Bootstrappers 2014 - A Year in Review
After the success of this idea for last year: 2013 - A Year in Review, I've decided to look at all the bootstrappers and entrepreneurs who've bared all and revealed their numbers, successes and failures from 2014.
Why Do This?
Inspiration - Reading others can inspire you to do better in 2015.
Encouragement - Knowing that others are in the same boat or started where you are now can spur you on.
Ideas - Sometimes breaking out of your normal routine can spark an idea that changes your business forever.
Techniques - Learn from others: what's worked and what hasn't.
If might also help you identify why you failed to achieve this year!
UI Breakfast Year In Review 2014
- Jane Portman
The delightful Jane Portman has chronicled the successes and failures of her 2014 year. Juggling multiple roles (and two kids), she reflects on what went right and what didn't. Her goals for 2015 focus on perfecting her 'recipes' for motivation and success, namely: getting out of your comfort zone, loving your audience and helping people. I couldn't agree more! Congratulations on your success for 2014 and best of luck for 2015.
2014 Results and 2015 Goals
- Dan Norris
Over 450% revenue growth in 2014 and Dan's still hungry for more! Dan and Alex continue to grow WPCurve whilst promoting the 7 Day Startup book. Dan also multitasked like there was no tomorrow by launching a new SaaS called Helloify as well as a brewing company!
Kalzumeus Software Year In Review 2014
- Patrick McKenzie aka patio11
Patrick finally reveals all. Detailed and thorough, as usual, ApointmentReminder gets a full writeup including its costs and full revenue breakdown. In addition to a review of Patrick's other revenue streams including Bingo Card Creator and Consulting, the big news is an addition to the family. Congrats Patrick!
2014 In Review - Three Years After Quitting My Job
Nathan Barry
The authority on authoring, Nathan divulges both what went well in his life as well as what didn't. Travel, fitness and family were all important to Nathan whilst he continued to bolster his email list with new signups. Growth of ConvertKit (Nathan's email product) slowed slightly whilst he grew the family instead. Congrats Nathan! Most recently he embarked on a 24 hour product challenge showing that he's still got the chops to produce great content.
Review of the Year 2014
Rachel Andrew
A great pleasure to meet Rachel for the first time at Microconf Europe this year, her writing is exemplary and multitudinous. Rachel's 2014 was full of speaking engagements and running - no change there! However, Rachel also launched her Profitable Side Project Handbook and embarked on a tirade against the inanity of the VATMOSS EU VAT debacle.
2014 Post-Mortem and Goals for 2015
Rob Walling and Mike Taber
Rob and Mike do a post-mortem of the year before setting their goals for 2015. Time-tracking became an important discipline for Mike which has allowed him to set some better routines in his life. Rob released his startup documentary, Launch as well as focused on growing Drip, his email marketing software. More exercise and writing are common themes throughout and I know that we're all excited to see what Rob and Mike come up with for the podcast this year. Keep going guys and thanks for a blast at Microconf!
Bootstrapping egghead.io to feed my family: 2014 in Review
Joel Hooks
I'm lucky enough to share a Mastermind chatroom with Joel and his dedication to building and growing egghead is staggering. To date, he's paid over $100K in royalties through his platform and continues to bootstrap his business to success. Family, health, travel and driving fast(!) also feature as memorable and important moments for 2014.
2014 - A Look Back
Ryan Battles
Ryan has described this year as one of the most pivotal in his life. His journey of entrepreneurship has stepped up a gear and once he handed in his notice, he has pushed ahead with growing his numerous projects of a book, a freelancer web application and a job board for designers and developers.
My Year In Review For 2014
Brennan Dunn
Brennan had a tumultuous year of uncertainty with both struggles and success. Privileged that he came to speak at a meetup I run in London, Brennan never fails to amaze me with his determination and resourcefulness. Brennan continued to speak at a variety of conferences in 2014 all whilst building his business and seemingly outsourcing his life as much as possible. A memorable year for Brennan and a memorable night out for me a few others at Microconf Europe. Thanks for the laughs Brennan!
My 2014 Recap & 2015 Goals
Brian Casel
Brian continues to ramp up his automated sales process and focus on growing his business as well as his personal brand. Restaurant Engine (Brian's Restaurant Website Design business) continues to do well although perhaps not as well as Brian would like. Perhaps that's because he's hosted multiple webinars, written and released a 2nd book, spoken at Microconf, hired 2 more people and become a new Dad. Congrats Brian, I hope we get to meet one day!
2014 Annual Review
James Clear
James Clear, the behemoth in the email list building world continues to knock out fantastic prose and inspirational teachings. With over 100K email subscribers, James has created one of the fastest growing single author blogs in the world. Travel and fitness are still priorities as well as speaking, teaching and writing.
Annual Report (2014)
Kai Davis
Kai reveals the full product breakdown of his consulting services that earned him $112K in 2014. Productized consulting has continued to pay off with various side projects but his plan for 2015 is to truly focus on his audience and the right products for that audience.
How I plan to double my revenue and make $100,000 in 2015
Sean Fioritto
Sean focused on the fundamentals in 2014 by following and learning from others. Through a rigorous plan of market research and epic blog posts, he has driven conversion to his list resulting in 10K subscribers. With travel, health an exercise still a favourite, Sean's plan is to keep pushing for next year and achieve his goal of $100K.
2014: A Year of Making Stuff
Justin Jackson
Justin has been relentless with his creativity: newsletters, blog posts, podcasts, meetups, videos, products, webinars... you name it, Justin's been building it! The numbers speak for themselves as he's made over $40K in side-project revenue whilst maintaining a full time job.
Year in Review 2014
Christoph Engelhardt
Christoph's honest review of his own failings are equalled by his unwavering charm as he talks about the steps he used to grow his SaaS business. With a thoroughly detailed report on 2014, Christoph reveals what went wrong and what went right when growing LinksSpy, his SEO software for link outreach. Ever the scribe at conferences, Christoph has bold plans to attend more conferences but this time as a speaker. He also plans to treble his MRR. Good Luck Christoph, I know you can do it!
Your Turn
You
It's the start of the year. What's holding you back from achieving great things 2015? If you didn't achieve what you wanted in 2014, do you know why? Sign up below to make 2015 your best year yet by letting me help you launch and grow your online business.