Looking Back, Moving Forward

As we close the chapter on 2025 and usher in the New Year I always love to reflect upon the prior 12 months, for two main reasons. The first is to assess my accomplishments (or lack thereof), both personal and business, as well as set up goals and outlines for the upcoming year. I think it’s very important to never frame things negatively; if there were some unfortunate results that presented themselves in the past year I don’t look at it as a failure, rather an opportunity to grow in the new year. Of course there are ups and downs. Did I miss the mark on some of my goals? Absolutely. Does that make me a loser? No, quite the opposite. All that means is there’s more opportunity to accomplish even more next year, in an even more meaningful capacity. Success in the face of adversity will always taste much sweeter than a win that comes easy.

Through that reflection, I also try to look at whether I achieved a satisfactory level of discomfort that is always accompanied by growth. We’re not naturally built for change — we’re literally hard-wired to chase comfort and protect what we already have. Modern life makes it easy to stay in routines, avoid risk, and convince ourselves that stability is the same thing as progress. The worst of it is, as we get older, we become even more averse to change. Remember being a kid with no fears? Exploring places you shouldn’t, doing super dangerous activities with not a single thought to the risks. Ask yourself – when is the last time you genuinely threw caution to the wind?

But we know change is good. One of my favorite quotes is “I strive to do something that scares the sh*t out of me every day” and that has stuck with me many years later. Without change, there is no growth.

The Carrier Relations team and I were presented with an unbelievable opportunity to spend a ton of time and train with Chris Franzen, whom many of you know from his Partner MasterClass sessions. Along with the training came a challenge – take a lot of your normal conventions and un-learn them. Throw them away, light them on fire, you name the analogy. I can talk about it more freely now, but we HATED it. The team and I would have countless sidebar conversations about how miserable we were in this “training.” Forced to practice talking points? Memorize and adapt to new structures? But we’re so busy. And we’re already experts. I mean, this is what we do all day, is it not? And we do it well. But it is precisely that arrogance that prevents so many of us from being better versions of ourselves. Why be good enough when you can be great? I had the privilege of meeting one of Chris’ head salespeople, JP, a little while ago, and something he said stuck with me and I’ll never forget it. JP met Chris in his late 40s; already extremely successful and wealthy in his own right, he met Chris one day, dropped everything, and told him “Chris, teach me everything you know.” I immediately asked him why in the world that mattered to him so much. Clearly he’s successful and is doing something right. His response was simple: “It doesn’t matter how good I am, Chris showed me I could be better.”

A lot of you are many years my senior (I’m not calling you old, I’m just a “young buck” as one Partner puts it) and I have the honor and privilege of working alongside you all, and gaining valuable insight in business and personal lived experiences I’m eternally grateful for. But let me flip the script and offer something in return: I want you to sit for a moment and ask yourselves this – “When is the last time I truly got out of my comfort zone?”

If you were able to come up with an answer right away, then that’s wonderful and my challenge to you is to continue doing that. If you started drawing blanks, or your answer happened a long time ago, my challenge to you is simple – change that this year. In fact, set a quarterly reminder for yourselves on your cell phones that are either in your hands as you read this or 2 feet from you to ask yourself this question. If it pops up on April 1^st and you have nothing to show for it, now you have another 9 months. There are always a million, very valid, reasons why we can’t do something. I hear “Partner, kids, bills” constantly. These are crutches. Get up and get after it. For me it was Chris’ MasterClass training. For Joe it was his health journey with Sean he’s spoken about at length.

“Just Do It”

-Nike

I would love to hear your stories over the next 12 months whether they’re business related or personal. You all have my personal cell phone number for a reason.

I got to be a part of a very special moment for the first time this year – A Partner’s first BFAM. For the uninitiated, a first BFAM challenges everything you think you know about a sale. We’ve spoken about the benefits of BFAM ad nauseum over the years, but they require a level of detail and attitude that a normal sale does not. You must get out of your comfort zone to do one, but the rewards in the long term are well worth the challenge. This Partner now has a locked in 5 year long-term relationship with customer with annual auto-renewals, not to mention the customer is extremely happy with the level of work and attention to detail we poured into this – and the results speak for themselves. Yes, the Partner could have just taken the easy, comfortable route: put them on a normal Industry account, make money immediately, and hope the client is happy enough to stay long term. No extensive coaching, no hours of meetings, flights or additional concessions. But no benefits either. With his blessing, I plan on publishing a follow-up article in Sipping and Shipping with his direct input on his foray into the world of BFAM, the good the bad and the ugly. Trust me, it gets easier. In the same year I negotiated this Partner’s first, I negotiated another’s 5^th, and another’s 10^th. The ability to see growth in real time is a beautiful thing.

C.T. – Congratulations on your first one, and I know there are many, many more to come over the years. It’s been a pleasure working on this with you <3

And finally, some gratitudes. First and foremost to you, the Partner. You are the lifeblood of this company; you are all the reason we get to do what we do. It takes a village, and I’m honored to be able to call you all neighbors.

To the BF ownership – your never-ending support of our collective growths never goes unappreciated, both through internal initiatives and training, and new and exciting opportunities offered to Partners, we are all better for it.

To my fellow BF staff – I am blessed to be able to call every single one of you my friend. I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to spend all day with. It (almost) never feels like work, and that’s a very rare thing – it speaks volumes to the culture cultivated by management.

I hope everyone has an amazing year full of health, wealth and growth and I am looking forward to all that this new year will bring.