How to Pivot Your Business With Chris Brogan

Pivoting Your Professional Identity

New York Times best-selling author Chris Brogan has long been a voice in my ear, first through his digital marketing and social media emails, and now as my friend. But if you haven’t been tuning in lately, you might still think of him as the “social media guy.”

Several years ago, Chris started to realize he felt like a bit of a child actor. He didn’t want to be known for his knowledge of social media tools. In fact, he didn’t even care about social media tools! He saw himself as a someone who connects businesses to people.

Rather than taking an interest in the tools themselves, Brogan was really trying to figure out which tools would earn us the right to sell more. It was time to pivot.

It all started with a website redesign. Mechanically, Chris changed the look of the site, its language, his company’s name—and then he even changed the name again—to make sure the conversation evolved from “tools” to “how these tools will help you grow your business.” Personally, he pivoted to putting tools aside and focused on starting conversations about business intentions.

Along the way, he learned that pivoting his business also meant pivoting his health and his personal life. And as much as it taught him about his mind and body, it taught him just as much about his business. Listen in as Chris Brogan shares his unique insights into how to reinvent your business—and yourself.

In This Episode

• The difference between caring about tools and caring about how tools affect business
• How to pivot your personal brand and change people’s perception of you
• The changes in communication, sharing, and people over the last five years
• Chris Brogan’s methodology for sharing information online
• The connection between adapting your health and adapting your business
• The importance of work/life alignment for success

Quotes From This Episode

“We don’t need all the customers. We need the customers who feel like they understand us and vice versa. And so I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to show companies (and people) what you can do to make that connection work a little bit better, and how not to try to speak with everyone, but how to really connect with the kinds of people you feel like matter to the people you want to serve. ” —@chrisbrogan

“I have a different flavor than [buttoned-up suit people]. I just want people to understand I am the Mr. Pibb to their Diet Coke.” —@chrisbrogan

“In what I do at the gym I’ve learned so much more about my business. I’ve learned what ‘no excuses’ means; I’ve learned what it means to really stick to the plan. I’ve learned that you can hide a lot of lack of progress in busyness, but that if you actually put some real strong measures to something you can see whether or not you are making progress. And I’ve learned that vanity metrics, just like in business, aren’t really all that helpful.” —@chrisbrogan

[Tweet “”I don’t believe in work/life balance. I believe in work/life alignment.” —@chrisbrogan”]

Resources

• Owner Media Group
• Brian Fanzo, iSocialFanz
• The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth, by Chris Brogan
• Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
• Spartan Races