PICTURE THIS: You’re negotiating the sale of your business - working capital established, lease transfer approved, funding secured by the buyer, materially agreed on legal terms & conditions - barring a nuclear event that would blow things up, it looks like your deal will close in a couple of weeks. You walk over to your “dogs of the month” calendar and circle the fateful date in bold, red marker.. you write “CLOSING!!!”.. that’s the day you’re waiting for.

The day all your stress will evaporate. That hovering sense of responsibility you’ve grown accustomed to waking up with and carrying throughout your days, nights, and weekends, will lift in a flash. You imagine the elation. You can see the 7 (or 8) - figure wire transfer hitting your account. You’ll be able to sleep without nagging thoughts about that “one” client, or the looming projects you haven’t had time to finish. Who knows, you may even be immortalized by a bronze bust placed outside of the building.

But something lurks in the background that unprepared sellers don’t see.

The Loss of Identity

It doesn’t happen on closing day. It trickles in weeks after the dust settles. That’s when your calendar is empty. Your email is silent. Your phone stops ringing. You go from being the conductor of an orchestra, to a person with a big savings account and too much time to scroll social media. One founder I worked with grew his company over 20+ years and reached a point where he couldn’t wait to hand the keys over. We secured a $3.1MM exit. Amazing buyer. Above-average multiple. Storybook ending, right?

3 months later, I called to check in:

“I’m so bored. My wife thinks I should pick up a few hobbies, but I don’t have any. Is sleeping in a hobby? I feel off, you know what I mean?”

He’d parted the Red Sea, but what stood on the other side was the desert. It wasn’t depression. It was disorientation and aimlessness. For decades, the business was his identity. He was the captain. The mentor. The closer. The one his team all looked to, until he wasn’t. This isn’t rare. Owners spend years pouring energy into their business:

But they rarely ask the questions that matters most post-exit: Who am I without this? What will I do with my time when my schedule suddenly clears up?

When you build from scratch, the business becomes an extension of you. Your company mirrors your values. Your reputation feels tied to your Google reviews. You feel responsible for your team and their families.

You don’t just run it. You are it. So when you exit? You’re not only selling workflows and cashflows. You’re selling a version of yourself that you’ve spent years becoming. The founders I’ve worked with who felt a deep sense of completion after exiting started prepping well before their business hit the market. Not just financially. Emotionally.

How to emotionally prepare for an exit?

Discover your identity outside of “business owner”. Think about what fuels your fulfillment. Be intentional and clear about how you’ll invest your time to avoid boredom. Sit down in quiet contemplation and map it out in detail:

Start building a next identity with the same precision that built your business. Find new ways to direct your energy and feel accomplished. Because once the deal closes, that energy doesn’t just disappear.

Every exit is an entry into something new.

👉 Follow @exit_expert for practical tips on how owners navigate life after the deal.