How can 2021 be (almost) over?

Then again, sometimes I still think it's 2001.

2021 is a wrap?

For a person that easily loses decades, losing a year is a minor inconvenience, but a bummer nonetheless. Fortunately, I corrected the email subject line before I hit send.

I can’t be the only one. Maybe I’m just getting old.

Anyhoo…

---

2021 In Review

I’m not a resolution guy, so I pretty much run into a new year with the same reckless abandon as any other year. But every year, toward the end of December, I review the past 12 months, looking for course corrections to make, identifying things I’d like to do more of, and those that I’ll never do again.

I spare you the nonsense, here are some things about 2021 that stand out:

• Texas. I took the family for a 3-week road trip in March. We camped outside San Antonio for a week and spent some quality time exploring the area. Visited a lifelong friend in Austin (with an amazing recording studio on his property), spent time in downtown San Antonio (which was beautiful in spite of the big freeze), and ate a ton of killer food. Takeaway: I love Texas, I will be back, and might need to buy some property there as a hedge against the Zombie Apocolypse.

• Family. 2021 was harder on my high schoolers than 2020 was. I thought heading back to the classroom after being virtual for a year would be a good thing, and it generally is, but they don’t want to go 5 days a week. They know that in-person isn’t necessary and don’t know why they have to sit somewhere for 8 hours when they can get their work done in 1. Sound familiar? Yeah. Like most of us, we were shown the wizard behind the curtain and now know he’s an ineffective, weak little person that uses fear in an attempt to keep us under control. You can’t unmelt cheese. So we spend a lot of time traveling in our camper: reading, laughing, sitting by the fire, and exploring the country. Mobile internet access has set us free.

• Writing. I didn’t write as much on Medium in 2021 as I did in 2020, although I still love the platform. I was accepted into their creator fellowship and have a minimum number of stories that I had to publish, and I hit those numbers. But I did spend a lot of time writing. I love to write and Medium is where I publish personal stories for the most part. I think about my kids reading everything that I publish on Medium and that keeps me grounded, keeps me from publishing complete bullshit that seems to dominate so many platforms these days. I have done a lot of writing for others this year and I love the fact that I can earn money doing something that gives me so much satisfaction. Writing is therapy in a way, it’s a way for me to mentally escape the isolation of working from home — I feel like I’m talking to a room full of people. Some of you are awake and watching me pace the room, some of you are asleep, and some of you are staring at your phones. Either way, thanks for being here.

---

What to expect from me in 2022

Thank you for keeping your subscription alive. I know I haven’t published that frequently, and there’s a reason for that: newsletters suck.

So for 2022, I’m taking this in a new direction: I’m going to show you how I create things that sell. Think of this as a book that’s being written and delivered every week or so.

I’ll detail the processes I use to: discover markets, create communities, identify needs, create and test candidate solutions, marketing, SEO, email list development, how to use marketplaces (Upwork, Fiverr, etc.), payment gateways, and much more.

Pretty sure you’ll find something interesting along the way.

Thanks for sticking around, and all the best for a happy 2022.

Talk to you soon.

Travis