You Don’t Start at Carnegie Hall: The Truth About Entrepreneurial Reinvention

When “what got you to where you are won't get you to where you're going,” entrepreneurial reinvention is a survival skill.

On a recent episode of B2B Business Class, host Robb Conlon spoke with Wendy Shore, President of Business Acceleration & Transformation at SOMM Media, about professional pivots.

After 25 years in the restaurant industry, Wendy faced intense burnout and a values misalignment with partners.

She eventually returned to her CPA roots before transitioning into consulting, a natural progression that highlights the power of leveraging existing expertise for new horizons.

The Strategy of the Signature Offer

A common mistake for entrepreneurs in transition is trying to tackle too many initiatives without a plan.

Wendy argued that businesses often suffer from “offer overload,” where they spread themselves too thin and lose the importance of their core message.

To scale effectively, she believes you must first nail a signature offer and ensure it is priced correctly for the value provided.

“Sell people what they want, but really give them what they need,” Wendy explained regarding the psychology of a successful offer.

She cautioned that having too many competing priorities leads to inefficiency.

“Maybe you have an offer that’s not priced right… or you have 10 offers going on and you're spreading yourself way too thin, [so] you get lost in the sauce, and nothing is important.”

Her strategic approach involves getting one specific offer running effectively first.

“You can have things which are offer-adjacent, but get the one going right first till it's almost on autopilot,” Wendy said.

Scaling Through the Cohort Model

Transitioning from one-on-one consulting to a more sustainable model is necessary for growth, as individual consulting lacks scalability.

Wendy advocated for the cohort method, which allows experts to work with multiple people simultaneously.

She argued that this model acts as a bridge, offering high value at a price point that more people can afford while reducing the risk for the client.

“I realized that back when I was doing the small business consulting, I lost one client and one-third of my income at the same time,” Wendy shared to illustrate the dangers of non-scalable models.

Regarding the transition to groups, she noted, “A cohort works [wonderfully] for that because you're working with multiple people, so you can offer the same services you would offer in the one-on-one to many.”

She emphasized that your experience prepares you for this scale. “The more you do it, the more it becomes second nature as to what the next step [is],” Wendy explained.

The LinkedIn Pivot: Refinement Over Virality

Recent changes to the LinkedIn algorithm have forced creators to pivot from chasing mass reach to seeking targeted engagement.

Wendy highlighted that “overnight success” is rarely real and that sustainable growth requires refining your audience and your messaging.

For 2026, she recommended a specific content ratio: 80% educational, 10% personal, and 10% promotional.

“Do you want to have a post that's viral for the sake of virality, or do you want to have a post that's actually hitting your ideal target?” Wendy asked, stressing the importance of quality over quantity.

She pointed out that high numbers don't always equal business success, highlighting how a celebratory post about women in business with over 3 million impressions did almost nothing for her bottom line.

“I didn’t have one lead… that I could trace back to it,” Wendy opined. “I had this viral video that didn’t get me the audience I wanted.”

That’s why ensuring that your content is reaching your ideal customer profile (ICP) is more important than seeing it hit record-breaking numbers.

“I've had other posts that I've done where people reached out to me in the DMs, and said, ‘Oh, my God, this was great, This resonated,’ and maybe that one had 180 impressions.”

Ultimately, Wendy’s philosophy for social engagement is simple: “Nobody cares what you do until they know what it can do for them.”

For more insights from Wendy Shore, you can listen to this episode of B2B Business Class on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.