A bitter sweet exit.

This is the first dollar I ever made as an entrepreneur. I’ve kept it on my desk every day to remind me of the success, pain, and setbacks I experienced. I keep it to remind me of the persistence it took — of the lessons I learned about business, partnerships, and myself.

A little over a month ago we closed on the sale of the first business I ever started. Of course, this doesn’t count the satin flower business I started as a 7th grader or the failed newspaper in college. This was my first foray into entrepreneurship, my first legitimate business. The first time I invested real money in something. The first business I fell in love with. And ultimately the first business that broke my heart. It’s been a heck of a voyage. A bitter-sweet moment…ultimately more sweet than bitter.

We started the distillery in early 2013. I met my two partners at a networking event and a few weeks later found myself in business with them. We made some incredible products that I could not be prouder of. We created something nobody else was doing, pushed the envelope on the definition of rum, grew the business to regional distribution, and worked with some fantastic employees and industry partners.

More importantly, we made mistakes and learned to move forward from them.

At some point I’ll sit down and write about the lessons learned, but over six years later we found ourselves selling the business to a much larger company. It was a process that took nearly a year from our first meeting and for me, it was the first time I’ve been on the selling side of a transaction where I wasn’t acting as counsel. I was emotionally vested in this — terrified, anxious, and motivated we worked through evenings, weekends and early mornings to shepherd the deal across the finish line.

It was an exit, and one that I am proud of.

I certainly won’t be retiring off of the sale, but I am excited to see where the new owners will take the brand. I’m excited to continue working with entrepreneurs and to now have the time to reflect on what starting and growing a business taught me.