Sold the house. Quit the job. Paris

When I was 29, I owned a house and was having success as a 100% commission salesperson. By most conventional measures, I was doing pretty well. I had a good job, was making money, and was on a promising career path.

But I wanted something different.

I had this overwhelming desire to live in Paris. I couldn't entirely explain it at the time. I didn't have a job waiting for me, and I certainly didn't have a detailed plan for how I was going to make it happen. I just knew that I wanted to experience more of the world. I wanted to learn, explore, and expand what felt like a pretty one-dimensional perspective of life.

So I declared that within a year, I would move to Paris.

The first person I told

My mom. We were rowing in a boat on a lake. I wasn’t looking for approval but her support was a relief, maybe even a reassurance. Some, though not those who knew me best, thought it was a crazy idea to walk away from a successful career at 30. Why give up the house and everything I'd worked to build? But I wasn't looking at it as giving something up. I was looking at what I wanted to experience next.

Selling the house myself

I figured if I was in sales and couldn't sell my house, what kind of salesperson was I?

So I sold it myself. I did my own open houses. I found a company that handled the legal contracts and paperwork, and sold it in a month. The house sold the same way my sales approach worked in business. Proximity. It's in who you know.

I shared with my neighbors. I invited them to look through the house, and the person who bought my house was best friends with a neighbor three doors down.

What I remember most

I didn't have all the answers, and that didn't bother me. I was certain about what I wanted, and I trusted myself to figure out how to make it happen. Looking back, I loved that certainty. I loved how willing I was to pursue something that mattered to me, even when other people couldn't understand why I'd do it.

A year later, the house was sold, the job was quit, a flat was rented, and I was enrolled in graduate school and French lessons. I went on to earn my master's degree and live in Paris for two and a half years. I was winning my way before I really knew what it would become.

Where Win Your Way started

That's the root of what I call Win Your Way. At its core is a belief I've carried throughout my life: every person has the capacity to participate in creating what comes next.

I've said for years that you'll never outperform your identity. How you see yourself influences what you believe you're capable of, the decisions you make, and the actions you're willing to take.

What I see in the founders I work with

It's November. This is the season of 2027 plans, budgets, and numbers. It's usually the season founders tell me they don't know what they want.

Most founders I work with know exactly what they don't want. Initially, there’s more of a struggle to articulate what they do want. What I find is that they do have inklings of what they really do want, they just don't quite believe yet that it's possible, and it causes them to resist saying it out loud.

A founder I worked with recently easily listed several things they didn't want, then gave me a blank stare on the want. I asked, “In removing all the things you don't want, what would it provide you? What would it give you the space to do? What are you no longer willing to tolerate?”

The realization came to narrowing their scope to providing two services. That not only made the biggest difference for their clients, but also aligned with their area of expertise and what they enjoyed doing most. The two services represented 68% of their revenue. They could see focused effort would more than make up the 32% the other work generated and the potential had a high X factor.

Letting what's percolating deep below the surface is what invites the declaration. How much of your week, your month, and the future you're working toward has been intentionally designed by you?

Your five minutes

Grab a pen and paper. Not a keyboard. Set a timer for five minutes and write this sentence: "Within a year, I am going to ..." Keep writing it over and over with as many endings as you can find. Don't edit. Just free flow.

When the timer goes off, reread your list out loud. Pick the one bold statement that, when you read it, gives you goosies. The one that makes you sit up a little taller and feels a little fun. That's your Paris. You don't need the how yet.

Think about it: What's the "Within a year, I am going to ..." that gave you goosies?

► Ready to turn your goose bumps into a winning 2027?

The 2027 Revenue Game Plan Workshop is a three-hour live working session where we flip the usual order: first we reset the mind, then we set the goals. It's the order I used in Paris. You'll decide what winning 2027 means to you, run your real numbers, and name the one play that will carry you. And you'll do it in a room that's colorful, creative, and a long way from your day-to-day.

📅 In Person, Minneapolis: Thursday, November 19, 1:00–4:00pm CT at Mahjong Montage Studio, with a Mahjong happy hour after 4:00–5:00pm CT, where you'll learn a very social game that's taking the U.S. by storm.

You'll walk out with your definition of a winning 2027, the numbers it requires, your 42 Dive that sparks growth, and a one-page Game Plan with your first 90 days of commitments.

Save my seat

Win Your Way,

Michael

P.S. If you've been telling yourself you'll figure out 2027 on your own, that might just be the rut talking. Come sit in the room.