I recently sold my online vegan magazine, VegFamily.com, to a new owner. I used the Law of Attraction to manifest this result, and I want to share how that all happened.
When I started ErinPavlina.com last year, I spent the first few months just blogging and discovering I had psychic abilities that I could actually apply to others. By June of 2006 I had opened myself up to give intuitive readings to people. At this time, I was still running my web development company, selling my books, and running VegFamily. After several months of juggling all these businesses, it became clear to me that I didn’t have time to run all of these businesses effectively. After consulting with Steve, who is our resident expert on long term strategy and planning, we decided that my plate was too full and something had to go.
Web consulting was taking up a lot of time but it was generating a really nice income and I truly loved the work. VegFamily was doing okay too and I only had to spend a few hours per month to maintain it, so mostly passive income there. Book sales continued to do well but were declining a bit as I had stopped marketing them (no time for that). Readings were picking up considerably and my wait time was increasing from 3 days to 3 weeks.
So we made a plan. First to go was the web consulting. In this case I was trading time for money and there was no long term potential here, plus I could see I didn’t want to be a web programmer in 5 years. In October of 2006 I let my clients know they had 2 months left with me and then they’d have to find a new webmaster. I thought I would be really sad to lose this wonderful source of income and connection with my clients, but honestly, when I stopped doing the web programming it was a like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.
I thought this would be enough to lighten my load but I was wrong. I was able to easily maintain VegFamily, sell my books, and do readings and also blog, but nothing more. I didn’t have time to expand ErinPavlina.com the way I wanted. Steve suggested that VegFamily should be the next to go. Noooooo! Not VegFamily! My baby! I had nurtured VegFamily for 7 and a half years. I just couldn’t let it go. Plus if I lost VegFamily it would effectively take book sales down with it. Steve saw I wasn’t quite ready and left me alone.
But I got to thinking. And I got to intending. “Wouldn’t it be great if someone came along who wanted to purchase VegFamily from me and could afford to buy it from me? Someone who had the programming skills and knowledge of the vegan community and who was also looking to purchase an already-existing business?” That was my thought. I said to myself, “If I knew VegFamily would continue on without me and actually grow and end up at a place I just didn’t have time to take it, then I would be okay with letting it go.” And so my wish was cast into the universe.
I did not announce publicly that I was looking to sell VegFamily. I mentioned the idea privately to two people I thought would be excellent candidates to take over for me. Both of them declined since my asking price was too high and neither had the programming skills they would need to run the site. So I just let it be because I honestly could not think of anyone I knew who would have the money, the technical expertise, the desire, and the knowledge of the vegan parenting community required to take over.
Then one day, after sending out my monthly newsletter, I got an email from an old colleague I’d worked with at Mothering magazine years ago. She said, “Hey Erin, your newsletter says ‘November’ and it’s ‘December’. Do you usually send out one newsletter that covers two months? I thought they were monthly.” I wrote back and told her it was just an oversight and that I was losing my attention to details as my heart wasn’t really in running the magazine anymore.
Then the magic happened.
She mentioned she was looking to purchase a business that was already profitable and already had a lot of traffic. Oh? Really? You don’t say? And she casually asked if I was interested in selling VegFamily. Was I ever? I realized she could very well be the perfect person to take over. I knew she had the programming skills and the appropriate knowledge. But would she be able to meet my asking price? A few emails later and the purchase price was set! We were off and running.
To make a long story short, our deal closed on March 31 and she is now at the helm of the VegFamily starship. In the two weeks leading up to the change I was very stressed. I felt like I was giving my baby up for adoption. But I know my baby is in really good hands.
If you’ve ever played the Cashflow 101 game from Robert Kiyosaki, you’ll know that I sold cashflow for a one time cash gain. This was a very calculated move on my part. So while my monthly income will go down, my plate is now clear for me to add new cashflow streams such as books, audio programs, webinars, workshops, CDs and more. It was necessary to take a step back in order to take 2 or more steps forward. I simply didn’t have the capacity to move forward with so much on my plate.
As for my books… I will continue to sell them through Amazon and my distribution channels until they are completely sold out. And then that chapter in my life will be over. Any regrets? None. What I learned from running VegFamily is invaluable and will help me with my new ventures. And what I learned from self-publishing will also carry forward.
I resisted selling VegFamily for a long time because I didn’t want to lose the income. But Steve has taught me how important it is to plan for the long-term, and I could see that losing a little bit of income was worth it in order to grow and develop new streams.
In looking back over this entire process of selling my company, I realized that it wasn’t going to happen until I was emotionally ready or, as they say in Law of Attraction lingo, until I was a vibrational match for my intention. As soon as I got to the point where I could let VegFamily go, comfortably, a buyer presented herself. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. It all went perfectly and beautifully. My plate is lighter, VegFamily is in good hands, and I’m ready to embrace my next venture. 🙂
