I sold my first blog, Music Process, for $20 on Craigslist back in 2012, while I was still in college.
Months of work, zero revenue, tons of effort - and someone paid just twenty bucks for it.
Honestly, it felt like a win.
"Hell yeah - I got my first acquisition!"
At the same time, it felt disappointing:
"It was ONLY worth 20 bucks?"
But also strangely validating:
"Wait - it was worth 20 bucks!!"
That weird mix taught me something I'd never forget:
The market doesn't care about anything you care about.
Imagine this:
You've been running your agency for a decade.
You genuinely believe you're building a multi-million dollar empire.
Then, you finally fill out valuation calculators, start listing your business, and receive actual offers - and the market coldly tells you it's worth $10,000.
In that moment, what do you actually do?
Do you sell it for $10,000, accepting the market's harsh reality?
Or do you cling desperately to your imagined millions, stubbornly believing that grinding harder - another decade - will magically increase your agency's value?
Because here's what's painful:
If you refuse to accept reality now, you risk waking up at 40 (or 50, or 60...) still grinding on the exact same business - still worth only $10,000.
All those extra years didn't increase your value.
They just wasted your life.
That's why selling - even for peanuts - is crucial.
It shatters your delusions and frees you to work on something better.
Here's what I'd recommend you do right now:
1. Take your agency today and list it on Acquire, Flippa, Empire Builders - anywhere like that
That entire process - as painful as it might feel - will instantly rip off the band-aid you've had stuck for years.
The moment you start seriously listing, you'll see your business clearly for the first time.
2. Accept that your business doesn't need to be perfect before listing it:
* You don't need SOPs * You don't need a flawless profit margin or perfect churn * You don't need "less than 10% of your revenue from any single client"
You don't need any of that shit - just list it exactly as it is.
3. Try to get more than a thousand bucks for it
I'm half-joking here, but also completely serious.
Your "multi-million-dollar agency" probably isn't worth anything near what you think it is.
But finding that out now is infinitely better than wasting another decade deluded about your company's true value.
We don't need to worry about what your next business is going to be yet.
Your next big idea will naturally emerge from the clarity you gain during this process.
Because what happens when you list your company for sale right now?
You finally break free from whatever hypnotic entrepreneurial spell you've been stuck in for the last 10 years.
That's how entrepreneurs really grow.
-Alex
P.S. If you actually just listed your business for sale, congratulations - you just did what 99% of founders are too scared to do. Now the real work starts: building something the market actually wants to buy. That's what we do inside Galadon Gold. Join here.
Alex Berman
I sold my first blog, Music Process, for $20 on Craigslist back in 2012, while I was still in college.
Months of work, zero revenue, tons of effort - and someone paid just twenty bucks for it.
Honestly, it felt like a win.
"Hell yeah - I got my first acquisition!"
At the same time, it felt disappointing:
"It was ONLY worth 20 bucks?"
But also strangely validating:
"Wait - it was worth 20 bucks!!"
That weird mix taught me something I'd never forget:
The market doesn't care about anything you care about.
Imagine this:
You've been running your agency for a decade.
You genuinely believe you're building a multi-million dollar empire.
Then, you finally fill out valuation calculators, start listing your business, and receive actual offers - and the market coldly tells you it's worth $10,000.
In that moment, what do you actually do?
Do you sell it for $10,000, accepting the market's harsh reality?
Or do you cling desperately to your imagined millions, stubbornly believing that grinding harder - another decade - will magically increase your agency's value?
Because here's what's painful:
If you refuse to accept reality now, you risk waking up at 40 (or 50, or 60...) still grinding on the exact same business - still worth only $10,000.
All those extra years didn't increase your value.
They just wasted your life.
That's why selling - even for peanuts - is crucial.
It shatters your delusions and frees you to work on something better.
Here's what I'd recommend you do right now:
1. Take your agency today and list it on Acquire, Flippa, Empire Builders - anywhere like that
That entire process - as painful as it might feel - will instantly rip off the band-aid you've had stuck for years.
The moment you start seriously listing, you'll see your business clearly for the first time.
2. Accept that your business doesn't need to be perfect before listing it:
* You don't need SOPs
* You don't need a flawless profit margin or perfect churn
* You don't need "less than 10% of your revenue from any single client"
You don't need any of that shit - just list it exactly as it is.
3. Try to get more than a thousand bucks for it
I'm half-joking here, but also completely serious.
Your "multi-million-dollar agency" probably isn't worth anything near what you think it is.
But finding that out now is infinitely better than wasting another decade deluded about your company's true value.
We don't need to worry about what your next business is going to be yet.
Your next big idea will naturally emerge from the clarity you gain during this process.
Because what happens when you list your company for sale right now?
You finally break free from whatever hypnotic entrepreneurial spell you've been stuck in for the last 10 years.
That's how entrepreneurs really grow.
-Alex
P.S. If you actually just listed your business for sale, congratulations - you just did what 99% of founders are too scared to do. Now the real work starts: building something the market actually wants to buy. That's what we do inside Galadon Gold. Join here.
6 days ago | [YT] | 8