How I'm Starting 2025...

In 2021, 4 years ago, there was a blank slate in front of me.

I had moved away from the day-to-day CEO role at Ampush 6 months prior. I had moved to St. Louis 6 months prior. I had taken a break and was energized to start anew.

I wouldn't recommend what I did next.

I started 4 companies in a matter of 6 months (including Gateway X). Kahani is dead. Unbloat is dying. GrowthAssistant is thriving (and that's the one I expected to be the most modest!).

A year ago, Aux was on its 3rd project (it’s now 20 projects deep!) and this newsletter was 20% of the size it is today, while lacking both a CEO and business model.

This year, if you follow along, you'll know I'm NOT STARTING A NEW BUSINESS.

The reason is simple: I don't want to.

Partially it’s energy. Partially I don't think it’s the right thing to do.

I used to resist my energy and rationalize going hard ALL the time. EVERY year had HUGE goals, push HARDER and TAKE NO PRISONERS.

Today, I quiet that voice, I listen to my energy and I trust it.

You see, there are seasons to the entrepreneurial journey.

Some weeks are different and some YEARS are different.

Some years are, “start 4 new businesses!” Others are, “Get things working!” Still others are, “Start nothing new.”

I believe that, by honoring the ebbs and the flows of the journey, not only will you succeed more but you can sustain and enjoy the journey (which is the point, right?).

So I'll tell you how I'm starting my year.

There are TWO big things on my mind right now.

First, my goal is to have by mid-year the entire portfolio of companies "runrating" ~$10M in PROFIT, while taking < 50% of my time.

Reaching that goal will be a signal to me that we achieved scale and robustness while freeing me up to be creative and explore what might be next.

So as I planned for my time for Q1 and 2025, I stayed away from visionary stuff (which is my norm), dreaming of what might be in 2026 or beyond.

Of course, we have visions and roadmaps for each company but I didn't put energy there.

Second, my energy went tactical, TO AN EXTREME. I specifically filtered for:

A) What does each business need the most to hit that sustainable profit goal, which

B) I can UNIQUELY provide (to compliment/help the CEO), and that

C) ENERGIZES me, and ultimately

D) WILL free my time up/provide leverage for each company’s CEO

It's not glamorous but here are my top 2 focus areas for each company.

1) Uplevel the Content

This is a combination of WRITING more and sharing even more, but also reviewing things that go out across social, infoproducts, mastermind, and our accelerators.

I want it to be uniquely me.

2) Paid Social/Acquisition

Guess what? We launched paid social for BG and it’s going amazingly well!

I have a former Ampusher moonlighting on it and within weeks, we are acquiring emails at a "negative" CPL (i.e. people sign up and enough are buying our infoproducts, like the Sales Blueprint, Accelerator & Annual Planning Bundle) that revenue is fully offsetting the ad cost — and then some.

Why? The brand and content is me. I can make it better. And great content is critical to the business’s success.

Imagine if we can scale paid 5-10x from here. Think of how much leverage and opportunity that will create!

There's also an interplay/flywheel of great content→ acquisition→ more resources for great content.

1) Recruiting, Especially Senior Roles

We've gotten to the exciting place at Aux where "demand" is no longer a problem.

We have more PE firms looking for what we do than the ability to deliver for them.

Enter recruiting. It’s something I enjoy a ton, am great at and especially for senior roles it will really help Kasey.

2) Project Delivery Review

Meet each internal team each week. This is a simple, consistent touch point internally where I can hopefully be of service to the project teams.

The idea is to problem-solve and provide ideas and resources that help them deliver a better end product. Think "expert partner" at a consulting firm.

Unbloat has only one focus.

1) Find a Home for It

It’s time to end the journey. If you'd like to buy it, let me know… I will give you a great deal :)

Why? It’s now become a distraction.

It’s clear that time is better spent on other businesses, given their scale, growth and promise.

1) Outbound Selling to My Network

As we reviewed the biggest accounts for GA in 2024, we noticed something similar across the board.

Not vertical or company type. But: strong contact with Jesse. We also noticed I had stopped calling on my network. That changed on Jan 1st.

I'm doing a handful of reach-outs every day now and it already feels promising.

2) Marketing Capability

GrowthAssistant has grown with very little marketing investment. Between my network and social, we've gotten to almost $20M ARR (which tells you, it's really Adrianne's skill in finding amazing talent and growing accounts!).

This year, we're investing much more in content, paid, and other areas. I'll be there supporting the team!

Outside of this, my big focus for Gateway X in 2025 is to learn and go deeper in AI.

A good friend mentioned that AI is today the way Bitcoin was at $10.

I agree. It’s like the internet in 1998.

I don't have a plan per se but I trust that time spent learning, using and playing with AI at the studio-level will pay off in big ways.

It’s specific, tactical and aims to grow/stabilize the businesses while giving me time back. Depending on what season you are in, give this approach a try and tell me if it’s effective!

jesse

ps This change gives me more space to work on the B2B Sales Accelerator. If you’re interested in joining, book a call with Andrew and his team.