2022 recap, how did it go for you?

[Antifragile]

2022 is coming to a close, I’m slowing down with my business and taking it easy the rest of the way.

End of year is a great time to reflect. Looking back at the last 12 months:

• What are your major milestones? What makes you proud?
• Major setbacks? What could have gone better but didn’t?
• Major “completes”? Anything worthy of a solid check mark and “I did it!”

For the above it can be anything: actions, habits formed and even development of new attitudes!

I’ll start.
This has been a terrific year. A true roller coaster ride with higher highs than ever before and lower lows. Lots of stress and joy. In the end the business grew significantly. And I’m excited to expand the office space when others around seem to be scaling down (working from home, hybrid work etc).
The most challenging part second half of the year was getting lenders to be happy… with inflation, and higher interest rates we went from “easy” to “hard” with no stops in between. Its been 10 years since the last time I had to put this much effort with banks.

Fun side bar story, I talked to Grant Cardone and he just closed a deal and I did too. While market is panicking, we are still buying real estate. First of all, how cool is that that because of Twitter Spaces I spoke to Grant Cardone! Not a text, but a real conversation about Real Estate. What is even cooler than that is both of us seem to think alike about the current market opportunities.



Look forward to reading your replies! Share your story and maybe even what you’d like for 2023!

 

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[BizyDad]

What are your major milestones?

First year of my newly purchased ecom business is in the books. We grew revenue just under 40% and we 15X'd the profit.

What makes you proud?

My kids being a year older and wiser. They are amazing little people.

Similarly, seeing my ecom partner grow into his role as owner.

Seeing my agency partner take home more $ than me for the 2nd year in a row (he founded the company, but due to the structure of our agreement many years I take home more. I like it when he gets the win.)

And seeing my employees learn, tackle problems, improve capabilities and output, and just overall become more confident in what they do.

I've got two teams that genuinely like each other and pull for each other.

Major setbacks?

I keep losing friends to illness. My ability at hiring continues to be hit or miss, more miss this year.

What could have gone better but didn’t?

Keeping up with algo changes. Could've done better at documenting processes. Improving marketing effectiveness for our own agency. We didn't do a bad job in these, but it could've been better.

I wish I had more time to spend on just straight education type activities, there's at least a couple of softwares that I'd like to develop some measure of expertise in.

Major “completes”? Anything worthy of a solid check mark and “I did it!”

Made it through another year. This one feels worthy of a fist pump. While the COVID year scared many, for me it was easier than this year to get results for several clients/industry verticals. But we still are showing overall growth year over year for most of our clients.

Built a piece of software for internal process tracking. Worked out bugs. With this I can feel more comfortable opening other offices.

While I'm not happy with my agencies revenue growth, we did have another all-time best year and this 12th consecutive year of slow steady growth.

maybe even what you’d like for 2023!

After a couple weeks of taking my foot off the gas, I want more in 2023. The algo is getting harder? GREAT! Gives me a chance to keep my skills sharp. The economy is in a downturn? No worries, means pretenders will be getting out of the market.

Oh, and Lord willing, I want to start/acquire one or two more ventures. Talks are in process.

Thanks for posting @Antifragile I was thinking of doing a recap post of my own, but this helped me with a good structure. Congrats on the Cardone mind-meld. Nice to get a little validation that way, not that you need it. And maybe you've got the start of developing a contact too. Who knows what 2023 has in store?

 

[Antifragile]

My ability at hiring continues to be hit or miss, more miss this year.

I wonder how much is due to the fact that we are in labour shortage. Employment rates are very high and good people are increasingly hard to find. But that might be a topic for another thread altogether.

We grew revenue just under 40% and we 15X'd the profit.

That sounds massive - congrats!

I want to start/acquire one or two more ventures. Talks are in process.

Hmm... how are you prioritizing your time? I find that with an active business, I do better when I am focused on the one thing. Are the ventures plug ins to your existing business? Or totally hands off investment type?

Congrats on the Cardone mind-meld. Nice to get a little validation that way, not that you need it. And maybe you've got the start of developing a contact too. Who knows what 2023 has in store?

I am no Cardone fan-boy, like so many... and in fact when it comes to asset class choices we differ (he like multifamily more than industrial and I am the opposite). But it would be great to meet people like him who perform at that level. And yes, who knows what to expect from 2023! Look forward to finding out in 12 months with another thread like this

 

[REV5028]

Thank you for starting this thread, @Antifragile
I admire that you are able to describe your year as being both a stressful roller coaster and terrific. What a beautiful and fulfilling way to live! It sounds like you overcame some significant challenges and are in a great position to excel in 2023.

@BizyDad , you've also had some high highs and low lows this past year! It's inspiring and truly wonderful that through it all you've taken the time to observe and celebrate the wins of your agency partner and the growth of your kids. It seems 2022 gave you enough trials to keep you strong and enough success to keep you eager heading into 2023.

• What are your major milestones? What makes you proud?
• Major setbacks? What could have gone better but didn’t?
• Major “completes”? Anything worthy of a solid check mark and “I did it!”

My year has also been filled with some of the highest highs and lowest lows I've ever experienced. Some of the lows were death, dysfunctional family dynamics, the last few months of my doctorate degree, and the first month of rescuing a very smart and traumatized dog. The highs include graduating with my PhD, seeing that traumatized rescue dog become a relaxed and happy dog, becoming a homeowner, and being in a healthy and growing relationship.

I felt lost after my PhD, but I've regained direction. I have a long way to go, but I've started devouring books, changing my perspective, and conducting research/gathering information for a fastlane project. In 2023 I aim to reestablish healthy exercise routines, feel more confident outside of PhD-land, cultivate meaningful connections, and contribute more value to others however I can along my journey.

I wish everyone a happy end of 2022 and a prosperous 2023!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Still a few weeks left in 2022, can't report until the race is done!

 

[ZCP]

@Antifragile tag @MJ DeMarco on Jan 1!

 

[heavy_industry]

Still a few weeks left in 2022, can't report until the race is done!

Same!

 

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[REV5028]

@MJ DeMarco & @heavy_industry , looking forward to seeing your posts in a few weeks!

 

[Antifragile]

11.5 months in...
.5 months to go...

Are you working on something epic big in the final two weeks? @MJ DeMarco @ZCP

 

[ZCP]

 

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[inputchip]

First year of my newly purchased ecom business is in the books. We grew revenue just under 40% and we 15X'd the profit.

Well done @BizyDad! Can you expand on what you did to achieve that? 15x profit doesn't seem possible unless the business was previously operating at breakeven or a loss.

 

[heavy_industry]

View attachment 46381

It's not procrastination.
It's exponential growth.

 

[Antifragile]

View attachment 46381

@MJ DeMarco , @ZCP and @heavy_industry you need a goal setting tool. If only we knew of anyone developing an app for that!?!

 

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[ZCP]

i know, right? you'd think someone would write a book (or three) about how to do some of this!

 

[BizyDad]

Well done @BizyDad! Can you expand on what you did to achieve that? 15x profit doesn't seem possible unless the business was previously operating at breakeven or a loss.

Spot on in your assessment. Two years ago, the business showed a small loss and last year a small profit. The improvement came from 3 areas.

1 - Cost cutting. We trimmed a lot of fat out of this. There were software licenses going unused, there was are all kinds of stuff paid for that we found cheaper alternatives for - phones, credit card processing, etc.

2 - Stop "giving away the farm". The old owner felt that to make sales in this business you had to negotiate a deep discount. My current partner in the company was the top sales guy under him, so at the beginning of the year I challenged him to drop our discount rate just 1%. I knew we could do more than that, but I also knew he wouldn't do it unless he believed it was possible. So I did a small ask. Well, w dropped our discount rate from 8.5% to 3.2%, pretty much right away, which confirmed my suspicion that the company used to talk itself out of sales and into "quotes" even when people had a credit card out and were ready to buy.

3 - Sales growth. This one I honestly am not too sure where the improvement came from. We generated roughly the same amount of leads. I think my partner just got that much better at closing since he was taking my advice vs the old owner's advice. But it is also tough for me to judge if "the economy" is playing a role here or not. We will do $1.6M and change this year, which is a strong year, but not the all time best year. Hth.

 

[Antifragile]

Did you get your shit in order yet, @ZCP and @MJ DeMarco or still plenty of time for big moves?!

Happy Holidays to all those who are enjoying the festive season already

 

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[ZCP]

@Antifragile
all this with 10 days to spare!
AMAZING:
got married. awesome!
main business revenue up 1.45x
zane engineers life going on YT,TT,IG, etc.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT:
paid less attention to my health, gained unneeded weight
business had potential to do 2x. needed to work harder.

SUPER DOPE:
i listened to fellow fastlaners and got my channel up and going to help people. major check mark.

it's on @MJ DeMarco now.

 

[BigRomeDawg]

I left a business where I was getting my a$$ kicked.. Started a business where I am kicking a$$!

Solid year!

 

[Antifragile]

AMAZING:
got married. awesome!

Congratulations! That’s an epic way to end a year. Memorable, don’t you dare forget the date lol. Congrats again.

 

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[Goodfella999]

Congratulations! That’s an epic way to end a year. Memorable, don’t you dare forget the date lol. Congrats again.

Do you focus 100% on real estate or do you have other income sources as well?

 

[Itizn]

Year was trash.
Can't wait for it to end.

 

[EngineerThis]

This year was great, and next will be wild! Why? This year was all about setup and narrowing my focus..
-Proposed, and got married!
-Read the Millionare Fastlane
-Sold off many of my motorcycle and car projects.
-Started learning and serving god again (Dennis Prager's Bible books are fantastic)
-Started a home services business with major plans to expand
-Left my desk job
-Shot the commercial and built a website for my biz (learned those skills too)
-FINALLY finished my motor home I’ve been working on for 5 years (wife and I live fulltime)
-We left my parents property (bleak Michigan)
-Now we’re staying in South Carolina!!!

Not only do we have way more time to spend together, we left all the things holding us back, our mindsets are focused, and we have copious amount of time to launch this puppy! If you asked me last December how this year would go… I wouldn’t believe you. Merry Christmas!

 

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[Isaac Odongo]

Still a few weeks left in 2022, can't report until the race is done!

 

[EngineerThis]

W

 

[Isaac Odongo]

Momentous.
I will get back in a few days and say something. Still working.

 

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[ZF Lee]

Thanks for opening the thread.

Well, let's see...

• What are your major milestones? What makes you proud?

Despite knowing the importance of networking and finding like minded-folks like you Fastlaners, I still stuck with doing it all on my own. Which meant I rarely went out of my way for others, to truly connect with them, learn about their lives...or even volunteer to do good works.

In my church's Men of Valor fellowship, they were starting up their first-ever camp in a long time.

They asked me to help out plan camp games. I had NEVER planned games for 40-60 year old men before, and it was YEARS since I helped out at any camp at all. But I took the role since they took the time to follow-up with me.

The entire process of working with the Men to invite campers and put the pieces together is an ENTIRE odyssey, probably could be a thread by itself.

But in short, I grew quite close with the Men. Found that they were mostly good-hearted folks who genuinely wanted to serve with all their hearts.

In our meetings and the casual sessions after, I find I could talk more on life and business...which very few online conversations can get out. I listened to how businessmen battled numerous fires during the COVID-- handled divorces--whole lot of problems. And yet they stayed upright.

I didn't feel very alone anymore. And the Camp went stunningly well.

For my stock trading group, I attended more meetups with the group's boss and others.
The boss was a serial entrepreneur in supplement and software...so he traded stocks for fun (although he claimed he won his retirement with Tesla and Bitcoin gains).

So every meetup at some nice restaurant (we all paid, but he found good discounts for us all)...was a lesson by itself. He and the other folks talked lots on life, stocks and business.

He also got folks to collect donations for orphanages and old folks' homes every month, so that got me into a regular habit of giving to charity. He shared pics of the visits, so we knew our cash was going to good use.

I'm just glad I could open up more to folks-- and start helping out in some way.

• Major setbacks? What could have gone better but didn’t?

Lost some rather significant copywriting jobs because I didn't follow up frequently enough.

A grandparent passed away...and some other issues came up that set me in the dumps. But they shouldn't be excuses for not following-up. Even if the sky is falling...check up with your clients or whoever you work with-- and make sure they are taken care of.

I still hadn't started learning Mandarin seriously-- which was one of the goals I set out at this year's start.

I feel that deep down, I detest the language because the environment for learning it was hostile when I was a kid.

I mean...would I be able to learn the language from quarrelsome Chinese dramas on TV watched by relatives? Whereas I learnt English from the more cheerful Sunday School classes? Environment and context do play huge roles.

One of the older folks in my stock group recommend me the app HanBook, which gives you daily practices for reading, writing and speaking in bite-chunks. Just started on it...let's see where it takes me.

Also, I feel I could do better in healthy eating and cooking.
When times get busy (a lot), you just have no time and energy to cook. So it's GrabFood or eating at a restaurant, which means more carbs and fat while ravaging the wallet...and I got a belly.

Which is rather bad because I used to track my meal prep here on the TFLF habits tracker...and to find my meal prep habit collapsing is rather worrying.

These few months...I've been working on at least cooking a few days...or meals in the week using very familiar ingredients like chicken, noodles, carrots, potatoes, etc. Sometimes I just skipped cooking rice or noodles like typical Asians...and just make soup or an omelette. I think that might be easier on the tummy that way-- especially when some folks say skipping dinner could help with weight. Key is to burn more than you eat.

While I don't have time to go to gym, I do have to walk very often when I commute.

But that might mean I'm overloaded on cardio?

• Major “completes”? Anything worthy of a solid check mark and “I did it!”

I think that even with formal goals that can be measured, the road to mastery will never be complete.

There will always be things to work on. That's the beauty of it though-- it keeps us working and living.

 

[Antifragile]

Year was trash.
Can't wait for it to end.

Nowhere to go but up? Or could it be much worse?

 

[Andreas Thiel]

2022? 0/10 would not recommend.

I don't think my overall plan was bad, I just never get priorities right. Mantra 1 was "take action through resistance". I kept reminding myself and did talk to consultants, went to speed dating events and founded my startup, but at some point I tried to get in the zone to develop my product.

Looking back, my top priority should have been fixing the room layout where I work at home. I can't breathe. I have the technical concept in place for the SaaS that I want to build (the foundation exists, a POC was successful) but can't come up with a compelling product vision / benefits / features.

I know I need to get momentum going, but at work I don't get cramps and I am not constantly in pain and it feels like I brought a knife to a nuclear fight when I compare my side business to the momentum in my day job.

I keep telling myself that I have not fixed my living room layout because I can't come up with a layout on paper, but recently I figured out that I just avoid taking action through resistance again. I am 100% alone, no idea how to fix that, can't do the physical work alone. My father won't be able to help (back and knees).

Last sunday I forgot to eat before I drank some alcohol, a mistake that I have made before and after smashing glass, plastic and my new Acer Nitro I think I have reached a new low when I ran out of boxes to store the broken pieces in. Despite taking steps to expand my comfort zone, I hardly dare to move an inch now.

As I wrote in previous years, I don't see my options ... I have no idea how life is supposed to work. Not sure about 2023, will probably have to liquidate quite a huge percentage of my investments, avoid alcohol altogether and look into spiritual concepts.

 

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[nnogalaxy]

2022 was what started it all for me. I was 15 at the beginning of the year and discovered self improvement. Starting with nofap, then the gym, etc etc. now that i'm at the end of the year i've kinda f*cked up and fallen apart which happens with the journey, like its 1:18 am and i was supposed to be asleep at 11 to wake up at 7. but thats okay. I'll fix it slowly

I remember i was genuinely depressed at the start of the year. family issues, money, loneliness, instant gratification, video games, masturbation & porn, I can't believe how i was living tbh. Now all i think about all day is becoming the best looking version, the mentally best version, and the financially best version of myself. for 2023 i want to restart. build every habit one by one again, and improve. I think 2023 will be a great F*cking year. I remember saying i'll glow up in 2022 and in all honessty i did. I went from looking like a geek F*cking loser to being offered to model.

I'm not perfect tho, i still hit walls, i still relapse, i still feel down, gotta keep moving though. no other choice

 

[heavy_industry]

2022 was what started it all for me. I was 15 at the beginning of the year and discovered self improvement. Starting with nofap, then the gym, etc etc. now that i'm at the end of the year i've kinda f*cked up and fallen apart which happens with the journey, like its 1:18 am and i was supposed to be asleep at 11 to wake up at 7. but thats okay. I'll fix it slowly

I remember i was genuinely depressed at the start of the year. family issues, money, loneliness, instant gratification, video games, masturbation & porn, I can't believe how i was living tbh. Now all i think about all day is becoming the best looking version, the mentally best version, and the financially best version of myself. for 2023 i want to restart. build every habit one by one again, and improve. I think 2023 will be a great F*cking year. I remember saying i'll glow up in 2022 and in all honessty i did. I went from looking like a geek F*cking loser to being offered to model.

I'm not perfect tho, i still hit walls, i still relapse, i still feel down, gotta keep moving though. no other choice

Just some advice:
Don't fall for the self-improvement bullshit.

You don't have to have a morning routine, meditate, write in a journal and other 7 random daily habits.

You keep relapsing to bad habits and fail to stick to the new ones because they mean nothing to you. It's just a cookie cutter prescription made by a youtuber that encourages everyone to be the best version of themselves... by doing this one special morning routine followed by 1 million other idiots on their "self-improvement journey".

The real way to actually improve your life and character, is by taking decisive action and progressing towards the things that you find meaningful in life. Growth will happen as a byproduct of taking action and cannot be pursued directly.

Figure out what you want to do in life, and just do it.

There is no single path, no single "best version" of yourself, and certainly no single protocol or routine that can be applied to millions of people to improve their lives.