This has been a year of transition for me! That coupled with author James Clear’s advice to do an annual review are enough for me to take up the task.

Following Clear’s example, I’ll cover what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what I learned. Here we go!

What Went Well This Year?

Made the switch to full-time self-employment. After a 20-year career in the traditional book publishing industry, in late April I made the transition to working for myself fulltime as a writing coach and consultant. This was the culmination of a calling I’d felt for a long time, and the beginning of a whole new adventure.

Grew BookCamp. BookCamp, my membership site for writers, grew from an initial 50 members to well over a hundred this year. I love serving this vibrant community of writers who have vital messages and stories to share! We also did our first in-person meetup in conjunction with Jeff Goins’ Tribe conference.

If you want to get a book into the world and would like to link arms with an exceptional group of writers who are doing just that, you can find out more here: www.chadrallen.com/bookcampinvitation. We’d love to welcome you.

Grew my email list. I did six partner webinars this year, which allowed me to expand the number of people I serve. My email list grew significantly, from 4,364 to 6,566.

Became partially vegan. A couple of podcast interviews with Rich Roll and Julie Piatt convinced me to shift to a more plant-based way of eating. I feel healthier and have more energy. I’m not totally plant based—about 85 percent. But this shift has helped me become more intentional about my food choices, and that’s a win.

Went to Harry Potter World. For spring break our family went to Orlando to visit my mom and stepdad. While there we went to Universal Studios and Harry Potter World. It might sound cheesy, but having just read all the books with my 12-year-old son, watching him step into that place was something I’ll never forget. I’ll include some pics of the moment below.

That’s him in the first seconds of our arrival–taking it all in.

A celebratory moment

Ran the Irish Jig 5K in Grand Rapids. I was about 20 seconds off my goal pace, but I’m glad I ran it.

Read well over 30 books. Highlights: Deep Work by Cal Newport, The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch, Milk & Honey by Rupi Kaur, Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt (I acquired and did the developmental edit on this book, releasing April 2019), Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse, Iron John by Robert Bly, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, How to Live Rich by James Lenhoff, Atomic Habits by James Clear, and Light the Dark edited by Joe Fassler.

Implemented the Profit First system. My friend Jodie Vee sent me Michalowicz’s book soon after I made the transition to fulltime self-employment. I’d heard my business coach Jonathan Milligan sing the book’s praises, so a few months after the transition I read it and implemented the system. It’s been a huge win for me and my business.

My shorthand way of describing the Profit First method is to say it’s like the envelope system for your business, but instead of envelopes, you create different bank accounts for different purposes. These accounts help you quickly see the strengths and weaknesses in your business. Strongly recommended for any business owner.

Photo by Pete Johnson from Pexels

What Did Not Go So Well This Year?

Gained weight. I put on about 10 pounds this year. My fitness program was to walk at least four times a week and eat more plant-based foods. I did this for the most part, but clearly I’ll need to do something else or in addition to lose weight. Plant-based eating helps me feel better, but it’s not a weight-loss program in itself—at least not for me.

Struggling with my morning routine. I’m a firm believer in the power of rituals to increase productivity and keep one’s focus on things that matter. My struggle for most of this year has been how long it takes me to get to my laptop. A typical morning goes something like this:

• Wake up at 6:00 am.
• Make coffee and have breakfast with my son.
• Walk him to the bus stop at 7am.
• Have breakfast with my daughter at 7:30.
• Go for a walk around 8am and get home about 8:30.
• Shower, etc.
• At 9am or so I meditate, read, and fill out my daily page in my Full Focus Planner.

It’s often 10am before I get to my laptop and dive in to processing email or a blog post or whatever is the day’s work. That bothers me. It feels like I should be able to do all the above and get to my laptop by 9am, but for the life of me I can’t seem to pull it off.

The solution might be to wake up at 5am, which would require going to bed earlier. Another solution is just to accept 10am as a good time to start laptop work, but up to this point satisfaction with this has proved elusive.

What Did I Learn This Year?

I was born for self-employment and running my own business. I absolutely love it, and it’s going well enough for me to keep doing it!

Running a business is a family affair. I need the support of my wife and children to do this work, and I’m so grateful to them for being supportive.

I love serving writers! I love serving writers at multiple levels—new writers who are just getting started; the writer who already has a platform, great concept, and is pursuing a book deal; and everybody in between. The spectrum of products I offer is designed to help writers at these various levels—from BookCamp to Book Proposal Academy to one-on-one coaching.

I’d like to do more in-person events. I’d like to do this not least because the people I’m serving have asked for it. Also, there’s just no substitute for getting people together. In 2019 I’d like to do a BookCamp writing retreat and a Book Proposal Academy Elite event.

I can’t do it all. Next year I’ll probably need to hire an assistant and maybe a bookkeeper too.

That’s it for this year’s annual review!

Question: What’s one thing that went really well for you this year? You can leave a comment by clicking here.