By Matt Shoup, an EO Colorado member and Owner of M & E Painting, LLC

I recently closed another year of business for M & E Painting, and it was a special time for me for two reasons: We celebrated our 10^th year in business, and I had made the decision to step out of the day-to-day operations and focus on speaking, coaching and writing a book through MattShoup.com, my new venture. As I moved forward, I found myself having to explain to peers why I was no longer involved in my first company. Along the way, I uncovered experiences and important lessons learned that proved invaluable in the past decade.