Call Summary: Annual Review, Sobriety Celebrations, and Bold 2026 Goals

Overview

A profound year-end reflection between long-time friends Gary and Alex, conducting a structured annual review while discovering unexpected opportunities. Gary revealed a pathway to Christian influence through an atheist friend with 9 million Facebook followers, while Alex celebrated securing Brooklyn College as a client from his former employer. Both reflected on maintaining sobriety throughout 2025 and set ambitious goals for 2026, with deep philosophical discussions about adulthood, faithfulness, and the theology of commitment.

Key Topics Discussed

Gary's Christian Influence Opportunity

• The Discovery: Atheist liberal friend has 9 million Christian followers across Facebook pages (mostly women)
• Friend's Advice: "The long-term future probably just requires you to be the face of this thing, Gary, because you're actually Christian"
• Strategic Vision: Build Christian affirmations app to monetize beyond flaky Facebook ad revenue
• 3-Day Development Plan: "You can build a mobile app and ship it to the app store in like three days"
• Content Strategy: Return to face content with "daily spirit type shit" encouraging "mostly freaking old women"
• Divine Orchestration: "Only God can orchestrate that kind of shit" - atheist and Jewish friends from his atheist days now helping Christian ministry
• Distribution Hack: "Being injected into the bloodstreams of old women around the country" as pathway to influence

Alex's Business Growth

• Brooklyn College Win: Secured account from former employer through relationship with ex-employee maintained for 2.5 years
• Revenue Growth: Annualized run rate of ~$420K based on last two months ($35K)
• Business Philosophy: "Selling other people's time is infinitely scalable"
• Client Management Learning: Overcame fear of losing client by getting "back to basics" and rebuilding relationship
• 2026 Goal: "$1M in revenue" for building systems business

Cockroach Incident

• Austin Reality Check: Gary discovers cockroach in apartment during call
• Alex's Joke: "Your roommate is a cockroach? My helpmate, yeah, is a cockroach"
• Grounding Moment: "Good to be grounded in the reality that I live in a third world neighborhood"

Sobriety Celebrations

• Alex's Achievement: Maintained sobriety entire year - "I surprised myself with not breaking my sobriety"
• The Benefit: "I forgot what it feels like to have a hangover... I don't feel that fog anymore"
• Gary's Journey: Quit mushrooms, inspired by Alex - "You're the inspiration for a lot of that"
• Spiritual Alternative: "Drunk on the Holy Spirit" - wanting to tune into God without assistance
• Philosophy: "The actual work happens after" - substances might show trauma but don't do the work

Annual Review Questions and Reflections

Proudest Accomplishments

• Alex: Sobriety maintenance - "I didn't think I would feel that proud about it, but I do"
• Gary: "Getting baptized and going deeper in the faith... that was like the biggest pivotal year"

Biggest Setbacks

• Alex: Neglecting client relationships but learning to "face the music" quickly
• Gary: Mishandling Alpha exit - "I just checked out" instead of being confrontational
• Key Learning: "I care more about character than intelligence now"

Most Influential Habits

• Alex: "Inching things forward when you don't feel like doing it" - power of 5-minute progress
• Gary: Daily affirmations and accountability through content creation
• QuickBooks Struggle: Gary spending hours categorizing transactions to understand finances

Surprising Self-Discoveries

• Alex: Being more honest with himself - "calling it like it is" even when not optimistic
• Gary: "How easy it is for me to step into prideful arrogance" - overconfident at Alpha

2026 Goals and Vision

Gary's Ambitious Targets

• Financial: $1M recurring revenue from declarations app, $200K from consulting contracts
• Influence: 500K followers across platforms (X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok)
• Community: 1,000 unique attendees at Austin events, secured free venue
• Ministry: 12 documented miracles (one per month), 2 major celebrity healings
• Personal: Find "bad Christian chick" who "wants to have a bunch of kids"
• Travis Relationship: W2 salary of ~$100K while building community

Alex's Goals

• Business: $1M revenue for company
• Personal: Serious relationship, better physical shape
• Philosophy: Becoming "early bird, early riser"

Philosophical Exchange on Adulthood

• Generational Challenge: "Why do you feel like our generation struggles so much accepting adulthood?"
• Alex's Insight: "Being adult doesn't sound that interesting... the payoff doesn't come for years"
• Collective Delusion: "We don't have to get married... have kids... buy a place"
• Peter Pan Fantasy: "A lot of people have like this Peter Pan fantasy in their head"
• Economic Reality: Not just personal choice but economic factors
• Gary's View: "40% useless class" prediction - AI making large portions economically obsolete

Theology of Commitment

• Gary's Framework: "When we make a promise to ourselves... and we believe we are serving God's will, then if we quit... we're basically saying God's will is not that important"
• Biblical Reference: Joseph in prison for 13 years, never losing faith
• Sacred Goals: "Treat your goals as sacred, your commitments to yourself"
• RSVP Theology: "Your RSVPs is like your RSVP with God"
• Be a Man of Your Word: Core principle for both

2026 Themes

• Alex: "Persistence" - year of persistence
• Gary: "Faithfulness" - fulfilling contracts with self and God
• Common Ground: Both about not giving up, showing up consistently

Strategic Insights

• Gary's Pattern: "Skip the line" - breaking into industries through unconventional paths
• SoundCloud Example: Built music industry influence outside label system
• Current Application: Using Facebook pages to skip traditional Christian influence building
• Return to Face Content: "Time for me to get back into influencer mode"
• AI Competition: Human motivational speakers still needed despite AI coaches

Relationship Dynamics

• Chris Avoidance: Mutual friend avoiding them due to trading failures (5.5 years no progress)
• Vulnerability Value: Recording conversations for future reflection when successful
• Mutual Support: "You've been a big part of my life, including this year"
• Boring Consistency: Alex advising Gary to be "more boring" while maintaining uniqueness

Key Quotes

Alex's Wisdom

• "I surprised myself with not breaking my sobriety"
• "The payoff doesn't come for years"
• "Boring pays the bills"
• "Inching things forward when you don't feel like doing it"
• "You don't have to be the one performing the miracle, but even just creating the space for the miracle to happen is a big achievement"
• "Being adult doesn't sound that interesting"
• "Persistence will be the year of persistence for me"

Gary's Insights

• "Only God can orchestrate that kind of shit"
• "I'm a man at the intersections... God and tech"
• "When we quit... we're basically saying God's will is not that important"
• "Your RSVPs is like your RSVP with God"
• "I care more about character than intelligence now"
• "Bad chick that's Christian, wants to have a bunch of kids"
• "Even if I shift to more boring, I'm still not boring... I have such a weird life"
• "God wanted us to lose things, gain security in him, making us famous and wealthy"

Mutual Recognition

• Gary: "You've been a big part of my life"
• Alex: "This was great. This was really good thoughts going into the new year"
• Both: "Set big goals, because you might actually achieve them"

Action Items / Takeaways

• Gary building Christian affirmations app in 3 days
• Alex focusing on persistence and scaling to $1M revenue
• Both maintaining sobriety momentum into 2026
• Gary returning to face content and influencer mode
• Alex improving client relationships through consistent communication
• Mutual accountability through recorded conversations
• Gary building Austin community with free venue secured
• Both becoming "men of their word" with sacred commitments
• Documentation of journey for future teaching material

Reflections on Growth

• From Wasting Time to Building: Alex noting consistency in progress month-to-month
• Character Over Intelligence: Gary's evolution in valuing relationships
• Boring Consistency: Shift from exciting but unstable to boring but profitable
• Adult Acceptance: Wrestling with responsibilities while building meaningful lives
• Faith Integration: Gary deepening Christian identity while maintaining tech expertise
• Sobriety Benefits: Both experiencing clarity and focus from substance abstinence