2018 has been amazing and tough at the same time.

I'm sure pretty much everyone can relate. There was some amazing highs and many momentum-stopping lows.

All said and done, Joe and I have had our best year ever financially while simultaneously having one of our roughest years emotionally.

In this email, I'm not going to breakdown everything we did this year. Instead, I'm going to give you some highlights, some lessons learned, and a glimpse into the future.

Starting with the podcast...

This show is our baby. We've said it over and over again that, if you took everything away in our business, the one thing we'd demand that we keep is our podcast. If someone would pay us to do nothing but podcast, we'd jump at the opportunity in a heartbeat.

That's why it's probably no surprise that one of our big, audacious goals for 2019 is to actually break into the top 200 on all of iTunes. I'm not talking about the top in marketing or the top in business... We've already done that a few times. I'm talking about becoming a top podcast on ALL of iTunes.

It's insanely tough and super competitive but we believe we can do it. If you want to help us achieve that goal, the one thing you can do for us is go here and click subscribe in iTunes. Subscribers equals show growth in iTunes eyes. We love reviews and we love downloads but it's all about subscribers in iTunes. If you've appreciated what we've taught or what we've given away for free, our one ask of you is to help us out by subscribing.

You'll be a part of making a big dream of 2019 a reality for us and we'll make it worth your time by consistently improving the show, consistently giving with no expectations, and consistently passing on what we learn with you.

Now... About the show.

I thought it would be cool to breakdown the top 10 most downloaded shows of 2018:

10. The Essential Elements of Great Hooks And Sales Copy - Kevin Rogers

9. How This Successful Stoner Built A Blog That Earns 6-Figures Per Month - Caitlin Pyle

8. How To Build Highly Leveraged Businesses And Create Lifestyle Freedom - James Schramko

7. YouTube Ad Strategies From Someone Who Worked At Google - John Belcher

6. The Clockwork System To Create A Business That Runs Without You - Mike Michalowicz

5. How A Simple New Habit Will Change Your Life And Reduce Your Stress - David Allen

4. How To Create And Launch A New Product In 4 Days - Ben Adkins

3. Unique Facebook Ad Strategies That Are Making People Rich - Curt Maly

2. A Step-By-Step System To Decide Which Opportunities To Pursue - Roland Frasier

1. How To Build A Recognizable Brand Using $1 Ads - Dennis Yu

There are a few episodes that didn't make the most downloaded list but I feel really should have...

Here's a list of a few more "sleeper" episodes that really blew people away: I also mentioned that we've had a lot of struggles this year and lessons learned from them.

We did some episodes, without any guests, to discuss these struggles and the lessons:​ These podcasts are literally the most valuable content that we've ever released. We don't plan on slowing down in 2019 either. We're going to go bigger with everything! Bigger guests, better production quality, deeper dives with the most popular guests, getting on more shows to spread the word, bigger contests, bigger benefits to tune in... Everything is going to improve in 2019 and we're all about this show.

Basically, if you don't like listening to podcasts to get the most valuable information possible from people OR if you really don't care about tips and tricks around traffic, branding, and podcasting, you'll probably want to click that unsubscribe button at the bottom. We're all about giving away the absolute most valuable content at the absolute lowest cost we can realistically give it to you for... In most cases, that means free content with actionable step-by-step tactics and game-changing concepts... In the form of audio and daily email tips.

Moving on beyond the podcast...

We did a TON on social media this year. We routinely hear "I see you guys everywhere."

That's because we take a lot of the advice that we received from guests and put it into action.

Here are our top 3 most watched videos on Facebook for 2018: We haven't posted to YouTube as much as we'd like to. We've had a TON of YouTube experts on the show too. Hopefully we'll get that game dialed in as well.

Although we haven't posted a ton, here are our top 2 most watched videos of 2018: As you know, we earn most of our income by promoting affiliate products...

Here are our top 5 product promotions of 2018: Alright... Wrapping up this, already long, email, here are some things we accomplished and are extremely proud of from 2018:
  • We doubled the download numbers of our podcast almost every single month this year.
  • We acquired a company with a partner, Brad Costanzo, in the home brew niche.
  • We joined multiple masterminds with big name guys like Roland Frasier, Darren Hardy, the creators of the Optimal Living Daily podcast, Travis Houston, Bob Serling, and other world-renowned entrepreneurs.
  • We generated over 7-figures through promoting affiliate products
  • We created an launched a course and community around learning traffic strategies
  • We generated another 6-figures teaching our traffic course
  • We were featured on 18 different podcasts as guests, including the Profit First Podcast, Funnel Hacker Radio, Super Fast Business, and Optimal Business Daily.
  • We spoke at 3 different live events, including New Media Summit and Get Clear Marketing (and lined up more for 2019, including PodFest)
  • We hired an operations manager to help us better systematize everything and a VA to help us keep up with emails and support.
  • We brought in 3 different apprentices to help write our shownotes, do our SEO, and manage our social media.
  • We managed to interview some of our entrepreneurial heroes on the podcast... Guys like Mike Michalowicz, Roland Frasier, David Allen, Mike Filsaime, Dennis Yu, Phil Town, Tucker Max, James Schramko, and Dave Woodward (amongst many others).
Some of things that we plan on focusing on in 2019:
  • Grow our podcast into the top 200 in all of iTunes.
  • Get many more of our entrepreneurial heroes on the show.
  • Speak on at least 4 live stages
  • Get featured on another 20 podcasts
  • Get in "earned media" - Featured in places like Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, Success, etc.
  • Ramp up the home brew business and prep. to sell
  • Launch a software that makes "traffic-gettin'" easier (more details on this to come)
  • Launch another premium course (likely around podcasting and podcast monetization)
  • Run a free 14-day challenge to help people add affiliate income to their business
  • Add one new cashflowing revenue stream to our business per month (likely in the form of affiliate promos, business investments, and real estate)
  • Grow our team to a point where we only focus on podcasting, outreach, and the bigger vision of the business
  • Spread the wealth generated to our company across deserving team members and charitable programs that we're passionate about
  • Spend only 3-days per week at a computer (work less / make more)
  • Focus more time on supporting our community than we do trying to bring more people into the community
I'm sure there's many big goals that I'm missing but I'll stop there for now.

I know this email is very "us" focused. I don't want to come off as bragging. Instead, I'm trying to show you what's possible when you put your foot on the gas of a business idea and never let off... We've just been hanging on for dear life and enjoying the ride.

We've had a TON of struggle as well. We outline it all in our "therapy session" episode.

Hopefully this email inspires you for big things in 2019 as well as gives you some resources to learn and pursue your thing.

Enjoy the new year and, the next time you hear from us will be next year!

We appreciate you more than we can ever express in an email!

Here's to big dreams in 2019!
Matt Wolfe & Joe Fier

P.S. I'm going to be diving even deeper into 2018 in an upcoming blog post. Keep an eye out for that post!