The Story of Selling My Business

During my keynote panel at BlogWorld last week, I was able to make the announcement that I have sold Sparkplugging – and I honestly didn’t anticipate the flurry of questions that would come my way since then! So for all of you asking for the back story – here you go.

The Deal That Almost Broke Me

Last October, I was approached to sell Sparkplugging by a different company. Thinking this was a perfect match and that everything would go according to ‘plan’, I started getting ready to let Sparkplugging go. I began a new project, said my emotional farewells, and then the economy slammed me in the face and the deal fell through. I was devastated at the time – and found myself in a difficult position. My fledgling new kids network was taking off better than I had expected, I was burnt out on business writing, and suddenly I was stuck with a business that I had just spent 4 months saying goodbye to.

For a while, I didn’t really know what to do. So I hired Kelly McCausey to be the Senior Editor of Sparkplugging to buy me some time to determine what was the next best move. In the meantime, my kids network started not only replacing, but surpassing my Sparkplugging income, and I was even less interested in going back to something that was so much more work for so much less ROI.

Letting Go

I ended up turning to my weekly mastermind group of friends for advice – and lo and behold, one of them was interested in taking Sparkplugging off of my hands. My old co-author on Sparkplug CEO – Dawud Miracle (and a business partner) soon purchased the site in a deal that was 20 times better than the one that fell through 7 months earlier. Then he lays the news on me that they have hired Easton Ellsworth to be Editor, because Kelly wanted to move onto other projects.

And then I cried.

I cried because I was so happy that my “baby” was now in the hands of dear friends. I cried because I had worked for this 3 and a half years, and finally saw the fruits of my labors. I cried because I was closing a chapter in my life that was both blissful and painful. And I cried because somehow I doubted the universe had my best interests at heart when I lost the first deal, only to find that the universe totally carried me through to exactly where I needed to be.

What I’m Doing Now

What I find probably most interesting of all is that Woo! Jr. is everything that Sparkplugging wasn’t – and everything that I wanted it to be. Sparkplugging was best monetized through consulting and product sales – two avenues I tried and absolutely hated. I wanted a blog network monetized by affiliate revenue and advertising, and I didn’t want to have to hire writers anymore. My 7 Woo! Jr. sites just surpassed 1 million page views this October, and seriously – my life couldn’t be more awesome. I don’t have to travel and speak anymore to promote myself, I get to make crafts with my kids, and I’ve finally replaced my old income from the corporate world.

2009 was a rough year in many ways – I had some health issues, experienced a difficult betrayal of a friend, and I thought I might have to shut Sparkplugging down at one point. If I had to choose between it and my health, well, the blog was going to go. But I swear that God works in mysterious ways, because all the things that I thought went wrong this year were actually the very things that set me on the right path to where I am right now.

You know that saying – what comes around, goes around? Well for many years I sent around great karma, waiting for it to come back. And waiting. And waiting. And now it’s here, and I honestly have a difficult time putting my gratitude into words. I’m grateful to all of the writers I’ve worked with along the way, grateful to my husband for supporting me when I wasn’t making a cent, grateful to my kids for putting up with all the long work hours, grateful to my friends who helped my website grow, and grateful to my God for bringing me here.

Yeah.