MER Beats Organic vs Paid

Watch my 2024 review: https://youtu.be/FFqg1UlrSg4?si=T6E3kKHOTM5TEAED
Watch my 2023 review: https://youtu.be/QGVuium5E34?si=dGzzHEh5xkgcVJGE
Watch my 2022 review: https://youtu.be/gJ86uTvACp8?si=3IgNu-z4N2nn2Vyx

Read on Substack here: https://dickiebush.substack.com/p/reflecting-on-2025-and-my-gameplan

Full timestamps here: 

-- (2:57) Life Recap Begins --

(7:56) Starting the year on a slowmad adventure
(9:14) Bought my first condo, immediately regretted it
(16:13) Integrated lives fully with my girlfriend on multiple continents
(23:37) Took the fewest number of days fully off at any point in my life
(28:28) Became the physically strongest I have been in 10 years
(32:55) Continually refined & reunderwrote my relationship with money
(37:05) Felt like I operated below my potential in every area

-- (40:17) Life Lessons And Realizations Begin -- 

(40:17) Your environment will win in the long run, for better or wose
(43:06) Travel is a tool, not a default lifestyle
(44:54) Put your own oxygen mask on before helping others
(47:21) You cannot fix your stress from a place of being stressed
(49:17) Happiness and rest are skills that must be trained
(52:22) Spend more time learning to precisely describe your emotions
(55:25) Stop deciding - design a "Hell Yes" and build toward it
(57:22) Have 3 goals: health goal, business goal, life goal to guide your daily actions

-- (59:38) Business Recap Begins -- 

(1:00:02) Overall portfolio revenue +18% year over year, but net after ads & labor -14%
(1:02:15) Vertical by vertical breakdown 
(1:04:00) Made 12 key hires, ascensions, and personnel improvements
(1:05:35) Learned how to profitably run paid traffic to live events
(1:06:18) Added multiple products to improve our money model
(1:07:35) Launched 3 digital products to our email list

-- (1:09:37) Business Lessons & Realizations Begin -- 

(1:09:58) It's not "organic versus paid" -- it's all about MER
(1:15:00) Perfect attribution is the enemy of scaling
(1:18:28) As you scale, you shift from purely "how" to "what"
(1:21:40) You need periodic time removed from the "how" to think about the "what"
(1:23:51) Know where your operating leverage kicks in & obsess over getting there
(1:31:13) Don't try to scale through the "valley of death" by starting other verticals
(1:35:00) There is no such thing as overcommunication especially as a team grows
(1:40:03) Business is simply cost per X & cash per X

-- (1:45:10) My 3 Main Quests for 2026 --

-- (1:48:18) Closing Reflections & One Request --