Over the last few weeks, I spent time reflecting on what I learned over 2024 to help me plan what to focus on going into 2025. It’s a mix of personal and professional growth shaping what is ahead in 2025.

Overarching Themes Personally & Professionally

1. I’m on the other side of life – more celebrations of life than weddings and baby showers now
2. Quality vs quantity
3. Consume as much content as possible via podcasts, books, Medium, and others, doing what you aspire to do or living the lifestyle you want
4. Dialing into how people like to connect
5. Being more present
6. There is no time like the present
7. Life is short – don’t wait to go after all of your dreams
8. Refining how to pick up and observe the wants and needs of others
9. Embracing JOMO – Joy of Missing Out – versus FOMO
10. Continually failing fast and learning from it
11. It took a eulogy to tell some of my story and for others to better understand me

Personal Growth – Health

1. Take control of your health
2. Protein it up
3. Focus on strength training
4. Get all the checks – getting closer to the age of cancer being inevitable

Personal Growth – Relationships

1. I invested in learning mahjong as another way to get together with those I value spending time with
2. The Fab 5 continues to be real – it means you only have time to invest in 5 relationships, so pick the right ones to invest in
3. You are as good and strong as the five people you spend the most time with
4. I no longer plan and host big parties. I realized I don’t get much out of them anymore, as I lean more towards intimate get-togethers to get to know someone better. The planning is also overwhelming nowadays.
5. It should not take a celebration of life to reconnect with old friends you value

Personal Growth – Family

1. What a 40K high school education looks like
2. What raising jocks looks like as an academic family
3. What an aspiring D1 athlete needs to do starting in high school
4. How to navigate our education system to keep advancing our kids in areas they accelerate in
5. 7th-grade grades matter for private high school admissions
6. My 12-year-old still enjoys quality time with mom
7. The end of puberty brings back the old happy son I knew pre-puberty

Professional Growth

1. Importance of diversifying revenue streams
2. The value of having a business coach
3. What it takes to become a college consultant (it will take 5 years; glad I have kids as my petri dish)
4. Taking a resume writing best practices boot camp to refine my craft and deliverables
5. Remaining current on LinkedIn by recertifying my NCOPE credential
6. Playing with new technology to see where it fits in the business

Professional Growth – Long-Range Planning

1. I re-dialed into why I do what I do today and tomorrow to redefine the plan ahead
2. I spent more time listening to my clients and ideal customers to understand their needs and how I could help them
3. Clarifying the work I want to focus on – that secret sauce – versus what I will contract out over time
4. Understanding the hiccups in the customer experience and incorporating short- and long-term approaches to resolve them
5. Honing in on content that resonates with my audience

Professional Growth – Marketing

1. Spend time on what you love to do and gives you energy (public speaking) vs. those that don’t (cold calling)
2. Not have all marketing eggs in one basket
3. I am going after new types of requests for proposals to see where what I can do and how it aligns with market needs today
4. Tried different things like sponsoring an event booth or participating in a virtual conference to see what generated the most brand awareness
5. Using the above trial and error to find three scalable marketing approaches
6. Focus on just those three spinning marketing plates and further dial them in
7. Rinse and repeat things that work
8. Measure what matters to dial in the spinning marketing plates
9. Pick marketing channels and content that feel and is authentic to you
10. Utilize technology as brainstorming partners, like ChatGPT, Perplexity, & Taplio
11. Automate some outreach via Expandi and utilize personal follow-ups
12. Leveraging Eventbrite to build brand awareness
13. Getting comfortable asking for referrals

And #52 – Embracing vulnerability.

What did you learn in 2024, and how is that shaping your plan for 2025? If you are at a point where you need help moving the needle this year, grab a time on my calendar at https://bit.ly/10withJaime to discuss your needs and how I can help you make 2025 the best year yet!