Ep #2: Don’t Regret Selling Your Company with Kristy Gusick

After a breakup, it might seem like a good idea to jump right into another relationship.  There’s a hole to be filled and you have so much to give. But is it a good idea? Maybe. Does it feel good? Usually. Do you usually end up regretting it? Most likely, yes.

Many of us have gone through some form of rebound relationship—it’s an easy trap! You know the one…you wake up one day and realize you are officially over the first relationship and don’t really want to be in the one you are in now—it was just a placeholder.  Whoops.

Usually, there is some emotional fallout, maybe even financial, hopefully none of which is irreversible. The biggest challenge is swallowing your pride, ripping off the Band-Aid, and moving on.

Unfortunately, a business rebound can have much bigger consequences…
Starting a business just because you used to have one is not a good reason to embark on a new venture. There are plenty of people that become serial entrepreneurs. To become a successful serial entrepreneur, future businesses must accomplish a specific financial or industry need, the expected returns are very clear, and the relationship with the business has very clear boundaries. 

How do you know if you are in a business rebound?

1. You feel the need to have a quick response to, “What do you do?”
2. You essentially bought another “job.”  You need to work 60 hours a week to keep the company going.
3. At the base level, your company is just “something to do” to distract yourself from boredom.
4. There’s a complete lack of passion. There’s no bounce-out-of-bed that you used to have when you started your first business.
5. You have no exit plan and aren’t thinking of ways for the business to thrive without you at the helm.
6. You started or bought your company just to be around other people.
7. You wanted to keep the title of CEO, President, or Founder.

How did you get here? It is estimated that 75% of business owners are unhappy that they sold the business at the 12-month mark post-sale. There can be a huge sense of loss owners face after they leave their business. A second business is another chance to identify with something. To create the sense of purpose that you need to be happy.

The risk of not knowing what you want…

If you go into a business not knowing what you want, you’re going to have a bad time. You will become aimless without a destination and your expectations will never be met. Partially, because you had no expectations or goals to begin with.

A business should be born because passion, skillsets, and energy meet where there is a need and market for a solution.

In our interview, Kristy describes her rebound story with her second company

Kristy and her husband sold a large manufacturing and energy retrofitting company in their mid-20s. They experienced something that many 25-year-olds don’t get to, a large influx of cash.

“It was like winning the lottery”

There are many challenges that come with easy money, especially at such a young age. They decided to start an investment management firm and a real estate company because that is what all their friends were doing. Kristy describes their euphoria as the “Midas Touch.”  They felt like they couldn’t lose.

Kristy explains many challenges they had in the seven years of owning their investment firm. The company was sucking their cash dry and there was no end in sight.

Kristy and her husband both dealt with the realization that it was over in much different ways. Kristy saw it for what it was “a rebound business” from their first one. She took it as a challenge to find out who she really was and search for something that would give her purpose.

Find out more about how Kristy and Phil moved on and into their current success after a roller coaster of a couple decades filled with many highs and lows.