It’s another end of year for the WRAP and I want to start by saying “Thank You” for a great 2023 together. I’m very pleased the newsletter had the best year of growth since it really took off in 2019 — 4,500 new subscribers — 35% growth.
The majority of the new subscribers came in through ConvertKit’s Creator Network, so an extra thank you to everyone who was referred to the WRAP by people like Kieran Drew, Dan Runcie, Jay Papasan, Justin Moore, and Pat Flynn!
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The W.R.A.P. Method for Annual Reviews
W.R.A.P. originally started as a weekly review method, but I’ve expanded it to look back and answer questions about any stretch of time, including the annual review. Here are the four questions I ask myself…
[Wins] What went well? What am I proud of in 2023?
[Results] What were the results of my goals and intentions in 2023?
[Alignment] Are my actions and habits aligning with the person I want to be?
[Pivot] Based on my 2023 review, what do I want to pivot—or plan—in 2024?
Wins — Personal
- You dear reader, are among the first to publicly know that my wife and I are expecting our 4th child in summer 2024! We’re very excited 🙌
- I continued in EMDR therapy through the summer before taking a break. We made it through 12 years old 😅 I plan on going back, but the 2 hour sessions and cost were both a hinderance for now.
- I had a series of Twitter/X posts go viral to very well about being a Dad. This brought in my largest influx of new followers since I started doing productivity content, led to a 300+ member Slack community, and the Daily (D)Advent emails from this month.
- We took family trips to Jacksonville (my hometown), Asheville (our prior home), and Ft Collins (visit my cousin). I also had another incredible trip to Craft + Commerce conference in Boise and played golf at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.
Wins — Professional
- I focused more on a sales role for the business this year and responded with my best year ever. Whatever Co was acquired by Good People Digital, where I am now a managing partner.
- Automatic Evergreen, our flagship newsletter service, helped launch 35+ newsletters in 2023 and worked with some very big names. Unfortunately as a ghostwriting service, I can’t really share their names 😆
- After knowing I should write more online for years, I have posted every single day on Twitter/X since the beginning of June. I narrowed my content focus to newsletters, courses, and how to help creators grow. As noted above, I took intentional breaks to post about Dad content, which was very fun and helped me make many new friends online.
- We hired a good friend of mine to run newsletter operations for Automatic Evergreen, freeing me up to focus more on sales, content, and community in 2024.
- I turned a near-disaster of a client launch into a partnership that led to $360,000 in revenue for the client. We’ve even become friends!
Based on these experiences and wins, I’ve become more confident, comfortable, and calm in 2023 than I was in 2022. That doesn’t mean I don’t have bad days, snap at my kids, act moody, ignore my friends, and worry that everything is going to fall apart… but I pull out of those moments much faster and remember that those are just thoughts and not the real me.
I learned a lot about myself, but applying those lessons takes constant vigilance. I’m on a roller coaster and looking to enjoy the ride more and be at peace.
Results
- I did not do or achieve as much as I hoped (as is tradition). I used to be more disappointed by this, but then I realized how I need to reset my expectations and better align with the reality of growing a business, being a good dad and husband. There’s a healthy balance and often my “unrealized” goals come from a lack of clarity.
- Good physical year (woo!) with workouts but battled injury (dislocated thumb). Still hit over 150 workouts for the year, which is my benchmark.
- Another lost YT year — this continues to be a disappointment but I am back, baby! Watch the 2024 Bullet Journal Setup video and give it a thumbs up!
- Threw myself a big 40th birthday party — bounce house, brewery visit, all my best friends. It was a great weekend.
- Read a lot — 28 books and over half were fun fiction books. Check out the list.
- I coached Canaan’s baseball teams and started helping with Ben’s BJJ class — a lot of fun to be involved with their activities.
- I stopped drinking alcohol for August and eating refined sugars. Since then I have consumed far less alcohol, even 1 beer feels like an effort. That said, I received a lot of great bourbon for my birthday, so it might just be a brown water switch.
- I didn’t do as good a job with budgeting and saving as I wanted to this year. It’s a big focus for Morgan and I in 2024.
- Professionally, I did not feel I grew as a CEO, but I made strides in business development and marketing, gaining trust and confidence in the company and with clients.
- I validated the newsletter business model and laid the groundwork for growth in content creation leadership in 2024.
In 2023, my strategy and goals were a bit better than 2022, but the years felt strikingly similar. The year felt like a blur, constantly trying to stay ahead or catch up.
The most disappointing aspect of 2023 continued to be neglecting YouTube. Between a new baby, a new business, and prioritizing my health, YouTube took a backseat. My goal for 2024 is to focus more on sharing ideas and lessons instead of trying to make every video “as good as it can be” — because that has led to very few videos coming to life.
Now, let’s explore if my daily actions align with my life’s purpose.
Alignment
Yes, I am aligned with who I am and who I want to be.
But… I often think I don’t have enough time or money. No matter how much I have, I always want more space, security, margin for my family. I wonder if it will ever be enough. It’s not a question of getting rich (though I am open to trying it out). I’ve made the same or less money since I started the full-time creator journey — which is not the thing you often hear on social media. Which makes me think I’m doing it wrong (though that is less often than before).
Another lesson I learned this year is that it’s ok to shift identities for a season if that’s what the business or your family needs. With the business, I had to focus the most on sales and getting revenue in the bank. I’m good at that, but some of the grind of prospecting and follow-up were things that I don’t gravitate to. I have to be an asshole to myself to stick with it. But it’s because I was able to stick with it that I’m able to shift back to content and community in 2024.
Overall, I made good progress towards my goals and values. When I think about where I started at the beginning of the year, I realize how much I have learned and grown. I now have the skills to sell, present myself well, and confidently share my ideas. While I see positive results from my current focus on operations and sales, it doesn’t completely match who I want to be and my vision for the future.
Pivot
Looking ahead to 2024, I want to find a better balance between creating valuable content and managing business development. I want to grow the company and also nurture my own creative projects, like YouTube and the Digital Dad content.
My focus is about finding the right balance between these two parts of my work life. Personally I want to meditate on the gratitude of everything going well in life, and not get stuck on whatever problem my monkey-mind wants to throw at me.
One of the projects to keep an eye on at the start of 2024 is I’m organizing and hosting a live summit for content creators January 22—26. It’s going to be one of the premier events for creators and have lots of fun opportunities for content and community the rest of the year.
TL;DR by AI 🤖
Disclaimer: this section was outlined by AI. Just is missing some soul, don’t you think? But I would overthink this section to make it as long as the rest of the newsletter. I cleaned it up a little bit, but it’s only meant to be a recap.
In 2023, I had a great year for the WRAP newsletter, with a 30% significant increase in subscribers. I also rebooted my YouTube channel and launched a community for Dads.
Personally, my family is expecting a fourth child in summer 2024, I continued therapy, and gained new followers and connections through viral Twitter posts. Professionally, I achieved success in sales, launched multiple newsletters, and formed valuable partnerships.
Despite some challenges, I grew more confident and learned to navigate through difficult moments. While there were areas for improvement, such as neglecting YouTube and budgeting, I validated my newsletter business model and set goals for content creation in 2024.
Looking ahead, I intend to strike a better balance between creating content and business development, while also maintaining gratitude and peace of mind. I’m in this for the long haul and excited about the new year to come!
Back to me, the real Matt 👋 Seriously, thanks for reading the WRAP this year. I’m very grateful to each of you and for everyone who has replied to emails, shared feedback, and commented on YouTube videos or Twitter posts.
Next week I’ll post my goal setting strategy for 2024 — nothing like public accountability! The YouTube video will be out before then, so keep an eye on your notifications!
Happy New Year,
Matt