Reflecting on 2015, big changes coming in 2016

Another year flies by! It's amazing how fast 2015 went and how quickly 2016 will be here.

Here are my thoughts on how I did with the resolutions I made in 2015.

And I'm not making resolutions for 2016!

Read on...

Recapping 2015

Here were my resolutions for 2015 and how I did:

1) Publicly launch ribl and gain over 100,000 users: ribl launched, but we didn't get close to 100K users

We launched ribl publicly at SXSW in March, but we certainly did not gain over 100,000 users.

While we worked hard to launch our app, we couldn't keep up with the fast pace necessary to maintain and grow a consumer mobile application.

We're bootstrapping ribl, which means that we're funding the company with our own money. Bootstrapping a startup is hard; it's difficult to find a balance between working for paying clients and building a product that won't bring in any revenue for the foreseeable future.

Because we had to spend a lot of time on consulting engagements, we didn't quite get as far as we expected with ribl. Sucks.

Rating: 5 out of 10

2) Measure more: not bad

I made a resolution to be more analytical and more frequently look at the metrics of my clients' websites, my blog, the ribl app, and any other property that I managed.

I did spend more time on analytics and learned some new measurement tools, but probably didn't do as much as I could.

Rating: 6 out of 10

3) Avoid alcohol for two weeks every quarter: total fail

Jeez, I totally forgot about this one. Again.

Absolute fail.

Rating: 1 out of 10

4) Be a great dad: pretty good!

Baby Maya was born on May 14, 2015 and she is incredible!

It's tough for me to truly judge how great of a dad I've been, but I think I've done a solid job so far.

Vicky and I have been working well together to balance our schedules to take care of Maya. We also have the help of Vicky's mother and my Mom, which has been a godsend.

Maya is happy and healthy, and that's all that really matters.

Rating: 8 out of 10

One more thing for 2015 - launch of my podcast

Another big thing that happened in 2015 is that I launched a podcast, the Go and Grow Podcast.

At the beginning of the year, I hadn't ever listened to a podcast. But by October, I launched my own!

It's been a great ride so far.

My podcast has reached #1 on a few iTunes New and Noteworthy categories.

More importantly, I just love speaking with entrepreneurs about how they've launched and grown their companies. I've learned so much and have been inspired by their stories.

Looking forward to 2016

To tell you the truth, I don't feel like making any resolutions for 2016, and maybe ever again.

I just wind up forgetting about the resolutions I've made and then get depressed when I write this blog post at the end of each year.

Yeah, I know, it seems like a cop out. The better solution may be to actually remember the resolutions I've made and stick to them, right?

Instead, I'm just going to work hard, make progress every day, and balance my career and life as a whole.

I do want to highlight some major changes that are coming in 2016.

Career changes

As I stated in my recap of resolution #1, we didn't even come close to progressing with ribl as we hoped. This was because we lacked the time and resources to focus on building and growing the app.

The ideal situation would be for me and my co-founders to dedicate 100% of our time on building ribl or whatever product we choose to develop. But life doesn't work that way, as we all have families for which to provide, so we need income.

So I've decided to join my co-founders in growing their software development firm, Thorn Technologies, where I'll be Chief Marketing Officer!

The structure that we've had the past couple of years wasn't quite working.

I consulted for Thorn Technologies for a few hours per week to help market the firm and sell software development projects. And whenever we had some free time, we would work on ribl.

Thorn Tech would grow a little, ribl would grow a little, but we would still be strapped for resources and not get as far as we'd like on either.

Now I'll be working full-time to grow Thorn Tech faster.

The hope is that by dedicating more time to growing Thorn Tech, we'll have a larger portfolio of projects and more robust pipeline of potential clients. This in turn will put us in a better financial situation, allow us to hire more resources to both cover our client projects and help us build a product, whether that's ribl as it exists, ribl in another form, or something in a completely different direction.

Will this new structure work? We think it will, but who knows.

It's clear that what we had didn't work, so we need to try something else. It wouldn't make sense to keep going as-is and just hope that things will get better.

So we're going to give this experiment a shot and see how much progress we can make on the product front.

I'll still continue to grow my podcast on my free time, and maybe even launch a show for Thorn Tech!

Life changes

With the birth of Maya, our condo is getting pretty cramped. And with Maya growing so quickly, it will only continue to get more crowded.

So Vicky and I have been looking for a larger home that will accommodate our growing family.

We're not sure where we'll wind up, as we have to balance our love for the city, the quality of schools, availability of houses within our budget, and many more factors.

It'll be a lot of work to find and transition to a new place. We're not even sure if the move will happen in 2016 but it's certainly a possibility.

Conclusion

2015 was a fun but up-and-down year.

The birth of Maya was certainly the highlight of 2015. Though it's a tough job raising a child - many sleepless nights and lots of uncertainty - it has been one of the most rewarding experiences ever.

And while I've had early success with my podcast, I didn't come close to achieving as much as I would have liked with the startup, which is my #1 career priority.

2016 is going to be full of change and excitement.

I can't wait to see how much Maya develops, and look forward to the changes her growth brings to our lives.

I'm pumped about my new role at Thorn Tech, as I do believe it will help us progress in building a product.

And I'm excited to continue working on my podcast and growing my audience.

See you later, 2015, it was nice knowing you. Hello 2016, looking forward to finding out more about you!

What changes are coming your way and what will you focus on in 2016? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.