This post is a look back on some of the highlights and lowlights of my 2023.
I write these because I know they’ll be fun to review in a decade. And also because the act of writing them is therapeutic.
I always set my goals in the following categories: Family, Fitness, Finance, Fun. Cute, isn’t it?
Here are the highlights and lowlights of my four F’s.
Family
Highlights
- Daughter. Easily the biggest: the birth of my daughter! What a joy. Seeing Sara become a mother, feeling my own fatherly urges – pure bliss. Its given my life energy and purpose. She’s beautiful, healthy, and incredibly well behaved! She barely cries and, at 2.5 months old, already sleeps 8 hours. Luck. She’ll change everything in my life (including my career) and I’m looking forward to it. Hard to think of many other highlights given this has been so epic!
- Friends: I live three doors down from my best friend Neville. That makes life so much more fun. We have a tight knit group here in Austin and its a blast. Feels like summer camp. Our other best friend Jack Smith visited too. I’m so happy he came. We even recorded a “friends” podcast together.
Lowlights
- Pregnancy. We had a few issues early on with the pregnancy. This was the first experience I’ve had where money, effort, charisma, influence or anything else couldn’t make things better. Seeing my wife Sara in pain and sadness broke my heart. I was helpless (other than comforting her). Horrible feeling. But when our daughter came and was healthy, the fruit of our (eh, really Sara’s) labor was extra sweet.
- Sid. I’ve put this out of my brain. But I’ll mention this briefly. My 15 year old dog, and best friend, Sid, died. I’m lucky. I’ve not experienced much death in my life. But there’s something about putting an old dog, one that I’ve had for 15 years, down. Absolutely crushed me for months. I still can barely write or speak about him. Here’s a post about that.
Fitness
Highlights
- Combine. I do quarterly fitness goals. One fun goal this year was to complete an NFL combine and score average for a wide receiver. I ran a 4.6 40 yard dash, 10’7 broad jump, 32 inch vert, and bench pressed 225 16 times. Not as good when I did it in college, but awesome for a 30-something weekend warrior! Proof.
- Low body fat. I wanted to get ripped this year. I’m always fit, but I really wanted to get to ~11% bodyfat. Bodyfat is tough to measure so I have no idea if I hit it. But I’m happy with the outcome. Proof.
- Strong. Another goal was to lift a lot of weight! My one rep maxes were 420 for the squat, 325 for the bench, and 460 for the deadlift. I weigh 195, so I’m happy with the results! Proof.
- Nutrition. I used MyBodyTutor all year. Game changing service. Over the last two years, I’ve learned so much about nutrition and what to eat. I’m still a sugar addict though…
Lowlights
- Injury: As I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten stronger, more mobile, and better looking (easy to say when you start a Missouri 3). The one thing that I haven’t conquered: injury. Hurt hammies, lats, shoulders, achilles. All normal wear and tear, I guess. But injury is the one thing holding me back when it comes to completely kicking ass in fitness at my age.
- Goalless: For the first time in years, I don’t have a quarterly fitness goal. Once the baby came, my goal was: look good naked with the least amount of time in the gym. So, in maintenance mode right now. Which feels like I’m wandering…
Finance
Highlights
- Cashflow + net worth: I don’t want to sound douchey here. But I crushed 2023. And it wasn’t really my intention to do so. I’ve got 13 streams of income. Hampton, podcasting, some courses (CopyThat, Ideation Bootcamp), speaking, real estate, Airbnbs, and a few other things. My goal has never been to make a ton of annual cash flow or have multiple streams of income. I thought I’d make more money starting and selling startups. I just did a few projects on the side and, over the years, its accumulated. Well, folks…cash flow is great. I like it. A lot. I don’t include my stock gains as cash flow, but SP500 and HubSpot also had a helluva year.
- Podcast: My podcast, My First Million, got 100 million downloads and views this year! We’ve done 550 episodes since 2019. 131 in 2023. I never, EVER thought My First Million would turn into what it is today. We focused on YouTube for the first time this year and now have ~400,000 subscribers. The podcast is always very profitable. Who would have thought.
- Hampton: This was the first full calendar year of my new company, Hampton. I started the company with Joe Speiser. We had strict rules when starting: don’t hire lots of people and try to avoid big city folks as they complain too much. Welp, 18 months in and we have ~16 employees, most of them in NYC. Ha! We also have 50+ contractors. Crazy to think we’ve created close to 70 jobs in 18 months. I think Hampton will be a legacy defining company for Joe and I.
- Joe Speiser: I’ve known Joe for years. I cold emailed him in 2016 and we became close. He previously started and sold a few 9-figure companies. We’re partners on Hampton along with a few other projects. Its a wonderful partnership. Our values are aligned, communication is great, and we have a ton of respect for one another. I have a feel this partnership, along with Hampton, will be legacy defining. Here’s how we decided to work together.
- I launched another course: Ideation Bootcamp. I now have two courses, the other being CopyThat. I don’t love making courses, but people always ask me about copywriting and researching businesses. So I thought what the hell, I’ll make it. Was super tenuous to do and I don’t intend to do much more. But so far, but have blown past my expectations.
Lowlights:
- Real estate: I own a few bits of real estate (not including ones where I’m just a minority investor in). After selling The Hustle I thought I was gonna be a real estate guy. So I bought a 20 acre ranch, turned it into an airbnb, and bought more stuff. The outcome: real estate sucks. I hate it! Even though our stuff makes decent revenue, I just find it boring. So, I’m in the process of selling it all…and at possibly the worst market possible. But, I want out. I don’t want to spend time thinking about it.
- Spending: I suck at spending money. One one hand, I genuinely enjoy frugality. Sara returns stuff at Target for $5. She says it gives her joy to be efficient. I respect that. On the other hand, I stress over purchases that I shouldn’t. I don’t think this will ever be great, but maybe I can let loose a little more in the future.
Fun
Highlights:
- MFM events: We hosted a bunch of MFM events. In Vancouver Shaan, Andrew Wilkinson and I sold out a 2,000 person theater. Felt like a rock star! Fans also hosted dozens of their own events all over the world. Crazy to see this little podcast turn into a movement and a tribe. I also spoke in LA, Boston (HubSpot conference) and a few others. I don’t love speaking. But I enjoy seeing people care about what I’m doing.
- Hampton: Hampton hosted a ton of events too! I go to them as an attendee. We went rally car driving in Austin, lobster diving in LA, a team retreat in NYC, and a few others.
- Tattoos: I got my legs covered in tattoos. One day, I’ll finish the entire leg. But damn – they hurt! The first one I got: a portrait of Sid.
- Brooklyn: Each summer we stay in Brooklyn for a couple of months. This year we stayed in Fort Green. We typically stay in Cobble Hill, which I love, or Park Slope, which I like. Fort Green was eh. Also spent a bunch of time at a family’s place in the Hampton’s. Fancy fancy!
- Athletes: I’m a big track and field fan. Its one of only two sports I watch (the other being UFC). I got too attend a few dinners this year with a bunch of track Olympians. Trey Hardee, Leo Manzano, Josh Kerr, Meb Keflezighi, and a few others. Amazing meeting my heroes.
- Road trips – Each year when we go to NYC, I typically drive with Sid and Sara flies. I have roadtripping with him. This year we went to St. Louis, NYC, and a ton of trips out to our ranch in Fredericksburg. My favorite part of the trips: stopping at a gas station, getting a Big Gulp coke Zero, and chilling with Sid. Once a redneck, always a redneck.
Lowlights
- Adventure: Jesse Itzler came on the pod. He inspired me. One thing he said was that he only had like ~30 summers left and he needs to take advantage of them. So he does all these amazing things like running across the country or whatever else. I didn’t do too much crazy stuff this year. Pregnancy got in the way (which I love). Was also focused fitness and Hampton. Hopefully next year I’ll create some exciting adventures with my daughter. I’d love to live in Europe for the summer…
2023 was a wonderful year. Thanks for reading!
Some memories from the year.
Neville use Cat’s cold plunge. She caught us on video hopping the fence.
Huge MFM fan here.
The 4 F’s are perfect categories.
Keep crushing it this year – the pod content has been 10/10 lately. My number 1 listen. There’s no better combo of trust, quality, humor and rawness out there for entrepreneurship.
Congrats on the huge accomplishments!
Thank you!
I love this yearly review, thank you for sharing. Do you use a template? I’d like to start doing it as well…
No template! thank you!
Hi Sam, here’s a template you can share!
Family
Fitness
Finance
Fun
You’re very welcome,
Will
Nice wrap up Sam. I’m expecting a girl in 3 weeks . I can’t wait. Fitter now in my early 30s than my early 20s thanks to Crossfit. I want to be able to beat her in a 100m dash for many years to come!
Best wishes from Ireland.
Thanks Eamon. Best of luck and hope you kick her ass…
Awesome stuff! is that camera also a monitor so you can look into it and see Shawn?
yes!
Whats the brand?
yah where is the affiliate link?
Great read! Congrats on an overall great year and, most importantly, with a healthy baby girl and a safe delivery from mom.
I enjoy reading these yearly overviews and have considered doing one myself to also look back on in the future.
You’ve convinced me to stop putting it off and just do it.
Excited for another year of content from you, MFM, and Hampton.
Blessings,
TB
Awesome share, Sam! Love seeing you maintain your authenticity as you continue your incredible success. Can’t wait for what you accomplish this year!
Congratulations on becoming a father.
The best members club there is. Where the highs are the highest and the lows are frequent but worth it.
3 wheel ATVs are dangerous. I see photos of risk seeking behavior. ???
https://offroadofficial.com/three-wheeler-atvs/
Great wrap-up for the year Sam, and sad to hear about Sid. I know what it’s like losing a close member of the family, especially a pooch. It sucks. Looks like he had a great life.
On living in Europe for the Summer, totally doable if you plan it out. You can stay in nearly any country for 90 days in 180 without a Visa, but if you think it’s longer (and 3 months is too short, btw), you’ll need a Visa depending on the country. Digital Nomad Visas are available, France seems easiest and fastest to get for up to 1 year. Netherlands have a “Dutch American Friendship Treaty” if you think you’d want to go there more than once in the coming years. Italy is awesome but a bureaucratic mess.
My partner and I are heading over to Nice, France for 4-5 months starting in June, and I’ve done a ton of research on what’s easiest (and avoid tax on US income) — reach out if you want some research notes, happy to share.
Cheers.
Great review. Congrats on a big year!
Becoming a dad is just the best, right?!
See ya soon and best wishes for 24!
Isaac + Helen
Sara just told me: dude we went to isaac’s in 2022, not 2023! Is she right!?
She’s not right!
You came last Easter
This is so wholesome, I love it.
Something I’ve found helps me a ton with injury prevention is regularly doing hot Yoga. I played soccer growing up and all the way through college. And still do. Game changer.
Keep it up!
Oh I completely agree! hot yoga is the move.
Loved seeing your highs and lows Sam, but my favorite part was seeing the joy you have from your daughter (major congrats). My girl just turned 4 and son 2 and it does reevaluate so many things business/career-wise.
Oh, and we just got back from a late summer/fall in Europe with the kids. The coast of Portugal and the beaches were a pretty amazing place for a family (research Cascais).
Laughed at the real estate part. I sold my startup in 2021 and had a dream of opening a coworking campground. Closed on the property shortly after our software deal went through and then realized shortly after that I hated it. Sold it after 8 months and have traveled a bunch since. Life is short.
Hope you have a great 2024!
its a headache!
Awesome format.
Decided to do the same, but in a loom video: https://www.loom.com/share/83e2dc6c93314e329c80c0f1a8d1505f
Guess I forgot the fun part, will need to work on that next year!
Looks like you had an amazing year. Give yourself some slack for lacking great adventures in the pregnancy/birth year (although it looks like you had plenty!). Just make sure to pick them up again this year: small kids are more of a psychological / perceived barrier to adventures than a real one (took a 1 and 3 year old to South Korea’s DMZ as part of a trip around the world.)
What I year! I’m so glad Sid hung on long enough to meet your daughter. That photo with the four of you is super special!
Love the update and the pod!
Keep up the great work and congrats on becoming a girl dad. They are the best!
This is an amazing piece, you are truly an inspiration, when in NYC we got your tattoos https://www.snowtattoo.com
Keep shinning my amazing friend. 🫶💪
Your loyalty and passion for Sid is remarkable. Your attitude of ride or die towards people and animals in your life is definitely something that sets you aside from the rest.
Keep cranking out episodes on the pod! That shit is 🔥
When will you release the next blog post on this site?
thanks man, loyalty is high on my list of values
Love this review, definitely inspired me to start doing the same. Will steal the framework don’t tell anyone ..
I was top 0.5% of listeners on the pod, 10.000 minutes with you in my ears last year. Looking forward to what’s coming!
If ya ever thinking on inviting some “top fans”, hmu 🙂
Best wishes to the fam!
I’d be interested in hearing which sect that you visited for Easter. Are you thinking about joining? If not there, somewhere else?
I was just about to say something nice, but i just got email from Hampton saying that my application was rejected…I guess its because I’m in Japan. (btw, many great entrepreneurs ignore Japan, but its the third biggest market in the world!)
Anyways, love your blog, very interesting and great thing to do for future yourself and next generations, hard to remember those details otherwise.
Thanks for all the inspiration and hope one day we can catch up!
one day we’ll make it to japan!
Great stuff Sam! Looking forward to seeing what next years post brings.
I’m from Ukraine, but I always listen to your podcast. It helps me to find some great resources and generate ideas.
Hope someday I will be a part of Hampton network.
Thank you for sharing all these amazing stuff and being fun.
thanks man
Thank you, Sam. I love the post. The only thing I would have to see with my eyes is the 4.6-40. That time is elite; your timer might have been a little late starting the clock. 4.6 at 30-something is a fantastic feat, and if you can do it, that is amazing; you are in a rare circle of people, but even if your timer was a little off, 4.7 – 4.8 is still rare for a 30-something-year-old.
ha, thanks ron. the 4.6 was the average of 3 times. I actually think I can beat that now. videos are on my insta as proof! what i left out: i was formerly a division 1 200m and 400m runner. I was an elite high school sprinter, very average college runner. So i have a past of running fast! My best 40 was 4.5 electric time, which is decent, but i was much better at the 400m!
Such an inspiration. You gave me the cahooneys to quit my job and start my own busioness a couple of years ago – my wife just left her job to join me on the business so hoping 2024 is going to be a kickass year!
Thanks for everything!
Will
Hell ya!
Great one Sam, one thing you should add to your 2024 list “get rid of the fake sam parr instagram accounts” .. 😀
Jokes aside, you inspired me to write my 2023 EOY .. but I wondered did you write these even before selling your startup?
this made me super pumped and warmed my heart a lot! You’re an inspiring man, Sam! I look up to you a lot. I hope you continue to achieve many great things in the years to come 🙂