Selling your business can be a difficult and upsetting process.
But it's nothing like the emotional train wreck waiting for you
on the day after the sale, when you suddenly discover that you
don't know what to do with yourself. You can't go into the
office; you can't visit customers or send e-mails to vendors.
The life you spent years building is suddenly gone.
Gone but not forgotten. Without the usual frenetic demands on
your time and attention, your life seems to come to a screeching
halt. Meanwhile, your mind continues to race to find the answer to
one haunting question: What's next?
Chuck Hawks, an executive coach with DreamsFulfilled in Charlotte, North Carolina, helps
executives and entrepreneurs answer that very question.
"Selling out can create a sense of loss, or a sense of
relief," says Hawks. Either way, it's a chance to find
something that fulfills you in new ways. "It may not be a
business thing. It may be moving to Tahiti or working for a
charity. It's a chance to [ask], What really lights me
up?"
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Maybe you already know what lights you up and have a plan to
pursue it. If you don't have such a plan, take a cue from the
entrepreneurs below who have found rewarding ways to sell their
businesses but keep their sanity.
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Passion Play
In the 1980s, before Petco and Petsmart became household names,
there was Animal Kingdom, a large Dallas pet store modeled on the
dreams (and the MBA project) of its co-founder, Carol Frank. Within
three years, the store was approaching the million-dollar sales
mark. At the same time, however, Frank was feeling the urge to do
something else.
The energy that drives entrepreneurs into a business is often
the same energy that drives them out of it. For Frank, now 45, the
prospect of new challenges moved her quickly out of the retail
business and into distribution-and then out of distribution and
into manufacturing. In the space of 10 short years, retailer Animal
Kingdom begat wholesaler Avian Kingdom Supply, which begat
manufacturer Avian Adventures (both of which Frank founded on her
own).
"Entrepreneurs are often people [who] need kinetic energy
to feel satisfied," says Hawks. This may explain why so many
entrepreneurs, like Frank, are repeat performers. "They
can't sit still for 30 seconds."
There are various names given to people who channel their energy
into new businesses. Whether you call them "serial
entrepreneurs" or "second-stage entrepreneurs,"
it's clear that the thrill of creating something from nothing
is what really keeps them going. For Frank, each business she sold
helped fund the growth of the next. Interestingly, each time she
started a new venture, it was within the same core industry.
"The pet industry is addictive," Frank says. "I
don't remember thinking,'I want to sell this company, and I
need something to do next.' I saw a new opportunity to stay in
the industry."
Frank's self-described addiction is another name for the
passion that motivates entrepreneurs. "Many entrepreneurs are
just never truly satisfied," says Hawks. "They see these
businesses as a vehicle-a way to support their passion for an
industry."
There may be at least one more transition ahead for Frank.
"The plan is to sell Avian Adventures in five years when we
get to $10 million," she says (projected sales for 2004 are $2
million). "At that point, we'll sell for enough money for
me to retire." Of course, her definition of retirement
includes speaking engagements, writing books, and educating people
about how to care for exotic birds-just another way to express her
passion for the business.
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