Ep. 4 – 8 Questions Women Over 50 Should Ask To Know if it’s Time to Pivot Your Business

Marta Goertzen [00:00:00]:

If you’ve been in business for more than a couple years, you’re probably to a point where your business is working great, things are going okay, but something is off or something’s just not working right, or you’re not feeling as passionate about your business and so you’re wondering what is going on? What’s changing here? And maybe it’s time to consider, is it time to grow? Is it time to pivot? Is it time to take your business to the next level?

That’s what we’re going to talk about today. Eight questions you should ask yourself first to know if you and your business are ready to pivot and grow.

Hello there and welcome to The Selah Entrepreneur podcast, where we take a look at doing online business a little differently for women over 50. I’m your host, Marta Goertzen, entrepreneur and business owner since 2008. And for far too long, I struggled with trying to figure out what I wanted to be when my business and I grew up. I was tired of buying all the courses and downloading all the freebies, all in the hope that the answer I was longing for would suddenly appear.

Turns out, clarity doesn’t come in an instant. It’s a journey of discovery and finding answers layer by layer.

Marta Goertzen [00:01:08]:

As I took action, I learned what type of work I really loved to do, who I had fun serving, and the problems I love to help them solve. That clarity gave me the confidence to start designing a simple, sustainable business that I could steward well, and I’d love to help you do the same.

If you’re ready to find the clarity you’re longing for, then you’re in the right place. Let’s take this journey of discovery together.

Welcome back to the Selah Entrepreneur Podcast. This is episode number four, and today we’re asking the eight questions to ask yourself to know if it’s time to pivot or grow your business. And this is a question that I often find with women who are been in business for at least year and a half to two years, usually about the two to four year mark, where they are realizing that something is getting ready to change and they’re just not sure quite what it is. And so that’s one of the reasons I have started the Selah Entrepreneur podcast specifically for women over 50.

Marta Goertzen [00:02:10]:

I am over 50. I started my business back in 2008 and I know for a fact that I am a different person. I’m in a different season of life. I’m a different type of business owner compared to who I was in 2008.

And the women that I work with, a lot of them are either serial entrepreneurs and have entered into a new business within the last few years or they’re starting their first business here later in life. And once they get to about that two to two to three year mark, all of a sudden things kind of change a little bit and they need help navigating their way through that.

So women who start their business are usually an online business these days and a lot of times they do this for a lot of different reasons. Some people, especially because we’ve just exited the pandemic years, several of them have lost their jobs.

Marta Goertzen [00:02:57]:

A lot of women lost their jobs and so they started an online business to bring the skill set they had in the corporate world to something they could do out of their home. I know a lot of women and myself included, that we got burned out from our corporate job and we left because that job was close to killing us or it was just taking too much away from our family. And so we started an online business to change how we felt and to give ourselves times to heal from that burnout.

Sometimes it’s a move instead of starting to hit the pavement and try to find a new job in a new city. It’s easier to take what you’ve learned in your previous career and you start a business from home. I know for myself included and a lot of women in my Mastermind, we are caring for aging parents or sick family members who need more of our time.

Many of us have personal health issues that we’re trying to deal with and try to heal from. In a corporate nine to five, quote unquote regular job is really hard to navigate with those health challenges.

Marta Goertzen [00:03:57]:

It’s also a lot of times time to follow a dream. We’ve dreamed of working from home or starting a business and now it’s kind of like a do it now or never type of thing.

• And a lot of us are single and we need to support ourselves and so running an online business is a way to do that.
• And then every once in a while I also run into the accidental entrepreneur, the accidental business owner who had a skill set or they have a passion for something that they are really, really good at.
• And eventually people started asking them for help and eventually those people started paying them and all of a sudden they had a business and they didn’t even really plan on it.

For women over 50 who start their business later in life, they often have a unique perspective. I know this from my own experience and how I view my business now versus I did earlier and also looking at what I thought about business when I first started and talking to women today who have started their business for the last couple of years. There is a different perspective.

Marta Goertzen [00:04:57]:

One, women over 50 often are to the point now where they feel so much more comfortable in their skin and they don’t really care as much what others think and they’re not really as worried. What the reaction of family members and friends when they say I’m starting a business?

It’s also that they know how to do the hustle. They know how to get the job done, they know how to work hard and they’re not afraid of that hard work. But they also know the value of rest and how important that is.

I will put a caveat in right there though, however, is that a lot of times women over 50 because they’ve been so used to taking care of family and kids and sometimes with an outside job that we’ve forgotten how to rest. And that’s a new muscle that they have to remember but they know the value of it.

But getting to the point where they actually do rest, those are two different things and there’s also still a high priority of family but that priority has shifted a little bit.

Most of the women I work with have kids, maybe have an older teenager but their kids are in college or have actually filled the coupe and started their own families.

Marta Goertzen [00:06:05]:

Many of them are grandparents now and then also again, many of them are taking care of aging parents or having to step into a greater caregiving role for a family member. And that does change how you view your life and it does change how your business and it is a completely different experience in taking care of kids, your own kids.

Women over 50 often have unique challenges. On the one hand, many are very tech savvy. They love to figure out software but they can easily get distracted by it. But they love to figure out how a software works and how to make it work in their business and how to streamline things and make things easier.

On the flip side, we also have a lot of women who struggle with tech. They’ve never really had to deal with that in their corporate job or in their previous careers.

Marta Goertzen [00:06:52]:

And all of a sudden bringing your business online brings a whole set of challenges that they’re not prepared for. A lot of these women have chronic health issues from back issues to for myself, it’s fibromyalgia. There’s some other people that have chronic fatigue or they have Lyme disease.

I’ve run into so many different illnesses that when you get to it for the women I work with who are over 50, there’s a lot of health challenges that we never had to deal with in our younger years. And again, a lot of these women have different caregiving responsibilities and that is a totally different emotional, mental and physical stress that we have to figure out how to deal with and balance with work.

We live in an unprecedented time when I get tired of that phrase. But it’s very true. Women over 50 have so much life experience and they can bring to the business world and help other women or help other businesses.

Marta Goertzen [00:07:49]:

And it’s a valuable time and it’s a valuable skill and experience that should be brought into the public and should be brought to help and serve others. As we change and we grow in our business and we do, whether you plan for it or not, once you kind of been in for business for a little while and your business is changing and it’s morphing sometimes it is changing in ways that you’re not prepared for.

Sometimes it’s the marketplace. Maybe it’s the people that you work with or the technology changes. It’s easy to get stuck in what is working, whether we feel stuck or that things are going great, and it’s very easy to get stuck in that comfort. That if this feels comfortable, I know what I’m doing. And when I consider making changes, that feels really scary and it feels really hard.

Marta Goertzen [00:08:34]:

Sometimes, though, we start to realize that we kind of have more to give, that we have more to say we have more to share and that we’ve learned so much in life, we’ve learned so much as a business owner that it’s time to take what we may consider a general type of skill and offering to kind of start moving it into more of an expert status.

That can be a hard mantle to accept and take on. We often get to the point where we know what I started my business, this was a big step and this is fine. And I’m too old. And yes, that does happen. Even at age 50. Sometimes as we feel that we have too many other responsibilities and making changes in our business that would cause more stress and more anxiety or just take up too much time, that it really is not a good time.

Marta Goertzen [00:09:19]:

A lot of times it’s I know something needs to change, but I do not know where to change. I don’t know where to start. And there’s also that niggling feeling that I’m going after a dream, I’m going after what’s on my heart and this really kind of feels selfish.

Women are so used to giving so much of themselves and nurturing others and helping others in their business and their life that it can be a real shift to say, you know what? This is my time. This is my time to go after my dream. It’s time to step into that calling and that can be hard, that can be really hard to accept. It’s also easy to get stuck in learning again.

Marta Goertzen [00:09:55]:

We feel comfortable in learning and it’s much harder to apply. So we keep buying the courses, we keep joining the memberships. We’re trying to find that magic answer that will totally and suddenly turn around our business. Instead of taking what we’ve learned and then applying what we’ve learned and figuring out how it works and how it applies to our business, it’s much easier to stay behind the screen and to stay what’s uncomfortable.

Rather than push ourselves forward and get in front of our potential clients, start promoting ourselves more, start selling, start growing. And so these are places where women get stuck. But these are also signs that maybe it’s time to change and maybe it’s time to pivot. Maybe it’s time to move from your generalist services and get more specific and kind of start stepping into that expert status.

Marta Goertzen [00:10:46]:

• I want you to ask yourself, how much would you miss out on?
• How much would you regret if you did not take the time to really examine what’s going on in your business right now and look and really honestly ask yourself the question, is it time for me to pivot?
• Is it time for me to grow?
• Is it time for me to step forward and start being the entrepreneur that I know I can be and my heart’s telling me it’s time to do?

But here’s the eight questions. I want you to journal these out somewhere and I want you to take the time to answer them. These are not questions that can be answered on the fly. These take work, and take some thought and consideration and in some cases, it may take you several days.

So pull out a Google Doc, pull out a note on your phone, pull out your favorite notebook and pen and start considering these questions. And I call it a gift. And I want you to consider this as a gift to yourself to start asking these questions and giving yourself some honest answers.

Marta Goertzen [00:11:42]:

Because this really is a gift to help, you know, possibly what’s next, or at least put you on the right path of figuring out what is going to be your next step. So that your business fits you today and that you create a business that fits you in this season of life. Not when you started four or five years ago, not when you started, like me, back in 2008, because you have changed.

You have learned, you have grown. You are in a different season of life. So let’s take a look at what’s working, what’s not, and figure out how to design something that works for you today. Let’s take a look at these eight questions.

• First, I want you to ask yourself, what is working in my business?
• And number two, what is not working in my business? These are very just very surface, high level questions.

Marta Goertzen [00:12:24]:

And sometimes it is easier to ask first, what is not working in my business? So easy for our brains to default to the negative thinking, and sometimes that just helps clarify things. So go ahead and answer that question first. What’s not working in my business? Get that question out of the way and then look at what’s left over. So what is working? What do you like about your business? What do you enjoy about your business? What do you feel is moving smoothly?

So make sure you answer both questions what is working and what is not working in my business?

Next, we’re going to take that question and go a little deeper. When you look at all the work that you do in your business, the type of services that you offer, and the type of things that clients are asking you for:

• What kind of work do you love to do? What just gets you excited? It’s not hard for you to talk yourself into go starting that project for a client.
• And then on flip side, what do you dread doing? And we all have them. We all have those projects like, oh, I don’t want to do that yet again.

Marta Goertzen [00:13:23]:

So make a list of what you do love to do and what you dread doing. Now we’re going to take it a step further. We’re going to look back into your inbox.

• When you see that inbox and you’re looking through your emails, there’s certain clients that come and ask you for help. And you’re like, yes, oh, I’m so excited to hear from that person, and we need to talk about this, we need to talk about that. And this is just something that you get really excited about and you’re excited to work with that client.
• And again, we all have the client where their email lands in our inbox, and we just kind of cringe and we put off reading it and we wait until we absolutely have to open that email and see what they’re asking. And don’t feel bad if you have more than one of those clients.

Marta Goertzen [00:14:01]:

It happens to all of us. There’s clients that you just love and you’ll bend over backwards and there’s others that just seem really hard to work with, and these are things to pay attention to. What do you like about that client? What do you like about the projects that you work on together? What do you like about talking with them? What makes you want to bend over backwards to help them?

And also take note, these are really important clues. What about that client and what they’re asking you for? Do you dread? What makes you put off, makes you not want to open that email? These are important clues. Don’t ignore these two questions. And then we’re diving a little bit deeper.

• What’s the call on my heart that I’m ignoring? And so many times when it’s time to pivot, we push down that calling in our heart or that kind of that indication we’ve been getting from the type of clients we’re getting or from what we’re learning about ourselves. And we kind of just kind of push it to the side, no, this is not the right time, or that’s silly, I shouldn’t pay attention to that.

Marta Goertzen [00:14:58]:

But this is an important question. What’s the call in my heart that I have been ignoring, that it’s time for me to pay attention to?

And one more question I want you to dig a little deeper on this one is:

• What do I secretly long to do but feels really scary to admit

I want to give you an example here.

In looking back through the history of my business and all the side projects that I’ve started, I have started a bajillion websites, I’ve bought a bajillion domain names. I’ve had filled countless notebooks filled with ideas. And there’s a common theme through many of the projects and the many things that I wanted to start.

I love pulling together a group of women to have really cool discussions about business and about what’s working and what do you love to do and what projects are you working on and how can we help you bring those projects to life.

Looking back through a lot of the documents that I’ve saved over the years of the freebies I’ve downloaded, the classes I’ve purchased, the classes I’ve gone through, the ones that I haven’t, the resources I’ve collected. A common thread for me was group coaching or starting a Mastermind.

Marta Goertzen [00:16:01]:

I didn’t realize it until probably about four years ago how long I’ve been saving documents on Masterminds.

• It’s something I didn’t admit to myself.
• It’s something I didn’t admit to my clients.
• I didn’t even really admit it to colleagues.

And so two years ago, I was meeting with a friend. We were going through a larger group coaching program, and we got together once a week to start practicing and applying and figuring out what we were learning, how we were going to apply it to our businesses. I had a blast. She had a blast.

Marta Goertzen [00:16:31]:

We were learning so much, so I invited another friend, and we grew and we enjoyed each other’s company, and we were really helping each other make progress. And then I invited another person, and then I invited another, opened it up to the public and added a couple more people.

Turns out that I love being a Mastermind Facilitator and that I love coaching.

The title that I resisted for so long is that I love to coach and I love being in a Mastermind. And these were callings on my heart that I had ignored. And it was a secret that I didn’t even admit to myself. And it took going through these questions for me to finally get to the point where I could admit that this was scary, but this is something I really want to pursue.

Marta Goertzen [00:17:14]:

And eventually I took action on it. It’s become one of the favorite things that I do in my business.

Answering these questions and again, giving yourself the gift of taking the time to answer them honestly and completely, not flippantly or just give surface level answers.

These are going to start showing you signs or indications if it’s time for you to pivot and to grow your business or to start making some significant changes so that you have a business that works for you in this current season of life.

When you go through that list, I want you to start going through and highlighting words that you use over and over again. Start looking at common themes, common threads, things that you mention over and over again. These are big arrows. These are big indications of things that you need to pay attention to.

Marta Goertzen [00:18:00]:

Once you have that list and you have those common threads and those common words, it’s time to start leaning into that.

• Maybe it’s time to start learning into leaning into a strength that you’ve kind of known you’ve had, but now you can see it documented.
• Maybe it’s time to start leaning into that.
• Maybe it’s time to start developing those skills that you really do enjoy doing for your clients.

Lean into what you’ve learned because you’ve learned things since you started your business a couple of years ago. And give yourself permission to see that list and say, it’s okay to dream bigger, it’s okay to do bigger, it’s okay to go bigger, doesn’t mean you have to grow and add 50 new clients to your roster.

It may be taking what you have, talking to your current clients and just making tweaks to the services that you already offer so that you’re really working in your strengths and what lights you up and what gets you excited. Sometimes these are big changes that require a total pivot.

Marta Goertzen [00:18:55]:

Sometimes either these are just small pivots where you’re tweaking an offer or tweaking how you work with a client or tweaking a process so that the whole thing works smoother for you. But you’re not going to know that until you take the time to ask some of these deeper questions.

So just to recap, I want you to start asking yourselves these questions:

• One what is working in my business?
• Two, what is not working in my business?
• Three, what do I really love to do?
• Four, what do I dread doing?
• Five when I’m in my inbox, what client emails do I get excited over and really look forward to opening and reading what they have to say?
• Six, which ones are making me cringe and do I put off reading and why?
• Seven, what’s the call on my heart that I’ve been ignoring?
• Eight. What do I secretly long to do but finding it very scary to admit? And remember that bonus question how much will you miss out on?
• And how much will you regret if you do not take the time to examine your business and discover if it’s time to grow change or make a few changes in your business?

Once you have your answers and you’re taking a look at those answers and you’ve really given yourself the time to honestly answer them, you may find that these questions are really big, and you may find that you need help diving into these questions on a deeper level. Or that now that you’ve found these answers, that you need help making changes, and that you’re ready to not do this journey alone.

If you’re in that spot, I would love to invite you to take a look at the Selah Society Mastermind. If you found that running your online business is often feeling like a lonely adventure and that nobody knows what you’re going through if you feel confused and overwhelmed by all the noise of social media, of the competing points of view. If you take a course or two, if you look at your inbox and all those offers and pieces of advice that are coming into your inbox, it just feels too loud.

Marta Goertzen [00:20:48]:

And if you still feel stuck in your business despite purchasing all the courses and all the eBooks and participated in training, looking for that magic answer. And especially if you’re struggling to balance your life, your health and your family all while running in the business, The Selah Society Mastermind might just be the breath of fresh air you’re looking for.

Being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart, and personally, I think it’s one of the most intense personal development programs you will take on in life. But it can also be an amazing adventure. And that adventure is a lot more fun when you’re not traveling it alone.

If you’re ready for a group of people who get you, who understand these questions and the deep answers you’re looking for, who really want to invest in you and your goals and help you find out how to help you meet those goals and bring your dreams to life.

If you’re looking for a community where you can really belong and make personal connections and get clarity on the business plans and ideas you have, then please check out the Sela Mastermind at SelahStudios.co/mastermind to learn more. And on that page is also an application to learn more and find out if the Selah Mastermind is for you.

Marta Goertzen [00:22:00]:

Thanks for joining me. I hope you found some clarity or an AHA moment that inspires you. Take some action today.

Before you go, could I ask a favor? I would really appreciate it if you could take a few seconds and leave a review of this show in the Apple podcast app. Your review really does make an impact and help spread the word about this show and gets it in the hands of other women who are looking to build simple and sustainable businesses of their own. Until next time.