It's that time again

Hello again my friend,

I hope you had a wonderful holiday.

It feels so good to be writing again. My holidays were spent taking time off for some much-needed rest and traveling (greetings from Mexico City).

With two weeks off, I’ve realized a few things.

First, it’s wild to think that my little side hustle, Lumiere, has made it to 18 months and is producing a steady income, while I work on it part-time, with no outside funding, and pretty much zero dollars spent on marketing.

Second, beehiiv is on pace to be worth a billion dollars (or close to it) by the end of this year. I always knew we would do well when I joined in 2022, but the scale is still wild to comprehend. For so many years I wondered how startups did it. Now I know and am part of it.

Third, I’ve been writing 1,000 to 1,500 words a week while working full-time, running a side hustle, and handling everything else. Just sticking to the habit feels great.

Am I grateful? Of course. There’s a lot I’m grateful for that won’t make today’s list. And that’s okay. Like many of you, I also consider myself ambitious and have goals.

You can be grateful and ambitious at the same time. Gratitude grounds us. Ambition moves us. And the good news is that, mentally, you can remind yourself to be both as needed.

While resolutions are overrated and I can’t stand them, goals are awesome.

So in today’s post, I’ll list mine and share a few useful things I’ve got my eye on for 2026.

Let’s lock in.

The professional one.

I’ve worked at this company for over 3 years, have equity, have spent absurd amounts of overtime responding to customers, writing tickets, etc. How could I spend the hours, every weekday (and some weekends), working on something and not make a goal for it?

The business has never been in a better position to continue crushing, and I’m beyond excited for what’s next. If you want to start a newsletter, reply, and I can help you get started.

The personal, creative one.

I’m throwing off my schedule for the sake of lining up these goals (since Lumiere is 18 months in), but whatever. In the last 12 months, I completed almost 250 orders not including smaller sales in cash for friends, family, etc. It feels like a big jump (4x), but in real terms, we’re just getting started, so feels doable.

The uncomfortable one.

It’s no secret that I’m self-conscious about putting myself out there and posting content. But it’s also true that it’ll change the game for my career and business if I do. Posting 80 times over a year, when you really think about it, should be pretty easy. Re-posting does not count.

Let this be an example that even if it might feel like a silly goal, it doesn’t matter, if it’s something you struggle with, write it down and pursue it. If I can turn my fear of putting myself out there into a goal, you can do the same for whatever might seem silly as well.

The really annoying one.

Income taxes in Canada can reach up to 53%+. There are taxes levied on companies that supply our food, gas, housing, and more. We don’t see any of these taxes, but they increase the costs of living.

Towards the end of 2024 I started to re-do everything on how I structured my business, personal finances, bank accounts, etc. These changes (and I’m being completely upfront with you) were worth more than a 25% raise.

Yes, I did pay accountants and lawyers for help, but it was obviously worth it. What’s wild is that there’s still so many more areas to do better here. 2026 is the year I complete all of this boring legal/accounting work.

The fun ones.

Everything so far has been business/money related, which is fine. But there are some personal things I’d like to address.

Self-explanatory, but ideally without spending a ton of money to make it happen. It may not be obvious to most, but if I spend $15,000, I’ll hit this goal in a matter of months. The point is not to have to do that (but I’m obviously not above it).

Accountability is often a buzzword that’s abused, but there are moments when it’s important. Personal goals are one of them. I’m excited to share progress, and hopefully learn about what you have going on as well.

As always, thanks for reading!

My favourite finds from the past week.

The best video on “world building” in marketing I’ve ever seen.

The greatest post on X so far this year (and last year). Courtesy of Tyler Denk in Big Desk Energy.

The story of an 80-year-old and how they would feel if they were 32 again, if just for one day. I won’t forget it.

The State of Newsletters Report from beehiiv. Insights after analyzing 28B emails.