reflections from a 29th birthday

Every year I take time to reflect on how I want to grow over the next year and take account of the last year. This will be verbose, speculative, pseudo-philosophical BS, so skip ahead to the next section if you want to see our numbers. We included our full 3 year financial history.

Perhaps it’s a personal quirk, but I’ve always lived by a foundational motto or creed that guides my overall direction. In my younger years, I was somewhat aimless, living by the “YOLO” (You Only Live Once) philosophy. I often reacted to life’s opportunities with a “let’s see what happens” attitude. While this approach expanded my horizons to some extent, it felt empty and unfulfilling. This hedonistic approach often has led to setbacks.

These challenges prompted deep introspection about what I truly wanted from the myriad opportunities before me. I began to change my ways around my 23rd and 24th birthdays. However, my new guiding principle didn’t crystallize until I turned 25. Four years later, I can confidently say that this mantra has significantly improved my life, which is why I’m eager to share it:

To put it another way, the most selfish pursuit is cultivating genuine altruism within oneself. To resonate with this belief, one must have faith, whether in a god, a higher power, or cosmic forces beyond our understanding. I hold that by doing good, we accumulate intangible value in the form of good karma and goodwill, which eventually comes back to us.

Connor, why frame your philosophy around ‘selfishness,’ a term often seen in a negative light? The answer might not surprise those close to me. Growing up, a recurring observation from friends and family was my self-centeredness. I’ve always considered this trait a strength, especially in how I harness it. However, it’s a double-edged sword that can unintentionally hurt those I cherish the most. Perhaps I’ll delve deeper into this topic next year as I explore ways to balance this trait. By framing my philosophy through the lens of selfishness, I aim to embrace my inherent nature while also striving for a noble goal that, logically, should yield positive outcomes.

My journey to this realization wasn’t straightforward. Throughout my career, I’ve gone above and beyond my job description, helped acquaintances, and consistently exceeded expectations. These actions have opened numerous doors for me. Unlike my indiscriminate approach during my YOLO phase, I now evaluate opportunities based on their alignment with my goal of becoming a technology entrepreneur in the marketing data sector. This mindset propelled me from an entry-level sales position at a burgeoning ad tech startup to a prestigious technical advisor role at Google, all while completing a master’s in data science within two years.

A heartfelt letter from my birth mother, which I received during a particularly challenging summer, prompted another wave of introspection. I realized that the driving force behind my success was this mindset of paying it forward that I had been following.

Some might be skeptical about my emphasis on fairness in business, likely due to our competitive economy and the cynicism stemming from witnessing others exploit well-intentioned entrepreneurs. I’ve learned the hard way about setting boundaries, especially concerning my time, a lesson that’s only recently reflected in our financials. However, despite the challenges of undervaluing my time, I’ve built a robust support system around our mission-driven business. This community includes subscribers, investors, clients, partners, contractors, and early team members.

The support from these stakeholders has allowed me to allocate my time more efficiently, fueling our current growth. While it might take more evidence of our business’s success to persuade the skeptics in my personal philosophy, my confidence in it remains unshaken.