Hey Reader, it's time for my 2025 annual review! If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I do these every year. And if you’re here just to see how my year went in my own words, I really appreciate you. Thanks for being here.

I’m sharing this because I believe there’s something in here that might resonate with you as you get to the end of the year. Maybe it’ll make you pause and reflect on what you’re doing—how you’re living as a person, entrepreneur, creator, parent, or spouse.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I do these every year. And if you’re here just to see how my year went in my own words, I really appreciate you. Thanks for being a subscriber.

The WRAP Method: My Framework for Annual Reviews

Before I dive into my year, let me explain the method I use for this review. It’s called WRAP, and it stands for:

• Wins – What went well this year?
• Results – What did I plan for, and what actually happened?
• Alignment – Is the life I’m living aligned with the person I want to become?
• Pivot – What needs to change going into next year?

I write all of this in my bullet journal. It’s simple, it’s clear, and it works. If you want a free printable template to follow along, I’ve got one you can download—just a two-page spread that makes this process really straightforward.

If you want to watch this on YouTube or listen on your favorite podcast player, you can do that, too!

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Wins: What Went Well in 2025

The Big Move

The biggest win of the year was successfully moving our family from Nashville to Jacksonville. We moved to be closer to family—I grew up here—and we landed in a great neighborhood on a great street. With four kids, being near my parents, one of my brothers, and one of my sisters has been wonderful.

I do miss Nashville a lot. Old friends, old places, old routines. When we went back a few weeks ago, it hit me pretty hard. I miss my church, my community, the life we built there. But I don’t miss it getting dark at 4:30 PM in winter, or the 25-degree cloudy days when it’s 65 and sunny here in Jacksonville.

Still, the move was the right call. We are where we need to be for now.

Crushing My Revenue Goal

Coming into 2025, I was no longer working at the agency I’d been helping run. I went all-in on self-employment. Every dollar that came in was a dollar I had to go out and earn.

I told my wife at the beginning of the year: “If I can’t make $150,000 this year, I’m going to find a job in 2026.”

She said, “Okay.” And I got to work.

In 2024, I made about $130,000. So hitting $150k meant an 18-20% increase. Y’all, I’m over $240,000 this year. That’s my biggest year ever, anywhere I’ve worked.

The first place I ever worked I earned $32,000 my first year. This month I'm going to do $24,000. This has been a long road, and it feels really good to break the $200k barrier.

Growing Closer to God

This was a huge win for me. I’ve read my Bible consistently this year. I’ve prayed consistently. I’ve always gone to church, but this year I actually joined a small group and got more serious about my faith.

Church used to be something I just did on Sundays. I’d try to live a good Christian life, but I wasn’t reading the Bible or praying every day. That changed in 2025.

Now, if you’re thinking, “Hey Matt, any correlation between diving into Scripture and making more money?” Maybe. But that’s not why I’m in relationship with God.

You don’t pursue a relationship with anyone—especially not the Lord—thinking, “If I do this, I’ll get a kickback.” You do it because you want a stronger relationship with a person you care about.

Other Highlights

• Played in a church softball league with my brother Neil. Lost in the championship game and tweaked my hammy, but it was a blast.
• My family is thriving. We have our moments—people get emotional, I lose my temper sometimes—but overall, we’re growing stronger together. Four kids is a lot. I’m so grateful we have them. I think we’re done at four, but man, they’re wonderful.
• My working hours stayed sane. Even though my revenue went way up, I still worked most weeks around 40 hours. A couple of weeks hit 50 hours, but that was rare. In the past, 50-hour weeks were standard. Not anymore.

There were a lot of wins this year. A lot to build on. A lot to be motivated about going into next year.

Results: What I Planned vs. What Actually Happened

This is where most people get discouraged. So let me give you a warning before you do your own results review:

Approach your results as a reporter, not a judge.

A reporter observes. A judge condemns. If you judge yourself, you’ll spiral into self-loathing. If you report on yourself, you’ll see the full picture—what worked, what didn’t, and why.

Let me show you what I mean.

YouTube Growth: The Miss

I wanted to grow this channel to at least 150,000 subscribers this year. I’m going to end up maybe around 120,000. That’s still decent growth, but it’s way off what I hoped.

The Judge says: “You failed. You didn’t even get halfway.”

The Reporter says: “Okay, Matt didn’t hit 150k. But let’s look at the data. He spent a lot more time on client work, which led to increased revenue. His click-through rate, retention time, titles, thumbnails, and average views per month are all higher than ever. Subscribers didn’t grow as fast, but the channel improved in meaningful ways.”

See the difference?

Yes, I missed my subscriber goal. But I can see why I missed it, and I can see what did improve. That’s actionable. That’s useful. That’s not something to beat myself up over.

Revenue: The Big Win

My goal was $150k. My stretch goal was $200k. I’m going to end the year over $240k, maybe even $250k depending on how December goes.

That’s a massive win. It gives me momentum and motivation going into next year.

Diversifying Revenue: Still a Work in Progress

At the beginning of the year, about 80% of my revenue came from client work. I wanted to diversify—more coaching, more courses, more products.

Now it’s closer to 65-70% from clients. Better, but I’d hoped to get down to 50/50 by the end of 2025. Still tilted too much toward clients.

But here’s what this tells me: I have opportunities to pivot. I can see where to make small (or big) shifts to replace more client revenue with coaching revenue. That’s the kind of insight the reporter mindset gives you.

Vacation and Presence

I took more vacation this year than I have in years. We took a few family trips. Plus, the move itself—there were solid four weeks where I worked closer to 20-30 hours instead of 40.

Here’s what made me really encouraged: even during those part-time weeks, I still had good revenue. I realized I can take time off. I can slow down. I can be present for my family during a year of major change—and the business doesn’t fall apart.

That’s a win I didn’t expect.

The “Too Many Things” Problem

I probably still have too many things going on.

At dinner with friends in Austin last week, they asked: “Are you doing the HeyCreator community, the YouTube channel, working with clients, or newsletter coaching? Which of these are you actually doing?”

I said, “Yes. All of them.”

They looked at me funny.

In my mind, all these things feed each other. But I’ve also come to realize: if I really want to scale past $200-250k and get closer to $300k, $500k, or even $1 million and beyond, I probably need to focus on one thing.

I’m stretching my attention too thin. I know that. The reporter in me sees it clearly. I don’t know what I’ll do about it yet, but it’s there.

Alignment: Am I Living the Life I Want to Live?

This is the “woo-woo” part of the review, but it’s also the most important.

Alignment is about asking yourself: Is the work I’m doing, the life I’m living, and the things I’m doing every day in alignment with the person I want to become?

This isn’t as analytical as wins or results. You can’t just look at a spreadsheet and answer it. You have to sit with the question. You have to be honest.

And here’s the thing: don’t let this question spiral you into dissatisfaction.

A lot of people ask, “Am I aligned?” and immediately think, “No, I need to blow up my entire life.” Maybe you do. But for most of us, alignment isn’t about quitting everything, it’s about small, intentional shifts.

How I Feel About Alignment This Year

I feel very much in alignment with what I want to be doing from a work perspective. I’d love to focus more on YouTube and maybe write a book I’ve been toying with. But if doing those things means cutting my revenue in half? No way. That would be out of alignment with the kind of father, husband, and provider I want to be.

Here’s what I wrote in my journal:

That’s alignment.

I’m not doing everything I want. But I’m doing meaningful work that supports my family, gives me creative fulfillment, and doesn’t burn me out. That’s a win.

The Power of Consistent Check-Ins

Here’s why I recommend doing this review not just annually, but weekly or at least monthly:

If you only ask yourself “Am I aligned?” once a year, it’s hard to tell. You’re stuck with recency bias—how have I felt since Thanksgiving? That’s not the full picture.

But if you’ve been asking yourself this question every week or month, you have 12 or 20 or 30 data points to look at. You can see patterns. You can see if you’ve been consistently aligned or if you’ve been drifting.

That’s powerful.

Pivot: What Needs to Change in 2026

This is where everything comes together. I look at my wins, my results, my alignment—and then I ask: What kind of pivots or progression do I need to make next year to have more success or do more of the things that matter to me?

The Slow Pivot: All-In on YouTube

Until I start to focus on fewer things, my earning potential and online growth will be limited. I can still earn more. I can still grow. But there’s only so far I’ll get until I narrow my focus.

For me, that focus is YouTube.

YouTube is everything for me in terms of long-term ambition. I love making videos. I love connecting with you. I love the platform and where it’s going. If I could only build on one platform, it would be YouTube.

(Yes, I love newsletters too—they’re 1A. But if I had to pick one, it’s YouTube.)

So the pivot for me is simple: make more progress and get better and better at YouTube.

Yes, I want to add subscribers. But just as much, I want to make meaningful, well-done videos. This year, I’ve been more intentional than ever about titles, thumbnails, hooks, and the first 60 seconds. I’m going to continue putting time, resources, and energy into this because I believe in it.

The Paid Ads Experiment

Another big pivot for 2026: setting up a paid ads funnel.

I’ve always avoided this. But advertising—even for products, channels, newsletters, subscribers—is just part of the game if you want to grow faster.

Here’s the advantage I have: I have products to sell. Let me walk you through the math (and yes, I know—don’t do math live, but here we go).

Let’s say I spend $5 per email subscriber (that’s on the high end). If I spend $1,000 a month on ads, that’s 200 new subscribers.

Now, I have Analog Action, which normally sells for $250. Let’s say I discount it to $200 for new subscribers.

If just 5 of those 200 people buy the course within 30-60 days, I’ve made back the $1,000 I spent on ads.

See how that works?

Even if I just break even, I’m increasing my overall newsletter list. I’m giving myself infinite time to sell to those people down the road. And even if some never buy, if they’re opening emails consistently, eventually my list will grow to 30k, 50k, 100k—and sponsors will pay me to reach that audience.

Paid ads aren’t the only way to grow, but they’re gasoline on the fire. That’s a big pivot for me in 2026.

The Newsletter Coaching Program

Another pivot: I’m giving more attention on in-depth newsletter coaching.

I started doing this in 2025—a 10-week program where you write a newsletter every week, and I give you inline edits and feedback on how to improve. More opens, more reads, more sales.

I’ve been working in newsletters for over 10 years. I’ve worked with Ryan Holiday, Dan Go, Justin Welsh, Michael Hyatt, Amanda Goetz, Susan Cain, Michael Easter—a lot of great people. I’ve seen what works, and I apply that directly to the people in this program.

If I can run three cohorts next year, that will replace the majority of my client work. And that feels really exciting.

Newsletter coaching + YouTube + Creator community: that’s the focus for 2026. Click here to watch a recent webinar I hosted about the "over-teaching problem" many writers face.

Why Annual Reviews Matter

Here’s what I love about annual reviews:

They give you the information you need to set realistic, achievable goals for the next year.

Too many people—myself included, for years—just look forward and say, “What do I want to do next year? How can I improve?”

Those are good questions. But if you don’t have the data from last year to inform those questions, you’re going to make inaccurate guesses. And when you do that, you’re more likely to fail. Which is depressing and why people quit on their goals too early.

For example: I set a 50,000 subscriber goal this year. I had no reason for that number except “I’m going for it.” I’m going to hit about 18-20k new subscribers this year.

So now, going into 2026, I can make a better guess:

If I increase my videos by 10-15 (that’s 20-30% more content), could I increase subscribers by 20-30%? If I make 40-50 videos next year, could I get closer to 30,000 new subscribers?

That’s a much better goal. It’s informed by data. It’s realistic but still stretching me.

Same with revenue. My baseline goal for 2026 is $250k, with a stretch goal of $300k. I can set those numbers because I know what I did this year. I know that if I get paid ads running and scale my newsletter coaching, I can hit those numbers.

Nothing will help you set a better goal than knowing how last year’s goals performed.

The Four Questions You Need to Ask Yourself

That’s it. Four questions:

1. Wins: What went well?
2. Results: What did I plan for, and what actually happened?
3. Alignment: Am I living the life I want to live?
4. Pivot: What needs to change?

These are the only questions you need for an annual review.

If you want a simple template to follow, I’ve got one for you. It’s free. It’s just a two-page spread you can print out or copy into your bullet journal.

I’d love to hear how this system works for you. If you do an annual review using WRAP, let me know how it goes!

See you next year 👋🏻

Matt Ragland

p.s. if you missed the book list last week, find your next great read here.