my online store to having multiple sellers in my store—like Jane or Zulily, for example. 

Certainly, I changed my products a lot. In the beginning, I sold a lot of craft-related products. Eventually, that expanded to home décor, clothing, holiday items, and more. 

And then I started a whole new business when I only had one single, solitary product (pillows) for sale. 

I’m sharing all of this with you to show that to pivot in your online business is absolutely, 100% NORMAL. 

Donna Pivots in Her Online Business

That’s why I’m crazy glad to introduce you to Donna Evans. Donna and I met when she was making kind of a huge pivot in her life—leaving the corporate world to become an ecommerce entrepreneur. It’s something that she’d dreamed about but also wasn’t quite expecting when the opportunity came up. 

And since that time, she’s made multiple pivots in her business, going from selling what she thought people wanted to creating and selling (A WHOLE LOT OF) handmade items to expanding her product lines to include some items that are unexpected but a perfect fit. 

Oh—and did I mention that she also helped her teenage daughter launch her own entrepreneurial journey? Talk about a pivot!

Reasons to Pivot in Your Online Business

If you consider Donna’s journey alone (and trust me, you’ll REALLY want to hear it in this podcast!) you can see that just 3 of the reasons to pivot in your online business include: 

Reason 1: When you test products, but they don’t sell. 

Reason 2: When products are selling, but you don’t feel interested in them/ passionate about them. 

Reason 3: When products you are handcrafting are becoming too much for you, and it’s ready to bring in a manufacturer

But there are other reasons as well; some of which you’ll discover when you start your own online store and come into the world of e-commerce.  For now, learn why Donna did it, and in the future, I hope to hear your story too.

Top 10 Takeaways:

1. It’s okay to pivot in your business
2. Starting creates clarity
3. Look at your numbers; they lead you to the answer
4. Your people will find you
5. Handmade to over 6 figures is possible
6. Feeling burnout? Set boundaries
7. Constant pivots
8. Teach your kids this process and let them learn beside you
9. Just start selling something
10. What takes you hours at first will eventually take just minutes

Bonus Takeaway:

1. Consistency