As of today, I’ve been self-employed for 11,830 days. I’ve started multiple businesses from scratch, the largest of which had sales in excess of $10 million, and advised and mentored hundreds of my fellow entrepreneurs.

You’d think by now that launching a new venture would be second nature to me. It’s like riding a bicycle right? Once you learn to ride you never forget how. That attitude cost me a bunch of money and almost cost me my business. Here’s what happened and what I learned from the process.