The Unedited Truth About Why I Completely Blew Up 2 Multi-Million Dollar Businesses Last Year

In November 2017, I decided to blow up my two multi-million dollar businesses after building them from scratch over the last three years. Which sounds strange enough as it is, but when you consider I was $750,000 in debt as recently as 2014, it makes my decision seem insane.

Over the last five years I have gone from having nothing to being able to afford most things.

Yet over the summer of 2017, something just didn’t feel right. When it comes to the problems of entrepreneurship, I reached my biggest one of all.

I wasn’t happy, but it was less to do with where I was, rather with where I was going.

1. I woke up each day miserable.

I couldn’t understand why I woke up each day unhappy. I had worked so hard to get to where I was, and in doing so I had met, worked with, and helped a lot of amazing entrepreneurs. In terms of the person I had become (and the growth I had experienced), I was happy.

Yet I woke up each day miserable, deep down knowing something had to change.

Although up until recently, I had no idea what this change was.

You see, over the last few years I’ve been busy making money and getting myself out of debt. I felt like I had a lot to prove to others, but even more to myself. So each day, I woke up with the drive to make more money and overcome the general problems of entrepreneurship.

I was good at it, too. I created two seven-figure businesses in two years, and I knew I was capable of turning them both into eight-figure success stories if I wanted.

The problem was, I began to question whether it was what I wanted.

2. What happens when you no longer have a gun to your head.

When you reach a point of financial abundance, something amazing, surprising, and terrifying happens. All of a sudden you wake up each day knowing you don’t need to make more money.

You no longer wake up each morning with a gun to your head.

And what happens when you no longer have a gun to your head is one of the most important periods in your life, because it’s a time when you begin to search for your purpose (both in business and life).

As I look back over the last few years, my purpose (my “why”) was simple: to make money and to get out of debt.

This was enough until I reached a point where I no longer feared my financial issues and the other cliche problems of entrepreneurship. As the weeks and months ticked by, I left my scarcity mindset and replaced it with abundance.

I knew I had enough.

I knew there was enough opportunity out there for me.

I knew I had nothing else to prove.

So I woke up miserable each morning because my “why” no longer made sense; I no longer had a purpose, and without a purpose you have nothing.

3. YOU need a reason to actually live.

Maybe you are feeling this way right now, or maybe you will do so in the future. It may happen when you make $10,000 each month, or $20k… $50k… $100k…

It’s different for everyone, but if your purpose is to make more money (and the truth is, most people are driven by this — especially entrepreneurs), at some point you will wake up miserable.

Like me, you may find it hard to get out of bed, even though you should feel amazing because you have everything you thought you wanted.

This is a hard place to be in, but it’s something most successful people go through at some stage. As human-beings we have a hierarchy of needs, and once you take care of the basics, you’re left wondering about the less obvious aspects of life.

You start to search for your purpose and question what your “why” is.

You look to the future and wonder what impact you can have on this world.

And you do so because you need a reason to actually live and get up each morning.

4. You may need to blow up your own life to achieve this.

Once I began to question my purpose and search for my “why”, I realised the businesses I had built wouldn’t get me to where I wanted to get to. I had to blow them both up, which was a tough decision to make at first.

Chances are you will have to blow up elements of your own life to fulfil your “why” and develop a true entrepreneurial mindset; be it your relationships, mindset, or business.

This is hard. This is scary. You will resists it. But as human beings, we cannot get too attached to who we are; we cannot get attached to our identity.

Because right now you only know what you know, and by attaching yourself to your current beliefs or identity, you’re shutting yourself off to a potentially elevated version of who you are.

5. It takes time to figure out (and fulfill) your why.

As an entrepreneur, it takes time to get to a point of abundance and freedom. You need to figure out what works and what doesn’t, and for a long time you may need to focus on making money, growing your business, and pushing through the obvious problems of entrepreneurship.

But it’s only when you reach a point of abundance and freedom (and escape the scarcity mindset) that you figure out what your purpose is — and it’s only here where you figure out your “why” and begin to transform people’s lives.

Whereas if you cling to your identity and what got you to where you are today, you will never break free and discover what comes next.

Yet it’s what comes next that matters the most.

So if you are at that point where you wake up each day miserable, know that now is your time to take action and blow up your life / business / relationship / identity. It may hurt at first, and your ego will resist, but your true you awaits — and it begins with you taking a leap and figuring out your true “why”.