Author: Adam Albrecht

Adam Albrecht is the Founder and CEO of the advertising and idea agency, The Weaponry. He believes the most powerful weapon on Earth is the human mind. He is the author of the book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? He also authors two blogs: the Adam Albrecht Blog and Dad Says. Daughter Says., a Daddy-Daughter blog he co-writes with his 16-year old daughter Ava. Adam can be reached at adam@theweaponry.com.

Top 10 Must-Have Software for Startups

There has never been a better time to start a business. Because so much of the infrastructure needed to run a business is simply a small stack of software that you can set up and run online. The software needs of a newborn business may seem intimidating from the outside. But they are easy to find, easy to implement and easy to scale. Like Eazy-E. To help make it even easier for you to start your own business, I am sharing the ten software suggestions to get your startup party started right.

One of the first things we did when we created The Weaponry in 2016 was set up a series of software accounts. This, in essence, becomes your operational center. It’s super easy to set up. And generally quite affordable to maintain. Not only are the software accounts scalable, which means you pay a small amount for a small business, and then slowly increase your payments as your needs or size increase, but there are free versions or free trial periods of many software offerings that allow you to try them out before you get too deep.

Here’s a quick overview of the software systems we use to run The Weaponry.

Google Workspace is the central hub of our business. It offers email. It offers Google Docs for writing. (I also write my books on Google Docs.) It provides Sheets for spreadsheets (not bed sheets) and Slides for building decks and presentations. (Not playgrounds.) It offers an online calendar, chat, a file storage drive for documents and much, much more. Microsoft Office also offers this type of functionality. Choose your favorite and get businessing!

We use Slack for instant communication. This is the primary venue for our teams day to day communication. This takes a lot of unnecessary traffic out of your email inbox. You can have real-time communications and share files instantly on this platform. Think of it like a super chat platform. (Or chatform.) You can create dedicated channels for specific accounts, departments or teams. There is a ton you can do for free. Or you can upgrade and also use Slack to store all of the documents you ever share on the platform. Which is cool. I also find that Slack is a better platform for sharing funny comments than email because it is quicker. And the little emoji responses make it feel like people think you are funny. (Just in case funniness is important to you.)

Quickbooks is the accounting software we use to track and manage all of our accounting. This is the heart of our accounting world. You connect all of your business bank accounts and credit cards here. It makes it easy to create and send invoices (bills) and to know what is due and when. It also provides reports (profit and loss, profitability, balance sheets, etc.) and dashboards that help you manage your business. You can set up Quickbooks to receive payments from your clients, including via credit cards. Get this going as soon as you can afford to. It will become the backbone of your accounting system. And your business’s scoreboard. It helps make everything official, and easy to share with your tax accountant when it is time to talk taxes. And best of all, Quickbooks is not the book equivalent of quicksand. (Just in case you were wondering.)

We use Harvest for all of our time tracking and reporting. Our team members enter the time they spend on each task, project, or client on a daily basis. This easy-to-use software helps us track our labor costs for every client. Plus it enables us to track our staff utilization. So we always know how much of our team’s time is billable. Which helps you know when you should hire more people. However, this software does not let us know the best time to harvest the stuff we grow in our gardens. I hope they fix that in the next update.

We use Asana as our project management tool. We use this to help house important information like timelines, files, overviews, and due dates on each project, by client. This becomes the central hub for all information needed to deliver a project. Like The Manhattan Project, The Alan Parsons Project, or The Mindy Project.

We use Gusto to process our payroll. You want a payroll processing software to help make sure you are automating everything in accordance with the IRS as well as state and local laws related to taxes and various benefits. Plus, it just makes your life a lot easier when you’re not wanted by the feds for tax evasion.

We use Guideline to provide and administer our 401(k) plan. Guideline is offered as a partner through Gusto. That makes it an easy add-on when your organization is mature enough to offer this great employee savings and retirement benefit. Which is kinda like hitting puberty for a startup. Only without the bad skin.

We use DropBox for file storage. This works as both a server and as a way to share and request large files with clients and partners. As an advertising and ideas agency, we create and move a lot of large files. Like art files, video files, X-Files and Simone Files.

We use Zoom for video conferencing. Thanks to the COVID-19 global pandemic, everyone on the planet knows about Zoom. At The Weaponry, we’ve been using Zoom for both internal and client meetings from day one. Because our clients are all over the country and in Canada. Not to mention we have worked with great clients in England, France and India. (Except I did just mention them. Which ruins the not-to-mention thing.) Google Meet also works well, and is offered as part of the Google Workspace. And if you go with Microsoft software you can use Teams.

We use Grasshopper as our virtual phone system. As a startup business you don’t need a receptionist or a fancy phone system. Grasshopper and options like it allow you to create a virtual system that connects your teams’ mobile phones and makes you appear professional and organized in a way that transcends simply using your personal phone as the phone number for the business. (Which of course is fine to do in your early stages. Part of the charm of a baby business is having a voicemail that says, ‘Hi, you’ve reached Billy’s voicemail, and the world headquarters for Galactic Pickles.)

Specialty Software

You will also find specialty software available for your specific industry. In our world, those things include the Adobe Creative Cloud for all creative development software including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and more. We use Figma when creating websites. A quick Google search will help you discover the useful software services available to you and your industry online.

To Shop or Not To Shop…

There are plenty of other options for each of the software offerings shared above. But my goal is not to list all the options. It is to show you what you can grab today and get going so you don’t put off your great business idea any longer. I encourage you to look at these options first, and if you have a problem with something they don’t offer that you want or need, keep looking. But don’t let research and shopping turn into procrastination and delay. The key is to get going. And get rid of all the things that are stopping you from starting. Which sounds funny, but it’s true.

Key Takeaway

It has never been easier to set up your business infrastructure online. Start with the relevant software shared here. Shop for potential alternatives if these options don’t serve your specific needs. Many of these are available as free versions to get started, or for very low trial rates. The software offerings make it easy for you to set up a fully functional business quickly. So don’t let your infrastructure needs delay your entrepreneurial dreams. You don’t even need an IT expert to get these resources up and running. I am living proof of that.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

If you want to start a successful business, start getting involved in your community. 

You’ve heard the saying that it takes a village to raise a child. Well, the same principle applies to creating a business. Because you need customers, suppliers, employees, partners, contractors, references and promoters to make a business sing. Even if you’re not in the singing business. In other words, even as a solo entrepreneur, you can’t do it alone.

That’s why it is so important to get involved in your community. As a community member, there are countless ways to show your community they can count on you, like an abacus. You can get involved as a volunteer, member, attendee, leader, or sponsor. You can teach, coach or create. You can donate your time, talent, treasure or tasty treats. And all of this helps create fertile ground to grow your business.

This happens in several different ways.

First, the more people you know, the more people will know about your business. Think of this as word-of-mouth advertising about the existence of your business. This is extremely beneficial. Because the first thing a business needs to be successful is for people to know it exists. It’s hard to hire or buy from a business that you don’t know exists. Because if you are invisible or autonomous, you are wicked hard to google.

Speaking to high school students about my career path and why I get to wear flip-flops to work.

Second, being actively involved in your community helps people connect the dots for you. (In some communities, the dots are actually women named Dot. Especially in the senior community.) The more people know about you and your business, the more likely they are to share their relevant connections to businesses, suppliers, distributors and other experts and resources that may benefit you.

Me and some of the amazing ladies I have coached on the girl’s track team at Homestead High School.

But what may be even more important is that there is a great reciprocity factor at play. When you support your community, the people of your community are more likely to support you. It’s a thing. This happens as community members buy from you, refer potential customers to you, or include you on valuable lists, or in media or social opportunities. Community members look out for their own. And the more valuable you are to your community, the more they will look out for you. Which means the more time you spend in the dunk tank at the community fundraiser the less likely your business is to get dunked or tank in real life.

Coaching flag football and teaching the boys which finger is called the index.

Your community could mean your neighborhood, your town, or the larger city you live in or near. (I like to think of this like being an active member of the village people.) But your community could also mean a community of interests at a local, state, or national level. It could mean becoming active within an industry, association, or regular event. The key is to consider where your business is active and get involved there.  

I am involved in my local community in a number of ways. I am a regular speaker within our local school district, where I talk about my career path to middle and high school students. I regularly speak at the university in our town too. (It used to be our town too…) I have coached high school track and field for 4 years. I have coached youth football for 8 years.

My business, The Weaponry, has been a presenting sponsor of our youth football program. Which included signage, announcements at games, company logos on program-issued clothing and mentions on the program website. All of which help get the word out about my business and our interest in being athletic supporters to the local community.

Speaking to my guys at Steffen Middle School, and a partially inflated chicken.

My family and I also attend band and orchestra concerts and sporting events of all types. We go to and participate in parades, festivals and fun runs. (And eat Funyuns.) We volunteer at concession stands and other activities that add value to our community. We are seen at local events regularly. And all of those events, both large and small, create connections and relationships and keep me and my business top of mind within our home base. It’s not the primary reason we do all these things. But I can assure you that your involvement is also good for you, your reputation and your business.

As you are planning or growing your business, make sure to get out and spend time supporting and adding value to your community. The more involved you are in your community, the more you will be connected to others and the valuable opportunities they can introduce you to.

Key Takeaway

As an entrepreneur or business owner, the more involved you are in your community, the more you connect with others and the opportunities they can introduce you to. You want strong ties to the people around you, and this is one of the best ways to get to know as many people as possible. Even better, when you support your community and its interests, you will find that your community supports you and your interests, too. It’s what communities do.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

The 2 Key Factors That Determine Success in Sports and Life.

I have spent a lot of time coaching and participating in sports. Both team sports and individual sports. My teams have won and lost. The individual athletes I have coached have both dominated and been dominated. Along the way, I have carefully analyzed what creates wins and losses. And I have discovered that there are 2 key factors that determine the outcomes of all sporting events. And despite what Nike and Mars Blackmon would like you to believe, it is not da shoes.

The key 2 factors that determine the outcomes of all sporting events are effort and errors.

Effort

In sporting competitions, the effort exerted by a team or individual competitor is stacked directly against the effort exerted by the other team or individual competitor.

The more effort you exert, the more likely you are to win. This is true in contact sports, races of all types, gymnastics, putting the shot, dodgeball, and Red Rover. (Where you always ask your opponent to send that low-effort kid over.)

However, effort is not the only factor at play. (See what I did there?)

Errors

The other key element that impacts every sporting event outcome is errors.

There is an ideal way to perform every move in sports, from the discus throw to the jump shot to the form tackle to the Triple Lindy. Any deviation from that technique, form, move or execution is an error. The more errors you commit, the less likely you are to win. Like Bruce Hornsby said, that’s just the way it is,

Sometimes, errors result from a lack of focus and are self-created. Other times, your errors are forced by your opponent. In fact, it is your job as a competitor to force errors in your competitors. You do this either through physical effort or through mental or psychological stress applied through pressure, confusion, conditions, or crowd noise. (Although crowd noise is illegal in tennis and golf.)

However, you and your opponent aren’t the only ones committing errors. There are also errors made by officials, judges, referees, umpires, scoreboard operators, timekeepers, and eager Cubs fans in left field excited to catch a foul ball. Their errors have the potential to completely change the outcome of a competition. Those are simply the facts of life, like Tootie, Blair, Jo and Mrs. G.

As a competitor, there are two things you can do to impact the outcome of a sporting event.

  1. Maximize your own effort.
  2. Minimize your own errors.

The rest is beyond your control.

Beyond Sports

The impact of effort and errors doesn’t just apply to sports. The same key factors influence such varied fields as business, relationships, and academic success. They are the key ingredients in gardening, investing, music performance, and even picking up hotties at a nightclub. So pay close attention to both your successes and failures. You’ll find these two critical variables play a major role in each.

Key Takeaway

Success in sports is simply a result of maximizing effort and minimizing errors. It is why you train and improve your strength and stamina. It is why you practice and drill over and over and over again. But these same influences on sports also determine the outcomes in most areas of life. From marriage to sales to self-confidence. Which is why sports are so valuable. They teach you how to be successful in all areas of life. And that’s the great win for us all.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

How to build your personal brand, even without TikTok.

A good friend called me this week to tell me he had started a new business. Because his new entrepreneurial adventure would require him to sell himself to others, he asked me for my best advice on how to build a personal brand. I’m not sure if he asked me because I have spent my entire career building brands, because he admired my personal brand, or because he wanted to understand where I went wrong. I was afraid to ask. After a moment of reflection, I shared my best advice on building a personal brand. And here it is for you.

Influencers know something that other people don’t:

It is not about who you know. It really is about who knows you. 

The more people who know about you, what you know, and what you are doing, the better. The Kardashians have built an empire on this simple principle. And the fact that so many people can actually spell Kardashian is proof that it works.

The first thing you should consider when building your personal brand is to start a blog, vlog, podcast, newsletter, social media feed, or other regularly published knowledge. (Which would include having your own TV show like the Kardashians.)

When I first started The Weaponry, I also started The Adam Albrecht Blog. It has been an amazing vehicle to share my thoughts, ideas, successes, and learnings with the world. Literally. My blog has been read in over 150 countries. Who knew there were over 150 countries? (Geographers and cartographers knew. There are actually 195 countries.)

A regular commitment to sharing your knowledge and experience through blogging helps build your personal brand and reputation. For the past 9 years, I have shared my thoughts, experiences and perspectives two to three times per week. This creates a steady stream of value-adding content that I can then share on various other channels, including LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Medium, Reddit, Instagram and Threads. However, as of this morning, we Americans can no longer share our expertise or best dance moves and lip-syncing skillz on TikTok. Because apparently national security is more important.

As of this publishing, I have written and published 1,045 blog posts that I can share across my social media ecosystem. As a result, my business and I are both top of mind when people have relevant opportunities. I regularly hear from people that I haven’t seen in a long time who tell me that they think of me often. This is what sharing your content does for you. This makes it great for building your brand but terrible if you are in the witness protection program.

Podcasts, newsletters, vlogs, columns, and social media channels all work too. The key is to share information and value with the world broadly so that more people than you could reach through individual messages know about you, your skills, experience, philosophies, and your business offering.

While you may create your platform to help support your business, you never know where your platform may lead. My blog readers encouraged me to write a book. Which sounded crazy-hard, until 2020, when I suddenly had plenty of time on my over-sanitized hands to do crazy-hard things. I published my first book in 2021, building on the content I had first created for my blog. 

My first book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say?, created amazing new opportunities for me as a paid speaker, and as a guest on TV shows and podcasts. Those opportunities helped raise my profile, and enabled me to share more about my business and my personal perspective on a wide range of topics. 

In 2024 I also started publishing Adam’s Good Newsletter. The reach of the newsletter now exceeds the reach of my blog. And the newsletter is a great vehicle to share good news and information about all of my activities, interests and offerings. 

Having your own newsletter also means that you own a media channel. While Facebook, LinkedIn and X continue to modify their algorithm to their own advantage, making it harder and harder for you to share your message without paying for exposure, like at those clubs, you control everything about the way your message is shared in a newsletter. And the audience you develop for your newsletter becomes one of your greatest assets. 

What’s more, a newsletter created through a newsletter service provider like Mailchimp (which I use), Substack or others, enables you to see when readers have opened your newsletter, and which links interested them enough to click on them. This feedback enables you to create an even more valuable offering, both for your readers and for yourself and your business.

Key Takeaway 

Always remember, it’s not about who you know. It’s who knows you. Develop a platform to share what you know and what you are experiencing with others. This not only creates value for your audience, it raises your profile. It means that people will think of you more often, even when you are not thinking of them. As a result, you won’t just seek out your own new opportunities, the dynamic flips, and both people and opportunities find their way to you. Which changes everything. Kinda like a TikTok ban.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

The Lesson of My Netflix Investment Mistake

I have been investing in the stock market since my first year out of college. I knew that it was important to not just work for money but to make money work for you. You can read Robert Kiyosaki’s works for more pithy moneyisms like that.

As an investor I have had plenty of successes. I have had plenty of failures. Kinda like a typical country song. But I have become much better at evaluating stocks and recognizing great buying opportunities over time.

Today, when I review my investments, there is one stock that stands out and makes me cringe every time.

It is Netflix. (NFLX on your radio dial.)

It is the only stock I own that I shake my head at when I review the details of my purchase. I am always left wondering, what the heck was I thinking? I can practically hear Nancy Kerrigan screaming, “Why? Why? Why?” when I check my E-trade account.

The Details:

I bought Netflix in 2022 for $184.25 per share.

As of this publishing Netflix is selling for $848.26 per share.

Today, the return on my investment stands at 360%.

I have almost never been as right about buying a stock as I was about buying Netflix when I did.

So what’s the problem?

I only bought 5 shares.

Not Ten. Not Fifty. Not 500 million.

Five.

Heck, I have twice as many fingers as I have Netflix shares.

The Kicking of Myself

I knew Netflix was a great company.

I knew the stock was at a great price after falling far from its recent highs.

This was the classic dip you always look for to buy stocks in blue chip companies.

It was like investing in Martha Stewart as she headed off to summer prison camp. She was a good bet in a down time. And an amazing bet with a potential prison-cred reboot with Snoop Dogg.

I knew that all signs pointed to Netflix being a great investment at a great time to buy.

Yet I didn’t go all in.

I barely went in at all. Not even 4 figures.

I invested just $921.25

Today that is $4,241.20.

But imagine for yourself what would happen if there was another zero behind that investment. Or two. Or a hundred billion zeros… (Insert Dr. Evil Laugh.) Consider what those scaled investments would have translated to today.

Obviously, I am grateful that I have a very handsome (almost Zoolander-like) return on my investment.

But I am disappointed with the strength of my conviction. That I didn’t bet bigger when all the signs said Go!

Key Takeaway

When you have done your homework, and you know you are right, you need to go all in. Push all your chips into the center of the table. It’s true for investments, entrepreneurship, and relationships. It’s true of all the important commitments and bets you will ever make on yourself.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

A good sign of a good time.

On Saturday, January 4th, I attended a dinner party at a restaurant in downtown Milwaukee.

I had a really good time with some really good friends.

I know I had a really good time because, around midnight, the valet sought me out in the private room I was in in the back of the restaurant to hand me my keys. I was standing in a circle of the last of the party-goers who weren’t even done with the night. Like John Cougar said before he got mellencamped.

Apparently, I had stayed at the party so long that the valet was turning into a parking pumpkin, and wanted to go home. So he had parked my car just outside the front door, found me in the restaurant, handed me the keys and walked away. Not only was he not looking for a tip, he didn’t even charge me for the valet parking. Which meant that I had enjoyed myself so much that I actually saved money in the process.

Reflection

It can be hard to know whether or not you are being generally successful in life. Not everything is easily scored. But in my scorebook, if the valet comes to find you at a party because he wants to go home and play Grand Theft Auto, and you still want to stay and hangout with your wife and your 4 other friends who aren’t ready to leave, it is a good sign, that at least for the night, you are winning at life. (Also according to my scorebook, if those friends will answer to Pablo or Bert, even though those are not their real names, you score bonus points.)

Key Takeaway

To live a great life, spend more time with people you want to stay up late with. Go to events you don’t want to leave. We have a finite amount of time on this planet. Make it count.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Balancing Growth and Goals in Your Self-Improvement Journey.

We are all on some type of self-improvement journey. It’s how we are wired as humans. There are always things we can find to improve. And the beginning of a new year is like Improvapalooza. Suddenly, we are thinking of all the things we should do to make more money, read more books and look better naked. (Presumably while reading books.)

There are 3 key points on your self improvement journey.

  1. Your starting point
  2. Your current position
  3. Your ideal

To maintain motivation, you need to balance how much time you spend focused on the distance to your goal, versus the progress you have made.

If you only focus on the ideal goal you will spend somewhere between 99% and 100% of your time on the journey disappointed.

Because you are always falling short. Like Martin.

If you spend all of your time focused on your growth you can feel like you have done enough.

Which will make you feel prematurely satisfied. A condition I call PreMatSat. (Which I think is also the test you take to get into med school.)

In this case, you are likely to settle for less than you set out to achieve.

The key is a balanced diet of both perspectives.

Just as your ideal food intake requires a proper balance of protein and carbohydrates, motivation requires a balance of attention towards both your goals and your growth.

I have found a simple formula that works best for me.

2/3rd Goal Perspective + 1/3 Growth Perspective = Motivation + Reward

Think of this like spending your work week focused on your goals and your weekends enjoying your growth. It provides a great combination of grind time and satisfaction with your accomplishments.

Key Takeaway

It is important to set lofty goals to push yourself to become the best you can be. But the real win isn’t simply in achieving your goals. The win is in the improvement. The goal is the tool to keep you marching forward. The growth is the reward. It’s the fruit you harvest. If you don’t take a little time to look at your improved physique in the mirror, enjoy a bit of that hard-won money, or admire your elevated skills, you are planting a garden without ever eating the crop. Don’t focus so much on the destination that you forget that the real value is in the journey. And it always has been.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

25 Lessons to guide you through 2025.

At the beginning of a new year, I attempt to put my accumulated wisdom to good use. I reflect on the important lessons I have learned so I can project a better year ahead. A year that is packed with the things I consider most important. And a year that minimizes or eliminates the things that work against me. Like sweet tea and peanut brittle.

As a part of this process in 2025, I made a list of reminders as I start the new year. You may find some value in this. Or the value may be in deciding to create your own list.

25 Lessons to Remember in 2025

1. Use your time. It’s your most valuable asset. It’s finite. Don’t waste it. Even if you are sitting on the dock of the bay.

2. Do hard things. They are the most rewarding.

3. Do something valuable for yourself first thing every morning. That is your golden time. The filet of the day. It’s even better than a Filet O’ Fish.

4. Don’t overlook the compounding effect. Good habits, exercise, kindness, investing, being trustworthy, writing, brushing your teeth. They help more the more you do them.

5. Surrounding yourself with great people leads to a great life.

6. Weigh yourself every day. It provides a direct link between your actions and the results. Both good and bad.

7. Reach out to others first. The world is full of lonely people afraid to make the first move.

8. Get rid of the things that don’t serve you. It works the same way editing makes your writing better. It helps you move faster and lighter. And frees up space in your brain.

9. Find a passion project. These help make life more fun and enjoyable. Remember, you are the one responsible for putting fun and enjoyment in your life.

10. Discover your purpose. This is your lifelong quest. The sooner you find it the more meaningful your time after it will be.

11. Don’t stay in a job that has you dreading Mondays. Move along. There is a better option for you. (Unless your job is dreading hair. Then, you should probably also dread on Mondays.)

12. Develop and maintain connections across multiple generations. You can learn a lot from those older and younger than you. Like how to turn on the remote. Or what a manual transmission was.

13. Provide value before you try to extract value. This is always the order.

14. Be an imperfectionist. Take action first. Improve as you go. Be comfortable with mistakes. They are approximations that get you to the right answer faster.

15. Always bet on yourself. It’s the safest bet you will ever make. And listen to Kenny Rogers.

16. Call your parents while you still can. If you no longer can, then make sure to recall your parents often.

17. Remember that you are part of a trustee family. You are entrusted with carrying the family legacy forward for all of those who came before and those who will come after you. Recognize what others have done to put you where you are now. And do your part for those yet to come.

18. Make new memories with old friends. This is the best.

19. Set lofty goals and plans to achieve them.

20. At the end of our days, the only thing that will matter is the impact we have on others. If your actions are selfish, your impact dies when you do. (Note: impact is also a leading cause of death.)

21. Exercise is the best medicine. And it’s available without a prescription.

22. Those who laugh the most have the best life.

23. If you can delay your gratification you can achieve anything.

24. Always do what you know is right.

25. If you can’t eat, sleep. If you can’t sleep, eat. (I use this one more than you know.)

Bonus Jonas:

26. Give people more than they expect.

Key Takeaway

Through trial and error, and through your readings, and wrongings, you will discover great lessons. Collect them. Remind yourself of them often. They will serve as reliable guideposts to health, happiness and success. And they make for a great inheritance for you to pass along.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Happy 2025! Here are my 52 hopes for you this year.

A new year is the best gift you will ever get. Because it has more hope in it than the Hope Solo documentary on Netflix.

2025 offers you an opportunity to apply all of your experiences, self-reflection and learning to help you do everything better than you have ever done it before.

I hope that 2025 is your best year ever. Like, ever, ever.

I hope that you love your work and look forward to all 52 Mondays. Even the manic ones.

I hope your boss recognizes how fricken awesome you are. (Especially if you are your own boss.)

I hope you push yourself to become a more valuable asset to your organization. Because your value is directly related to your contribution.

I hope you develop a best friend at work. A Laverne to your Shirley. Or like those brothers on The Bear.

I hope you have great relationships with your family, and that you look forward to going home to them each day. And that you appreciate having a home to go home to. And that you are not too good for your home, like Happy Gilmore said.

I hope you make the most of your commute. They are secret gifts of time to learn, connect, prepare, decompress, or try to figure out what these obscure personalized license plates really mean.

I hope you visit your doctor once and your dentist twice.

I hope you see your therapist as much as you need to.

I hope you keep your weight in your acceptable zone until next eggnog and coookie season.

I hope you enjoy exercising as much as your body enjoys the benefits.

I hope you make new memories with old friends.

I hope your new friends start to feel like old friends. (Because of the growing familiarity, not the declining eyesight, hearing, and ability to climb steps.)

I hope you don’t take things personally.

I hope you swear less this year. You always have other options. (poo, darn, fudge, heckaroo.)

I hope you laugh more.

In fact, I hope you laugh until you cry several times this year.

And I hope you laugh until you blow liquids out of your nose at least once, thanks to unexpected hilarity.

I hope you are comfortable sharing the truth.

I hope you fondly remember the people you have lost, and it hurts your heart a little.

I hope you build momentum every day.

I hope that you recognize that you are writing the story of your life every day, like Elvis Costello. And that it is your job to make it a story worth reading.

I hope that you create and maintain great new habits. And that when you have to skip a day you get right back to it the next day.

I hope you spend more time in a different room than your phone.

And that you don’t look at your phone first thing in the morning.

I hope you see your people in real life. They are better than they are on the socials. And more interesting. Remember that social media is just a bridge between in-person experiences.

I hope you share lots of compliments because you are impressed by the people around you.

If you are not impressed by the people around you, I hope you surround yourself with better people. People who are easy to compliment.

I hope you go to your place of worship. God knows you need it.

I hope you remember to wear sunscreen. And maybe a floppy hat.

I hope you get prints made of your favorite photos and hang them on your wall. Don’t just settle for pics in digital form. Eventually, those printed photos will become your most valued possessions.

I hope you enjoy more game nights. Game night is when we really live.

I hope you experience the great joy in giving your time, talent or money. Teach your kids by example. Or teach other peoples’ kids if you don’t have your own.

I hope you find something you like enough to collect in reasonable quantities. (But don’t wind up on an episode of Hoarders.)

I hope you remember all of the important dates in your life.

I hope you read great books that improve you and the way you think about the world.

I hope you struggle and suffer just enough to be reminded how tough and capable you really are.

I hope you don’t give up when things get hard.

I hope you tell your closest friends and family members that you love them while you still can. That window closes without warning.

I hope you find splurges that are totally worth it. (And then tell me what they are.)

I hope you find great new music that makes it into your Spotify 2025 Wrapped. And I hope that you aren’t afraid to admit that Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgrave were all in your Top 5. (There, I admitted it…)

I hope you can understand some of the slang that kids are using today. But not all of it. Unless you are a kid.

I hope you find yourself in nature and stop to just listen.

I hope you use all of your vacation days, but none of your sick days.

I hope you get all the sleep you need.

But I hope you get rid of all the other things you don’t need.

I hope you forgive and move on.

I hope you experience thrills. Without spills.

But most of all, I hope you enjoy great happiness and share it with everyone you meet.

Happy 2025.

Let’s do this!

*If you know someone who could benefit from kicking off their 2025 with this New Year message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

24 Important self-reflection questions to ask yourself at the end of 2024.

The end of the year is always an exciting time for 3 reasons.

  1. We get to reflect on our wins and successes from a good year, preferably with a Kip Dynamite fist pump.
  2. We get to leave a bad year behind the way Bill Murray sneaks away from Father Rat Farts after he gets struck by lightning in Caddyshack.
  3. We get to start a fresh new year full of hope, like Hope Solo.

Preparing For 2025

Now it’s time to prepare for a great 2025. Why prepare? Because great years, like great lives, don’t just happen. You make them happen.

A key element of living a great life is self-reflection. Asking yourself good questions is like conducting your own performance review. It’s a simple way to discover where you need to course correct, where your course is already correct, and where your corset could help correct.

If you don’t know what questions to ask yourself, you’ve come to the right blog post. Here are 24 questions to ask yourself now to prepare to make 2025 your best year yet. For best results, write your answers down. In fact, I created a Google Doc that you can print or make a copy of right here.

24 Questions In A Particular Order.

1. Am I educating myself? Getting better starts with getting smarter. Continue to self-educate and your knowledge, abilities, and competitive advantages will grow like compound interest. 

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If you only read one thing in 2025, I suggest reading The One Thing.

2. Am I exercising enough? Your body is your life vehicle. Regular exercise keeps it in top shape. Which will allow you to travel further, faster and over rougher terrain without breaking down, like Tone-Loc.

3. Am I giving enough to others? Shel Silverstein famously wrote about The Giving Tree. But there is also a magical Giving Boomerang (perhaps made of wood from the giving tree). Because when you give your time, talent and treasure to others, good things come back to you in even bigger and better ways.  

4. Am I disciplined enough? Discipline is what gets the job done. If you are not doing the things you’ve committed to, or if you are not avoiding the things you should avoid, check your discipline. Remember, you only need enough to create a habit. Then the habit takes over and discipline can be deployed towards something else. Read James Clear’s Atomic Habits if you want to become great at developing great new habits.

5. Am I thinking big enough? The answer for 99% of us is no. So start thinking bigger! Think as big as you can. Think Elon Musky. Because bigger thoughts lead to bigger results. It costs the same amount to think big as it does to think small. But the return on your thinking investment is much different. You can always go bigger. #TWSS

woman draw a light bulb in white board
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

6. Am I taking the actions that matter most? Not all actions are created equal. Remember the 80/20 rule. Find the small actions with the biggest rewards. There are a lot of actions that generate very little results. Simply taking the right kinds of action (interacting with the right people for example) can change your life. For proof see Sliding Doors or Run Lola Run.

7. Am I getting better or getting worse? Check your trajectory. You are either headed up or down on every possible measure. The good news is that with all but some physical aging issues you can always improve your own angle through focused effort, commitment and mindset. 

8. Am I strengthening my network? Most people think far too little about the strength of their network. But take it from the mobile carriers, it is all about the strength of your network. Continue to develop and maintain meaningful relationships. Make as many genuine friendships as you can. When you do, your social, professional and political capital will continue to grow. Which opens you to more opportunities. Remember, opportunities come through humans. 

Some Milwaukee W-Club members flashing our gang sign. (I am very pleased with my font choice.)

9. Am I valuable to know? Do you add value to others? Are you kind, helpful, or inspiring? Do you offer access and connections? Are you are great listener? Really think about the value you offer others. The more value you offer, the more people will seek you out. And you want to be sought after. Just not by police. Or hitmen. Or Glenn Close.

10. Am I keeping my word? Trustworthiness is the bedrock of relationships, and the gateway to opportunity. Check your trustworthiness more often than once a year. Keeping your word is required on a daily basis. Like flossing and changing your undies.

11. Am I living into my vision for myself? You have aspirations. But simply having aspirations is not enough. You have to get yourself to the destination. You have to become the person you imagined, dragon. Do the doing, not just the dreaming. 

My son Magnus envisioning at Yosemite this summer.

12. Am I noticing those who need me? We all have people who need us. Family, friends, clients, employees, community members. Do you see them? Do you notice what they need from you?  Do you notice what you have to give?

13. Am I being present? Be now. This is all you ever have.

14. Am I taking care of my health? Have you seen your doctor and dentist lately? Do you have a doctor and dentist? How about a mental health specialist? A chiropractor? Take care of yourself. Because everybody needs a body.

15. Am I eating well? You are what you eat. Literally. Be mindful of your personal building materials. It makes a difference. Because you don’t want to look like Cheetos in your Speedos. 

16. Do I have a healthy way to de-stress? The world is an all-you-can-eat stress buffet. You need to have ways to rid yourself of the stress. Sleep, exercise and church are my go-to’s. Find your ways to de-stress best.

17. Am I spending enough time in nature? Spending time in nature is great for re-grounding yourself. A little quiet time with Mama Nature provides peace and perspective you can’t get anywhere else.

18. Am I getting enough sleep? Sleep is the great reset button. It enables you to regenerate your best self. Take advantage of it. Get as much as you need.

19. Am I finding joy in my work? Work fills half of your waking hours. Finding joy in work is finding joy in life. If you are not finding joy it is time for a change. A new approach, a new job, or a new career should be on the table. And a bottle of Joy should be on the counter next to the kitchen sink.  

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20. Does my boss value me? An unfair amount of your happiness is tied to your relationship with your boss. If you have a boss that values you and treats you well you have won half the battle. If not, make a change. Life is too short for bad bosses. 

21. Am I living a story worth reading? You only get one shot at life. Make it great. make it a story worth telling, worth hearing and worth reading.  

22. Am I positively impacting others? At the end of our days, the only thing that really matters is the impact we have on each other. Focus on making a positive impact and you will live a great life.

23. Am I laughing enough? This is the easiest way to measure happiness. Laughter is more valuable than money. Spend more time with the people who make you laugh. They will make you feel most alive. 

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Are Reserved. All Lefts Are Outgoing.

24. Am I investing enough in my most important relationship? Think of the one relationship that means more to you than any other. A spouse or significant other. A parent, child or sibling. A friend, partner or neighbor. Are you investing in that person as much as you should? Always give the most important people the most. 

Key Takeaway

Self-improvement starts with asking yourself good questions. You are a work in progress. Knowing what you should work on is how you make the progress.

*If you know someone who would benefit from these questions, please share this with them.

Here is the link to the Google Doc with the 24 questions. Plus some bonus questions. Because you should always give more than others expect.


+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.