Another year in the books, marking the end of a long, long chapter.

It's the end of yet another year. Something I've started to become more grateful for is just the very gift of life. I was fortunate to live another year, and it was the most healthy during that time (barring a cold or two). For this, I feel very fortunate.

As I did in my recap post last year, I have categorized my recap from a professional and personal life...

Professional Life was Slow... for Once

I'll get to the reasons why in my personal life update, but I'll just say that for the first time in my entrepreneurial life, things were slow in 2024.

At times this was difficult for me, but there were more moments where I was grateful that I didn't have as much going on. This afforded me the mental space to disconnect and not worry about constantly trying to make a project or vision a reality. It also meant that when I was working with clients, I was more focused on helping them with their situations (and they benefited).

Very Little Outbound Sales

At the end of 2023, I was having free consultation calls with a lot of people for my coaching and mastermind group. This involved a lot of cold outreach on my part, which was fine, but time-consuming and not all the free calls turned into paying clients.

This year, I think I had maybe two free calls in the January timeframe, one in the summer, and that's it.

As you would expect, my pipeline began to dry up, and there was a moment where my mastermind group became lean and mean.

But you know what? I liked it.

First, these folks were the most committed entrepreneurs. It comes as no surprise that they were all seeing success and making more money.

But second, it freed up my personal schedule quite a bit. This was something I needed because of the life events I had going on. Truth be told, I had zero motivation to try to get more clients this year.

Still Landed More Clients

Despite the lack of outreach on my part, I was still able to get some more clients. Sure, the pipeline was dry for long periods of time, but occasionally someone would reach out to me unsolicited, and after a little back-and-forth via email, we'd end up working together.

Overall, I'd say that I have a core group of clients who really get a lot out of my coaching because they listen, brainstorm, and implement the ideas that we discuss. There are others who are less active, but still appreciate the perspective that I can offer regarding their situations.

Finished the BrightGrowth Playbook

It took me way longer than I anticipated, but I finally finished writing the BrightGrowth Playbook. I've given access to everyone that I am currently coaching, and I continue to add content to it as I remember strategies and tactics I've used over the years. I also add insights that I gain from my coaching calls.

I think that next year I'll try selling access, but I'm in no rush to figure that out right now. The content is great, but I find that coupling it with coaching is what really enhances its applicability. In any event, it's a nice mini-project for next year, should I indeed decide to sell it.

Product Only Clients in 2025

I've had the opportunity to coach people across a variety of industries, both in and out of WordPress. Something I learned this year: while I enjoy coaching anyone in the WordPress space, I much prefer coaching product-based companies.

That's not to say I won't coach individuals with service-based offerings, but I will be focusing my outreach next year on founders of WordPress products. It's more fun for me, and seeing as I do coaching for fun, that's of critical importance.

Higher Education

I really enjoy coaching, and I'll continue to do it as long as that is the case. I am, however, becoming curious about other ways to spend my time professionally.

I've always had an interest in academia, so I recently reached out to my undergraduate and graduate school to share my story and desire to be a guest lecturer. Both replied with interest, so I'll be having some conversations as to how that could look in the new year.

I hope something works out. It could be a good way to “dip my toe” into the industry. If I like it, then I may pursue it more formally.

An Eventful Personal Life

From a personal standpoint, this year was good, but wow, it has been a bit of a rollercoaster of expectations.

Before getting into all of it, I'll start off by saying that I feel incredibly fortunate to live the life that we do. Despite the challenges we've faced, Lorena and I are both healthy. That in itself is arguably the most important thing, and it can't be overstated.

Which is actually a good introduction to the first, and most important, win of this year from a personal standpoint...

Lorena's Graves' Disease is in Remission

This was the biggest win of 2024.

Lorena was diagnosed with Graves' disease in May 2023, and it was quite the mental and physical battle for her. One thing that she did not want to do was take medicine for the rest of her life, but this was what every single doctor told us was necessary.

To her credit, Lorena refused to accept this. She started researching more about how the food we eat can have a profound impact on our health. She talked to nutritionists, dieticians, homeopathic doctors, and more. She tried some things, and when they didn't work out, she kept searching.

I'll write about it in more detail in the new year, but she finally landed on a whole food protocol designed specifically for people with thyroid issues. Well, it worked! She's in remission, and taking zero medicine for it!

Lorena Now a U.S. Citizen

Lorena has held a U.S. Green Card since she was a child. When we got married, we talked about the possibility of her becoming a U.S. citizen. Even before we met, she had always felt very comfortable with her life in the United States, both personally and professionally.

Well, in December 2024, she took her oath and officially became a U.S. citizen! It was a really cool event with over 1,300 people in attendance. The top five countries represented, in order:

1. Mexico 🇲🇽
2. Vietnam 🇻🇳
3. South Korea 🇰🇷
4. China 🇨🇳
5. Philippines 🇵🇭

The event took about four hours total, with the actual ceremony lasting about 40 minutes. With over 1,300 new citizens, there was a lot of family in attendance!

We Finally Moved

We bought our new home in May 2024, but didn't move until this month (December). There were a variety of reasons for this — flooding and water damage in both homes, being unable to sell the existing home, and design work in the new home taking longer than expected.

We finally just set a date and went for it. We live in Culver City now, and we're loving the conveniences and lifestyle. We live on a peaceful, tree-lined street that is only a five-minute walk to downtown. This means we can walk to coffee shops, restaurants, various gyms, and activities (my daily walk to the cafe is becoming a favorite activity).

It's about 15 minutes away from the beach by car, which is a tad longer than my two minutes in San Clemente, but that's the only tradeoff I feel that I've had to make.

I can't wait to get involved in the LA area. I'm already enjoying same-day Amazon deliveries!

Fewer Trips than Normal

The beginning of the year was busier with trips due to two weddings, but then we had to cut back on the travel because of the house situation. That lasted about six months longer than we anticipated, and it really hindered our ability to go anywhere.

This year, we were fortunate to go to:

• Cuernavaca for a wedding
• Playa del Carmen for a wedding
• Connecticut for a quick trip
• Mexico City for a family visit
• Chicago to visit my brother
• Connecticut again and New York to visit Lorena's sisters
• Michigan to visit my parents and friends
• Culver City, many times to do house stuff 😅

Most of our travel was for family, which is definitely not a bad thing. We will try to go to more places in 2025, including more long weekends driving around California. There is so much to see here, and we've only scratched the surface.

Spanish on Point

I haven't written much about my journey in Spanish lately, but probably because since I've reached fluency, I feel like I've just been slowly getting more solid in my conversational comprehension.

If I'm honest, I'm not entirely sure if I have the drive to get to that “next” level. I can say pretty much everything now. Maybe not eloquently, but it works. I'm also able to follow most conversations.

Currently, I listen to a Spanish news podcast a few times a week, take one to two private lessons with a tutor, and speak to Lorena and her family in Spanish. And now that I'm in the LA area, I speak Spanish with anyone who is willing. The more I just strike up conversations, the more confidence I get, and I always find myself learning something new.

All that said, the best way for me to improve at this point would be to read more. I'm terrible at making time to read in English, let alone Spanish. But, according to my tutor, reading is where it's at for my level. I'll make this a goal for Q1 next year.

Started Regular Mindfulness

This year, I started to be more deliberate in taking time to quiet my mind with mindfulness techniques. I've taken time to reflect upon this here on my blog. I find that even 10 minutes can leave me feeling more calm and less controlled by emotions. It has helped me to better recognize and live in the moment. I highly recommend it if it's not something you've done in the past.

I'll absolutely continue this practice. I'm trying to gain more inner balance and peace. So far, this has worked well.

Feeling Good about 2025

Something I've learned in my life is that I need to stop trying to predict the future. So with that in mind, I'll just say that I am optimistic about 2025.

I'm most looking forward to creating a new life in Culver City — exploring the neighborhood, hopefully making some friends, getting involved in various activities, among other things. If we're lucky, we'll throw some trips in there as well, and our health will continue down the right path.

Here's to making the next year the most eventful one yet!

#personal

It's November, so that means it's travel season.

Every November, Lorena and I begin our rounds visiting family. Typically, we make an annual trip at this time to Connecticut to either celebrate some birthdays or Thanksgiving. This year, we are going for some birthdays for a week.

There were a handful of visitors, so we stayed in a hotel in Norwalk, which was only 10 minutes or so from everyone. We celebrated our nephew's birthday, as well as the birthday of Lorena's youngest sister. As usual, we had some good laughs and made memories. There is comfort in tradition, and for about five years now, this has been a regular part of our lives.

After that visit, we flew directly to Michigan to stay with my parents and to see our other two nephews. My brother and his family drove in from Illinois, which gave us an opportunity to all be together (similar to when we visited them over the summer and my parents joined us).

Unfortunately, my brother could only stay for the weekend. Lorena and I spent more time with my parents (celebrating my dad's birthday), and then made a point to see some of my best friends, including one who just recently had a baby last month. That was really fun — we are very happy for them.

Thanksgiving this year will look different. Even though we're still trying to sell the house, we are moving to our new one in December. So, this year for Thanksgiving, we are going to be preparing for the big move. It'll be a lot of work, but it's exciting!

#personal

It has taken longer than expected, but I finally earned my fourth stripe in BJJ.

In April 2023, I decided to take up Gracie Jiu-jitsu. Well, a year and a half later, I have finally earned my fourth stripe as a White Belt. Not that I consider myself good. In fact, quite the opposite: I think I'm pretty terrible.

But, I'm better than anyone with no training... so I guess there's that!

The journey has been a long one to this point. I've seen people start after me, and advance quicker than me. However, many (if not most) of these people have also already quit. This is a hobby of determination and consistency. Like learning Spanish, I'm in this for the long run — making incremental improvements along the way.

Slow and Steady

My path has been full of doubt, injuries, taking breaks, starting over, and eventually coming back to my original gym. I spent significant time really coming to terms with the kind of experience I wanted to have with BJJ. I'm not getting any younger, and I realized that I needed to change the way I work out if I want to continue this into my later years.

I'm still a ways off from earning a Blue Belt, but hey, I'm a heck of a lot closer than I was a year ago. I'm grateful for that.

And well, this is the last achievement I'm likely to earn at my current gym as we are set to move to our new home in Culver City pretty soon.

#personal

My favorite place, one final time.

If there is one thing I have been grateful for during our time in San Clemente, it has been the proximity to the ocean. Spending an hour or so on the beach was never disruptive. It made it easy for us to just decide to go without much fuss. I also took multiple walks per week along the path that runs along the beach up to the San Clemente pier. I've always enjoyed the sounds and smells of the ocean.

The beach weather can be hit or miss in October. We've had a lot of fog as of late, and it has been quite chilly. But these last four or five days it has been beautiful. Perfect beach weather, in fact.

But yesterday was a beautiful day, so we decided to spend an hour or so in the sand. The sun was shining, and the water was cold (as is the case with the Pacific Ocean), but that didn't stop me from getting in. It occurred to me that it was also our last time going to the beach here in San Clemente.

By November, we'll have other things on our plate, especially since we are moving before the end of the year to Culver City. So it was good to get one last visit in before that happens. We'll still be close to the beach at our new place, but not less than a mile, like we are today.

All that said, I'm looking forward to going to the beaches around LA. Sure, they'll have a little more activity, but that's part of the fun.

#personal

Selling a house has never been so hard.

Since putting our home on the market, we've had countless open houses, a handful of showings, and a few folks who showed genuine interest. But, as soon as something looks to be going well, the potential buyer backs out.

At the center of all this was our realtor. At first, things were fine, but we started noticing that he would bend the truth with us, and on more than one occasion. I mean, we have cameras at the house, so inflating the number of visitors during an Open House is silly. Yet, he would do it every time. Let's just say that we had reached our limit, and it was time to try a different approach.

We have taken new pictures and relisted our home with another agency. We like their vibe. Hopefully this time we have more luck because I hate this limbo.

#personal

This has been a long time coming, and I'm ready.

I typically don’t say much about politics on my more prominent social media (like on my Twitter account), mainly because I consider Twitter to be an extension of my professional networking, and I don’t like to mix politics with that part of my life.

But it doesn’t mean I’m not political. Quite the opposite, actually.

Not many people know this, but one of my majors in college was Public Policy. I have strong convictions and opinions about social programs, policy, international relations, and the overall direction that I’d like to see for our country.

For my close friends and family, it’s no secret that I’m a registered Democrat. I’m far more vocal about all of this on my Mastodon account, if you’re interested in connecting there.

Mentally Taxing Election Cycle

It seems like the norm for election cycles these days is hate, anger, fear, mockery, fabrications, exaggerations, and flat-out lies.

The shit is tiring.

I try to stay up-to-date with what is happening, but everyone from mainstream media to YouTubers just harp on the drama. The crazy things said. The absurd statements. The outrage.

I look at the calendar and I can't believe we are still a couple of months away from the election. We are getting battered over the head with negativity. At least that’s how I feel, and it’s near impossible to stay fully engaged in the political process because of all the bullshit that is being thrown about.

But complacency is not an option.

The very clear reality is that this election is the most important one of my lifetime. Donald Trump is a disease on the collective conscience of this country. He’s a habitual liar, racist, womanizer, and convicted felon who left our country far worse than where we are today by almost every important metric.

Some people say they can separate policy from the person. Setting aside the fact that his policies really hurt our country, I simply cannot relate to anyone who goes through the mental gymnastics to claim his personal flaws do not matter. The man is a narcissistic sociopath on full display, and proud of it. It’s disgusting. He does not represent American values. He’s the antithesis of it.

The unfortunate side story here is that the Republican Party has been completely hijacked, and it might not even be salvageable at this point. The results of this election will determine what happens next for the GOP. Do they revert to the conservative values and talking points of Ronald Reagan, or do they double-down on the MAGA path of division, isolationism, and hate?

Look, I don’t agree with most Republican policy, but I did respect it from people like John McCain, Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, and Chris Christie. I have Republican friends and family who feel the same, and they are voting for Harris this cycle simply because they want their party back. I sincerely hope that they are able to feel comfortable again within their own party.

Civic Service is My New Path

As I knock on the door of 40 years old, I’ve been heavily evaluating the next phase of my life and what I want it to look like.

In my 20s, I had an insatiable desire to be an entrepreneur and to own my time. This gave rise to LearnDash and the incredible journey that took me on. I grew as a person, got to express my creativity, and learned more about business than any graduate school could ever teach. I played the game, and I won.

Following the sale of LearnDash, I’ve been trying to find that inner drive again. I tried land investing, podcasting for a bit, started another software company, until last year I finally landed on helping other entrepreneurs with coaching.

But business coaching isn’t my end game.

I enjoy coaching and my clients (who are more like friends at this point). I will continue to do it, but I don’t see it as my remaining purpose. Actually, since the ending of LearnDash, I have had this feeling that I want more out of my life than just entrepreneurial endeavors.

Which brings me back to this election cycle, and the fact that it has been a bit of an inspiration. It has reignited a passion that has been dormant in me for quite some time, one that I now feel capable of pursuing, freely.

Civic service is in my future. Hopefully one day as an elected official in my local government, but that’s a future goal for a later time. For now, it’s about starting out at a grassroots level as I look for ways to get involved in local initiatives.

That entire prospect energizes me, and I'm going to start as soon as we officially move to our new home in Culver City.

#politics #personal

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Stuck in the middle, and hating it.

In early summer, Lorena and I closed on a home as we look to move (one last time) to what is hopefully our long-time home. However, we have yet to move because we are still in our current home in San Clemente.

There are two reasons why we are in this situation. First, we have yet to sell our current home. This process has been harder than I imagined, I’ll admit. It wasn’t helped by the fact that we had a sewage backup and needed to take the home off of the market for a few weeks to do the necessary clean-up and repairs.

The second reason is that we are also doing renovations on our new home. This is exciting because we are really making the home feel like ours before we live in it. It’s very much in progress, so not living there is a good thing for the time being. It would be loud, dusty, and unlivable in some parts of the home. On top of that, though, we also experienced flooding at the new home!

So, that brings us to where we are: in limbo. We aren’t fully mentally here in San Clemente since we are trying to sell, nor are we mentally (or physically) in our new home. It’s a weird position to be in, especially for so long. We are frustrated, but still excited. For now, I’m just focusing on one day at a time.

#personal

Seeing family, boating, and laughs along the way.

Lorena and I took a long weekend to go visit my brother and his family in the suburbs north of Chicago. Normally, we see each around the holidays, but occasionally one of us will make a trip out to see the other. It was our turn.

It was a good visit, and always nice to see my nephews, who are growing up so fast it’s insane (at ages 11 and 13). I still remember the day the oldest was born! So crazy. They’ve settled in nicely with their life in the U.S. after six years living in England and Germany.

The big event of the trip was getting to see my brother’s new boat. The weather was decent, though a bit windy. It was nice, and fun to get a glimpse into the routine of my brother’s family. Apparently they do the boat thing nearly every weekend. Plus, my parents also came to visit for a night after celebrating their anniversary in the city, so we all got some time together as a family.

We spent the last day relaxing and then going to the Chicago Botanical Gardens. It was probably one of the better gardens that I’ve ever been to – we didn’t even see it all, and we were there for two hours.

We are back in California now, trying to sell this home so we can finally move to our new house — which has been the main stressor in my life for the past four months. Putting out the good vibes!

#personal

Making a big change... one last time!

Lorena and I have been living in San Clemente, California since January 2023, after moving from Austin, Texas. It’s easily the most beautiful place I have ever lived.

Situated less than a mile from the beach, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to go to the ocean – my favorite thing to do. There are palm trees all over, the sun is (almost) always shining, and the temperature doesn’t get too hot nor cold.

Without question, my favorite part of where we live is the ocean view from our upstairs living room, where I admired the sunset every evening.

That said, after some lengthy conversations for the past six months or so, we’ve decided that San Clemente is just not where we want to be for the long term.

Something Missing

To put it plainly: Orange County lacks the diversity we value.

Diversity in people, culture, thoughts, food, and activities. It’s closed off and slow. In San Clemente, you find either retirees, or San Clemente families who have lived here for generations. It’s not close to any real major city, so in many ways it feels like you’re stuck on an island.

At this stage of our lives, we desire more. We started to look at bigger cities again, specifically San Diego and Los Angeles. We actually met in San Diego, so it holds a special place in our hearts. But after a bit of conversation, neither of us were really that excited to go back. Nothing against the city personally, we just wanted to move onto something new and different.

Landing on Culver City

After ruling out anywhere south of San Clemente, our sights shifted north to Los Angeles. LA has the diversity we crave, and a vibe that we really mesh well with on a personal level. There are so many different neighborhoods, and each one has its own look & feel.

We spent many weekends taking trips up to learn more about the city and to see some homes. In the end, we found a place in Culver City. It’s a great mix of a family-oriented community with easy walkability to cafés, shops, and more. As an added bonus, it has its own school district, police, and other public services given that it is a separate city from LA.

We are thrilled to have landed in a place where we are excited about the daily life, and the opportunities. Now all we have to do is sell our home!

#personal

I’ve been playing online chess for a decade, which naturally means that I started later in life. I’ve played countless games over the years, at times more frequently than others. Chess online can be fun, but it can also get a little boring.

Typically, I play on chess.com and lichess.org, but recently I found the FIDE Online Arena (FOA). This is the online chess site sponsored by FIDE, the organizing body for all things chess in the world (similar to FIFA for soccer).

Anyway, I was checking it out, and I learned that they had chess titles for online players. Specifically:

• Arena Candidate Master
• Arena FIDE Master
• Arena International Master
• Arena Grandmaster

These are different from over-the-board titles:

• Candidate Master
• FIDE Master
• International Master
• Grandmaster

The Arena Candidate Master (ACM) title.

The prospect of working towards an official title online sounded appealing, so I signed-up and started playing FOA rated games. All I had to do was maintain a score of 1100-1400 for 100 blitz games. Easy, right?

Well, not so much. The FIDE Online Arena has strong players. On chess.com, my rating is typically 1800-1900. My rating on the FOA site started off in the low 1200s. I had to really focus if I was going to get this title.

So, I slowed down and started playing more sound openings. I started practicing tactics as well when I wasn’t playing games.

Last weekend, it all came to fruition as I earned my Arena Candidate Master title (with a rating of 1337), which appears on the official FIDE site.

I’m pretty happy about it if I’m honest. And no, this title isn’t something that’s highly respected in the hardcore chess circles (only over the board titles, like International Master and Grandmaster, get esteemed recognition).

But I don’t play in-person tournaments, so this is all I got.

I’m going to savor it for the time being and just get back to playing for fun. One day, I might try for the Arena FIDE Master. That’ll take a considerable effort, though. For now, I’m just enjoying this one.

#personal