Annual reflection - 2021

In this article, I review 2021 and share my priorities for 2022.

2021 review

My three goals for 2021 were to:

• Conquer sleep,

• Adjust to fatherhood, and

• Grow and automate LegUp Health and LegUp Benefits.

On the personal front, my goal was to get control over my ability to sleep, and I did. This was a huge win. I can now fall asleep on my own at night without sleep medication. There were two key success factors. First, I started tracking my sleep quality at night using this sleep tracking mat. Second, I stopped drinking caffeine in the afternoons.

Family-wise, Sable and I welcomed our first child and son, Oliver Odin Lindquist, on March 21, 2021. My family goal for 2021 was to adjust to fatherhood. I’ve done this for the most part, but I feel like it’s a constant learning experience. Being a father is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s also the most fulfilling. Anyway, I’m a dad now and I think I’ve got this.

Professionally, my goal was to grow and automate LegUp Health and LegUp Benefits. I was really successful with simplifying and automating the business. We merged LegUp Health and LegUp Benefits into one brand and focused our service on Utah consumers who buy health insurance through the Marketplace. We also automated several manual client services. On the growth side, we didn’t hit our financial goal of breaking $10,000 per month in recurring revenue. This was in large part due to my deciding to take a full-time job at Windfall in July 2021.

The good news is that JD Cleary joined LegUp Health as General Manager in October and he is now fully ramped up. Thanks to his efforts, we retained 90-plus percent of our clients and added some new ones. The clients we lost were all due to life events out of our control (e.g. moving out of the state or getting a new job with health insurance). Also, client referrals are starting to pick up. This is an important market signal. If we can average 1.2 referrals per client per year, we’ll double the business every year from referrals alone.

2021 was a life-changing year for me. Oliver has brought more joy to my life than I could ever have imagined. Also, sharing the journey with JD at LegUp Health has been way better than going at it solo.

2022 priorities

My four goals for 2022 are to:

• Reprioritize my daily personal health habits,

• Spend more quality time with Sable and Oliver,

• Support the growth of LegUp Health, and

• Help scale Windfall the right way.

First, I want to reprioritize my daily personal health habits. This means recommitting to waking up early so I can write and workout out before my family wakes up. It also means getting back in the habit of tracking my daily calorie intake.

Second, I want to spend more quality time with Sable and Oliver. In 2021, we spent most of our family time reacting. In 2022, I want to be more proactive about how we spend our time together. Specifically, I’d like to have a date with Sable most weeks and start taking Oliver with me on weekend errands and walks.

Third, I want to support the growth of LegUp Health. Our overarching goal is to grow the client base to 400 clients. If we do that, we should break $200K in annual recurring revenue (ARR). The first step in hitting this goal is to structure a partnership and financial plan that enables JD to go full-time and ensures he has the resources he needs to be successful.

Fourth, I want to help Windfall scale the right way. I want to strike the balance between prioritizing people and performance. Great leadership is about prioritizing both; not one or the other. I also want to be a team player while delivering on my responsibilities.

2022 is going to be a big year!

Notes

[1] If you’d like more detail on how I reflected on 2021 and how I’m thinking about 2022, check out this 90-minute mega-episode from my podcast, Startup to Last.

Have thoughts on this topic? I'd love to hear from you! I'm @RickLindquist on Twitter.