Crafting Your Year: A Likeable Badass Approach to Annual Review & Planning

Guest post by Grayson Leverenz, Founder of Groove GTM

This week, we have a guest piece from Grayson Leverenz, former Spiffy CMO and Founder of Groove GTM*.

Grayson cut her brand teeth at Johnson + Johnson (one of the mega brand houses), ran marketing at a B2B SaaS company, and then spent eight years as Spiffy’s CMO. I could use most of this space to list out all of Grayson’s marketing skills. One of the top is that she’s both analytical and creative, a great combination that can be hard to find in a CMO (usually an OR not an AND) plus she can move seamlessly between the B2C and B2B worlds.

Those are awesome and rare, but Grayson’s tippity top skill is storytelling. Her content marketing strategies (aka inbound marketing) paid huge dividends for Spiffy, driving significant organic traffic and top line growth, all while spending less than 1% of revenues on digital advertising.

She’s decided to take the entrepreneurial plunge and start a fractional/consulting GTM practice and has room for a few new clients - visit groovegtm.com to learn more. Check out Grayson’s recommendations as we say goodbye 👋 to 2024 and welcome 👶🏻2025, I’m working on my PYR right now and going to flip it into my NYR afterwards….

GTM is startup slang for Go-To-Market or the marketing/sales motion that startups use to get their offerings in front of potential customers be they consumers or businesses.

This issue of the Triangle Tweener Times is sponsored by:

• ExtensisHR - As a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), ExtensisHR empowers tech founders and growing businesses to scale smarter. We take HR administration off your plate—managing payroll, recruiting, employee benefits and retirement plans, compliance, risk, and more—so you can focus on innovation. For over 25 years we’ve leveraged a people-first approach, customer-centric mindset, and deep industry expertise to ensure employers have the tools needed to stay competitive in today’s market.

• Bank of America – BofA’s Transformative Technology Group helps game-changing tech businesses and founders realize their boldest ambitions across a wide range of technology sectors. With hands-on support, world-class resources, and an extensive network – BofA provides the stability and scalability that tech companies need to rapidly grow today and into the future.

• Robinson Bradshaw - A full-service business law firm with a passion for supporting the Triangle entrepreneurial ecosystem. Learn more about Robinson Bradshaw’s startups and venture capital practice here.

• Smashing Boxes - A Durham based lean design-centric digital transformation company.

• EisnerAmper (formerly HPG) - One of the world’s largest business consulting firms, with a dedicated technology practice offering outsourcing, accounting, tax, and advisory services. Our experienced professionals serve more than 2,000 technology companies, from early-stage startups to public enterprises. Discover how EisnerAmper’s stage-specific solutions and industry expertise can help you achieve your milestones whether startup, international expansion, M&A, or IPO: eisneramper.com/tech.

---

Thanks Sponsors - we appreciate your support. Now without further delay: Take it away, Grayson!

What is a Past Year Review (PYR)?

We entrepreneurs thrive on momentum, and holiday breaks are the perfect time to reflect and plan for the year ahead. During my Spiffy tenure, I relied on a Tim Ferriss Past Year Review (PYR) for myself and my teams. The simple 5 steps help identify what works, what doesn’t, and use the 80/20 principle to amplify joy and success.

I’m elevating the process this year by integrating insights from Alison Fragale, my former negotiations professor at UNC Kenan-Flagler. Her Likeable Badass book is a masterclass in how women build status by pairing assertiveness with warmth. If you are a woman or want the women in your life to succeed, understanding the balance of this equation is paramount.

You’ll see I added Likeable Badass Lift bullets to the Past Year Review process below to help you reflect on your year and create a powerful plan that sets you up for meaningful growth in 2025.

Steps for an Amplified PYR

Let’s turn your reflections into actionable tactics for success, both personally and professionally. I recommend you read through this now, then schedule 1-2 hours to complete the exercise by the end of the week.

1. Print this template, or “make a copy” if you prefer to keep it digital.

2. Look back at every week of your calendar and note any people, activities, or commitments that triggered peak positive or negative emotions.

   1. Likeable Badass Lift: Include personal entries as well as professional. Gatherings and self-care can make all the difference in creating your life!

3. When you’ve gone through every week, look at your list and circle the 20% of each column that produced the most consistent or powerful peaks.
   

4. Take your “positive” circles and schedule more of them in the new year.

   1. Tim Ferriss says, “Get them on the calendar now!” This step makes a huge difference for me every year. Two of my Likeable Badass work groups are already scheduled through 2025.

   2. Likeable Badass Lift: Prioritize visible, status-building activities like volunteering for projects that highlight your expertise, organizing team building activities, and seeking opportunities to speak, teach, or mentor. Remember to schedule fun!

5. Add themes from your “negative” circles to the “NOT-TO-DO LIST” column.

   1. Tim Ferriss says, “put them somewhere you can see them each morning for the first few weeks of the new year. These are the people and things you *know* make you miserable, so don’t put them on your calendar out of obligation, guilt, FOMO, or other nonsense.”

   2. Likeable Badass Lift: Use this list to remind yourself to avoid actions that diminish warmth and reduce behaviors that weaken perceptions of competence like over-apologizing.

6. Likeable Badass Lift: Update your narrative to highlight gains from the year.

   1. Use your list to update your social media, resume, and elevator pitch using an assertive and warm tone that builds status with your audience.

   2. Share accomplishments in ways that showcase your successes and emphasize their positive impact on others.

   3. Recruit other promoters to “say nice things behind your back” by promoting people you admire and asking them to sing your praises in the right context.

That’s a Wrap!

I’m so excited about the growth to come next year across our Triangle entrepreneurial ecosystem. I hope this process becomes an annual ritual to reflect on your positives and negatives, refine your goals, and evolve your unique narrative. Here's to a year of purpose, growth, and impact!

Author Tim Ferriss created the PYR process above and I amplified it in the Likeable Badass Lift sections. Original source: https://tim.blog/2021/12/27/past-year-review/. Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve was written by Alison Fragale. Book link: https://alisonfragale.com/book/. I’m Grayson Leverenz, a huge fan of both authors. You can learn more about me at groovegtm.com.