magine thinking you’re at the finish line (selling your agency) only to learn you’re starting over.

So I ended up selling Bencom when I was 41 and felt like that, you know, that I was going to go into semi retirement mode. I certainly didn't think I'd ever quit working, period. I even vividly remember taking the retirement trip with my wife to say, you know, how are we going to live this next chapter in our life? And so it turns out the people that bought it didn't pay as agreed and effectively destroyed the company. And so I kind of went from 41 and retired, mentally, that is, to 41 and having to start all over again.

What was that feeling like when you realized this acquisition isn't going to happen the way I thought it was and going from I thought I was going to be retired to I got to find a way to build this back up. What was that feeling like?

Well, so I'd say at first it was fear. You know, just. You're thinking, oh, my gosh, I got to do this again. There were some pieces of it that were exciting in that, you know, sometimes when you grow up a business, it's harder to change, like, key core things you're doing. And on the excitement part, I was able to look at it and say, okay, well, if I could start. Start all over, what would I do different?