2018 In Review.

December31

2018 was a good year. I got time to rest, play, and figure out what I want to do next. At times I felt very lost, but I feel good about where I am heading.

The Amazing
Lindsey and I have been married 4 years, which is awesome! She is my P.I.C. and we had a lot of fun this year :). Calico was so much fun this year! It was amazing to watch him start talking, running, and just becoming an amazing little person. We had a blast with him in France/Malta, to the beach, on a boat, and a lot of little adventures.

My back has been great! Despite tweaking something in May that was really painful and took 3 or 4 weeks to resolve I have felt amazing. This is the first time I’ve felt normal and I attribute that to biking and a ton of rehab.

Boulder feels more and more like a home. After our extra long summer trip, it was good to be “home”. I’ve made some friends and that is always a plus. I am excited about shifting our annual trip to winter so that we are home over the Colorado summer.

I started a new business (along with a co-founder)! Our official start date was September 17th and the business is Execution.com. We got our first paying beta client and I am excited to see what 2019 brings.

What fun stuff did we do this year?
– I went on an awesome 660 mile solo bike ride through Burgundy France. It was a blast and I am looking forward to doing more of these down the road. It was nice to have some quiet time where you have nothing to think about but where you are biking too next. Next time I want to do a little more training too.
– Lindsey, Calico and I spent a big chunk of our summer in Dijon France. We had a great time and learned some things about traveling with an 18-month old… It was extra fun as my mom and step-dad visited, plus Nick and Isadora. We ate some amazing food, drank some great wine, and generally enjoyed getting out of our normal routine.
– We also added on an extra 3 weeks in Malta at the end too! Calico loved the beach and it was a blast to watch him in the water or playing in the sand. Malta was hot but fun! We were happy to get home to Boulder and in the future, we are going to do our trip to miss part of winter.
– I saw this amazing project in France to build a 13th-century castle using the same tools available at the time. I am looking forward to seeing it in another 5 or 10 years and taking Calico.
– I read a ton this year, I was at 100 books by July and hit an all-time record by the end of the year. Not working full-time helps there.
– I went on a ton of fun hikes with Graham this year! For a while, we were going every week.
– I went on a ton of fun mountain bike rides with Lucas and it is great to have a new friend! I went on a ton of solo rides too, plus a lot of bike training for the tour in July.
– General fun stuff with Lindsey and Calico in Boulder. A lot of trips to the Farmer’s Market in Boulder and a few hikes.
– I celebrated 10 years of blogging! That is pretty awesome and this blog has been a great way to journal both publicly and privately about what is going on in my life.
– I launched a few sites to play with some stuff in my head, those being Healthy Business Partnerships, Entrepreneur Life, and Help! I Married An Entrepreneur. They are just slow projects and we shall see where they go. It is a hard space to build a new site in.

The Challenges!

Komorebi:
I started the year by doing a ton of customer dev interviews on an idea I had and the idea just hit a wall… I still want to do a version of it for myself and friends but for now it is on hold. It was an idea around an online community for entrepreneurs to give them a place to connect and ask questions and support each other (among other things). Like an online version of EO/Vistage but with a better network.

Komorebi + Life + Family:
Booting up a new business while balancing my family and my life is really hard! I started the new business in mid-September and it has been really hard to figure out how to balance launching a new business with: time alone with Lindsey, time with Calico, grocery shopping, errands, workouts, cooking my special diet, and time alone to recharge.

Health:
My health has been good but it has been a real struggle to stay on the strict Paleo AIP diet. And, with going back to work full-time it has been really hard. It takes a lot of time to do meal prep and I have struggled with the new setup :(. Lindsey has been helping the last month and we are trying to figure out how to make it all work. I am hopeful we will figure it out! I am going to be trying to do more meal prep on the weekend for the entire week.

Marriage:
Lindsey and I hit some big bumps this year. We finished the year in a much stronger place with better communication and a better understanding of each other. But boy did we have some rough moments this year. We’ve been married for 4 years which is awesome! I am hopeful that 2019 will be better than 2018 as we’ve hopefully gained a lot of wisdom.

USA / Faith In People:
We are living in interesting times… we shall see if the USA can survive this test, not to mention the rest of the world. I’ve come to a good place of acceptance over this year and I’ve had a few moments of epiphany around how much people are in their own heads and focused on their small worlds.

How did I do on my goals for 2018?
I did really well, it was a rough start but the big 3 were done by month 9.

The theme of the year was figuring out my new beginning. I did a good job of giving myself the time and space to figure out what I wanted to do, and despite getting lost a few times I am happy with the path I am on. More importantly, I am energized and not so burned out, it took a while to shake off the last couple of years and recharge.

My big 3 priorities for the year were to figure out what is next for me and why, to explore how I could help other entrepreneurs with a business, and to spend a ton of time mountain biking and bike touring.

2019…
I am looking forward to 2019! I always liked the number 9 and hopefully, it brings me some good fortune this year :). More to come in a separate 2019 post!

posted under My Thoughts | Comments Off on 2018 In Review.

This is bwb’s personal blog, so he can share his thoughts with the world, however scary or silly they might be. Plus family and friends can track what I am up to, and where I am in the world.

I am pretty simple. I love Mangos. I love the ocean (although mostly at sunset, as I’m a ginger). I love to travel, eat exotic food, do long bike rides, read, and use my imagination. At some point, I decided it was better to be a pirate captain than an admiral. I am a globalist and see the entire world as my responsibility and playground. And I am married to an amazing woman who makes life even more fun :)! And we are now the proud parents of Calico Jack :).


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