Last month, I turned 40 years old. As I look back on the last decade, I am generally satisfied with how my life has progressed. I continue to be happily married to my wife, Karine. We have two great kids and two dogs that we adore (yes, two!). To say that business has gone well …
My Quarterly Update: Q3 2025 Fifteen years ago, I considered myself a “portfolio entrepreneur” who had several very small online businesses together that made up a full-time income. I had personal finance websites, a press release distribution service, a SaaS that helped animal shelters raise money (GoGo Photo Contest), an online audiobook directory, and several …
My Quarterly Update: Q2 2025. A few weeks ago, I met with a missionary named Chris for lunch. Our family has supported his work for many years and he and I have lunch once or twice per year to catch up. He told me about all the exciting things happening in his life, including becoming …
As we close out another quarter, it’s time to reflect on the opportunities and challenges that have shaped the last few months. This quarter brought a mix of personal and professional milestones, with a steady balance between family time and business growth. While some aspects of the market remain uncertain, we’ve continued to push forward …
My Quarterly Update: Q3 2024 A concept that I have been thinking a lot about lately is staying power. The longer that you work at something, the more likely you are likely to achieve outsized success. If you can work at the same job or on the same business for many years, even decades, eventually …
My Quarterly Update: Q2 2024 “What drives you? What motivates you to do all that you do?” These two questions were recently asked of me by a local reporter who wanted to feature MarketBeat as part of an upcoming city event. They’re great questions, and we should all ask ourselves periodically. Why do we do …
My Quarterly Update: Q1 2024 For the last decade, I have been of the belief that there is immense value in creating a personal brand. A strong personal brand allows you to meet interesting people, develop long-term business relationships, and make a positive impact on people around the world. In some ways, I have been …
As I have gotten a little bit older, I have come to realize that the most effective people in the world do just a handful of things and do them extremely well. MarketBeat continues to grow, and I am entering what is likely to be the most demanding phase of my career. To be a …
I have recently gotten on a kick of watching videos of dead and dying malls on YouTube from creators like Dan Bell. These videos show highlights from when a given mall was at its peak and show how it has decayed over time. Some are even totally abandoned, filled with mold, and have collapsed ceilings. …
Crossing the finish line has been my theme for 2023 so far. Several business projects, such as MarketBeat’s new office, are coming to fruition this year. Many of Cresten’s commercial real estate projects that were started in 2020 and 2021 will be fully stabilized this year. Startup Sioux Falls’ downtown transition is complete. I am …
2023 marks the fifth anniversary of publishing quarterly updates on my blog. These updates serve as a tool to provide updates about my family, my businesses, and the community initiatives that I support. Many friends, family members, and online followers have told me they really enjoy reading these updates, and I plan to continue publishing …
A new chapter of life has begun for the Paulson household. Both Micah and Ady are in school full time, marking the first time in ten years that Karine and I haven’t had a child at home during the day since Micah was born in 2012. Our children are also becoming more independent for their …
Summer 2022 has been marked by travel, writing, church activities, and focusing on my work at MarketBeat. It has also felt like a time of preparation for the pending transitions that will be happening both personally and professional in the next year. Both of my children will be in elementary school in the fall. Several …
2022 is shaping up to be a year of significant transition both personally and professionally. Our daughter Ady will be entering Kindergarten this fall, marking the first time we have had two kids in school full time since Micah was born in 2012. As MarketBeat grows, My role at the company is transitioning away being …
Over the last several weeks, I have been putting together a list of goals and projects that I hope to see come to fruition in the next year. As I look at the list, 2022 is shaping up to be a big year for both my career and the community organizations that I volunteer with. …
When you are a community leader, sometimes the most exciting projects you are working on can’t be discussed publicly because they aren’t quite ready for primetime or because all of the pieces necessary to complete the project haven’t fallen into place. You might find yourself working on an important project for months, sometimes even years, …
We have just eighteen summers with our children before they head off to college or into the working world. Over the course of a life, this is a small window to make memories with our little ones before they are not so little anymore. Summer 2020 was unique for many given that everyone’s schedules suddenly …
If you were to tell yourself from two years ago that you would be wearing masks whenever you are out in public, that people would be migrating to different parts of the country because of public health lockdowns, and that your biggest hope for 2021 will be to get a new vaccine that was just …
With the total train wreck that 2020 was behind us, there is a lot of reason for optimism in the air. More and more people are getting the COVID vaccine every day. Business has been good at MarketBeat and the Sioux Falls economy seems well despite the pandemic. Karine and I find great joy in …
As I write this post, COVID-19 numbers are spiking across the Midwestern states and there are more active cases now than at any point during the pandemic. While COVID-19 numbers do not look great in South Dakota currently, there does still seem to be a sense that things are slowly returning to normal. Micah and …
Over the last couple of months, I have had the opportunity to start wrapping up some long-term projects and “clear the plate” to make room for some new adventures in my life. Many people, including myself, have the bad habit of continuing to do things long after they have finished serving their purpose simply because …
Looking back at my most recent quarterly update, it’s amazing to see how much the world has changed in such a short period of time. A little over a month ago, we were attending church every Sunday morning and Wednesday night, our children were in school and we had a full travel schedule planned for …
It’s Christmas Eve as I publish this. MarketBeat’s work has largely wrapped up for the year. Our startup community events are on pause until mid-January. The never-ending buzz of social media has slowed to a crawl and my email inbox is surprisingly empty. Our kids are eagerly awaiting their Christmas presents and Micah is excited …
I am going to try to get back in the habit of publishing quarterly updates about the various projects that I’m involved with. It can honestly be difficult for me to keep track of everything that I’m working on at any given time and these posts provide me the opportunity to think through each project …
I used to write a monthly update post about the various projects that I’ve been working on. I’ve gotten out of the habit of doing it lately, but since I’m on vacation this week, I thought I would write an “update post” in lieu of the weekly videos that I have been doing this year. …
I had lofty goals of sending out a monthly update to keep you informed with what projects I’m working on this year, but that goal fell flat on its face like most New Year’s resolutions. There’s a lot going on at MarketBeat, in my personal life and in the Sioux Falls entrepreneurship scene, so I …
It’s been about a month since I sent out my last update, but here’s what’s been going on that you might find interesting: Aggressive 2018 Goals for MarketBeat I am hoping to grow MarketBeat to $4 million in revenue in 2018. It did $3.45 million in 2017. I plan on devoting 90% of my work …
It’s been about a month since I sent out my last update, but here’s what’s been going on that you might find interesting: – MarketBeat is continuing to grow and it’s growing in a way that I hadn’t expected. Much of the growth has come from selling subscriptions. Currently about 2/3rds of our revenue is …
It’s been a few months since I last sent out a monthly update, but here’s what’s been going on that you might find interesting. – Earlier this year, I made a significant pivot to focus less on side projects and more on my core business (MarketBeat). I decided to stop publishing new books for the …