Hello there,
If 2024 was about exit velocity, 2025 was about rediscovery.
This year, I did something I hadn’t done since my early 20s, packed up my life, left the UK, and moved abroad with nothing but a suitcase and a sense of curiosity.
I spent months hopping between places, exploring, testing, and eventually landing somewhere that feels like home, the coastal town of Cascais, Portugal.
It’s been a year of freedom.
The first in a long time that wasn’t defined by targets, deadlines, or constant motion.
Sometimes you have to lose the plan to find the path.
When I exited the agency last December, I didn’t know what was next.
After years of growth, structure, and high performance, I found myself sitting in stillness, and realising I wasn’t sure who I was without the pace.
Opportunities came flooding in, investments, partnerships, new ventures. But for once, I didn’t jump. I paused.
That pause changed everything.
I realised that the next chapter wasn’t about doing more.
It was about building something meaningful.
Something that combines experience, ownership, and contribution, without sacrificing freedom.
Out of that space, Unusual Group began to take shape, an ecosystem for agencies that gives them what I wish I’d had when I was building mine: capital, training, community, and growth without chaos.
Think of it as an “Alphabet for agencies”, a network that helps owners scale, sell, and sustain.
Tobin Capital has stayed intentionally quiet this year, only two strategic investments: Honest Mobile and Atom Bank.
Both early bets have started to pay off. (It’s been surreal seeing Honest Mobile go on to secure investment from Stephen Bartlett and Deborah Meaden, six months after I invested.)
And beyond business, the personal brand has grown faster than I expected. Another 350,000 people joined the audience this year, proving that authentic ideas really do scale when they’re consistent.
But honestly, the biggest shift hasn’t been professional.
It’s been personal.
Earlier this year, I wasn’t at my best.
After the exit, I drifted a bit, saying yes to everything, socialising more, drinking more, trying to fill the gap that busy once filled.
At some point, I realised I’d lost touch with what gave me energy.
I started training again, four, sometimes five days a week.
Focused on health, clarity, and consistency.
It’s been four weeks alcohol-free, and I can’t imagine going back.
That single decision has changed my energy, mindset, and focus more than any business hack ever could.
Turning 40 has probably added perspective, knowing time’s not infinite, and wanting to spend the next decade building something with purpose, not just pace.
Before you close this email, take five minutes and ask yourself:
“What did this year teach me that no strategy ever could?”
“And what part of my life or business is asking for space, not speed?”
Write your answers somewhere visible.
You might be surprised where they lead.
If this year taught me anything, it’s that growth starts internally.
This free guide breaks down the habits, mindset shifts, and self-belief frameworks that help you rebuild confidence as a skill, not a mood.
This year wasn’t about expansion. It was about alignment.
Freedom, clarity, and simplicity, rediscovered.
And as I look toward 2026, one thing feels certain:
The best decisions come when you stop trying to chase momentum… and start creating space for it to find you.
To your unstoppable success,
Writer, The Success Method
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