As I write this, it’s been one year since I finalized my exit from Solutions 8.
For anyone who is planning on selling their company, here’s what I wish I did differently and what I’m grateful I did right.
My biggest regret is the most obvious and one that I was warned about multiple times by multiple people:
I wish I wasn’t in such a hurry to “deploy” (the word people in investing circles use to mean take their liquid money and slam it into some investment or another).
It’s not that I regret any of the specific investments, I actually think I chose pretty well. I simply regret not allowing myself to stay more liquid.
As with most people who’ve made an exit, I had never had that much money. I felt like investing was the responsible thing to do.
I’m still more liquid than most, but I now feel the massive difference between where I was when I first made the exit and where I am now, just in terms of my ability to seize opportunities and make moves.
The lesson here: It’s okay to just stack cash and sit on it. Don’t rush to deploy.
Second: Don’t assume other people know more than you about money (especially “experts”).
When you make an exit, financial planners and other “experts” come out of the woodwork. They’ve got fancy suits, fancy words, and boy-howdy do they talk purty. They don’t know shit.
If they did, they wouldn’t be hustling a high-end telemarketing job and trying to get you to do stuff with your money, they’d have their own money.
Thankfully, I avoided placing anything meaningful with any of these yahoos. Sadly, I wasted way too much time before figuring it out.
On that same note: Don’t assume other people are any smarter than you.
This is how Ponzi schemes start.
The Waltons invest in a small startup, everyone assumes it’s safe because of course they’ve done due diligence, and we have the biggest Ponzi scheme in recent history.
Do your own research. Learn for yourself. Make your own assessments. Go to school on anything you plan on investing in.
If someone can’t explain it simply, they don’t understand it well enough. If you’re confused, don’t invest. Only invest in things you fully understand.
My last big regret: I wish I had let myself feel the success of what had happened a little more.
I spent about 48 hours on cloud 9 and then went straight into worrying about how I was going to manage this newfound wealth. In retrospect, I should have done a little more celebrating.
This is a big problem all entrepreneurs have: We don’t let ourselves feel our wins.
Once we get to the finish line, we’ve already set our sights on the next race. As often as not, we don’t even realize we’ve accomplished the goals we’ve set out to achieve. This hurts us in the long run.
If you struggle with this, read Dan Sullivan’s The Gap and The Gain, then spend some time really allowing yourself to feel how far you’ve come. It’s so important and so powerful to give yourself the gift of seeing how much you’ve grown. I wish I had allowed myself to do that more.
Finally, the thing I am most grateful I did right…
This was advice that came from Brandon Turner and was given to him when he made his exit:
Take at least a year before you decide what’s next.
Don’t jump immediately into the next thing.
Give yourself time and space.
This advice proved to be absolute magic and saved me from myself more times than I can begin to count. Being in limbo for a year was impossibly difficult, especially after driving hard and fast for almost two decades. But it was worth it. Take your time. There’s no rush.
I truly hope this helps.
Making an exit was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever accomplished. It opened my mind to a whole new world of possibilities in business and gave me the confidence (and money) to pursue my biggest dreams.
I wish this same luck for everyone, especially YOU.
If you’ve made an exit, please share what you would have done differently.
Your wisdom will benefit everyone who reads. If you’re planning on making an exit, feel free to ask any questions you might have.
I’ll do my best to answer what I can!