It’s hard to stay in business when there are so many competitors waiting to swoop in and pick you apart at the smallest sign of weakness. I had a lucrative heating and AC repair business in Jacksonville, Florida. I was helping residential and commercial customers for more than 10 years. Then a large company moved into the area and undercut my prices by 15%. All of my commercial customers left when they found out that they could get better prices. It only took 2 years to bankrupt my Jacksonville heating and AC repair business. I had to sell and I decided it was best to get money from the competitor who took me out of business. I spoke with the owner of the Jacksonville heating and AC repair and installation business. He offered me a generous amount of money, but I had to contact each and every one of my customers to let them know that the new business was going to be under a different name. I had a 30-word sentence that I had to say to each and every one of my customers when I called to tell them that I had sold the business. It was embarrassing to tell all of my customers that I was no longer in service, but the chunk of money that I got for selling the business paid for my wife and I to buy a boat. We’re going to spend the next couple of years sailing up and down the coast while getting a lot of sun and checking out the tropical fish.