Know When to Pivot

Sometimes the biggest growth in business comes from doing less, not more.

Over the last year, one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is knowing when to pivot.

I’ve pulled away from the traditional liquidation channels. I still have access to (and I’m always happy to sell) your general retailer returns like WLMRT, TGT, AMZ, etc. But my primary focus has shifted to closeouts.

For a long time, I was moving a ton of volume in truckload sales, anywhere from 50 to 100 loads per week, and for me, the juice just wasn’t worth the squeeze.

Low barrier to entry.

Heavy competition.

A ton of time for not enough margin.

Too much risk for the reward.

So I made a change.

Now, I’m moving far fewer loads, but the value of each one is significantly higher.

That pivot opened the door to take on new projects outside of liquidation that I’m excited about, and it’s allowed the business to grow without needing more warehouse space or unnecessary overhead.

It also gave me the ability to start bringing on help the right way.

One thing I’d recommend to anyone in business:

Sit down and write out every way you make money.

How much each one brings in per month.

And how much of your time it actually takes.

What I found was simple, and honestly a little frustrating:

I was spending the most time on the least profitable part of my business.

So we cut it.

And doubled down on what was actually making money, which, funny enough, was what I was spending the least time on.

I like being busy. Busy is good.

I just want to be busy doing things that make money — not spinning my wheels just to say I’m “working hard.”

If you’re in business, ask yourself:

What are you spending the most time on right now… and is it actually paying you the most?