Merry Christmas

A Newsletter

There was a cartoon posted recently in New Yorker with the caption, "Apparently, my mother's upgrading the holiday newsletter to a paid Substack." It made me chuckle. While I don't typically use Substack as a long form writing platform to substitute for the "look at my life" photo bomb on Facebook, I do use this site to work through my personal, business, and philosophical challenges. One could argue that nearly every one of my posts is in the form of a newsletter with "I, "me" and "my" inconspicuously left out. For that interpretation, I have no defense. From my perspective, the best writing is where the author pens life into a story by projecting themselves into the "what if" scenarios of their characters. Authenticity is the difference between genuine and AI Bot writing. When writing is genuine, I can feel the writer's soul behind their work. Today, I will not attempt to obscure my newsletter intent and offer my soul to my readers, “neat and with no chasers.” In today's post, I will review my 2024 journey. I will share the trials, tribulations, wins and losses of a very transformational year and will conclude with my sights set firmly on the future.

2024 was a pivotal year for me. After working with a life coach in 2023, I set my 2024 agenda to make three substantial changes in my life. The first goal was to revive meaning in my work. I had been at my old job for over fifteen years and "moss was growing fat" on that rolling stone. I set a goal to reinvigorate my role with that company or move to a new challenge. The second goal was to downsize and simplify my living situation. I owned a turn of the century (20th) duplex in St. Paul, Minnesota, that was weighing me down with repairs and the joy of ownership was waning under ever growing city regulations and taxation. The final major goal of 2024 was to write a follow-up book to my first book titled, Restaurant Growth, the Myth, the Magic, the Math. This is how I fared on meeting those audacious tasks this past year.

I will start with a win. I put the St. Paul property on the market in February and within a week received multiple offers. By April, the house was sold, and I did indeed reduce my living footprint and gain back some valuable time. Coinciding with the sale of my duplex was all three of my adult children bought their own homes. One in Chicago and the other two in South Minneapolis. (Aside to other parents out there, it appears the best way to get your adult children launched and out of your house is to simply sell it.) Just don't fool yourself into thinking that their new home improvement projects will not become your new home improvement projects. But hey, a win is a win, and I put this goal in the "W" column.

My goal of finding a worthy challenge for my work was looking bright mid-year. Having exhausted all efforts to draw something meaningful out of my past role as CFO to a restaurant group, I made the jump to a smaller firm that had acquired a software company and was on a rapid growth trajectory. That venture had decent revenue streams and short, intermediate and long-term vision statements. I appeared to be the right fit as that smaller company needed a financial department and someone to develop the culture of fiscal discipline. But rapidly growing companies have many pain points, and I was unable to soothe those hurts fast enough nor establish my long-term vision of fiscal responsibility to company leadership.

On goal number two, in what earlier in the year appeared to be a win, ended the season as a bust. I had taken a chance by walking away from a stable position with a substantial guaranteed annual bonus for a shot at something new as a ground-floor executive of a rapidly growing company. But in the world of risk and reward, in retrospect, when I made my choice to join that new company, I risked far more in compensation and employment status than the owner. My departure from that organization will be a mere blip on their annual P&L statement but the cost to me personally in time, effort and money cannot be recouped. The goal to find rewarding and meaningful work in 2024 ended the year with a "L." But as a life-long Minnesota Vikings fan, I am all too familiar with the feeling of starting a season with winning potential only to watch it implode as the season draws to a close. In this endeavor, as I was fighting to win an epic battle, I was struck by a poisoned arrow to my unprotected Achillis’ heel. It now appears that workwise, 2025 will be a rebuilding year.

The third goal for 2024 was to work on my writing. Although I kept up my weekly posting on Substack and even produced a twelve-part series titled, Almost Paradise, earlier this year, I did not write one word on my follow-up book. In fairness to myself, the other two goals were heavy lifts. Preparing the house for market, negotiating past and present terms of employment and fully entrenching myself into the CFO position with the new company took tremendous time. But goals are goals and one either achieves them or they don't. So, this book writing goal also goes into the "L" column.

Although I failed on two of my three goals for 2024, I did not come away empty handed. I do enjoy the freedom of not being a landlord and unclogging toilets at odd hours of the day or night. Also, though the move to a new company costs me far too much in real dollars, emotional anguish and lost time, there is a bright side to that ordeal. Had I not risked and failed at the transition to a new company, I may have remained stuck in the belief that my occupational goals can only be met by helping someone else achieve their dreams. For, in the end, that is all wages are, wages are merely a representation that one successfully helped someone else reach a goal.

What I learned is that through my entire life, I have been someone who requires little sleep, I work incredibly hard, I spend lots of time at night and on weekends solving problems. For me, I am never off duty and my brain is always fixed on finding the next solution to complex problems. This energy, my work ethic and my desire to solve problems have been a big part of my success and an uncompensated bonus to my past employers. What I have learned in 2024, is that it is time for me to channel all the time, energy and creativity into me.

I have not yet written my 2025 goals, but I can sum them up in a few words. 2025 will be a year of self-determination and dominion. A charismatic leader will inspire others to chase that leader’s dreams. On the other hand, a mentor inspires one to follow their own path. This coming year is a mentoring year. It will be the year I mentor my own work aspirations, set my own workout times and dedicate myself to finishing my next book. In 2025, I will focus on what I can control verses those things I cannot. And that starts by exerting self-determination and dominion over me.

What I do know is there are tons of businesses that need my expertise, my energy and my integrity. 2025 will be the year I help myself by helping others. 2025 is the year I go independent so that I can pick the work that fits my lifestyle instead of sacrificing my lifestyle to fit someone else's journey. It will be interesting to see if next Christmas's post validates my current resolve.

This is what you, my readers, can expect in the ensuing year. My weekly posts will gravitate towards business growth strategies. For me to write the follow-up book on Restaurant Growth, I need to channel my thoughts and energies into that topic. I will also send the Almost Paradise series I wrote on mental health and suicide to be professionally edited and will re-publish it as one work. My professional background is that of restaurant finance and operational expertise. I have excellent analytical skills and am a strong software integrator. In short, my writing in 2025 will highlight more of my professional work in these key areas and less on the political and philosophical front.

I finish my Christmas "newsletter" with a sailing metaphor. As a lifelong sailor I have always found peace and serenity upon the water and under sail. I am fascinated by the physics that propels a craft through water by nothing other than a breath of air. Sailors learned to adjust their boat to the direction of the wind. If one knows the direction of the wind, he can chart his course to anywhere on earth. Whether it be a close-haul, beam reach or run, reading the wind vane guides the captain to steer his vessel in the proper direction. A sailboat cannot travel directly into the wind. 2025 will be the year I rely on Divine providence and an accurate reading of my guiding wind vane to chart my course into the future. I will cease heading into the wind in irons, fall off and let the wind catch my unfurling sails.

In 2025, I will exercise self-determination and dominion (sui ipsius et dominii) over my future. You, my readers, will be on this journey with me. As we enter the week we celebrate the birth of Christ, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and leave you with a blessing from Luke 2:14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men."