In 2024, Uber quoted me $150+ for a six-mile ride, I paid $9.59 for a tube of toothpaste, and my rent just went up again. 

Sorry folks. I can’t afford a new year. 🤷

Instead, I found a great deal on a certified pre-owned year.

It’s got some miles on it, but unlike your gym membership, Tony Robbins tape, or buckets of other new year’s resolutions, it’s not going to lose half of its value when I drive it off the lot in February.

Despite what millions of marketers are screaming at you right now—

👉️ Fresh starts simply don’t exist.

We all fool ourselves every year thinking that we’re going to magically change our behavior overnight.

Then, when we inevitably let ourselves down, we’re failures.

Look — I’m not going to completely shit on the idea of new year’s resolutions. It’s healthy to set goals and try to improve ourselves.

But we can learn a lot more, and make better forward progress, by looking backwards.

Every new day is an opportunity to build on all those imperfect days, weeks, and years behind us.

No one is starting from scratch.

Everyone has some hidden genius within them

A few weeks ago, during one of our Braintrust Sessions in Stealth Mastermind, my friend Andy revealed his genius.

It was buried under a mound of bashful bullshit. But we managed to dig it up.

Andy owns a successful advertising agency that he bootstrapped from a solo-operation to a team of 7 in two years by focusing on quality referrals, rather than spending heaps of money on marketing.

The sustainable growth he created has given him enough time flexibility and income stability to launch a second business — and recently acquire a third.

Andy is absolutely slaying the entrepreneurship game.

So there he was — in a room where several of his fellow mastermind members have maxed-out their business potential as solo-operators, and were looking to start building their teams.

Given Andy’s success, I asked him to walk us through his process.

He replied:

👉️ “What process? It was chaos.”

Yep. I hear ya, pal.

Building a business always feels that way. Every day, Andy had a dozen different decisions to make, each accompanied by a hundred different possible outcomes.

And since Andy wasn’t following a process, it felt like chaos.

But when we took the time to walk through his decisions, why he made them, and what the outcomes were, he began creating his process — over just a few impromptu minutes on a live call.

It turns out, Andy made a lot of great decisions, and learned valuable lessons from the not-so-great ones. 

He had just never reflected back on those decisions in a productive way — a way that could be helpful to both himself, and others.

Y’all — I may be singling Andy out here, but everybody does this.

Especially me. 🤦

I definitely underestimated myself

When I began publishing Drunk Business Advice back in April, I was lining up dozens of people to interview for stories.

Why?

Because I was certain that I only had a handful of stories about my own life that were worthy of publishing.

I assumed that Drunk Business Advice would predominately feature other business leaders — friends of mine with interesting backgrounds and great successes.

The plan was to use my sharp interviewing and writing skills to tell their stories through an insightful and humorous lens.

And I’ve definitely achieved that on a few occasions, with stories like:

• Under the ass of every astronaut

• The guy who saved the Super Bowl

• How to make a half a million dollars disappear

With so many badass business leaders in my circle, I sincerely didn’t think I’d be writing about myself very much.

I’m actually a little embarrassed by how much I blabber on about my own experiences, like the coked-up Wall Street bro at a party you’re trying to leave.

But—

True statement:  I’ve experienced meaningful personal revelations with every story I’ve written. 

And I get tons of inspiring feedback that you’re experiencing the same revelations from my stories. 

Y’all — writing for you has taught me more than any class I’ve ever taken.

Through this process, I’ve begun recognizing my own decision-making patterns, gleaned new insights from experiences that are decades in the past, and dramatically improved my outlook on life.

And while there might come a day when my personal content-well runs dry, I don’t anticipate that happening any time soon.

Because every story I write sparks new memories.

And every new memory surfaces lessons that I should have learned, but failed to recognize, simply because my eyes were so steadfastly set on my future that it seemed physically impossible to turn my head and reflect on my past.

But I’m telling you, once I started reflecting, and writing that shit down, the value compounded faster than a compulsive shopper’s credit card debt.

So this is my wish for you all in 2025

If you’ve set a new year’s resolution to get in shape, earn more money, drink less alcohol, or any number of self-improvement efforts, I sincerely wish you all the success in the world.

👉️ But don’t forget to turn your head.

Chances are, you already have the tools you need to be successful in those goals. And I bet you have the tools to help others be successful, too. 

They’re buried in lessons from your past experiences.

So go dig ‘em up.

And if you want some help with that digging, I’ve compiled a small group of badass business leaders who are doing the same with a new program called Rebel Scribes.

Together, we’ll be exploring reflective practices, storytelling models, and writing tactics that surface your insights — and make people care about them.

I’d love to work with you.

Have a killer 2025, everyone.

Cheers! 🍻

-Kristin :-)

P.S. — If you’re an experienced entrepreneur, you may qualify to join me and Andy in Stealth Mastermind. Hit reply and tell me about yourself.

Don’t be a lurker. Hit reply to say hello.

👉️ Like my storytelling? Hire me to write an op-ed.

👉️ Have a story you think I should cover? Tell me about it.