QUESTION OF THE WEEK
“
How did you do in Q1 2025?
This week, I'd like to reflect on the first quarter of 2025. I want to show you how I've been doing and give you an idea of how I approach planning and goals.
At each start of the quarter, I sit down and reflect. Did I reach what I hoped to achieve? What were the actual results? What could I have done better? And finally—did something go differently than expected?
The answers to these questions are super powerful and ensure I'm constantly working on the things that matter most. I have a specific goal for the year, which I use to populate smaller goals per quarter (I explain a lot of this in my Going Indie course)
For Q1, I focused on growing RocketSim MRR, RocketSim for Teams ARR, SwiftLee Weekly subscribers growth, SwiftLee articles quality, and Course income. A few conclusions:
- RocketSim MRR growth faster than expected (reached 113% of my goal)
- SwiftLee Weekly & SwiftLee blog visitor count reached 80% of the goal. The ideal outcome for stretchy goals
- RocketSim for Teams (378%) & Courses (370%), however, performed way better than expected
I'm satisfied with the results, but I should've been way better at setting goals for the latter. I didn't expect to release my concurrency course, so that's explained easily. RocketSim for Teams, however, performed way better than we could've hoped for!
The results influence the overall yearly goal. I like to revisit goals and optimize per quarter, even though some prefer not to touch an annual goal. I push myself to reach even higher results by stretching a goal with a higher target.
Most important of all, though, is reflection. Reflecting on a quarter is the fundamental part of this story. If you're unable to reflect, it becomes harder to indicate performance and potential improvements. Q2 just started, so I encourage you to sit down and put yourself up for success by aiming for specific targets. Good luck!