As a final reflection for the year, I have found myself taking inventory of all the lessons I’ve learned. What worked, what didn’t, and what all was required of me. Some of these insights came easily, others through frustration and recalibration. None of them arrived all at once. This isn’t a highlight reel of my accomplishments. Rather, it’s a short list of business lessons I have learned in 2025.
Beginning in the new year, we will shift our focus to more business- and market-related conversations, but for now, I hope that this email serves as a pause—a moment to reflect, to take stock, and to close the year with a bit more intention than urgency.
Let’s get into it!
What gets measured is most likely to get accomplished.
This is one of the most important lessons I learned this year. I began to measure everything, and in doing so, I saw results faster than I anticipated. The strength of this approach is that progress and victories are clear, tangible, and easy to celebrate. The weakness, however, is that measurement can also drive anxiety or discouragement when you fall behind.
Having a written professional belief system is the most sustainable way to get through the down times.
I pulled this idea from author Nick Murray. I have a personal belief system—why wouldn’t I have a professional one? Fortunately, or perhaps ironically, that belief system was fully formed just a few months before Liberation Day in April, which tested many of the professional beliefs I had written down. This has lead to the creation of our firm’s financial planning principles.
For fun, here are a few beliefs I wrote down:
- I believe the greatest gift someone can receive is knowing that someone truly cares for them. (2/4/2025)
- I believe that although they project an image of stability, the Steelers are a mismanaged team that is not truly interested in accountability, but rather in maintaining the status quo. (Written in the immediate aftermath of being scorched for 299 rushing yards by the Ravens.) (02/08/25)
It’s never as good or as bad as you think.
This year had many ebbs and flows. I had an outstanding second quarter and was well ahead of the annual goals I had set. That progress was undone in the third quarter, when I found myself significantly behind schedule. But consistent effort tends to move results back toward the mean, and the year is ending as my best ever.
Everything happens slowly and quickly, all at once.
Progress often feels slow in the moment. Relationships being built and business development efforts underway tend to bear fruit in their own time—often all at once, when you least expect it.
I value goodwill more than any other business asset.
Everything about my business is built on my reputation and the trust my clients place in me. That is not a light responsibility, and it’s precisely why I value goodwill so highly. Warren Buffett puts it this way:
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”
Celebration is a choice, not a natural outcome.
Last month, during a business owner peer group I run, I shared that celebration does not come naturally to me. I am predisposed to seeing what’s broken or unfinished, which means I must make a conscious choice to see what is good. It’s impossible to give God the glory when you refuse to celebrate what He has done.
Understand the intent of why someone is seeking your help, and hold it dear.
My clients choose me for one simple reason: they believe they will be more secure having worked with me than they would be without me. I believe that’s why anyone hires a professional. A person’s sense of security—and that of their family—is sacred. Treat it that way.
Done is better than perfect.
The desire for “perfect” is often a disguise for avoiding hard things or delaying potential criticism. I spent ten minutes trying to come up with a tenth bullet point because nine felt incomplete and I worried people might think it was odd. Nobody cares. It’s done.
Don’t be afraid of zero.
Many business owners experience this each year—the annual reset, when revenue returns to zero. For me, questions like “Can I replicate this?” begin to surface. In some ways, that fear is healthy; it keeps me hungry. But as the psalmist reminds us,
“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1
Don’t be afraid of zero.
I don’t expect these lessons to remain static.
If experience has taught me anything, it’s that they will be refined, challenged, and occasionally contradicted by the seasons ahead.
But for now, they serve as markers—reminders of what I want to measure, protect, celebrate, and trust as the calendar turns. My hope is that somewhere in this list, you connect with something you’ve been sensing but haven’t yet put into words. And as we step into a new year, may we do so with clarity so that we may all
stay the course,
