As anyone who knows me would tell you, I’m not much for mixing business and emotions together, until it came to selling my business.  Don’t get me wrong, I do care about about my customers and employees but I personally have a tendency to get caught up in the goal/results more than the process.  For me it is not what you say but what you do that defines success.   Unfortunately that attitude sometimes comes into conflict when emotions are required to be part of the process.   It’s not that I don’t have feelings as much as I try not to allow them affect decisions with while running my company.  I do listen to my gut, I hear the employees “needs” and understand the national and global crisis but I do my best to make smart business decisions while only taking my feelings into consideration.

Entrepreneurs often have a deep relationship with their emotions and at times internal conflicts arise when moral/ethical decisions

are in direct conflict with cash and profit.  All business owners will have to deal with that conflict sometime in their life and we all have to learn to balance the two in order to look ourselves in the mirror every morning.  What I didn’t take into consideration is how much emotion would be involved in selling my business.

There are some significant changes in our lives where we can look back and say that we made a turn that affected our future.  Marriage, having kids, divorce, starting a business, death or sickness in the family, etc.  In most cases the fork in the road was put in front of us without asking, without us making a decision, just forced on us.  Change is hard for most people and accepting that change takes both mental and emotional strength.   Change takes strength and strength tasks leadership and that can be quite taxing on us as we are already running at max load managing our business.

When I sold my business it was a self-induced change that would drastically affect my family, friends, employees, vendors, etc. and I didn’t have to make the change.  My company was strong, I was growing year over year, making a profit with a great team of employees around me.  Most people considered my company successful after 15 years of building, tweaking, adjusting, growing, moving and training.  Why would I ever leave this except I felt like it.  UGH!! I am emotionally ready for a change and cannot get it out of my mind.

After speaking with numerous other business owners the main reason people want to leave their business is they are tired, ready to retire, want to do something different, scared of the future or want the money.  The funny thing is that all of these reasons are emotional.   In my case I wanted a change and so I went down the exit planning road for three years as I turned my emotional reason into a logical, systematic approach.  I first tried to learn everything I could about the selling process and valuation.  Then I moved into finding a buyer, professional help and timing.  Through all of the analysis I forget to check in with my emotion.

I was not aware of was my feelings as I went down this road.  I didn’t share my dream with my employees, family or friends so if I was unsuccessful they would not know.  I heard that “most” businesses don’t sell but I thought I had a good chance just like I think my children will go to an Ivy League College on a full ride scholarship, NOT.  The point here is that any change is hard and selling a business that is something you created is a big emotional roller coaster.

After successfully selling my business I was surprised by my own feelings and the reactions of others.  The day I called an office meeting and told all the employees was quite a day.  The look that they gave me as I told them I am no linger in charge and that the success of the Company is now in the new Buyers hands I will never forget.  Then the first day back in the office after we closed escrow and, for the first time ever, not have my hands on the steering wheel of the business was very challenging.  I felt like I had just turned over my teenage daughter that I raised since birth over to another person and told them good luck!  When you hear what the new owner is doing with the business and it kills you just like hearing stories about your ex-wife and what she is doing now.  You mentally know that it’s not yours, you’re happy and excited about the change but their will be remorse and hurt as you see the direction the new owners take it.

I was also very surprised by my friends and family reaction.  Now I have awesome support by my wife (being a spouse of a serial entrepreneur is not easy) and my friends are happy that they are not me.  The funny thing is that people can’t understand why I made the change.  Why would I invest my heart and sole in a business, make it a money machine and then turn it over?  The funny thing is that I’m an entreprenuer and that’s what we do.  I like change and challenges and that is what gets me up in the morning.  Just be aware that not everyone (actually very few people) like change and force it upon themselves.

For me, selling my business was a great decision full of emotional and mental challenges.  The roller coaster is not over yet and I actually doubt that it ever will be.  Just be aware that not everyone will be excited about the change, especially your family and employees that now have to deal with your decision.  Hopefully you get alot of support like I did, but don’t be surprised if some people aren’t as excited about your new direction as you are.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 9:36 am and is filed under Sell Your Business, Selling a Small Business, Professional Advice, Exit Stories, Emotional Selling, Exit and Answers, Buy a Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.