You can blame circumstances, other people, or yourself. The only one you can control is yourself… which is both a blessing and a curse.

A few years ago, I sold my business.

Well… I thought I did.

We signed the contract. Everything was lined up. I handed over the team, the systems, even the customer accounts. The money was supposed to hit my account the next week.

It didn’t.

I remember refreshing my banking app like a maniac. Nothing. Called him – “just a banking delay,” he said. Nothing to worry about.

I wanted to believe that.

Then came more delays. More excuses. An investor pulled out. The funds were frozen temporarily. His lawyer needed to review something else.

Every excuse sounded just reasonable enough. And I kept buying it.

Because facing the alternative? That I’d handed over years of my life’s work for nothing? That I’d trusted someone who didn’t earn it? That was… a little too much at the time.

So I waited. For months. Actually more than a year if I’m being honest.

And I kept saying, “Just give it one more week.”

That one week turned into a full chapter of my life I’d rather not re-read.

At some point, the lies stopped – not because he came clean, but because he just disappeared. No more messages. No money. Just me, staring at an empty inbox and an even emptier bank account.

I was angry. At him, obviously. But also at myself, though I didn’t want to admit it at first.

Because here’s the thing:

I had handed over the business before the money arrived.
I ignored the warning signs because they were inconvenient.
And I convinced myself that patience was the same thing as wisdom.

It wasn’t. It was just fear, dressed up as professionalism.

And yeah, I could’ve stayed stuck in that story. The one where he’s the villain and I’m the poor fool who got played.

But blaming him didn’t get the business back.
Didn’t pay the bills.
Didn’t give me any real options.

The only thing that did… was asking what part of this I could actually control.

That question saved me.

Not all at once. There were still days I couldn’t sleep, still mornings where I opened my inbox half-hoping he’d written something – some explanation, some apology. Of course he didn’t.

But eventually, I stopped waiting on him and started acting for myself.

I rebuilt. Different this time. Wiser, yeah. Slower in some ways. But stronger.

And no, it didn’t feel empowering at first. It felt like admitting I’d been naive.

But over time, owning my choices – even the bad ones – gave me something I hadn’t felt in months:

Control.

Because blaming the world feels good until you realize it keeps you stuck.
And owning your role feels terrible at first… but it sets you free.

I don’t know where you’re at right now.
Maybe your course flopped.
Maybe your school’s stalled.
Maybe a student quit and left you a brutal review.

You can get mad at them. You can blame the algorithm. You can swear off online business for good.

Or…

You can ask: What part of this can I still own?

It won’t fix everything. It won’t erase what happened.
But it will point you forward.

And that’s really the only direction worth going.

The rest… well, that’s someone else’s story.