136: Why I Stopped Exploring Selling the Pivot Brand and Business

Written By Jenny Blake

In the spirit of “truth while it’s fresh,” one of my core values for this podcast, today I’m sharing a truth that has been on a low simmer for two years but that I’ve never quite shared publicly. I’m taking you behind the scenes of my explorations around potentially selling the Pivot side of my business—and why I chose not to (for now, unless you know of any $5 million to 10 million buyers around! ;)

🌟3 Key Takeaways:

  • I think about three types of knowledge workers: builders, maintainers, and optimizers. Builders love to create new things, Maintainers like to continue and grow what exists, and Optimizers look at what exists and improve it. Knowing which one you are can help you decide what to do with your business, or how to delegate aspects of current projects

  • Your business will be more desirable to buyers if you focus on building recurring revenue, eliminating key person risk, diversifying your client base, and documenting process that becomes part of your unique IP.

  • It may be counterintuitive, but treating your business like you are planning to sell it gives you a chance to fall back in love with it. 

📝Permission: Explore what exiting your business could look like, even if you don’t do anything with that information.

✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: What is one strategic area for improvement that would make your business more sale-able, even if it’s to yourself? For example: diversifying your client base, reducing key person risk by delegating more, and shifting client payments to recurring revenue. 

📘Books Mentioned:

🔗Resources Mentioned: 

🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 


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Jenny Blake

Jenny Blake is a career and business strategist and international speaker who helps people people organize their brain, move beyond burnout and create sustainable careers they love. She is the author of PIVOT: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One (Portfolio/Penguin Random House, September 2016). Jenny left her job in career development at Google in 2011 after five and a half years at the company to launch her first book, Life After College, and has since run her own consulting business in New York City. Find her on Twitter @Jenny_Blake and subscribe to the Pivot Podcast. 

http://PivotMethod.com
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135: How to Rapidly Prototype a Course (Pivot Replay from Dec. 2019)