LearnDash is now part of the Liquid Web family of brands, I learned a ton along this journey.

Selling my business was one of the most stressful and challenging things that I have ever done as an entrepreneur. In the end, it took just about a year from start to finish (October 2020 – September 2021).

If you’re interested, you can check out the official announcement on the LearnDash blog, or check out Liquid Web’s press release.

LearnDash started making sales in early 2013. It was meant to be a lifestyle business for me, initially. But slowly over time the company grew into something more than that. With employees and customers from all over the world, LearnDash carved out a unique space in both the WordPress and e-learning industries.

When the pandemic arrived in 2020, LearnDash was very well poised to be found as people scrambled to create online courses – be it for extra income or to augment their entire business model. It was an insane time in more ways than one. The already healthy company grew even more in team size and in revenue. It was clear that the business was bigger than me, and far from the lifestyle business I created.

It didn’t take too long before I started receiving offers for LearnDash from venture capitalists. Truth is, this has been the case for the past few years, but during the pandemic that interest skyrocketed. I would get contacted literally every other day from investment firms looking to get a piece of the e-learning pie.

Now, I have always been one to pursue happiness, and this was the main driver for selling LearnDash. The truth was that I no longer had the same inspiration that I did for the industry, and this meant that I was getting in the way of the company’s true potential. LearnDash is bigger, and more important, than me. It deserved more so that it could reach that next phase of its potential.

The continued growth trajectory for LearnDash is huge, especially since it straddles both the WordPress and e-learning industries so well (which is unlike any other WordPress product, ever). Both the WordPress and e-learning markets will continue to grow in importance, and LearnDash will continue to be a leader in that space. Even more so with the backing and leadership of Liquid Web.

I hired investment bankers to market and sell LearnDash.

Given LearnDash’s unique position across two industries, I felt like professional representation was needed for the sale. In October 2020, I was introduced to the investment banking firm, Angle Advisors. I can say with confidence that had I not done this, LearnDash would have never found its new home with Liquid Web.

These folks are incredibly smart. Much smarter than me. We spent the remainder of 2020 preparing the financials and creating a management presentation. In January of this year, Angle Advisors reached out to hundreds of potential buyers. A large percentage of these companies were interested in learning more. They indicated this by presenting an offer for the company (usually a range). Those that made respectable offers were invited to a management presentation.

Let me tell you something about management presentations: they are stressful, and they are long. Each one that I gave was about two to three hours long, and in it, I discussed everything about the business. Its history, its present status, its position across the markets, the growth opportunities, and so on. It’s an informative presentation and a sales presentation all in one.

When all the presentations were done, the stopwatch began. The companies had to decide if they wanted to make a formal offer. Only three companies decided to drop out of the process. The rest submitted offers.

Moving into the due diligence phase.

With Angle Advisors’ guidance, an offer was accepted and the “one-on-one” relationship with the potential buyer could begin. I know that I said the management presentation is stressful, but honestly the due diligence phase is the most stressful part of it all. Just because you enter into this phase doesn’t mean that you will for sure close the deal. Either party can decide to move on for a variety of reasons.

In this phase, you set an agreed upon closing date for the deal. Leading up to that date, you have to provide the buying company with any piece of information that they request. Information on financials, market, product, legal, and so on — reaching back three to four years (sometimes longer). There are meetings, many meetings. The days are long and tiring for everyone involved.

In the latter stages of this phase is when the lawyers really start to get involved. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to worry about that too much since I was working with Angle Advisors (and they brought in Varnum Law to provide the counsel).

Once all the requested information has been shared, all questions answered, and all contractual agreements made from a legal standpoint, the closing can occur, and the buyer becomes the new owner. You finally can “hand over the keys to the house”.

LearnDash is in the perfect home with Liquid Web, and holy crap are they ready to take it to the next level! I’m especially thrilled that Chris will be taking an active role as General Manager. He is incredibly smart, and has deep roots in the online education space. He gets it.

What is next after you sell a business?

This is probably the most common question people have for a founder after they sell a business (besides curiosity on the sales price, which I am not sharing, sorry).

As I mentioned earlier, I live my life by prioritizing happiness. This has led LearnDash into the Liquid Web portfolio, and in the near term I am still very much part of the LearnDash team. I am in the middle of some exciting initiatives that I’ll be helping to see to the end (LearnDash 4.0 being one that I’m very eager about getting released). I will then be an active advisor to the company.

I get excited about new challenges. WordPress and e-learning have been good to me, but I’m running on fumes at this point. I’ve been involved in these two industries my entire life (e-learning since 2004 and WordPress since 2006).

I have interests outside of software and WordPress that I will have time to pursue. One in particular is starting a fitness brand with my wife, Lorena. I will be documenting this journey, so if you’re interested in hearing about the ups-and-downs of that adventure, check back here often.

I have learned from people sharing, so I plan to do the same.

I have learned a lot over the years about running (and now selling) a business. Things like competing, brand positioning, driving sales, and more. I plan to share these lessons learned on this blog. I’ll share exactly what it takes to build a multi-million dollar WordPress business across two industries.

Think of it like a conversation between friends. I had so many questions when starting out, and while there is no substitute for direct experience, a little guidance from someone who has been there before can be reassuring.

I won’t be selling courses or products, just writing. If you would like these insider tips, then just sign-up below. By doing so, you can also email me at anytime with your questions. All you have to do is click “reply” on a new post, and it’ll land in my inbox.

#WordPress #entrepreneurship

❤️ Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

That time I forgot to use BCC and blasted an email to over 500 (very angry) people.

I'm going to share with you a story that no one knows.

It's embarrassing.

It has to do with a mistake that I made in the very early days of my business. I laugh about it now (because it was so stupid), and I'm sure you will too. But more importantly, I hope that you learn from my mistake! So, something that I always wanted to give customers of LearnDash was free integrations.

In other words, you buy LearnDash and get all the in-house integrations for free (no upcharge). The thing is, I wanted to avoid listing these free integrations on wordpress.org.

There are a variety of reasons, but mainly because I wanted to avoid having customer support spread out over multiple platforms. Plus, someone could nuke an add-on with a 1-star review and perspective customers may mistake that for a review of LearnDash itself.

In any event, I decided not to list them there. This meant that the add-ons did not have automatic updates.

Instead, when an update was made, I would email customers who downloaded that specific add-on (because there was no need to email all customers).

Well, one day in 2013 an update was made to the WooCommerce add-on for LearnDash. At that time, I was the one responsible for pushing out the updates when they were complete.

So, I did my usually steps of packaging up the download and notifying the individuals who downloaded this add-on. I then fired up regular email... and sent the update notice as I always did.

At the time, to about 500 people. Except I put every email in the “TO” section and not the “BCC”.

Yeah... that happened.

As you would expect, I got many replies. Some people were laughing at me, others were “letting me know” what happened, and of course others were pissed-off and wanted to know what I would do to fix this situation.

I was embarrassed, and angry at myself. Ultimately, the mess settled down. I can't recall exactly how I went about easing the tension, but I was responding to every message that was sent. In the end, it was an honest mistake by a young startup.

It ultimately was forgiven and forgotten (by everyone except me). After that incident, I linked all email to the email service provider I was using at the time (MailChimp) and eventually added auto-updates to add-ons.

I was determined to never make a mistake like that again, and I never did. If you make a mistake in your business, do what you have to do to own up to it and make sure you learn from your mistake. If you make it twice, then shame on you. Mistakes are the greatest teacher.

Oh, and get your privacy policy in order.

The above story highlights another important part of business that isn't talked about enough, and few people understand: privacy policies and terms & conditions.

When entrepreneurs first start out, they end up creating their own privacy policy and terms. This is fine for the experimental stage of a business.

However, once you start getting regular customers, then it's time to “level up” your legal game.

There is no cool trick to this. Hire a lawyer or law firm. Having a lawyer draft these up (or review your draft) won't cost you a fortune, but it won't be cheap. Regardless, it's worth your peace of mind.

#entrepreneurship

I get $10 for every $1 spent on Google Ads. Here is how I do it, and it's not as hard as you may think.

I see many similar questions come up about Google Ads, and the surrounding confusion with implementing them.

I've talked about this before in my old newsletter but figured it would be worthwhile to address it again in a  more concise manner. Consider this your “cheat sheet”!

Getting a positive ROI on your Google Ads takes time and attention. You need to be constantly monitoring your ad performance, dropping the dead-weight and increasing ad spend on the winners.

Here are some beginner tips I followed to make Google Ads work for me:

• Keep keyword groups small / narrow. Don't “bundle” related keywords to create massive groups. Instead, create many small groups that are more closely related so that you can better analyze the themes that are working.
• Test each ad group for one or two weeks. Don't throw a bunch of money at the group right away. Keep daily limit modest before spending a lot. Once you have some winners, ramp up the ad spend.
• Implement the Google suggestions. As you create ads, Google will suggest changes to your ads. Do them! Your ad optimization scores will go up. Oh, and just because you do this once doesn't mean you're done. Google will keep making suggestions.
• Set up a conversion pixel. This is slightly technical, but I was capable of doing it, and all I did was use Google's help docs. Your ads don't mean anything if you can't track conversions (i.e. money made). This is also a great metric for determining which ad groups to drop and which to keep.
• Revisit every week. Google likes to see activity in the account. This doesn't mean you have to change something every time. Monitor what is working, what is not, add some of Google's keyword suggestions (you'll get these as you have ads running). Adjust the times your ads show, configure dynamic ads, create the maximum number of ad variations for each keyword group.
• Monitor competitors. Google makes this easy to do with a ton of useful graphs and charts. Use a tool like SpyFu to dig deeper into the specific ads your competition is running and for which keywords. You can't exist in a silo. You need to monitor the activity of other people in your market.
• Landing page score must be minimum 7 out of 10. Your landing page score (Google gives you this for your specific URLs that you put for ads) needs to be 7 or above. You're wasting your time and money if it's lower than that. If you're going after competitive keywords, it better be a 9 or a 10 out of 10 for your ad to have a chance at being shown above the fold.

#entrepreneurship

When you run a successful business, you start to see opportunities everywhere for making more money. You develop a sense of what will work. It's pretty neat, but that intuition is not always 100% accurate.

I once saw an opportunity in the market for a service that would authenticate (validate) certifications for online courses. There was one major player in the market, and they were still pretty new. The timing was perfect. So, I started building this complementary business. I would integrate it first with LearnDash then extend to other learning management systems.

The market was huge, and I was excited to run a traditional SaaS business! The business was SimplyCertify (I spent $2,000 on that domain name).

I created a few sales pages, early adopter sign-up forms, and then hired someone to start blogging. Some people started to sign-up, which was encouraging. Then I started a Facebook Group. During this time, I hired a well-respected developer to create the initial prototype. I spent around $30,000 for it.

In the end, it never launched.

The project never saw the light of day. Not because it was a bad idea. It was a great idea. I simply did not have the energy to turn that start-up into a successful business.

One reason I knew SimplyCertify would be profitable was because I could leverage the success of one business to feed its early growth. I was going to upsell the existing customers into this new product.

Even create a pricing tier in LearnDash that would include SimplyCertify. I did this once before with a non-SaaS product (ProPanel, a reporting tool for LearnDash).

This would allow current LearnDash customers to help round-out the feature set in SimplyCertify before taking it to other markets. Sujay Pawar is someone who does this incredibly well. His flagship product Astra Theme is the foot-in-the-door for all his other products (such as Starter Templates).

I learned the value of focus.

When you have success, you need to focus on really refining that success so that it is optimal, then you can leverage it to make more money. Avoid the temptation to start something “entirely new” just because you see an opportunity. Find ways to use the work you have done already.

Maybe I was doing too much at the time. In hindsight, I probably should have had someone else take on that project to see it through completion. But you know what? I don't regret that experience.

First, the individual blogging for SimplyCertify (Laura) started to write for LearnDash and the blog took off! She's incredibly talented at what she does, and I'm grateful that she became part of the LearnDash team.

Secondly, I learned a lot about what it takes to get a minimal viable product out the door for a SaaS. I paid for that education. I took these lessons learned and applied it to the LearnDash 3.0 launch — the most successful (and profitable) update done for LearnDash.

The update changed the trajectory of the business entirely with the revenue growth. If you hit a dead-end with a project that you're working on, don't consider it a failure. All of your learnings from the process will make you better.

Experience isn't something that you can buy, and it's incredibly valuable.

#entrepreneurship

I have learned a lot by being an entrepreneur – especially how to compete.

For me, being an entrepreneur means you are continually looking out for opportunities and advantages. If you have an online business, then it’s pretty well-known that the barriers to entry are practically non-existent.

Given the competitive nature of starting & growing a successful company, I really struggle to see the benefit for publicly sharing sales data – especially if you’re not required to as you would if your company was publicly traded.

This is something that has become part of a growing trend in today’s entrepreneurial landscape. It’s very much part of the ethos of the “building in public” movement.

And look, I am not trying to say that transparency posts aren’t inspirational, educational, and fun – because they are! Seeing how other people overcame challenges in their business can be incredibly helpful to others. I have friends who write some fantastic transparency reports, and I thoroughly enjoy them.

I just think it’s okay to ask some questions about this practice. I know that I have over the years.

Are sales numbers actually relevant?

Transparency reports are quite common in the WordPress industry. Some plugin and theme developers will share their revenues with a commentary of what they found worked (and didn’t work) with business decisions made over the course of the year.

These articles are actually very insightful, especially if you’re in a similar space. But are revenue figures actually needed to emphasize key lessons learned?

Personally, I don’t think the key takeaways lose validity if exact figures aren’t included. I think saying something like: “we implemented this new policy and our revenues increased by X percent” is just as credible and helpful.

The only business reasons I can think of for sharing actual numbers are:

• To generate visibility from people who are curious about your sales. Impressive figures help validate your product (note that “impressive” is completely subjective so that may backfire). Revenue posts can go viral, increasing visibility.
• To establish credibility in certain verticals.
• To build trust from those who are either currently a customer or might become one. Transparency reports can translate to increased trust.

I suppose an outlying explanation for companies sharing their sales data is that they just don’t care if people know. That’s a legitimate reason too and perhaps makes this entire commentary a moot point.

You risk a lot by sharing too much.

This isn’t paranoia. This is business.

Whether you subscribe to it or not, business is one massive competition. In a competitive environment, every advantage helps (no matter how small).

Sales data aside, why reveal your entire playbook?

You are practically inviting strangers into your home by letting others know what works, what doesn’t work, and how much you make from what works. One of the strangers is likely to have very deep pockets, and they’ll be able to move quickly on this information.

Think it’s a long-shot?

Well, I have personally taken advantage of a company’s transparency to nullify their entire value proposition.

That company is now out of business.

Their transparency is not the main reason why they no longer exist, but it certainly didn’t help them.

Just remember that the ones who are being quiet aren’t doing so because they don’t have something to share. Instead, they are simply observing, collecting data, and making business moves accordingly.

Transparency reports may serve a great purpose for boostrappers.

I will concede that transparency reports seem to do best for bootstrappers, in particular as a form of self-motivation and accountability.

When we put something “out there”, it suddenly becomes real. It leaves our head and goes out into the world. Other people know about it and we feel an obligation to hold ourselves accountable now.

This is actually really great for budding, bootstrap entrepreneurs. The scariest part is “taking the plunge” from idea to implementation. It may sound silly, but so many people never make it to this stage. At most, they tinker with setting up a website and then stop after a month or so.

The great thing about progress transparency (using Twitter to give updates for example) is the ability to receive encouragement from peers. Entrepreneurship is a lonely road, and it’s motivating to have people cheering you on, especially during the early days.

Here is how I would use transparency reports that included revenue data.

If it’s not clear already, I wouldn’t go down the road of transparency reports personally. But if I were to use transparency reports, then I would set a goal and make it time bound.

In other words, I would encourage people to follow me as I tried to reach “X” dollars by “Y” time. I like this approach for two reasons:

1. Once I hit the dollar value, I’m not obligated to keep sharing.

2. It holds me accountable to reaching that goal in a specified amount of time.

As I mentioned, transparency reports are a good way to get interest in your project (and encouragement) early on in the journey. You may even get some publicity that you otherwise wouldn’t have received otherwise.

But at a certain point it won’t make sense for you to keep sharing this data. If your goal (challenge) is met, then you can stop sharing without any worries. Your audience who valued your transparency won’t see you as a fraud. You can do a new challenge instead.

The time component is probably my favorite part though. This puts your feet to the fire as an entrepreneur. Just like sharing your idea in public makes you accountable, sharing your timing is that extra level of motivation.

So should you use transparency reports in your business?

Can sharing too much info hurt your business? Yes.

Can sharing too much info help your business? Yes.

I recognize that the whole transparency approach depends largely on your personality. In the end, you have to do what you’re comfortable doing in your business.

Don’t feel obligated to share info just because you see other successful people do it. Just because you like reading transparency reports doesn’t mean that you too have to partake.

If after you read this you still feel justified in your transparency report, then that’s great! I am not trying to say everyone should stop transparency reports or that they are inherently bad. Just understand that there are both costs and benefits to them.

#entrepreneurship

Have you ever been tricked out of your money?

I know that I have.

When I was a teenager I fell victim to the internet marketing hype, handing over whatever money that I had so that I could learn “the secret”. The sales messages, the stories, the glitz… it was all so hypnotic.

I’m not embarrassed that I fell for these scams when I was a teen. In life you sometimes pay for an education, and these were valuable (priceless) lessons that I got to learn from an early age.

Today I view these stereotypical internet marketers differently. I don’t care about their products, I care about their methods!

The truth is that these people are actually very good at what they do. They are expert copywriters, relatable, unshakingly convincing, and just down-right great at B2C sales.

I decided to learn from The Dark Side.

It was like any other normal day. I was taking a break from my standard work tasks to do a little research.

Specifically, I like to keep tabs on what the current trends are in the online marketing space, especially the men and women selling “programs” and “secret methods”. I find it worth studying their ways because clearly they know how to sell. There is a method to the madness.

I can’t help but laugh a little because while I am convinced each of these programs thinks that they are original, they all just say the same exact thing. It’s the same stuff that I fell for back in the day. Yet truth be told they don’t really need to change anything because human nature will always be the same. Sure the “methods” they sell may change with the times, but the messaging is consistent.

Even though you may stay far away from the internet marketer types (like the ones who sell get-rich programs), I find that it’s worth looking into their sales process to see if you can learn anything. I did this some time ago and applied it to my own business.

The result? More revenue.

Tools change, but the strategy is still the same.

When I do my research into these get-rich program, I watch some videos of an internet marketer that I have known of for some time. The last time I did this, he had a new product – or at least a new marketing campaign. This was great because I could see him in action, particularly his funnel.

At the top of the funnel was a “live” webinar. You and I both know that this webinar was not live at all as he was using an automated webinar program instead.

That’s not the worst of it though…

• He shot his video in selfie-mode on his phone next to an expensive car and big house. This was part of his lead generation to get you to sign-up for the “live webinar”.
• He offered “free training” which is really just a sales pitch.
• He attempted to get anyone watching to agree at multiple points in their webinar or video. Phrases like “press 1 if you agree” or “have you ever experienced”. This is because psychologically if you start agreeing on small things you will agree to bigger asks later.
• He outlined a typical scenario of someone trying to make money online, then went on to say he was just like everyone else at one point but “cracked the code”.
• He presented random testimonials from the training which is void of any actual context, just someone saying they made money.
• He mentioned “hustle”.
• He showed his PayPal account, but “not to brag”.

The hype was real. But all that washed off of me, because behind those distractions I could see the real secret behind all the madness.

Before these folks can sell their products, they have to establish trust – and they are so. damn. good.

I am not kidding you, this guy put on a masterclass of establishing casual trust in a very little amount of time.

The main reason that his messaging worked was because he knew his audience, and he knew what motivated his potential customers. All he has to do is to show them how he can help them accomplish what it is they really want. Once he does that, the sale is made.

It was so impressive, I immediately copied him.

I’m not in the business of lying. But just like this guy, I am in the business of people and emotions.

I realized that this person knew his audience thoroughly, and I too needed to do the same so that I could craft the messaging just right. I’ve done this exercise a few times now in my entrepreneurial career – I created highly (overly?) detailed User Models.

In this process, I created the persona of the individuals who would be looking into my products. I gave them a name, background story, and described their personality. I found that the more detail that can provided into a User Model, the more pointed and relevant I could make my messaging.

This is important, because the next step after establishing a user model is to walk through a Buyer Journey in their shoes, addressing each phase in a way that will resonate with this fictitious person.

At each one of these stages, you need to think from the perspective of your User Model archetype.

What are they feeling?

Logic helps to a point, but purchases are emotional. You need to understand the ultimate desires of the people looking into your products, and craft the messaging accordingly to address those emotions. This is exactly what the “Get-Rich-Quick” guru does, and does well.

You may be thinking that this seems… hard. Well, yes, it does take a little work upfront. It’s not hard as much as it is time-consuming because it takes a lot of thought and creativity.

For me, it took a few weeks because I had created a handful of different User Models. From experience, I would say that you should try to come up with at least three, and up to five.

Once you have these vetted out, then you need to make sure that you are creating content with the User Models in mind, on every single section of every single page on your website. Your value proposition for each model should be apparent.

I’ve done this a number of times now, most recently (and in the most detail) with the last LearnDash refresh. Every section of every page is designed with the User Model in mind.

And just like the “Make Money Online” Internet Marketer I admired, the site does a great job establishing credibility and connection, while simultaneously answering the relevant questions for these individuals along the Buyer Journey.

For example, based on one of my User Models, there was a part of the customer journey that I wanted to address. It had to do with getting started with WordPress and LearnDash.

Out of that particular requirement came the “Getting Started in 4 Easy Steps” section of the homepage, where we reinforced how the software was powerful, but not difficult to start using.

This has helped the company in a variety of ways, least of which being that there are no longer as many pre-sales questions around the topic of getting started with WordPress and LearnDash. It also lets people know that they too are capable of using LearnDash, even if they don’t that they are tech-savvy.

It’s so good that it didn’t take long for one of my competitors to copy it!

So let’s boil this down.

It’s pretty easy to overthink this, so let me wrap-up by summarizing this entire selling approach in a succinct way.

Nailing down your User Models lets you proactively address the questions that will arrive along the Buyer Journey. As you answer these questions, you need to:

• Establish credibility
• Outline benefits (end-state) that customers care about
• Proactively answer their questions, which further validates that they are in the right place so that they feel good about making the purchase

Said another way…

Simply explain what’s in it for your customer if they choose you.

In order to do that, you need to know your customer’s story. If they arrive to your site, and they feel like they “belong” (i.e. you are speaking to them directly) then you’ve accomplished the hardest part. You gained their trust and the sale is yours.

This is literally how every successful “Make Money Online” internet market has ever operated, and you too can use it to skyrocket profitability.

#entrepreneurship

Not everyone is prepared for the realities of entrepreneurship compared to working an office job.

To be quite honest there are times that I miss some of the perks associated with working at a large corporation. But, if you’re called to entrepreneurship then those perks won’t cut it in the long-run.

The day I put in my notice to my employer was the greatest day of my professional career. It was a mix of excitement, hope, and a little bit of healthy fear. I wouldn’t ever go back to that life now even knowing the sacrifices that have to be made.

Thinking about giving entrepreneurship a shot? Go for it! Here are 10 things you can expect when you do make that leap…

• Family won’t support you. When you tell your immediate family of your decision to go out on your own then there is a good chance that they will voice their concerns rather than encouragement. Just know that in most cases this comes from a place of love. Not everyone has an entrepreneur mindset. But there is good news because…
• Family will eventually support you. Over time they will be quite proud of you. So don’t be discouraged at the onset and stick to your decision to go out on your own!
• Vacations don’t really exist. Gone are the days where you can take off work and completely disconnect. Sure, you can find some days to get away every now and again (sometimes for even a week), but you’ll be glued to your computer each day.
• You learn more than you want to know about healthcare. The great thing about working at a big company is that healthcare is so cheap and presented in easy to understand plans. I remember having a little bit of “sticker shock” the day I had to shop for my own healthcare plan.
• You will feel like an impostor. At many points along your journey you will fall victim to “impostor syndrome”. This is just self-doubt and we all deal with it. When you fell this way just recognize what it is and keep moving forward.
• No more water-cooler talk. I went from traveling the country consulting with a bunch of very intelligent people to working at a home office, alone. The silence was deafening at first. You can get over this by attending conferences and other local events.
• Weekends are now weekdays. Initially you will work Saturday and Sunday. You just will. Over time though you will get a better idea of how to detach. However, if your business gets customers 24/7 then expect emails and messages sent your way any day (and time) of the week.
• There is no such thing as taking a day off. You will eventually give yourself a Friday off from work. Sounds great, but the universe will say otherwise. Honestly, whenever I attempt to take a day off I coincidentally receive a barrage of direct messages on social media.
• Your work is often thankless. When you work for a company and you have a good boss, he or she will give you feedback on the work that you do. As an entrepreneur you have to learn to be content without this kind of external recognition. If you are someone who needs validation from others, then you will find this difficult about entrepreneurship.
• You’ll never be happier. It’s true. The trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship can be stressful at times but it is worth it to be working everyday on your passion. As an entrepreneur you will never be more content than when you are working on own business. Time just seems to melt away as work never really feels like “work”. 🙂

#entrepreneurship

Eventually there comes a moment when you serve your business instead of the other way around.

In just one week I have attended two conferences, been booked as a guest on several podcasts, delivered pro-bono consulting to someone close in my network, hosted my own webinar to help a colleague with the visibility of a project, and delivered a training webinar on e-learning development.

Yes, much of this was quite enjoyable. But I didn’t do it for me. I did it for the business.

Oh, and of course between all of this, I am doing day-to-day tasks required to run a business. You know, the stuff like talking with customers, holding team meetings, speaking with potential vendors, and brainstorming other ways to expand our products & brand.

As I look at my calendar at what is coming up, I am left wondering: how did I get to this place?

Because I can assure you that things weren’t always like this. I wasn’t always this busy and booked-up with constant demands on my time.

In fact, it used to be quite the opposite.

There was once a time when I didn’t have any employees, no one was calling to have me as a guest on any webinar, podcast, or publication. No conferences, meet-ups, or masterminds. My day literally involved answering some pre-sales and support tickets and then going for a run. Simple.

Pushing for More

Like any ambitious entrepreneur, I wanted more. I worked my ass off, and when that “more” was realized, it became obvious that my relationship with the business had forever changed.

Starting a business is like starting a relationship. Everything is exciting at first. You get that “butterfly” feeling in your stomach with the smallest wins, and your day is completely ruined with the smallest setbacks.

As you get used to the entrepreneurial highs and lows, you begin to take everything in stride. What used to matter doesn’t anymore. It is just more stable, and there is comfort in that stability. But like any long-term relationship, keeping the flame alive and well takes effort. If you get too comfortable, then the business suffers. You have to find new and creative ways to stay motivated.

I think this is something any successful business goes through, and if you have dreams of entrepreneurship, then this could very well be your reality… and you might not like it.

Your daily tasks will change, as will your role. As you bring on team members you will have to learn to give up control on things that you have always been responsible for. Trust me, this is hard. It’s something that I am still working on to this day as I learn and grow with the business.

I have now realized that at some point, my business stopped working for me, and I instead have started working for my business. The business is bigger than any one person now. That’s actually a good thing, but it has been an adjustment.

This isn’t really talked about in entrepreneurship. Controlling your time is just a fantasy that entrepreneurial publications pitch. If you care about business growth, then this will be short-lived. Enjoy the moment because soon everything will change. Not for the worse, but it will change.

#entrepreneurship