2025 Review: What Happened, What I Learned, and Where I’m Headed

Watch my 2024 review: https://youtu.be/FFqg1UlrSg4?si=T6E3kKHOTM5TEAEDWatch my 2023 review: https://youtu.be/QGVuium5E34?si=dGzzHEh5xkgcVJGEWatch my 2022 review: https://youtu.be/gJ86uTvACp8?si=3IgNu-z4N2nn2VyxRead on Substack here: https://dickiebush.substack.com/p/reflecting-on-2025-and-my-gameplanFull timestamps here: -- (2:57) Life Recap Begins --(7:56) Starting the year on a slowmad adventure(9:14) Bought my first condo, immediately regretted it(16:13) Integrated lives fully with my girlfriend on multiple continents(23:37) Took the fewest number of days fully off at any point in my life(28:28) Became the physically strongest I have been in 10 years(32:55) Continually refined & reunderwrote my relationship with money(37:05) Felt like I operated below my potential in every area-- (40:17) Life Lessons And Realizations Begin -- (40:17) Your environment will win in the long run, for better or wose(43:06) Travel is a tool, not a default lifestyle(44:54) Put your own oxygen mask on before helping others(47:21) You cannot fix your stress from a place of being stressed(49:17) Happiness and rest are skills that must be trained(52:22) Spend more time learning to precisely describe your emotions(55:25) Stop deciding - design a "Hell Yes" and build toward it(57:22) Have 3 goals: health goal, business goal, life goal to guide your daily actions-- (59:38) Business Recap Begins -- (1:00:02) Overall portfolio revenue +18% year over year, but net after ads & labor -14%(1:02:15) Vertical by vertical breakdown (1:04:00) Made 12 key hires, ascensions, and personnel improvements(1:05:35) Learned how to profitably run paid traffic to live events(1:06:18) Added multiple products to improve our money model(1:07:35) Launched 3 digital products to our email list-- (1:09:37) Business Lessons & Realizations Begin -- (1:09:58) It's not "organic versus paid" -- it's all about MER(1:15:00) Perfect attribution is the enemy of scaling(1:18:28) As you scale, you shift from purely "how" to "what"(1:21:40) You need periodic time removed from the "how" to think about the "what"(1:23:51) Know where your operating leverage kicks in & obsess over getting there(1:31:13) Don't try to scale through the "valley of death" by starting other verticals(1:35:00) There is no such thing as overcommunication especially as a team grows(1:40:03) Business is simply cost per X & cash per X-- (1:45:10) My 3 Main Quests for 2026 ---- (1:48:18) Closing Reflections & One Request --