90 Days Since Exiting... What Now?

It takes a while to feel normal again.

This morning I woke up to a reminder on my calendar that it’s been 90 days since I sold Pneuma, the first company I started.

No team, no Slack, no inbox full of “things to do”. I figured I'd feel calm. Clear. Settled. But mostly, I felt... scrambled?

The first thing I noticed was time.

I suddenly had all of it, whenever I was used to having none of it. The truth is, I had time before, I just told myself I didn’t. For whatever reason, I grew accustomed to “running fast” at all times. I thought the business needed me, so I never let up. It didn’t, or at least, not like I imagined. It mostly ran without me and the “urgent” stuff was mostly in my head. Whenever that urgency went away, an influx of free time came.

Then came the stress hangover.

Two weeks post-close, I woke up in a cold sweat thinking I forgot to reply to a client. I quite literally jumped out of bed to grab my phone and make sure I sent it before the client reached out. Except… there was no client. My brain made it up. Years of living in go-mode doesn’t switch off just because documents are signed. 90 days later, and I’m still dealing with this, to an extent, but it’s getting better.

The clarity I expected didn’t initially show up either.

I couldn’t figure out what to do with myself. Sleep in? Wake up early? Build something? Relax? I tried a bunch of routines. Then, slowly, I went back to what’s natural: wake early, enjoy a coffee, knock out my main thing, hike or lift, then knock out any work needed before bed. It’s the same “rhythm” that I’ve had my entire career, and one that I know I perform well with.

Possessions got weird too.

A few friends told me they felt like throwing everything away after they sold. I felt that. Within the first 60 days, I debated selling my rentals, my house, my cars, even a holding in another business. After some sage advice from close friends (thank you), I ended up just giving away half of my closet.

And advice?

I’ve been asked countless times “tell me about how you sold”. And I’m more than happy to. But the catch is this - my story and path is going to look different than yours. That being said, I’ve avoided giving much of the advice I think I can give. Not to “gate-keep”, but because I simply don’t know how much of my story applies. Asking about what took place the last 3-6 months takes away from the 4 years prior, where I would argue most of the actual “work” was done.

So… what now?

I just passed 90 days post close and I’d say that most of the “chaos” in my head that took place after signing the documents has gone away. I’m the most clear headed I’ve been in a long time, the most rested I’ve been, and the most excited I’ve been about finding “what’s next”. I’ve spent more time in my faith, praying about what’s next and looking for guidance about what path to take.

The question I’m asking now…

What am I actually good at? I took a business I knew nothing about and turned it into a 4x fastest-growing company. So what was my actual edge? My speed? My discipline? My leadership? Or just brute force? I’m still (happily) working through it, and enjoying the process that comes along with it.

Working Theories

• What’s the routine that actually works for you – There’s so much noise on the internet about the “perfect” routine. Some people ice bath in the morning. Some don’t. Some don’t eat until noon. Some eat right after they wake up. Find what works for you and stick to it. For the last 4 years I’ve consistently woken up, grabbed coffee, journaled, and got to work.

• Market research BEFORE building – A few weeks ago I asked my LinkedIn following, close friends, and a few others what they would pay $1,000,000 to change in their business. I got a lot of interesting responses which excites me for what’s next. Equally, a good reminder to only build businesses around a painful problem, not just a nice to have solution.