In this episode, the tables are turned! Instead of being the interviewer, A.J. is interviewed. He extracts insights he has learned from the previous guests and shares the nuggets of reflection from his experience about business growth. 

In this episode, you will learn:

• How to evaluate the state of your business. 
• What should trigger you to pivot your business direction. 
• How to avoid getting lost in data and make the most out of it for the success of your business.  

On today’s episode: 

• Why oday’s episode is different - 00:37 
• When should you change up your business model? - 04:29 
• Why do entrepreneurs sometimes take risks against all the odds? - 07:47 
• How important is it to align your expectations with your business? - 09:23 
• The right time to pivot your business model vs. the wrong time to pivot your business model.  - 10:46 
• Finding the meaning behind running your business (why it’s important). - 13:21 
• How often should you reevaluate your business venture? (and what to evaluate beyond operations) - 15:37 
• What data do you need to grow your business (a key question to ask).  - 19:12 
• This is how you find out if your business is headed in the right direction. - 22:26 
• Before considering new opportunities for your business, listen to this. - 25:10 
• Are you wearing too many hats in your business (capitalizing on abundant resources)? - 29:17 
• Why data-driven organizations perform better than non-data driven organizations. - 33:30 
• Using the MacGuffin technique in business. - 35:00
• The formula you need to rebuild your business after a plateau. - 36:16 
• The main question to ask when you check in with yourself - 42:00

Key Takeaways: 

• To get past your comfort zone as an entrepreneur, you have to be willing to be flexible. You will need to experiment with what you deliver for your core avatar. 
• Pivoting is overemphasized. Are you looking to pivot because you are frustrated, or are you looking to pivot because the opportunity is truly there? 
• Listening to demand, listening to your audience, is a strategic way to shift the direction of your business. 
• Running a 7-8 figure business can enable you to have a wide and far reaching impact that goes beyond improving the well-being of your family and trickles down to the communities you interact with.
• You should reevaluate your business regularly. Reevaluating on a quarterly basis is a suitable guideline. You can also set the main revaluation date around your birthday. 
• When you reevaluate your business, don’t only reevaluate business operations, also reevaluate what your business personally and meaningfully adds to your life. 
• Guide your growth by asking yourself: what type of data do you need at what point of time and how does that change over the course of your growth.   
• Look at your business and ask yourself: what is the likelihood that my business can be scaled up?  
• It is not only about what you should be doing. Ask yourself: what does success mean at each step on your way to where you want to get to. 
• Data-driven organizations outperform non-data-driven businesses. 
• You have to do what you can to isolate the weaknesses in your business. Isolate the reasons you are drifting, then build once again. 

Reality checkpoint (ask yourself this): 

Where are you compared to where you started? Too often we have amazing end goals in place, but it is a journey...it’s about where you go compared to where you started, not to where you are by itself.

How far are you on your journey compared to where you started? Tell us in the comments, and don’t forget to say hello if you would like to share your entrepreneurship story on our podcast. 

Connect with Insights Lab: 

• Website: https://insightslab.ai/ 
• Email: [email protected] 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/insightslab-ai/ 

Connect with A.J.Lawrence:

• Website: ajlawrence.com
• Email: [email protected] 
• Instagram: @ajlawrence
• LinkedIn: A.J. Lawrence
• Twitter: @ajlawrence
• Medium: @a.j.lawrence

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