Some of the best opportunities I’ve ever had didn’t look like opportunities at first. They looked like problems. Businesses that had lost their way. Brands that had gone quiet. Industries people had written off.
I’ve never been afraid of that. I’m drawn to it. There’s something about a turnaround that forces you to think differently. It takes clarity, discipline, and the willingness to see what’s still there when everyone else has stopped looking. Over time, I’ve come to believe that turnarounds are one of the most misunderstood and undervalued paths in business.
Seeing What’s Still There
The first step in any turnaround is figuring out what’s still worth something. Just because a business is struggling doesn’t mean everything about it is broken. Most of the time there are real foundations underneath the mess. They’ve just been overlooked or mismanaged.
It might be a recognizable brand. A loyal customer base. A product nobody else has. A good idea that got executed badly. My job is to identify those pieces and decide whether they’re worth rebuilding around.
This part takes honesty. You have to separate what’s actually still there from what people want to believe is still there. Not every turnaround is worth doing. But when you find one with real bones, the upside is significant.
Fix the Fundamentals First
When something isn’t working, the instinct is to make big visible changes right away. New branding. New messaging. New leadership. Those things can matter, but that’s not where I start.
I start with the fundamentals. How does the business actually run? Where are the inefficiencies? What’s broken in the process?
In my experience, most struggling businesses have problems at the operational level. They’re not running efficiently. Or they’ve lost focus on what made them work in the first place.
Fixing the fundamentals isn’t always exciting. It’s the unglamorous part. But without that foundation, nothing else will hold up.
Build the Right Team
Turnarounds aren’t something you do alone. They take a team that understands both the challenge and the opportunity.
I look for people who aren’t intimidated by a situation that needs fixing. People who can stay focused under pressure and are willing to do the work other people would rather avoid.
There’s a different mindset required. It’s not just about building something new. It’s about rebuilding something that already exists, often with constraints and history attached. The right team understands that. They bring energy, discipline, and a clear sense of where they’re going. Without that, even the best opportunity will struggle.
Make Clear Decisions
One of the biggest risks in a turnaround is trying to do too much at once. When a business is struggling, there are usually multiple problems. The temptation is to fix all of them at the same time.
I don’t operate that way. I focus on the decisions that move the needle most. What has to change immediately? What can wait? What should be left alone?
Clarity is critical. You have to make decisions fast and stand behind them. Hesitation slows everything down and creates confusion in the team.
Turnarounds run on momentum. Every decision should move the business forward, even when it’s a small step.
Rebuild Trust
When a business has been through hard times, trust is usually damaged. With customers. With employees. With partners. With the broader market.
Rebuilding that trust takes time. It comes from consistency, transparency, and doing what you said you’d do. You can’t fix perception overnight. What you can control is your actions. If you stay focused on delivering real value and operating with discipline, the trust comes back.
That’s one of the most important parts of any turnaround. Without trust, nothing you build will last.
Know When to Evolve
A real turnaround isn’t just about restoring what was there before. It’s about evolving the business into something stronger and more relevant than it was.
Markets change. Customer expectations shift. Technology moves. If you’re only trying to go back to the way things used to be, you’re missing the opportunity to go forward.
I look at turnarounds as a chance to reset and rebuild with a clearer vision. What should this business actually look like today? How does it get positioned for the future, not the past? That’s where the real value gets created.
A current example is GLOSSLAB. The brand was originally a nail salon concept that went through Chapter 11. I acquired the intellectual property in March 2025. There was real equity in the name and a real opportunity in the category, but the original business model was not the version that was going to succeed. So I didn’t try to bring it back as it was. I spent the year building a new product collection from scratch, putting together a leadership team with Elizabeth Woods as President and Jordyn Woods as Chief Creative Director, and rebuilding the brand into a global beauty and lifestyle company. It launches in spring 2026. That’s what evolution looks like in a turnaround. You don’t restore the past. You build something stronger on the foundation that was already there.
Why Turnarounds Appeal to Me
There’s a level of challenge in turnarounds that I find motivating. You’re not starting from a blank slate. You’re working with something that has history, complexity, and a real mix of strengths and weaknesses.
It forces you to think hard and move with purpose. There’s no room for guesswork. Every move matters.
The upside can be significant. When you take something that was struggling and turn it into something that works, the impact is real. It creates jobs. It restores confidence. It proves that with the right approach, things can change.
Final Thoughts
Turnarounds aren’t easy. They take patience, discipline, and a clear sense of what you’re trying to do. But for anyone willing to take them on, they offer an opportunity that’s hard to find anywhere else.
For me it comes down to perspective. Where other people see failure, I try to see potential. Where other people see risk, I look for value.
Not every situation will work out. That’s part of the process. But the ones that do are some of the most rewarding things you can build.
A turnaround isn’t just about fixing a problem. It’s about recognizing what something can become and doing the work to get it there.