The Create Your Day Podcast

105. Pivot vs. Persist: A Proven Framework for Smarter Business Decisions

• Jenn Cody • Season 1 • Episode 105

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Every entrepreneur eventually faces the million-dollar question: Do I stick it out, or do I pivot? In this episode, Jenn breaks down the difference between persistence that leads to success and stubbornness that keeps you stuck. You’ll learn a simple, practical framework to help you decide whether it’s time to double down on your current strategy, or make a bold move in a new direction.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your business challenge is a speed bump or a dead end, this episode will give you the clarity you need.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • ✅ 4 indicators that it’s time to pivot (and why “failure” isn’t always the reason)
  • ✅ 4 red flags that it’s NOT time to pivot (and what to do instead)
  • ✅ How to set clear success criteria so you know if your strategy is actually working
  • ✅ Why execution quality matters more than ideas (and how to self-assess honestly)
  • ✅ The role of leading indicators vs. lagging results in decision-making
  • ✅ How to test new approaches without burning down what you’ve already built

Key Takeaways

  • Pivoting isn’t failure. It can mean you’ve outgrown your old strategy or discovered a more aligned opportunity.
  • Persistence is powerful—but only with strategy. Sticking to a plan that isn’t working is just expensive stubbornness.
  • Data over drama. Use patterns and metrics, not feelings or comparison, to decide whether to stay the course.
  • Test, then commit. Small experiments can validate a new direction before you overhaul your business.

✨ Whether you’re questioning your current business model, debating a new offer, or just stuck in the messy middle, this episode will help you move forward with clarity and confidence.

Thanks for listening!

Connect With Me:

📩 Join my email list: https://www.jenncody.com
📱 DM me on Instagram: @solutonsbyjenncody

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Speaker 1:

Hey friends, welcome back to the Create your Day podcast. I'm your host, jen Cody. Thank you so much for being here. I hope you are enjoying your September, and I always think at this time of year about that movie. You've Got Mail, I think it is, and I don't remember if it was Tom Hanks or Meg Ryan, but one of them makes a reference to buying a bouquet of sharpened pencils.

Speaker 1:

Like it's such a great time of year Maybe not for some of us that have little ones starting school. You know everybody there's two different camps there who's really happy the kids are going back and getting back into a routine, and who really prefers when they can just, kind of like, go where the wind takes them and have leisure time with their family. So, whichever camp you're in, I'm hoping that you are coming to terms with the fact that we are headed towards the end of the year and, as we head into what is almost the last 90 days of 2025,. I want to chat with you guys about one of the really hard decisions, one of many that we face in business, and that is when to pivot or when to persist, like. If you are faced with that dilemma, which way do you choose to go? And how do you know which way is the right way? Because depending on the circumstances, the answer is different, right? So let's just say, if you've been working on something in your business, maybe it's a new service, maybe it's a new strategy, maybe it's an entirely new business model, but if it's not working the way that you hoped it was going to, most of the time we start to wonder like is this a normal part of the process? Do I just need to have more patience? Do I need to be more persistent? Do I just want to, like, buckle down, heads down and move through this, or am I banging my head against a wall and the wall is actually never going to move and it's a waste of time for me to stay here. So this is the decision that really does separate some of our successes, because there are so many people who give up too early and there are so many people who persist too long and those strategies will never work and we don't know. It's really hard when we're in those moments to know which way we're supposed to go.

Speaker 1:

So today, what I want to do is speak to you about a framework for making this decision, because we don't want to make these decisions from an emotional place. We really want to make them strategically and intentionally, and I want to start by saying that both of these options pivoting and persisting they can be right and they can be wrong, totally dependent on the circumstances. That is so important to understand, because I have seen people give up on things that were just about to work, because I have seen people give up on things that were just about to work, and I've also seen people waste months or years on things that are just they're not the right alignment. They're just not in alignment with what that person needs or is working towards. So the key for this framework is to actually have criteria to make this decision that is based on data, based on patterns and not based on how we feel that day when we wake up in the morning. So I want to start by talking about when to seriously consider pivoting. I think this is the harder choice for most entrepreneurs because we come from we're cut from this cloth that teaches that entrepreneurship is about pushing through when other people would have not pushed through. That really does separate a lot of people who are successful from the people who are not successful in starting businesses, running businesses successfully. It is because we have that um what would it be called like perseverance to buckle down and do the work that other people would just not take the time to do. So when we're faced with the choice to actually pivot and go in a different direction, it can feel a little alarming and uncomfortable because it goes against what we think is what we need to do to bring success into our business. So I want to give you some of this criteria so that, when you are faced with this decision, you can sit down and actually write down where you are in your business, answer these questions and you'll be able to make the decision much easier.

Speaker 1:

So let's start with an indicator. What is something you can look for that tells you whether or not you need to pivot or not? And I want you to think about if you have consistently missed your goal or your target for a good amount of time, for two or more quarters, despite good effort. That's the key phrase good effort, because if you've been inconsistent, if you really haven't been giving things your full attention, if you've been half-hearted in the way you're implementing, then the problem has nothing to do with your strategy. It's all in the execution, because you're not actually executing the way that you should. But let's say you have been consistent and you've been implementing a really well thought out plan and you just keep falling short. You're setting targets and you're falling short. That's data, that's concrete. It's facts. So maybe your market is telling you something that you need to pay attention to.

Speaker 1:

I have worked with someone who spent many, many months trying to build a group coaching program and she was doing all the right things, creating really good content, marketing consistently. Her messaging was great, but she could never get anybody to sign up. I shouldn't say that she did get a few people to sign up, but she had a hard time getting more than one person, one or two people and you kind of need more than one or two people when you're trying to create a group. So after two quarters of the pattern, we actually spent time looking at the data instead of just being like, well, maybe this isn't for you. You know there's a lot of times that that's the way people look at these things, but we looked at the data. Know there's a lot of times that that's the way people look at these things, but we looked at the data and she had an audience that was responding, but it seems what they really wanted was one-to-one. They wanted more of her. So what she did was pivot from that group coaching program and she created a great high touch coaching program and she immediately started hitting the targets that she was going for, because it actually converted people into clients when she was able to pivot the strategy.

Speaker 1:

So that's the first thing you want to pay attention to. Are you missing the goals that you're setting for yourself? Maybe the goals are the problem and it's not what you're doing to get to the goals. So that's an indicator that you may want to consider a pivot. There's another indicator you can look at Look at the opportunities that are going on in your market. Are there new things that have come out since you started that might align more with the vision that you have? Because sometimes pivot it's not about failing, which is how we see it a lot of the time. That's why I think this is such a hard decision for so many entrepreneurs, because, remember, I was saying, like we want to be heads down, I can do this, I can do this, I have the energy, I have the stamina to see this through. That's what makes a good entrepreneur.

Speaker 1:

So when we think about pivoting. We're like well, that just means we're giving up and we're failing at what we set out to do, but that's not always the case. What if it's about evolution? What if you developed new capabilities? Maybe you really honed some skills that you didn't have before. Maybe your market has shifted and the people that you serve are looking for different things. Maybe your clients have taught you something right. Maybe you learned something about your clients and there's a different path that you can be taking to serving them.

Speaker 1:

The question that you want to ask yourself is, if there's a new opportunity, does that new opportunity get you to your three-year goal faster and more sustainably than the path that you're on? Because everything we're doing, we're doing because of an end result that we're trying to get to. If you're not doing that, you need to stop and back up quite a few episodes, because if you're not working towards an end goal, what are you doing with your time? How do you know how to base your decisions? How do you know how to base your decisions? How do you know how to spend your time? So, when you think about that end goal, that three-year plan, is what you're doing now going to get you there sustainably? Or is there a new opportunity that will get you there faster? Pivoting to the new opportunity is not failure. It's evolving, and we always want to be evolving in business.

Speaker 1:

Okay, something else you can look at are the market conditions around what you're doing right now. So sometimes there are conditions in the market that we serve that make our current offer, our current service, just not sustainable. And I want you to be able to look at this with a lot of clarity, because we're not talking about temporary challenges. We're not talking about, like normal market fluctuations. This is about shifts that change the entire viability of what you're offering. So, let's say, the platform that you've been building your business on, and for some of you that's LinkedIn, for some of you it's TikTok, for some it's Instagram, facebook groups. There's all different platforms that we use.

Speaker 1:

But let's say, the platform that you've been building on changed their algorithm and whatever they did to it, because I can't speak to an algorithm. If I did, I would be much more successful than I am. But if they change their algorithm in a way that kills your reach, your organic reach just plummets. Maybe it's something, maybe there's a regulatory change in your industry. You know, depending on what you do, there are different laws, different regulations that come out Maybe there's something you're offering that there was a change in that industry and what you're doing isn't working anymore.

Speaker 1:

Even economic conditions Right now B2B suffering terribly. The economy is not great right now, so B2B is really suffering for that. So those economic conditions have shifted the target market in a B2B, which is a business that their priorities have shifted. So we want to be able to look at those market conditions and figure out like, okay, well, I created this, whatever it is that you're working on, whatever your service, your offer is, you created that so that you can serve a certain group of people. If the market does not want that anymore or it's not possible anymore, then you need to reevaluate and see which way you're going to go with it. Okay, another indicator.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about fast success, because sometimes we need to pivot because we've actually achieved our goals faster than we expected and this might sound a little bit counterintuitive, but sometimes we really do. Maybe we've outgrown the strategy that we started with because the approach that got you to, I don't know. Let's say, your goal was to get to six figures this year. You wanted to break 100K. Well, it's September, so maybe you've already reached that and you didn't think you would do it until December. So you've got to 100K. And now what? Now, what are you going to do? The strategy that got you there? Your next goal isn't going to also be to get to 100K, it's going to be to get to 300 or 500. So what got you to the 100 isn't going to take you to 300. Maybe the systems that worked when you had 20 clients. They break down a little bit when you have 50 clients. So the success that you've achieved, that can require just as much strategy and adjustment to that strategy as failure can.

Speaker 1:

So don't only focus on where did you go wrong when you feel like you need to pivot. Sometimes it is about where did I go right and I went so far ahead of where I thought I would be that I need to adjust my strategy and figure out how to move through this. So those are some ways that you can think through write down those questions, figure out what you're going to, those indicators. I should say figure out where your business stands when it comes to those indicators and figuring out okay, do I need to pivot or not? Now we're going to talk about when not to pivot.

Speaker 1:

So the first thing here is that you've had one bad month, because this is something I see all the time. Somebody puts something out there they're like, nope, didn't work. Well, that's normal, especially month to month, because monthly fluctuations they're totally normal in business, and so one disappointing month doesn't indicate a pattern and there sometimes are even like seasonal patterns or just temporary things going on. Those are very normal business cycles. So before you consider pivoting based on those results, I want you to think about quarterly. What are the quarterly trends look like? What is year over year comparisons look like in your business? Do not look at the month and think you have to make a decision based on it.

Speaker 1:

Second thing, do not compare yourself to others. How many of you out there are doing this? You are looking at other people on Instagram, looking at other people on LinkedIn and they are killing it and you're like, wait a minute, that strategy is great, I'm going to put that in my business. But just because someone else's strategy works for them does not mean your strategy is the wrong one. Different approaches work for different people. They work for different markets, different business models, different offers, all of it. And when we pivot based on comparison, that leads to constant chasing of shiny objects instead of building systems that are sustainable and create a great foundation for you to continue building on. And we need that foundation because the next thing we're going to talk about is a great and I shouldn't say great, it's not great. The next thing we're going to talk about is a super popular reason for people to pivot when they shouldn't, and that's because you get bored and you're bored and you're restless because you don't have that foundation.

Speaker 1:

Boredom is not strategy. Boredom is not a sign that you need to change direction. Building a successful business involves doing repetitive things consistently over time, and we want to be creative. We want to just spend our time in dream land right, that is what fills our cup. It feeds our soul. As entrepreneurs, we just want to be creating and creating and creating. But in order for that business to then be successful, we do have to do the bullshit in between that can be rote and boring. So if your strategy is working but it feels repetitive, that doesn't mean it's failing or that it's time to do something else. Because you're bored with it. Maybe the solution is to delegate right. Find someone else to do those things that are becoming too boring quote unquote for you to do. Okay.

Speaker 1:

Next is timing. We spoke about this a little bit when I was talking about having one bad month, but this is a little deeper than that, because we need to give our strategy enough time to work, and most business strategy needs at least six to 12 months to show actual data that you can base decisions off of. So if you're constantly changing direction every few weeks, every few months, nothing is actually getting a fair test. And this is where at the top of this episode, when I was talking about people who give up right before they're about to be successful this is the problem, because we start something, we put it into practice, we wait a little while. We're like like, oh, I guess this isn't going to work. Well, it's been like 10 weeks. That's not enough time. 6 to 12 months to show data and to really see if something is going to catch right. Like we, as business owners, we're constantly kind of casting the net right, putting things out there, seeing what's going to come back to us, seeing what's going to catch, even if you think about like a tire. Like our business is constantly revolving like a tire and we're just waiting for it to catch and get the traction it needs to actually move forward on the road. That takes a long time in business.

Speaker 1:

So how do we make this decision systematically? How do we decide how to take those indicators indicating when to pivot, indicating when to persist? How do we do that? In a really easy, systematic way, and that's the framework that I'm going to give you. So I'm going to give you some steps to take. Write them down.

Speaker 1:

First thing I want you to do step one define what working looks like, because before you can decide whether you're going to pivot or you're going to persist, you have to pick your criteria for success. What metrics indicate that your current strategy is working? What's the timeline that you're using to evaluate those results? And I want you to be specific here. Don't just say increase revenue, you know like. How do you know if something's working? You can't just write that it's bringing in revenue. That's not specific enough. Generating 15K in monthly recurring revenue? That's specific. Generating month over month growth for six revenue? That's specific. Generating month over month growth for six months? That's specific. So define. What does it mean to you that something is working? Write it down. That's going to be a decision-making criteria for you.

Speaker 1:

Step two I want you to assess the quality of your implementation, because have you ever actually executed your strategy completely and consistently? If you've been inconsistent, distracted, half-hearted, if you're like just kind of going through the motions, that's working against you. So be really honest. I want you to. This requires it's not what I want. It actually requires honest self-assessment. It's so easy to blame the strategy when the real issue it's you, it's the execution of it. So figure out the quality of the implementation that you're doing and the execution that you're doing that you're doing.

Speaker 1:

Okay, step three we're going to talk about different indicators now, and these are what we call leading indicators. What a lot of business owners do? They look at results, and results are lagging indicators. The results tell you what happened already. They're not going to be able to predict anything for you. Leading indicators actually predict the future. So if your goal is more clients but you're not generating leads, the problem is probably your marketing, not your offer. If you're getting the leads but nobody's converting, then it could be your sales process, it could be the price of your offer. The leading indicators need to be looked at first before you abandon the strategy. So a lot of times people are like, oh, my results are not what I want them to be, so my strategy doesn't work. No, no, no. Let's look at if you have a funnel running right now. You can't just shut down the funnel if it's not working for you. There are so many steps in a funnel. We have to look and see which one of those steps is where things are falling through the cracks.

Speaker 1:

Okay, step four consider the opportunity cost. What else could you be doing with your time? What else can you be doing with your energy? Is there a different approach that you could be taking? Is there a different approach that you're not pursuing because you're so committed to what you're doing right now? What's the opportunity cost there? And then consider the sunk cost, because how much time and energy have you already invested in your current approach? What would you lose by pivoting? So you want to figure out that opportunity cost. If you're doing something and it's not working, what else could you be doing? Is there something that would be better? And if you are doing something and it's not working but you've put so much time and energy in, would you lose too much by pivoting? That's something you really need to consider and weigh the pros and cons are. Make a list if you have to. None of these decisions should be just made like willy-nilly see which way the wind blows that day. Not going to happen, okay.

Speaker 1:

The last step is to test, test, test, test. Can you test whatever your new approach is while maintaining what you're doing already? That is a great way to figure out if you need to pivot, because if you're, say, running Facebook ads and you're not quite sure that a conversion is not what you want it to be, maybe you're generating leads but they're not converting, maybe you're not getting the leads, so the lead magnet might be the issue. There's so many different things that go on there, but can you run a little experiment to just try something different while you continue with what's happening already? Because if you just fully commit to changing course, you don't know where you're going to lose things and things are going to fall through. So sometimes the best approach is actually like a gradual evolution instead of this dramatic pivot. So figure out if it's possible to test while you still keep your current system going. I would do that, okay.

Speaker 1:

Lastly, what I'm going to say is that I know there are people out there who never pivot. I know there are people out there who pivot all the time. Neither one of those groups are more successful than the other and neither one can ever be called the most successful. However, there are people out there who make decisions strategically and there are people out there who just make decisions based on how they feel that day. Those two groups, there's a clear distinction in their success. The group that makes decisions through strategic thinking will always be more successful. Somebody that makes their decisions based on feelings might be lucky once in a while, but they'll never be able to make that decision and then evaluate the process if something goes wrong.

Speaker 1:

So you always want to be making your decisions strategically, especially when it comes with changing direction. How we want to be basing that on clear criteria, on honest assessment, on true self-reflection of how we're running our business, on true self-reflection of how we're running our business, because remember, persistence it's really just stubbornness if there's no strategy there. You'd never want to be a business owner who is just going heads down because they're too stubborn to open their eyes and see that there's a clear path that they should be on that goes in a different direction, clear path that they should be on that goes in a different direction. So both of these things like persisting without strategy, stubborn pivoting without clear vision or just going with your feelings. That's inconsistent. Both of those things can and will kill your business if you don't change that right now.

Speaker 1:

So the framework that we talked about today super simple. You're going to define your criteria, assess your execution, analyze the data, consider what alternatives are out there for you and test, test, test. Then you make your decision with strategy instead of emotion. Your business is always going to require both pivots and persistence, always, forever and ever. The best thing for you to do is just get comfortable knowing which one to do at what time, and this framework is going to help you do that. So I hope that this was helpful for you. If you have any questions, please just feel free to reach out any single time. You can always email me, jen at jencodycom, that's J-E-N-N at J-E-N-N-C-O-D-Ycom. So until next time, go out there, use this information to create your day and the business that you deserve, take care of yourself, take care of each other, and I will see you next week. Thanks so much, everybody.