A very late 2022 recap...
and looking forward to what's left of 2023 😂
If you’ve been reading my newsletter for the past year, you would have gotten glimpses into ideas and projects I’ve started - many of which, after a short 12 months, are already dead in the water.
After taking time to look back on the monthly writing I’ve done, it was concerning to see how many things failed to get any traction and ended up getting left behind. And since most new years resolutions don’t make it past January 17th, I figured doing a year-end recap on February 9th was a great way to avoid that common pitfall.
2022 had a lot of good and bad, but inevitably, where I thought I’d be, and where I am are in no way resembling one another. Instead of feeling bad about it though, it’s a great time to remember the Mike Tyson quote below…
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth…” - Mike Tyson
Sometimes, game plans go out the window, so it’s best to be light on your feet and be ready to adapt.
A quick look back:
2022 was my first year where music wasn’t my full-time career.
(That said, still released a number of new records with other artists…)
I went from freelancing to employed, working with August & Junto.
I ditched one newsletter (Magic) and launched another. (The Come Up)
I went from not having LinkedIn to creating over 50 pieces of content, 100k+ impressions and building a following of 1000+ professionals largely in TO.
(my friends mockingly lovingly called me a “LinkedIn Guy” at a party a few weeks ago 🤮)
I hosted over 15 professional networking events for different industries.
We made some money, had a few laughs and frustrations along the way…
I mentioned a punch in the mouth…
Every idea inevitably gets punched in the mouth, and for Magic Newsletter, the knockout was legal nuance around marketing unregulated, off-market securities - nuance I was completely unaware of when I started.
(turns out, it’s kind of ‘illegal’ unless you are really, really careful 🤷)
It doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but made the growth and monetization tricky to navigate, and I also was sensitive to the fact that by sharing investment opportunities, people could mistakenly think I was vouching for a particular investment - something I couldn’t possibly do without really underwriting every deal.
Most critically though, I was building it while searching for sustainable income, and once I realized it may take longer than I thought to become profitable, it had to take a back seat.
I still think it is a great idea if done right, and that I should one day revisit it to make it whole again, but for now, Magic Newsletter is firmly on pause.
August Update:
🚀 Action > Overthinking…
It was a learning curve to say the least - Q3 & Q4 were dominated by trying to grow the August & Junto brands and bring in more money for both in the process.
The first few months were incredibly challenging…
I had no network,
truthfully, a very limited understanding of our service offerings,
and as a result had to learn quick.
At times, it felt like I was nothing more than a dog running around peeing on fire hydrants trying to mark my territory, but such are the realities when you’re inventing a playbook from scratch and constantly having to test different strategies.
Turns out, it’s hard to know what’s going to work without throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.
The silver lining was that it caused a massive bias towards taking action…
I’m a big believer that ‘doing stuff’, makes it easier to do more stuff,’ and so while challenging, I simultaneously felt a weight was lifted off my shoulders as I just started doing more of everything.
Luckily, we closed out the year with a few big wins:
Onboarded a new partner agency which led to new business
Landed a few new clients that should lead to a substantial amount of work
Won our first government RFP with another partner agency
So far, creating partnerships with non-competing agencies has seemed to be the fastest, most predictable way to drive new revenue, as searching for net new clients can at times feel a bit like trying to boil the ocean.
That said, we have a number of new initiatives we’re tacking on and want to use this momentum to continue to earn big wins this year.
‘The Come Up’ Update:
🧘 Consistency > Ideas…
I mentioned in December I launched something called The Come Up.
ICYMI, it’s a written-interview series that highlights business owners’ founding stories, and is meant to give a snapshot into the wins, losses and philosophies that helped them along the way.
If you’re into reading no-nonsense stories from business owners about their biggest wins and (often massive) failures, I highly recommend you check it out and subscribe.
Perhaps the long-form, 3000+ word interview style is a recipe for failure, but I find it more interesting than the oversaturated, and oversimplified Twitter threads like “5 ways I made 5 million dollars in 5 minutes…”
Hopefully others agree…
The same issues as any media publication apply:
consistently generate engaging content
create an effective growth strategy to increase subscribers
monetize (though I’m thinking about this yet)
So far, it’s gotten great feedback - tens of thousands of impressions across social media - and most promising, over 90% of subscribers are strangers, meaning it’s not just my old high school friends who are humouring me and trying to show support. (you know who you are!)
There may be setbacks, but I’m trying to prioritize consistency over any actual number of issues published.
Also - given the fact I unsuccessfully launched and abandoned another newsletter at the start of last year, the REAL goal is simply to have The Come Up still exist in 12 months time.
Shouldn’t be too hard. 🙃
📵 Turning my phone off in 2023…
You should know by now I am constantly struggling to reduce distractions, and win a war against the behavioural psychologists who have caused my smart phone addiction.
Despite all the 3rd party app blockers I’ve tried (and written about), I still struggle to meaningfully reduce distraction on a daily basis and am currently averaging:
180+ notifications per day
130 times picking up my phone per day
3rd party apps are cool, but I’ve finally resorted to an even simpler method:
I’m just going to turn it off.
That’s right - Sundays in 2023 are officially phone free days.
Not much to talk about there, as it’s pretty straightforward and obvious, but with that simple action alone,
I’m reducing my phone use by 14% per week.
So far I’ve found it to be incredibly refreshing, despite the fact I sometimes habitually reach for it throughout the day forgetting it’s off. Hopefully, I can expand upon this throughout the year, but it’s one small step that should have a great impact.
Sorry to everyone who has gotten my voicemail on Sunday - feel free to come by the house.
That’s all for now - I hope your New Years resolutions are still firmly in place and you’ve been having a great start to the year!✌️