My Journey Post Business Sale as I Sail Into a New Harbour. The Next Stage, Entrepreneur Semi-Retirement, and Life Post Business Sale

And just like that, with one final signature, I changed the course of my life.

I didn’t come to the decision to sell my company lightly, but rather, it was a decision I made in January of 2017 when I realized that I had many unaccomplished goals and that I was still young enough to accomplish those goals. And with that fateful decision 16 months ago I started down the path of figuring out how to divest myself from my company

It’s easy to get into a routine of complacency, and after 26 years I was in that routine. Yes, business was good, and yes, for the most part, I loved what I did. Running my company was never a job, it was always a passion. My passion has always been to build a business. And that passion took us to 50 people strong.

And then I realized that there’s more to life and many unfulfilled passions.

So what’s next?

I stepped down as President of my company at the end of December 2017. January 1st, 2018 marked my first day on my new journey. My first day as officially “semi-retired,” or “unemployed,” or whatever else you call it when you’re transitioning to something new.

When I started my business in 1991, I certainly didn’t think I would be running the same company for 27 years. And for 26 of those years, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of scaling a business. I decided that it was time to move on because I wasn’t excited by the prospect of growing the company any longer, I had enough to retire and decided that I was at the stage of life where I was ready to try something different.

My first day post-sale was bittersweet. On the one hand, the challenging M&A process was over, I had the cash in the bank, and I was excited by the opportunities that lay ahead. On the other hand, what I thought would be an easy personal transition was anything but. Little did I realize how much my identity, of who I am as an individual, was wrapped in the business and in my relationship with my contacts, customers, team members and suppliers. You can read many books, articles and blogs, and listen to many podcasts about a particular subject, but often, until you experience something for yourself, it’s difficult to appreciate what’s in store.

The silence of solitude can be deafening at times, especially considering how busy I was when I was President. My identity was wrapped in my role, and I lived it for so long, it was difficult to appreciate what life would be like once that responsibility was no longer there.

I am an entrepreneur at heart, and while I am now a minority shareholder, the responsibility is different and I find myself missing the activity and excitement of scaling a company, of having people lined up at my door, of the exhilarating feeling of making quarterly and yearly sales forecasts and the feeling of accomplishment for meeting short- and long-term strategic goals.

What I have come to realize about myself is that I am an entrepreneur on the hunt for the next opportunity. Entering into entrepreneur semi-retirement has come as somewhat of a shock.

While having the money in the bank might buy some comforts, it’s difficult to replace the human interaction and excitement that comes with running a company. I don’t regret my decision. The huge advantage of leaving the business rat race is that I get to focus all of my energy on doing what I really want to do.

So, as I mentioned earlier, January 1st was my first day on my new journey. Much to my wife’s chagrin, I didn’t take off 6 months to relax. In fact, other than a few days holiday between December 25th, 2017, and January 8th, I haven’t really taken any time off.

I began my new business venture on Monday, January 8th, and although I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to do, I did know that my next gig was going to involve helping entrepreneurs, in some way. I started and finished writing a 60,000-word book. I decided to hold off publishing that book, and instead, wrote a smaller 20,000-word book titled: The Kickass Entrepreneur’s Guide to Investing, Three Simple Steps to Build Massive Wealth with Your Business’s Profits. Writing the book was quite cathartic, as was opening the first box of printed books the other day. It sort of symbolized for me the beginning of a new stage in my life. You can download the book, FREE, by following this link.

So what’s next for me?

I’m enjoying the challenge of starting a new company, the challenge of learning how to write and market a book(s), build a new brand, new people I will meet, and new opportunities that will arise. A new exciting beginning is unfolding.

The day I announced to my team that I decided to step down as the company President, I said the following quite appropriate quote: “20 years from now you will be disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

And just like that, with one final signature, I changed the course of my life.

If you want to know what entrepreneur semi-retirement life is like,  you can read about that here.

AND, if you’re a younger entrepreneur wondering how you can build your business, step-by-step, to create wealth and become a millionaire by the time you’re 30, you can read this blog post.

If you want to download my first book, which was on the top charts on Amazon.com in both the Business (#1 overall) and non-fiction (#1 overall), you can download a free copy from my website here.

And last, if you liked this blog post, and want to read more tips on how to build your business and become a successful entrepreneur, you can subscribe to my blog here.

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