I always see a lot of information about buying businesses, however there is an attacker ABSENCE dedicated to the complications of their sale. By selling my business, I can tell you that no matter how capable your lawyers are in contract negotiations, you can still have many questions, and those questions are not always obvious. They are often exciting – what lawyers are not built to address.

I started my business as a single mother with my boyfriend (now husband). We started to our house for rent with nothing but a credit card and a tube dream, and 13 years later, we built it in the New York and Los Angeles recording studios. The company set an extraordinary culture, where everyone really felt like a family; Many of them worked with us for a decade or longer. Setting up to sell It was difficult, but with another blooming business and now I was a mother in four, I felt it was time and I had taken it as much as she could go.

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When we finally made the decision to sell, we were very diligent in our demands. We wanted to keep the company culture intact and make sure that our estimated employees are not replaced. We agreed that I would continue to be known as the founder, and my husband and I would be involved for a full year to make sure the transition was calm.

Looking back, there are some important things that I wish I had known and did otherwise before I sold:

With a five-year payment agreement, I had assumed that I would always be somewhat involved as I still had an active part in the company. One advisor eventually emphasized a fierce reality: my husband and I essentially were debt to the new owners and had no real power or say in the future of the company. I became gutted, but it was also my fault. I didn't ask for inclusion or said – I had made an incorrect assumption.

My name was removed from the page after the year was over. In fact, the new owners didn't want me at all. We were cut off everything. I really wanted to stay involved; I miss the living community we had built and, even more so, the people who had become a family. But as they said, they had to tear the gang help at one point, and they thought Mark of the year was like that. I became depressed and felt as if I had lost part of my identity. As they had every right to make this decision, my assumptions about my role make it harder for me to afford.

I also had to unwind From what I wanted to be the company and how it worked. The company I had fed with transparency and opening began to move to a more corporate environment under the new leadership. The initiative to promote the culture we had built was replaced with a more structured approach, with numerous emails and meetings describing the expected behaviors and processes – which was confusing to me. We had always embodied our culture, without the need for official guidance; We just lived it and worked through everything together. He felt more corporate than he had been before. But again, it was not mine, and maybe that's what it had to expand.

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Since I assumed that we would be involved until the payments were over, I was not as open with the staff as I should have been about the sale. We had created a The culture of transparencyAnd I thought that the introduction of the new owner as our partner would ease the concerns because my husband and I would always be there, and nothing would change. I also did not want to create an unnecessary fear among the employees who were all invaluable to us. But keeping people in the dark, we created confusion. Because we were a group that was so tight, what we thought would keep people calm and together we created panic and uncertainty. Looking back, I understand how unfair it was for them, and I should have been more transparent about the sale because people are intuitive and feel changes. No matter how large or small, change can make some feel unstable, and this is worth it.

All this process has been an emotional battle, but at the end of the day, I am very grateful for the sale because I believe it has come in due time. People always say, “You are living the dream! You built something out of nothing and you were able to sell it!” While this is true, it does not reduce the feeling of loss I have experienced to mourn the business I built. For a long time, I felt like I was trapped in a dark cloud.

I tried to find advice on the emotional number of selling a business. So here are my two cents: while the sale is something to celebrate (always), it is normal and okay to feel a feeling of loss. Okay okay to mourn – but always remember why you have sold them and gifts that come with sales. Go through it on the other side, where you can let go and know that you have served the business and the people who do that business at home. Remember, everything will be okay – because it is always.