Rewriting the Rules: Growth, Pivots, and Staying Ahead

Navigating Change, Pivoting with Purpose, and the New Age Entrepreneur

At the end of 2023, I was drained. It was one of those years that took more than it gave—mentally, emotionally, and poured over to how I physically moved. But I’ve written about that before.

Moving into 2024, the radical shift in lifestyle (selling everything and being a vagabond) didn’t just breathe new energy into me; it created space. Space for new experiences, new perspectives, and ultimately, new realizations about what I can and want to do.

It’s the kind of moment where you step back and ask yourself: What do I truly want out of this life? What do I want to accomplish?

I was having a conversation the other day with my father-in-law, a man who built his own success. And at the core of that conversation were two simple but rarely applied truths:

1. Keep going, and when you see an opportunity, you have to grab it.

2. If there’s more you can do, do it.

Luck plays a role, sure. But it still takes a certain kind of person to recognize a moment of luck and turn it into something that lasts.

The Wake-Up Call of a Shifting Market

PAINKLLR has been in business for six years. Every year, we grew. By year three, we cleared over half a million in revenue. Then 2024 hit, and for the first time, we didn’t grow. In fact, we contracted.

Was eliminating our product vertical in 2023 a factor? Definitely. But ultimately, the contraction wasn’t a death blow—it was a wake-up call. A reminder that business doesn’t stand still. That the market landscape is always shifting, whether we like it or not.

Looking at what caused this shift required some brutal honesty. After all, we had just spent the entire year traveling. A part of me wondered, Did I really do enough? But the other part of me knew, I wouldn’t have traded 2024 and everything we experienced for anything.

So, what are some of the lessons?

1. The market moves fast. What worked before won’t always work again. Adaptation has a window, and if you wait too long, the opportunity closes. If you aren’t paying attention, you’ll react too late, and in business, being late can mean being out. The key is staying sharp—ready to pivot when needed but also proactive enough to be on the offensive, not just playing defense.

2. Scrappiness got us here, but structure will take us further. To move as a unit when the landscape shifts, we need the right foundation.

3. PAINKLLR needs to evolve in a way that allows us to engage deeper with our community, and that requires iterating.

This is what it means to navigate a changing landscape. You assess, you adjust, and you keep moving.

The New Age Entrepreneur

When I first started, all I read about were entrepreneurs who built massive, global brands. Tens, hundreds of millions, or even billions in revenue. I used to think that had to be the goal. That if you weren’t scaling to those heights, you weren’t playing the game right.

Over fifteen years into my entrepreneurial journey, I don’t believe that anymore.

If your goal is to build an empire, go for it. But I’m speaking to the person who wants to build their thing, on their terms. The person who wants time freedom, flexibility, and financial success without chasing someone else’s version of what business should look like.

Entrepreneurs today can build million-dollar businesses alone or with small, remote teams, operate at a 60% profit margin, and have a level of personal freedom that the old models didn’t allow.

A business that supports your life instead of consuming it.

Even if that means, for you, a business that makes an extra $100K a year while you still have a job. Or a business that lets you travel, work from anywhere, and structure your life around what matters to you.

The question isn’t how big can I build this? It’s what do I actually want out of this?

Want the ability to travel and not be tied to a single location? Structure your business that way.

Want more time for things outside of work? Build the systems that allow it.

The new age entrepreneur understands this: success is defined by choice, not just scale.

The Pivot

Toward the end of 2024, we started another business. We saw where the market was shifting for PAINKLLR and outlined what we believed it would take to adapt. Then we asked, What else could we build?

Our travels revealed just how much time we had to create. So, in the last few months of the year, instead of just using that time to experience, we used it to build.

Most people assume starting a business means risking everything. That’s an outdated way of thinking. You don’t need massive capital, a huge team, or years of preparation.

The digital economy has rewritten the rules. You can build something lean, something remote, something that integrates into your life while it grows into something that could eventually replace what no longer serves you.

Ask yourself this: What if you could create an income stream that supplements your job, one that eventually gives you the option to walk away? What if you structured a business to support your lifestyle rather than consume it?

The new age entrepreneur isn’t just chasing bigger numbers—they’re building smarter systems.

In the last four months, this business has generated just under $80K in revenue. It cost us less than $200 to start. We can operate it from anywhere with a connection and a laptop.

The disclaimer? We’re leveraging over a decade of experience in business, brand strategy, and execution. My point—you already have skills that hold value somewhere. You just have to recognize them. The knowledge you’ve built through work, hobbies, or personal projects could be the foundation for something you never considered possible.

PAINKLLR isn’t going anywhere. We’re still building it because we believe in what it stands for and the community it fosters. But that doesn’t mean we can’t build more.

Diversification isn’t distraction—it’s strategy.

Redefining Growth

Most people hesitate to pivot because they think it means giving up on something. But a pivot doesn’t have to be an ending. It can be an expansion. It can be an evolution.

Growth isn’t just about pushing one thing as far as it can go—it’s about recognizing who you are becoming and what you need to create in order to support that vision.

Some key realizations I have had through entrepreneurship that I want to share:

• The market is always shifting. The faster you recognize it, the better positioned you are.

• Entrepreneurship is about adaptability. You don’t have to chase an outdated playbook—build what works for you.

• Pivots aren’t failures. They are proof that you’re paying attention.

So, when the time feels right—adjust. Expand. Build something new.

And above all, don’t let ego stop you from stepping into the next version of yourself.