The Pareto Pivot: How the 80/20 Rule Saved My Career (and My Health)

What I Learned While Redefining My Business (Twice)

Recently, I had a conversation about pivoting and specializing in business, prompted by a post I read on LinkedIn. It has been on my mind ever since. So, I decided to turn the gist of it into a post. Maybe someone might find it useful, either as practical advice or a cautionary tale.

We’ve all been there: that moment you realize your business has become a collection of “everything for everyone” rather than the focused, fulfilling work you actually love. I’ve navigated this transition twice now – once moving from a general language school to a niche B2B boutique, and again when I pivoted fully into PREXcoaching®.

If you’re currently standing at that crossroads, trying to figure out how to specialize without losing your mind (or your revenue), I wanted to share my story. It’s been a long road, but the lessons I learned might help you anticipate what’s waiting for you on your own path.

From General Language School to B2B Specialist

In 2010, I opened a language school offering a bit of everything: general teaching and translation. After a year, the math simply didn’t add up. I realized I was spending more on marketing to attract a wide variety of “random” clients than I was actually earning from the work itself.

That was my first big pivot. I decided to focus exclusively on what I actually enjoyed: Business English. We shifted entirely to a B2B model, working with groups and individuals on high-stakes skills like meeting prep, presentations, and negotiations. It was my first lesson in the power of saying “no” to the wrong work so I could say “yes” to the right clients.

The Shift to PREXcoaching®: When Success Becomes a Burden

Specializing in Business English was a great step, but by 2019, I realized I had evolved again. As a natural pragmatist, I found myself drawn deeper into skills training and improvisation workshops. Slowly but surely, this grew into what I do today: PREXcoaching®.

The only problem was… my “successful” school had become a burden. The administrative and managerial tasks were pulling me away from the creative, exciting work I actually wanted to do. I tried to hand over the daily operations to a colleague so I could focus on coaching, but life rarely follows a neat script. I ended up with more work than before, and the resulting stress, among other things, led to serious health issues.

I reached a breaking point: I had to choose what to dedicate myself to, because the stress was no longer acceptable.

Cleaning House with the Pareto Principle

To make the transition to coaching a reality, I had to systematically dismantle the parts of my business that no longer fit. I relied heavily on the Pareto Principle: I kept the 20% of tasks and clients that brought in 80% of my revenue (and my peace of mind).

Translation was the first to go. I had to let go of a colleague, but as luck would have it, he found a position with a “competitor” agency. Since I was exiting the translation business, they weren’t competitors anymore. Rather, they turned out to be the perfect solution for my clients.

The power of referrals came in quite handy. I transitioned my remaining clients to other trusted colleagues. It was a win-win-win for all: I shed the burden, my colleagues grew their businesses, and the clients stayed with reliable experts under their original terms.

The “Loyalty Trap” (Learn from my mistake! 🙈)

One of the hardest parts was letting go of my long-term language students. I had been trying to pivot since 2019, but my students didn’t want to work with anyone else, and I felt too guilty to “abandon” them.

Don’t repeat this mistake. By trying to stay loyal to everyone, I was staying disloyal to my own goals and health. Eventually, my health issues chose for me in 2021. I had to hand my students over to colleagues. By the time I was back on my feet in 2022/2023, the students had adapted to their new teachers, and I was finally free to focus entirely on coaching.

Summa Summarum: How to Plan Your Own Pivot

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by a business that has grown too broad, here is my advice based on years of trial, error, and eventual success:

1. Get it all on paper. Group your current tasks. Be brutal: how much time does each take, and how much money does it actually bring in?
2. Define your desired outcome. Describe exactly how you want to work and how much time you are willing to spend. Remember, starting something new requires time for learning and practicing, so make sure you factor that in, too!
3. Audit vs. Reality. Compare your “ideal” list with your current client list. Anything that doesn’t align has to go.
4. Create a Phasing Out / Rolling Out plan. You don’t have to quit everything tomorrow. Finish temporary projects, wait for contracts to expire, or negotiate new terms that actually work for you (I once gave a “fair” offer to a large client that I knew they couldn’t accept just to gracefully end a high-maintenance relationship).
5. Focus on the direction, not the hurdles. Don’t stress if things get messy. In my experience, as long as you are moving toward what you love and what you believe is right, things have a way of clicking into place – even if everything doesn’t look like you originally imagined.

It’s been a long journey, and it wasn’t always easy, but it was worth it. Stay focused, keep moving forward, and success will find you.

Good luck, and here’s to making fewer “hard” decisions and more “right” ones!