This marks my fifth annual review in this format. Check out 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.

In my 42nd year on this planet, I’m reminded that each year can speed by in a blur and easily bleed into the next. But taking a few hours here and there to pause and reflect, to revisit photos, journal entries, or my calendar can, momentarily, slow time down and zoom in close enough to see the textures of life, the different memories and experiences that evoke a range of emotions.

That’s why I enjoy this time of year, specifically putting my annual review together. It’s an opportunity to relive the past 12 months and examine the textures and appreciate all that’s transpired.

My annual review steers clear of the business side of things since I write about that extensively in my Agency Journey series. I noted in my December 2025 edition that this was a very foundational year for Barrel Holdings. But in this post, I like to get very personal.

Highlights

The Boys Are Growing Up Fast

This year, our three boys turned 6, 4, and 2. The two older ones, Grant and Teddy, began to change themselves, no longer needing their parents’ help to put on underwear, shirts, and pants. They slip their shoes on whenever they want to go outside and zoom back and forth.

They even learned to open a soda can, which means they can pick out their desired Spindrift flavor out of the fridge and serve themselves. My oldest son Grant can now put on his own seatbelt around his booster seat and close his side of the car door. He also can navigate to his preferred YouTube videos via remote control.

Since September, Grant and Teddy, now in 1st grade and Pre-K, respectively, have been taking the bus to school in the mornings. They eagerly hop on and giggle amongst themselves, not even looking back.

Our youngest son Xander is also growing up fast. He goes up and down the stairs as he pleases, demands fruits and snacks with words, and isn’t shy about telling me or his brothers to “go away” if he’s annoyed. We started sending him to daycare three times a week and he spends a lot of quality time with grandma and grandpa on the other days.

As amazing as it is to see the kids becoming more and more independent, there’s a wistfulness I feel as they need me less and less. I’m most often requested when there is a LEGO piece that is too tightly stuck for the kids to pull apart on their own. I’m basically a human brick separator.

But then there are the occasional moments when the kids are extra tired or not feeling 100% and want to be carried and taken care of. I cherish being needed in those situations. And I cherish Xander’s diaper changes because it’s only a matter of time before I’ve changed out my last.

It’s funny how, just a few years ago, I longed for the day when the kids would be independent so I could “have my life back”, but I realize it’s all been too fast. And I understand much better now why my own Dad is so eager to make Korean food for me whenever I mention a craving or to help with any handy stuff that needs to get done around our place. I was once a helpless little one that he held in his arms. And now, as I go about my own life, he still sees me as his son and cherishes every opportunity to be a father who can take care of his baby.

The Chicken Coop

Speaking of my Dad, a big development this year was our chicken coop.

I mentioned the idea to my Dad at the end of 2024, remarking that a few of my friends had chicken coops and how cute it was that their kids interacted with the chickens and enjoyed fresh eggs.

In my mind, I thought we’d order a chicken coop kit, assemble it, and pick up some chickens, but my Dad had other ideas.

After agreeing on a spot for the coop, right next to our garden and garage, my Dad got to work, assuring me that he had a design in mind that would be perfect.

Over the course of 2 months, my Dad fashioned a custom chicken coop that could easily house over a dozen chickens. He even found some leftover roof shingles to help it match the look and feel of our house.

While constructing the coop, my Dad also tried to hatch chickens, ordering a bunch of fertilized eggs. Unfortunately, most failed to hatch and only 2 out of the 20+ eggs survived. But the 2 surviving chickens, a rooster and a hen named Bob and Flower, are doing very well. We ended up picking up a bunch of chicks from a farm in the Catskills. We started with 22 total chickens, half roosters and half hens. My kids named every one of them with names like Monster, Jack O’Lantern, Fluffybum, Helmet Head, etc.

Throughout the spring and summer months, the chicks quickly transformed, adding weight and feathers, and turning into grown-up chickens. My kids loved harvesting bugs from the pool and seeds from the yard and creating treat platters on big leaves for the chickens. As the chickens matured, the excess roosters made for some tough meat and a lot of chicken soup.

My Dad continued to build out the coop, adding a little yard area as well as a looping wired tunnel that allows the chickens to get exercise while being protected from predators. As summer came to a close and the first eggs were imminent, my Dad created a nesting section inside the coop for the hens to lay their eggs. Sloped at an angle, the eggs would then roll down to a box that could open from the outside, positioned low enough that my kids can check each morning for eggs and place them into a carton.

The eggs started coming in September, 1-2 a day from Raven, our most senior hen, and then bit by bit with contributions from the other hens, to as many as 8-10 a day. They’ve pulled back a bit due to the biting cold weather, but we still get fresh eggs daily. It’s a real treat to have home-laid eggs for breakfast every day.

I’d have never guessed even a couple years ago that we’d be a household that had raised our own chickens, but here we are. What a pleasant development it’s been, and one that we’ll continue to enjoy in the coming years.

I Published a Book

I always had “write a book” as a bucket list item. I thought it would be some kind of delicately written pseudo-memoir type fiction story that would be the payoff for all the literary fiction I consumed in my life. But every time I sat down to chip away, I’d lose steam and be discouraged with my progress.

Meanwhile, I’d get requests from agency founders asking more about the Barrel Holdings model and what it took to set up a holding company structure. I’d share my learnings with people on video calls, in person, and via email. After enough requests, I figured I’d put some stuff down on a Google Doc and maybe turn it into an e-book.

In addition to the basics of the holding company structure, which was more about the concept of capital allocation and how to think about turning your cash flows into greater cash flows in the future, I ended up revisiting many of the books, articles, and podcasts that had helped me to arrive at the model for Barrel Holdings. I also did more research on different types of holdcos, diving into websites and annual reports of companies across various sectors.

Because the writing and research directly benefitted my day-to-day work with Barrel Holdings, it all felt very natural and synergistic. I carved out 20-30 minutes each evening after the kids went to bed and did some writing. AI was helpful in being a thought partner throughout, and was useful in synthesizing my notes and research, keeping the momentum of the project going.

Once the draft started getting meaty, I slapped on a title – The Holdco Guide – and shared the doc with some friends to get some constructive feedback. I re-worked a bunch of sections based on my friends’ notes and kept going. The response was positive enough that I wanted to keep adding to the book.

After I cross 25,000 words, I wondered if this book could become a self-published item rather than a PDF e-book. I decided to try out a service called selfpublishing.com, which paired me with a “book coach” who would walk me through the publishing process. Because I had a 90% done manuscript, I was able to quickly move into editing, which was done by a service called Wandering Words Media. The first pass was content edits followed by copyedits. Once I made a bunch of structural and copy edits, including giving into using “Holdco” vs. “HoldCo”, I paid for a final round of proofreading to get everything in a good spot.

The book was then sent to production and turned into a designed file. I didn’t love the cover designs done by selfpublishing.com’s designers, so I found my own on Dribbble and provided her with a brief, including an AI-generated sample which essentially became the final cover design. My coach walked me through getting the book on Amazon and encouraged me to assemble a “book launch team” to get some early reviews going. I got my proof copies in the mail, which was really cool to see. By the latter part of December, the book was finally live.

Overall, the process was pretty smooth sailing. I think I can actually do without selfpublishing.com next time, and I will be much more discerning with who I pick as my editor and book cover designers.

I’ll continue to promote The Holdco Guide over the coming months. It’s got over 150 sales so far, which has been a pleasant surprise. I learned that around 90% of self-published books on Amazon sell less than 100 copies, so at least I’ve cleared some kind of bar.

The book itself is short and very practical. It’s meant to be a primer for people unfamiliar with holding company structures but well-versed enough in business to quickly see how the holdco concept could apply to their own decision-making processes. I purposely kept the chapters short and concise so it would feel like a easy-to-read manual vs. something you linger on. In other words, it’s no work of art and not the finest writing, but my hope is that some people find it informational and useful.

You can order a copy on Amazon or check out a free excerpt right here.

Now that this experience has de-mystified the book publishing process, I’m eager to explore more book ideas and make them come alive. I don’t think it’s out of the question to try and publish a book every 12-18 months. Not saying I will, but something I’ll noodle on further.

Hosted a Couple Meetups

Last year, I remarked how I’d love to get involved more in the local community as a 2025 intention. Between work and the kids, it’s easy to find excuses of “having no time”, but I’m glad I played a part in hosting a couple of meetups this year for local folks.

My friend Aaron, who rented a spacious office for his AI startup right off of Rhinebeck’s main drag, was game to co-host an AI meetup at his spot. In February, after canceling the first date due to snow, we hosted our inaugural Hudson Valley AI Meetup. I invited everyone I had met over the past couple of years from the area. Over 20 people showed up, some from as far as 90 minutes away.

The vibe was great and people had a great time. We were able to run it back in May and host a 2nd meetup. In addition to seeing local friends at the meetup, I made some new ones. Some of the guys from the meetup started to get together for AM coffees, which was a nice development.

Aaron shut down his startup in the fall, so we lost a go-to spot, but I’m sure if we were to ask around, we’d be able to secure a space. I’m just not sure if I want to do another AI-focused one or maybe it’d be interesting to do a meetup that’s more focused on agency/consulting folks in the area who’d like to talk about building their business, working with clients, managing talent, etc. You know, the stuff that I’ve been obsessing about.

Alternatively, I wouldn’t mind getting a more formalized “breakfast club” format going in Rhinebeck or Red Hook. It’d be cool to get like-minded people together once a month to socialize and hang out. I see a group of older men, most likely in their 60s and 70s, hanging out at our local donut shop every week. It’s really cool that they have such a community going.

Travel: Checked Off a “Some Day” Spot and Some Work-Related Trips

I first heard about “The Grand Canyons of New York” a few years ago, maybe on an Instagram post. I bookmarked Letchworth and promised myself we’d do a family trip one day. Of course, with 3 young kids, a 4.5-hour drive to western New York didn’t feel appealing, but they were now just old enough that I felt we should give it a try this year.

In October, along with my sister and parents, the 8 of us got into two cars and ventured out to Conesus Lake, one of the smaller Finger Lakes and the one closest to Letchwork State Park. The park was majestic and the canyons truly lived up to the hype. The foliage was just entering peak, so the colors were quite beautiful. But the actual highlight of the trip came right in the backyard of the Airbnb we were staying at. Perched on the lake with a boat dock jutting out, the house had a clear panoramic view of Conesus Lake. On the morning after our arrival, rain had just fallen and a rainbow started to peek out. But rather than fading out after a few minutes, the rainbow got stronger and even had a pair join above it. Before long, we saw the full breadth of a flexed rainbow and for a brief moment, we saw it reflected perfectly on the lake, creating a circle.

The scene was surreal, nothing I’ve ever seen in my life. The photos don’t do it justice. My parents, the kids, everyone was in awe. Anyway, this experience alone was worth the trip.

Our family also took trips in 2025 to:

• Fort Myers, Florida (stayed at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point, pretty convenient)
• Lewes, Delaware (Mel’s sister’s place, had a really great time with the kids)
• Berkshires, Massachusetts (found an incredible Airbnb & hung out with my friend Warren’s family)
• Legoland New York (went in December, would not recommend, most rides were closed)

I think we’re due for an international trip in 2026 as a family.

I covered more ground for work-related travel:

• Sundance, Utah (HoldCo Conference)
• Portland, Oregon (Bureau of Digital’s Leadership Love Conference as speaker)
• Forth Worth, Texas (Collective 54 Reunion)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (met with agency owners)
• St. Louis / Columbia, Missouri (met with agency owners)

In addition to these, I was in NYC maybe 2-3 times per month on average and a handful of times stayed there for a few nights.

I expect my travel volume to be comparable in 2026, maybe a couple more work-related flights if our M&A activity requires it. Being close to New York is advantageous because many people come through and I can take the train down to meet with them. That said, it was a good experience going to states and cities I had never visited in the past.

Biggest Challenges

House Renovation, In-Laws Moving to Rhinebeck

I mentioned in my update last year that we bought a place in Rhinebeck with the plan to move Melanie’s parents sometime in 2025. The first part of 2025 was spent dealing with the fallout from the burst pipes towards the end of 2024. The flooding completely destroyed a ready-to-rent downstairs unit and increased our total renovation costs.

We engaged with a local general contractor in the spring, and extensive work on the house–all new flooring, new layout, new appliances, exterior paint, etc.–took place over the next 6 months. Mel and I joked to ourselves that we could’ve just bought a newer move-in ready home for all the money spent on renovations. We would send each other plenty of Zillow listings to underscore this reality but oh well. Our consolation was that the location was great and senior-friendly ranch style homes were hard to come across.

In October, Mel’s parents finally moved in. Now they’re within 10 minutes of their son (Mel’s brother Geoff) and daughter’s families. It was quite a big undertaking, especially for Melanie, who managed much of the renovation and moving logistics while juggling her demanding job. Not an easy year for her, but glad we got through this.

Flag Football With Grant

Mel mentioned that there were sign ups for flag football in the fall. I thought it’d be cool to try it out with Grant, so we signed him up. I also volunteered to be an assistant coach.

Grant, while physically tall for his age, was one of the youngest kids on the team. Right away, Grant voiced complaints about the heat, being tired, and not wanting to be at practice. For whatever reason, the game did not appeal to him. This was tough for me to manage while also trying to coach the other kids. My own kid refused to go along with the drills and sometimes just walked off the field in the middle of practice and games.

We gave it our best effort. I coaxed him to attend most of the games and allowed him to miss a few practices. The goal was to just end the season and not quit. It helped that the weather got cooler, so Grant was more amenable to staying outside. He told me he never wanted to play flag football ever again, and I told him that was okay. Otherwise, I did enjoy the coaching part and getting to know the other kids and parents. I told myself that I still have 2 more shots at getting one of my kids to like flag football, so no worries.

Looking back, it’s funny how the most stressful part of my week had nothing to do with work but were the hours leading up to the football games on Saturdays and dreading how Grant might handle himself. Over time, I got more and more used to it, and by the end of the season, I, too, was glad that we were done with football.

One takeaway from this: I think Grant behaves differently and with greater discipline when I’m not around. I saw this firsthand when I dropped him off for ski lessons for an entire day. If I had been there, I know he would’ve complained and quit early, but because I wasn’t there, he toughed it out and patiently took the entire lesson. Would flag football have turned out differently had I not been there as well?

Personal Scorecard

I had trouble tracking my habits throughout the year, not because my habits were faltering but because they were automatic and I didn’t feel like the tracking helped me. The two numbers that were important to me were working out and books read. My 2025 stats:

• Worked out 313 times (vs. 345 in 2024)
• Finished 22 books (vs. 33 in 2025)

I started a lot of different books but didn’t get through a lot of them. I ended up listening to way more podcasts this year, especially dozens of episodes of Acquiring Minds and Minds Capital.

A couple LinkedIn-related stats:

• 224 posts on LinkedIn (about same as 2024)
• 1,397,681 impressions on LinkedIn (vs. 909k in 2024)

I started putting some paid ad dollars behind some of my posts towards the end of the year, especially my posts about the types of agencies Barrel Holdings is looking to acquire. These juiced up my impressions and also reached a lot of agency founders, which has been good for our M&A pipeline.

Most Impactful Books

As mentioned above, my reading volume was down, but there were a few memorable books I’d like to point out:

• Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte – this book was wildly entertaining and kind of messed up, not an easy one to forget.
• The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by William N. Thorndike – this was a re-read of a book I first enjoyed 10 years ago; it was a totally different experience this time around as I grasped more of the concepts and better understood the CEO stories
• I Regret Almost Everything by Keith McNally – as a frequent patron of many Keith McNally restaurants during my time in NYC, this book felt like a ride down memory lane
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – can’t believe it took me this long to read this classic and I’m glad I did; so epic in scope and I can see why it’s been the inspiration for countless other revenge stories
• How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth, Karen Dillon – I finished this book during the holiday break and it’s made me pause and think more deeply about my purpose and principles, topics always worth revisiting; this is a sneaky great parenting book as well

I also mentioned two business books The Science of Scaling: Grow Your Business Bigger and Faster Than You Think Possible by Benjamin Hardy and The Compounders: From Small Acquisitions to Giant Shareholder Returns by by Oddbjørn Dybvad, Kjetil Nyland, Adnan Hadžiefendić  in my Agency Journey episodes as impactful reading.

My Intentions for 2026

Embrace More Experiences Outside of My Comfort Zone

I noticed during some stretches of 2025 that I’ve designed a very comfortable and predictable life. While I always felt like I worked hard and stay disciplined with things like exercise, it was very easy to design routines that became second nature. Even my weekends were mostly just lounging around at home, doing the same hikes around our property, and taking the kids to a handful of the same old spots.

I’d like to challenge myself in 2026 and do things that will challenge me more–waking up earlier to go somewhere, doing things that are more physically challenging, and being in uncertain situations that may not always work out the way I’d like. This might mean taking a few more road trips with the family, going on some more adventurous hikes around the Catskills, or participating in events I’ve usually steered away from.

When I look back on 2025, the memorable bits were in fact the ones where I did go out of my way to embrace some discomfort, so why not lean more fully into them? Do hard things and live fully.

Complete and Enjoy My Sauna

Towards the end of 2025, I commissioned a custom sauna to be built under our tree house. I had hoped for it to be completed by Thanksgiving, but things got delayed and then further delayed once we got hit with some snow storms. The plan is to have the sauna completed sometime in January, most likely closer to February.

I’d love to find a way to incorporate the sauna into my routine, perhaps as a 3-4x a week session after a workout. In my mind, it’s a moment to experience some quiet while giving my body a chance to detox.

Much like the chicken coop has been a game-changing addition to our property, I’m hoping the sauna has a similarly positive effect.

Till Next Year

Looking back on five years of these annual reviews, I can’t but help feel fuzzy and warm about the life that’s unfolded. It’s all been wonderful, even the hard parts. I’m sure I’ll be tested in unimaginable ways in the future and I know I’m not immune to any number of setbacks and tragedies that can befall anyone. But I’m grateful to have had a mostly optimistic disposition, waking up with a feeling of vigor and energy day after day. I’ll do what I can to keep this feeling going, but I also know that nothing is forever, so I’ll cherish the feeling while I have it.

Anyway, thanks for reading till the end. See you next year.