Why I Sold

October 1, 2021

It was the most profitable year ever, but all I could think about was walking away.

While the motives may vary from person to person when selling a business, the decision to actually move forward with a sale is almost always the result of deep personal reflection. It’s a moment where you assess your desires and weigh them against how you spend the majority of your time (working).

This is the same process people go through when switching jobs. Yes, there are external motivators (money, more time, better title, etc.), but it all begins with an honest understanding of personal goals in light of current circumstances.

When I did this for LearnDash in 2020, I came to realize a few things which ultimately led me to sell:

Managing the business had burned me out
I no longer felt passionate about WordPress or e-learning
I was carrying guilt for that lack of passion

For me, being passionate about what I do is non-negotiable. When I’m passionate, I get excited. When I’m excited, work doesn’t feel like work. Ideas flow naturally, and great results tend to follow. But without that passion, everything felt heavy.

Easy Became Hard

I knew something had to change when the tasks that once came effortlessly became my biggest hurdles.

It became hard to manage employee requests, hard to handle upset customers, hard to navigate software development challenges, and hard to push timelines forward.

When things feel hard, my creativity dries up, and creativity is the reason LearnDash succeeded in both the e-learning and WordPress spaces.

At first, I thought maybe I just needed to take a step back. I reduced my hours and empowered others on the team to take on more responsibility. But even after that, the feeling persisted, if anything, it got worse.

That’s not to say I was depressed. But I was deeply exhausted. I was “punching in and punching out” every day. No drive, just crossing tasks off a list. I knew what needed to be done, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I simply didn’t care anymore.

And that indifference led to guilt.

In my mind, I was letting my employees down, our customers, and also the community that we built. The company deserved better, and I knew it. That guilt was perhaps the hardest part, and it was constantly battling my ego. I hate disappointing people, and I felt like I was disappointing everyone, even if they didn’t know it.

To put it another way: LearnDash wasn’t living up to its full potential. It needed fresh ideas. It needed a new energy and I couldn’t bring it. A sale would infuse the company with exactly what it needed while taking care of both employees and customers.

In hindsight, I see that this did in fact happen with Liquid Web. The product, the customers, and the employees are all in a better place.

Finding My Spark Again

Stepping away from e-learning was exactly what I needed.

Not many people know this, but e-learning is all I've ever known. Even when I was doing internships in college, it was in the e-learning space. My consulting career also was all about e-learning, and that transitioned into LearnDash.

I care about this space. It energizes me, and I want to see it be better.

For now, I continue to keep my finger on the pulse of the industry. I enjoy interacting with folks on LinkedIn (let's connect if we aren't already), discussing both the flaws and opportunities that exist in e-learning.

I must admit, it feels good to be back in the fold.

#entrepreneurship