The Ultimate 4 Step Program to Sell Your Website (Without Regret)
There’s only one first time for anything. The “first time” is bound to be wrought with awkward moments, elation, humiliation, excitement and ultimately moving on to the next experience.
This absolutely applies to when you need to sell your website or blog. Most likely the first site you sell is one you’ve poured your heart into.
It’s got your pawprints all over it. The investment you’ve made is more than time and money, it’s emotional.
While I read numerous articles on tips to help you sell your website, I have rarely seen any meaningful discussion of how to make the emotional break that makes it possible to let go of that first site and move into the next phase of web entrepreneurship.
To that end I’ve created a 4-step program to help you with the emotional aspect of selling your first site.
Step 1: Be Certain That You Want to Sell Your Website
Prior to listing your site for sale anywhere be certain that selling is truly what you want to do.
It’s helpful to make a pro and con list of the reasons you want to sell. Seeing them in black and white will make the decision process a cleaner one.
While thinking about or lovingly looking at the money you could make from the transaction is euphoric, it could be devastating to realize you sold something you really can’t get back.
If after reviewing your pro and con list you haven’t come to a solid conclusion my best advice is to sleep on it, maybe for more than one night.
The opportunity to sell a well developed site or blog with a solid user/subscriber base will still be there while you process the psychological side of the transaction. The last thing you want is to be remorseful over “the one that got away”.
Step 2: Cultivate Brutal Honesty
There are few things in this world that nobody can take from you, and one of those is your integrity.
No matter how enticing it may be to pump up your stats, your user base or the prospects for the site’s future, the words brutal honesty need to be tattooed on your cranium.
As you well know one little lie leads to one more, and none of them are pretty. The situation can get sticky not to mention litigious.
An honest valuation of your site as well as the resources required to keep it going are essential elements of the process you cannot afford to finesse. Remember, in the end you are cheating yourself out of self-esteem that is difficult to get back.
Finally you know from building your user base that people can make vicious comments online.
Don’t leave yourself open to being called a scammer or a cheat, it’s simply not worth it.
Step 3: Stand Tough
When one door closes, another opens!
Once you sell your website, don’t look back. It’s natural and human to be curious about what the new owner is doing, but I promise that no good comes of living in the shadow of your past.
If the new owner is somehow doing better with the site than you did, envy will creep in. If the site content goes in a direction you don’t agree with you may be tempted to start making comments about it. That activity is surely wasted time, not to mention a poor reflection on you.
The best rule is once you’ve sold the site, move mindfully in the direction of your future. You owe it to yourself as well as the new owner to just stay out of the way.
One of my neighbors (who sorely needed the cash) turned down a million dollar cash offer on his property.
What was he thinking?!?
He was worried that the new owner would build a big fabulous house on the property and then flip it, earning way more than he did on the original sale.
If this sounds ridiculous to you, well it is.
This illustrates the bizarre twists our minds can take when speculating on potential future outcomes. Mainly, you ruin your ability to live happily in the present. Let us not forget, the present is a gift!
Step 4: Enjoy Your First Success
While selling a site may surprise you with an emotional backlash, it’s also a time to celebrate.
Look at what you have achieved!
Your hard and diligent work has resulted in you making a nice payday. You are now officially on your way to being a successful web entrepreneur. The stress of readying the site for sale is over, and now it’s time to give yourself a solid pat on the back not to mention the treat of your choice.
While you’re eating that delicious cupcake or tooling around on a new ATV with the wind in your hair, you can reflect on just how awesome it feels to be working for the best boss ever…YOU.
