Final Year in Review

The Lead - Final Year in Review

Hey folks! This is my final newsletter of 2025. Going to take the next two weeks off to reset and plan for the year ahead. Let’s be honest, you weren’t going to read this on Christmas Eve or NYE. If you were, I appreciate you.

We’ll consider this the final edition on the theme of looking back, and I’d like to take this opportunity to do some self-reflection on what’s transpired over the last year for me. I hope it provides some helpful insight for you, but at a minimum some encouragement as you do the same.

A year ago this time I was wrapping up one of the best quarters in my career as a sales person. While from a revenue sold standpoint, I don’t know that it was the best but I do know I was really proud of the work that was done.

Coming off a very busy conference season, my schedule is was packed to the brim. I was doing discovery calls basically all day, every day. It was a grind. I was feeling ready for some rest.

Pretty quickly into 2025, it was clear that some doors were being opened for me to go embark on this new adventure that is now BrightReach. But the path forward wasn’t abundantly clear. There was a lot of uncertainty, coupled with excitement.

I’d imagine that many of you who have started businesses felt a similar tension. You can collect as many data points as you can, analyze to the best of your ability, but still not be certain that what you want to do is 100% viable. Even if it is, that’s no guarantee you’ll be able to be successful. The only way to be certain is to take the leap and find out.

In March, that’s what I did. It’s amazing to reflect on how my thoughts and perspective have evolved over that short amount of time. I’ve learned a great deal, and been stretched tremendously. I still have much to figure out, and undoubtedly will continue to grow.

When I hit the six month mark, I reflected here about some of the lessons learned. I suspect I’ll do that again around the one year mark, so I’m not looking to dep dive on that now. But I will take this opportunity to reflect and offer some encouragement for sales people and entrepreneurs alike.

A lot of the world has funny caricatures of sales people in their minds. The free wheeling rebels who make their own rules, do whatever they want, make lots of money etc. Some of those characterizations might be true. But I consistently remind clients I work with, that if sales was easy everyone would do it. The truth is we put ourselves out there in a way most roles/people would be terrified to do. Especially true when you own a business.

The reality is that with the rewards both financially and in freedom of time, also come rejection. You have to grapple with how that rejection effects you personally. Rejection can easily become a reflection of who you are as a person. Your identity can be tied up in the results. That’s not easy.

I feel fortunate to say that I’ve experienced a great deal of success this year. But it’s easy to think more about the failures, and deals I didn’t ultimately win. There are things I could’ve done differently, resources I could’ve deployed better, of course. I can take myself down a road of what could’ve been pretty easily.

While those things can still be true, they’re not ultimately productive for the future. Being hard on myself about the missed opportunities or failures doesn’t inherently mean that the future will be better. What is productive, is to consider what I want to do moving forward that will make me and my business better.

One word that comes to mind is consistency. It applies in a very tactical way; for example testing a concept for a long period of time, versus quickly getting discouraged and pivoting. But it also applies to the habits of my daily life that put me in the right head space to be most productive.

The flip side of this self awareness would be to look at my year and feel overly confident about what occured. I did everything the best I could, I only lost deals because those people “didn’t get it”. Obviously this is equally unproductive. It’s not the way I think, but there are people who think this way. They won’t grow long term because they think too much of themselves, and lack humility.

The trick is living in the tension. I know I can get better, and I want to, but I won’t dwell on the failures. I’m making a choice not to be paralyzed by my own limitations. You can quickly put yourself in a box that holds you back.

So as you reflect on 2025, my encouragement to you is that this year doesn’t define you as a person. Self awareness is a good thing, but it can lead to thinking less of yourself if you let it. Looking back and reflecting can be a useful tool for getting better, if you consider it an opportunity rather than an indictment.

As I consider my year, I’m holding the good and the bad. I’m willing to acknowledge the limitations I’ve noticed but they don’t define me as a person. They don’t dictate the future unless I let them. That’s a choice we each have to make for ourselves.

If your year didn’t go to plan, that’s ok. How will you respond?

If your year was fantastic, good. How can you build on that?

Be gracious. Be humble. And don’t spend too much time dwelling on yourself. It’s not all about you.

May you find rest during these final weeks of the year, see you in 2026.