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Episode Summary
You wake up one morning and there’s a noose around your neck. That’s where Mike Jackness has been. Twice. He sold his poker affiliate business after years grinding 14-hour days and walked away into an RV with his wife. Six months in, he was bored out of his mind. So he bought another business, built it back up, opened a warehouse, hired a team. And one morning he woke up with the noose back. Your CPA does taxes, your banker handles the line, but nobody is sitting at the chart with you asking if this growth is actually the kind you want. Mike and I got into the addiction underneath entrepreneurship, why retiring without a next chapter is its own kind of trap, what it took to prep ColorIt for sale (six months of clean prep, 45% growth, multiple offers in weeks under LOI), and how he’s engineering this third act so the income, the work, and the life all reinforce each other instead of fighting. Real numbers, real exits, and the honest version of what burnout costs.
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## Top 10 Takeaways- Selling and retiring without a plan for what’s next is just a different kind of trap.
- Entrepreneurship is closer to addiction than career. Without the whirlwind, you feel lost in your own life.
- Your business model can sit on quicksand even while it’s still making good money. Notice it before the floor moves.
- If you don’t like the people in your industry, no amount of revenue makes the seat tolerable.
- Income from a partner flips the moment they don’t need you anymore. Build for the day they don’t.
- Growth that pulls you back into a 9-to-5 office isn’t growth. It’s a job you bought yourself.
- Adding value first builds a brand that sells faster and at a better number than any tactic.
- Six months of clean prep (no new products, no squirrelly add-backs) can produce 45% growth and multiple offers in weeks.
- Most problems past basic financial security are problems you manufactured for yourself.
- Engineer the next chapter to integrate the work, the people, and the life. Otherwise you’ll re-burn out.
Sound Bites
“I’ve equated entrepreneurship to be, at least in the way that it affects me, a disease as much as alcoholism or heroin addiction or something where it’s just like, you need it so badly. And it’s the way that you identify yourself.” (@TBD) — Mike Jackness
“You realize one day you wake up and you don’t have that any longer and you bought yourself a job.” (@TBD) — Mike Jackness
“Most of the problems that you have past that point, you’ve made for yourself. These are manufactured problems that I can easily not have in my life.” (@TBD) — Mike Jackness
“If you can wake up and answer two questions, one is what are the most interesting problems that are passionate to you. And the second question is, who do you want to do that with.” (@TBD) — Ryan Tansom
About This Episode
Mike Jackness is the founder of EcomCrew, a podcast and community for ecommerce operators. He started as one of the largest poker affiliate operators in the world, exited at the end of 2010, and after a stint of semi-retirement in an RV, got back into business through Treadmill.com, which he sold in 2015. He went on to build a portfolio of ecommerce brands including IceWraps, ColorIt, Wild Baby, and Tactical, and recently sold ColorIt after six months of prep. Multiple exits, multiple chapters, and a honest read on what each one cost him personally.
Resources Mentioned
- EcomCrew — Mike’s podcast and community for ecommerce operators. — ecomcrew.com
- Treadmill.com, IceWraps, ColorIt, Wild Baby, Tactical — Mike’s ecommerce brands across multiple exits and active operations.
- The One Thing by Gary Keller — Referenced for narrowing focus in the next chapter.
- The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster by Darren Hardy — Ryan’s recent read.
- Conscious Capitalism by John Mackey — Ryan referenced for value-first business building.
- Quiet Light Brokerage — Joe Valley represented ColorIt on the sale.
- Ecommerce Fuel — Community where Mike got his start as a thought leader.
Connections
Phase + Module:
- Module 2 — Expand Knowledge — Multi-exit operator perspective on what value-building actually requires
- Module 1 — Ownership Goals — The “now what” question after the check clears
Milestones:
- Milestone 5 — Market Value — How Mike prepped ColorIt for sale and what buyers paid for
- Milestone 1 — Time & Role Goals — The 9-to-5 office trap as a time-and-role problem before it’s a business problem
Concepts referenced:
- The Owner-Operator Trap™ — The “noose around the neck” by another name
- The One Thing — Mike’s framework for the next chapter
- Independence by Design™ — Engineering work, income, and life so they reinforce each other
- Value Growth Plan™ — Six months of clean prep as a deliberate value lift