Lessons from 2025

Originally sent exclusively to The Letter subscribers on December 29th. Want to be the first to get my personal newsletter in your inbox every Monday at 7am? Subscribe for free here.

As the year draws to a close, I’d like to reflect on some of my biggest lessons for you to swipe and deploy.

The overriding lesson is that both macro and micro tasks are essential for staying in the game long term.

Business must operate on entrepreneurship (macro tasks) and management (micro tasks), and both need a serious shake up with a mountain of accountability if you feel you’re starting to coast.

Businesses always become complacent when things are going well.

We say things like:

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

You must remember: if it could be better, it may as well be broken.

If you want to sit on your laurels, be smart and sell up.

Business always needs a driver. That’s you and a kick ass senior team.

You need to employ the best managers you can and then keep coaching them. Create a system for accountability.

If things are slipping, get on it, no matter how harsh you think you’re being.

If you’re not holding teams accountable, eventually you’ll be cutting jobs and costs.

No thank you. They would always rather you hold them to account.

People not performing or spreading toxic behaviour regardless of skill set need to be sent packing.

You’ll do it eventually … save yourself time and jump on it faster. 

Remember, you are your own economy within the national one.

Stop whining.

There’s an abundance of opportunities out there, so go and seize them in 2026.

Make sure you know what the vision is and think with the end in mind, and make sure everyone in the team knows it too. 

So what are my biggest lessons this year?

Buying companies is still one of the smartest and safest ways to grow; it’s a skill set I’ve learnt and so should you.

Everything takes longer than we want.

Exercise is so important.

Time alone to think clearly is paramount. Find 90 minutes a day.

And one of my biggest learns of all:

Pricing architecture is vital. Economic downturns and left-wing agendas make you think differently about making ends meet and creating abundance.

Structuring pricing into multiple price points is essential, in my opinion.

Think of your business like an airline.

Some people want to pay for economy, others for premium economy, and others for first class.

I started at economy as a young bloke and looked at what I could have in the future. Have the hero aspirational product.

If you don’t have a first class offer, you may actually lose the sale from the people who want that level of experience.

Sainsbury’s has Taste the Difference for the times you want to have treat.

Can you do this in your business?

The top 5 percent want to pay more for the bells and whistles. If you don’t offer it, you may lose the customer.

I am going to improve our pricing architecture to drive up SPH and scoop up the profit we’ve previously left on the table.

Need more sales? The answer is: get better leads. Leads are the win.

Having more leads than you can deal with is the best way to protect your mind from ever discounting.

I think about this a lot when it comes to pricing architecture. Disney actually gets its leads from paying for low value services like content, which funnels customers to its higher value items like toys and holidays.

Most of their audience are consumers of content; their ideal customers are the people who buy products and holidays.

Margin is magic. If you have margin, you can look after your customers, and that allows you to do a great job. That’s the beauty of it.

Content is a powerful tool that gives you a moat. Only do it if you love it and do it well.

A lot can change in 90 days. Little really changes in 30 days, and 60 is too short for the big projects.

Over the next 90 days, focus on what really matters. Maybe it’s just three, four, or maybe five big milestones that will get you to where you want to be.

Write them down and do what you need to do to get where you need to be.

And lastly:

In my opinion, “Exit signs” are on their way out.

To your continued success,

James

PS. PS. thanks for joining me in 2025 - now let’s make 2026 even better