Happy New Year’s Eve 🎉🥳🪩

What a year it has been! This year, 2024, has been pretty solid overall. It has certainly had its challenges. But, if I had to sum it up in a few words I’d say 2024 was all about two words - growth and change.

My wife says that I am someone who is consistently evolving. It’s no surprise that evolution was an underlying theme to 2024.

The largest amount of growth and change happened in my professional life. But, there were some really amazing outcomes in my personal life. In fact, there was one change in my personal life that stands out. So, let’s start there.

By the way, if you are inspired to do an annual review and/or year in review, I’d love to read yours. You can email me at jonathan@jonathanmillspatrick.com.

Personal life

• Fixed my gut issues - its hard to say if it was because we dialed in my thyroid issues or something else, but one of the best things in 2024 was getting my gut back in line. Between my doctors and my wife’s efforts, we finally dialed my diet in to where I can eat what I call “normal food.” For all of 2023 and most of 2024 I was having massive bloating issues when I would eat just about anything. Over time, through changes in my diet (moving to largely a gluten-free diet) we’ve been able to get things under control. So much so that I’ve recently returned to eating some of my favorite foods. This improvement in my quality of life has been nothing short of dramatic. If you are having gut issues, consider looking into the low FODMAP diet (talk to your doctor first).
• Mobility + Core + Kettlebells - a few years back I had a herniated disk. After finishing my physical therapy, I decided to incorporate stretching/yoga into all of my workouts. If you know me, you know that even at the ripe age of 50 years old, I still exercise pretty heavily. I average at least four pretty strenuous work outs per week. This year consistently working on my mobility, plus adding in a new core routine before each workout, has really improved my lower back issues. On top of that, I bought a kettlebell and started doing kettlebell workouts. I started with a 25 lb. bell and just received a 35 lb. bell as a Christmas gift from my in-laws. Not only are kettlebell workouts great for strength, but they also force you to use your core. While my cardio isn’t what it used to be, I honestly feel like I’m about as strong as I’ve ever been. My advice is to work on your mobility and core through lots of yoga and kettlebell swings. 🏋️

Professional life

• My business revenue growth - although the final tally isn’t in, 2024 was the best year for my businesses so far. Based on revenue , I expect to see a 30%-50% increase in year-over-year growth. Thank you to everyone that I had the chance to work with. It was so much fun to meet and work with many of you.
• Closed a large SBA loan for a client - part of that revenue growth came from closing a large SBA loan for a client. I really enjoyed helping them acquire an existing business and seeing them get it off the ground. If you’d like to start a business, part-time or full-time, helping business owners obtain capital, check out my most popular course, Commercial Loan Broker in a Box.
• Published a new book and started on another - a few months ago I published my latest book, Stress-Free Finances. In it, I share everything I’ve learned in over 25+ years of personal finance. I can tell you that without a doubt, one of the reasons that 2024 was a good year is that we have our family finances in order, between offense (finding ways to make more money) and defense (controlling our budget). I’ve also started on my next book, which I hope to publish by this summer, called “Go-to-Market Made Easy: Your Roadmap for Customer Acquisition.” In it I’ll be sharing lessons from over $300,000,000 in product launches.
• Made Senior Director - speaking of products, this year I made Senior Director at my day job, where I run four product teams for a $12B publicly-traded fintech company. To be candid, that promotion came with a lot of stress. Since we have hired someone to take a few team members back off me (I have a team of about thirty still), things have settled down some and I expect 2025 to be a little less hectic.
• I created a new division - Of the four teams I manage, two are new teams that I have created at my company. Last year I spun up a go-to-market team that has now hit 11 team members. More recently, I am spinning up a new Product Operations divisions. That’s currently just a team of one, but I’m working on adding headcount to that team in Q1 of 2025.

Thanks for indulging me a bit. I know today’s post is a lot about me. I thought it could be interesting to some of you, since when I do get to connect with you over calls people seem interested in everything going on in my world.

Again, I’ve love to hear how your world went. Send me an email at jonathan@jonathanmillspatrick.com with what you are into and maybe even how I could help you.

What I’m consuming

I’m participating in Ali Abdaal’s Productivity Spark 2025 event. If you have big goals for 2025 and want some guidance/motivation, this event is completely free.