2016 Year in Review
I want to start a tradition whereby I analyze the year I’ve had and prepare for the next one during the last week of the year. To do so I’m borrowing a format from James Clear who writes an annual review.
I will combine the annual report and the integrity report he does as well, but changing it slightly to suit my personal and business life.
These are the questions I’m answering -
- What are the core values that drive my life and work? How am I living and working with those values right now?
- What went well this year?
- What didn’t go so well this year?
- What am I working toward?
- What are my tangible goals next year?
- What is my 90-day action plan to start the year?
1. What are the core values that drive my life and work? How am I living and working with those values right now?
I have 6 core values: Wealth, Legacy, Persistence, Growth, Potential Fulfillment, and Self Respect
- Wealth — Am I taking steps to reach my oath?
Yes.
I took an oath in September of 2014 that I would build a business worth $10 million within 10 years. Not because of greed, but because I see wealth as a prerequisite to doing your best work and to building a legacy on this planet. Feather Laundry, the business I started in 2016 is the vehicle that will hopefully get me there or teach me the lessons I need to learn to get there.
- Legacy — Am I working towards the legacy I hope to leave?
Yes.
The legacy I hope to leave is one of building successful organizations that propel humanity forward. In addition to building Feather Laundry, my work with The Writing Cooperative this year helped to accomplish that goal.
- Persistence —Am I sticking with it through thick and thin?
Yes.
Building successful organizations takes years of persistence. I made persistence an afterthought by creating an environment for myself where I cannot quit. There is no going back to the life I lived before, no matter how badly I want to. To be sure, I’ve wanted to many times. I miss the comfort.
But I had to make a change. My brother’s illness gave me the perspective I needed to finally make that change. To fully change, Oliver Emberton says you must walk through 2 doors. I walked through the first door (quit my job and moved to a new city), now I’m making my way towards the 2nd door.
I’m doing this for my family and our future. And also because regret is a motherfucker, especially on your deathbed.
- Growth — Am I building habits that lead to continual improvement?
Yes.
I have gone all of 2016 without a single Adderall. To some, this may not seem like much of a feat, but to me it is a sign of tremendous growth. This combined with my commitment to 7 habits this year (more on this below) I am really satisfied with my performance. Waking early is my weakest of the 7 and the one I’m really focusing on right now.
- Potential — Am I living up to my potential right now?
No.
This one I struggle with because I know I have the potential to be financially self-sufficient, meaning I can pay for my life without assistance from others. I am not there and I will not feel whole without meeting this baseline standard for my life. The guilt of leaning on my brother weighs on me heavily. Looking at 2017, self-sufficiency will be my primary gauge of whether or not I am successful or happy.
- Self-Respect — Am I giving myself permission to be happy with where I am right now?
No.
See the previous answer. I do not deserve respect until I meet the very basic standard of being able to pay for my own life. I’m devoting the next year of my life to correcting this answer.
2. What went well this year?
My brother won vs. lymphoma and I got to live with him for an entire year. Without a doubt the best thing to happen this year.
I’m also proud of the fact that I was able to build a company to $25k sales in 10 months. That relatively tiny number represents a great deal of work. It also represents a path to success. It tells me that, though it will take time, I can make this happen. I can make this company successful.
I’m also happy with how well I stuck to my 7 daily habits this year. From hardest to accomplish to easiest they are 1) waking up early, 2) focusing on work, 3) exercising, 4) remembering to post on Instagram, 5) meditating, 6) cleaning, and 7) writing.
I track my daily habits using the Jerry Seinfeld method with the Chains app.
Your chain becomes gold when you complete the habit everyday for a full month. I will soon reach my goal of 7 simultaneous gold chains. Soon!
3. What didn’t go so well this year?
Time management. I wasted a lot of time. I was constantly distracted. Mostly by politics but also often by entertainment. Even though I’m proud of my sales I know I could have done much better with better time management, with working harder and smarter. I need to spend my time on the things with the highest ROI for my business to reach the point of self sufficiency.
I also had a lot of negativity this year. In almost every aspect of my life — personal, work, politics, sports, tragedies, I kept getting punched in the gut. The year had a generally negative tone to it, and I felt the lows pretty harshly. The guilt of being a financial burden on my brother and his fiance was at times overwhelming.
Meditation has been instrumental in helping me deal with it all. I use the Calm app for daily guided meditations.
4. What am I working toward?
My oath of building a business worth $10 million by 2024. That oath is 2 years old and it still stands. But for the most immediate future, I am working towards self-sufficiency. The most important upcoming milestone is positive cash flow. This to me means the business pays for itself and for a meager salary for me to live on, while increasing the amount of cash in the bank month over month.
5. What are my tangible goals next year?
- 3 consecutive months of positive cash flow.
- Ending the year with more cash in the bank (from revenue not loans or investments) than what we started the year with.
- 10 new deals with institutions (residences, hotels, office buildings, or gyms) to advertise in their facility or work directly for them.
- 52 weeks of publishing this blog series every Sunday as part of The Writing Cooperative 52-week writing challenge.
6. What is my 90-day action plan to start the year?
My action plan is a sales blitz whereby I walk into luxury residences and pitch Feather Laundry to the property managers. I’m not horrible at sales, but I’m not great either. I have an ineffable fear of door-to-door sales. I know intuitively that I must overcome this fear for my business to succeed.
I’m using the start of the new year as a catalyst to aggressively execute this door-to-door plan. I picture myself putting together a presentation, putting it in a suitcase, wearing a suit, and walking into meetings with property managers. I’ve been pounding this image into my head for weeks. It’s time to make it a reality.
Finally I want to say a special thanks to people who’ve been following my work and encouraging me this year: Todd Hannula 🤓, SF Ali, A.H. Chu, Malachi, Cynthia Koo, Jessica Jungton, Farbod Farnia, and many others. Thank you so much for your support!
Here’s hoping a wonderful 2017 for all of us!
This story is part of a series documenting the journey of a Dallas startup called Feather Laundry. For your reference here is the Table of Contents for the series.
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