By LIZ MARCHI
Center Pivot Irrigation System.
If you are a lucky rancher, you have pivot, which waters a lot of ground. In the summer, my husband Jon has notes all over the house to “watch the pivot.” If you don’t, it can run into a ditch, which constitutes a crisis.
In the business world, pivot is one of the terms du jour. If it isn’t working (no one’s buying), pivot: change direction, change strategy, change paths. So I am doing a life pivot.
Strategy: slow down; focus more on things I want to get better at (angel investing, writing, slowing down), change strategy (not worried about building a resume, being in the right places, trying to stay ahead of technology and change – can’t do that, probably never could but tried hard) and change paths.
Working from home, getting better at the few technologies that will enable that like Skype and Google Hangouts and finding ways to engage my creative brain. Write more, garden more, move the furniture around more. Jon will LOVE that.
Working from home on the ranch is part of my new “pivot strategy”.
I plan to work hard for 10 more years, fully aware that I am NOT in control of how many years are out there. But I am pivoting to work and live differently the next 10 years, if I am lucky enough to have them.
My true passion is entrepreneurs, innovators and risk takers. Doing Frontier Fund 2 will give me a chance to know them, work with them and be inspired by their energy, imagination, perseverance and work.
To be an entrepreneur is to work very, very hard. Doing a second angel fund is more like a repeat business for me. The first time around was truly an entrepreneurial venture. This time, less so, but still juices me.
The creative side of me wants to explore and reflect more on the rich experience we share living in Montana. These have been the best years of my life. The place, the people, the pets and even our National Park are better and more interesting than most on planet earth. I want to dwell on those special gifts of environment and people.
I can hear my dance teacher ( I was a dancer for many years) telling us to pivot during our recital routine in 1971: The Temptations: Getting’ Ready, Here I Come. I am Getting’ Ready.
Liz Marchi
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Liz Marchi lives on a ranch in Polson, Montana with her husband Jon. She is the Fund Coordinator for the Frontier Angel Fund and spends a lot of time thinking and learning about entrepreneurs, the economy and Montana’s unique place in the world. She has three daughters and a stepson and daughter and a grandchild. She graduated from Hollins College and is entering the final quarter of life…unless we go into overtime.