2025 In Review & 2026 Plan

SUMMARY

Ryan Clogg, founder of Mainco, reflects on 2025's $34 million revenue amid leadership struggles and inefficiencies, highlights key wins like YouTube growth, and details 2026 plans for scaling through partnerships, organic content, and streamlined operations. (28 words)

STATEMENTS

Leadership and people management emerged as Ryan's biggest skill gap, affecting talent recruitment, role alignment, and team retention in Mainco.
The business churned talented employees who left for stronger organizations, underscoring the need for better leadership structures.
Inputs like hundreds of hours at the desk did not yield proportional outputs, as the team felt scattered with multiple fires to extinguish simultaneously.
Despite a record topline revenue of around $34 million in 2025, Mainco missed profit and topline goals set earlier.
Prioritization of projects and efficient time management were major shortcomings, leading to spread-thin efforts across business and personal commitments.
Ryan struggled with personal time management, working 15+ hour days while handling operations, personal branding, and life, feeling efforts were wasted.
Being uncomfortable with downtime led Ryan to fill gaps with extra work instead of resting, nearly causing burnout without true recovery moments.
Ryan denied numerous consulting and equity opportunities in 2025, later viewing it as short-sighted for missing upside in quality ventures.
Fitness routines derailed in the last few months of 2025 due to desk-bound demands, breaking a five-year consistency streak.
Long-term equity-building decisions, like developing new business arms, diverted focus and hurt short-term cash flow, allowing competitors to gain ground.
YouTube content creation became a top win, opening doors to events and connections in the info-coaching space that wouldn't have happened otherwise.
Leaning into family and friends improved relationships due to local proximity, though balancing it with work remains challenging.
A 60-day sprint achieved $10.6 million in revenue to win a bet, proving team potential but burning out staff and breaking acquisition and sales processes.
Efficiency is the core 2026 focus for Mainco, aiming to reduce bureaucracy, speed up project completion, and align with mission values for better returns.
Ads management faltered mid-year after initial success, contributing to volatility from over-reliance on a single traffic source.
Sales processes treated leads as numbers rather than individuals, missing opportunities to convert more efficiently without a closer-only model.
Mainco plans to shift toward direct-to-cart sales for low-ticket items, building a sales army to handle leads more effectively.
Organic growth initiatives, including long-form and short-form content across platforms, target 80% of bookings from organic sources in 2026.
Lifetime value maximization involves partnerships, co-brands, physical products, and continuity programs beyond the core offering.
People and systems are pivotal; curating high-quality talent with proper management and compensation could unlock major growth.
Data clarity suffered from custom enterprise tools that slowed decisions; reverting to source-of-truth systems is the fix.
Partnership with WAPU involves sweat equity for account activation, management, and growth, including free courses and merit-based communities.
Personal 2026 goals include hiring an assistant, establishing content cadence, and pursuing a physical challenge like an Ironman for mental space.
Avoiding "stupid" distractions—dopamine-driven or unfavorable activities—will be a core tenet to multiply progress in life and business.
Mainco's 2025 was a repeat of 2024 in position despite record topline, necessitating fundamental changes for better results in 2026.

IDEAS

Leadership gaps in recruitment and retention can cascade into 99% of business problems, making it a potential silver bullet for scaling.
Excessive inputs without output optimization leads to a "everything on fire" feeling, where effort scatters across unprioritized tasks.
Personal discomfort with idleness turns rest into overwork, exacerbating burnout risks without intentional breath moments.
Denying high-upside opportunities to adhere to a "no-selling" personal brand may limit growth in non-traditional ways like equity stakes.
Long-game pursuits, such as equity-focused builds, can sabotage short-term cash flow if they dilute focus amid operational chaos.
Long-form YouTube content acts as a profound business and life hack, fostering genuine relationships and event invitations organically.
High-stakes sprints reveal team capabilities but expose unsustainable practices, like burning processes in acquisition and sales.
Over-reliance on ads creates volatility at any scale, as single-source traffic amplifies funnel disruptions across the business.
Treating every lead as a person in pain shifts sales from numbers games to empathetic, multi-path conversions boosting efficiency.
Direct-to-cart models for low-ticket items can scale massively, feeding into a robust sales army for higher overall conversions.
Aiming for 80% organic bookings demands an "organic juggernaut" with multi-platform content armies, including UGC and affiliates.
Merit-based access to high-level communities, events, and experts rewards platform growth without upfront fees, enhancing retention.
Enterprise-level custom tools often breed slowness and indecision; lean, source-of-truth systems enable faster, clearer decisions.
Sweat equity in payment platforms like WAPU allows founders to gain upside through account growth services without direct selling.
Physical challenges like Ironmans create dual benefits: forcing offline time for reflection and rebuilding consistent fitness habits.
Hiring an assistant early, even remotely, unlocks bandwidth for high-value tasks like content creation and strategic thinking.
Avoiding "stupid" activities—boredom fillers or dopamine hits—prevents potholes that compound to stall multi-year progress.
Partner networks for vetted services address client bottlenecks, turning platforms into growth ecosystems beyond mere processing.

INSIGHTS

True business unlocks stem from mastering people dynamics—right talent in aligned roles under strong leadership—far beyond tactical fixes.
Efficiency in operations isn't about adding heads but streamlining decisions and touchpoints to match the speed growth demands.
Volatility from single traffic sources like ads highlights the need for diversified funnels to stabilize revenue at scale.
Shifting from volume-based lead treatment to personalized journeys maximizes conversions across low- and high-ticket paths.
Organic brand-building through consistent, platform-spanning content can dominate traffic, reducing paid dependency and enhancing authenticity.
Long-term value isn't just in core products; it's amplified by seamless continuity, partnerships, and ecosystem integrations.
Custom enterprise solutions often hinder agility; prioritizing integrated, real-time data clarity empowers proactive decisions.
Sweat equity models in adjacent platforms allow non-sales growth, blending personal expertise with merit-driven communities.
Personal time blocking and assistant support are essential for founders juggling multiples, preventing spread-thin exhaustion.
Intentional physical pursuits foster mental clarity, countering desk-bound ruts and restoring idea-generation routines.
Rejecting unfavorable distractions compounds advantages, as avoided losses multiply into outsized life and financial gains.
Fundamental changes in systems and mindset break repetition cycles, turning stagnant years into exponential leaps.

QUOTES

"Leadership and people... by far by far by far feel like this is my biggest skill gap in what needs to be developed."
"Inputs do not equal outputs... a lot of inputs went in... for not a lot of outputs."
"YouTube was probably my number one... it is by far the number one business hack of like our current time."
"Every single one of those people that opted in are interested in something... it is a person who has a problem that you can solve."
"I want 80% of my bookings next year to come from organic... it's a crazy thought... but I think it's very doable."
"Business is a collection of people at some level... collection of skills, interests, time zones, all the things."
"Enterprise is slow. It is clunky... I wanted to be lean and scalable."
"Don't do stupid... if you just avoid it... I would be multiples ahead in terms of life and financially."
"If you do the same thing, you're going to get the same result. So, we're going to do something different."

HABITS

Dedicate daily time blocks for deep work, throwing the phone aside to stick to non-negotiable schedules despite bursting workloads.
Maintain consistent fitness routines, aiming for 30 minutes to an hour every day regardless of business demands to avoid roller coasters.
Lean into family and friends through local proximity, scheduling intentional interactions to nurture relationships amid professional chaos.
Pursue physical challenges like training for an Ironman, using them as forcing functions for offline reflection and idea generation via podcasts.
Hire and delegate to an assistant for administrative tasks, enabling focus on high-value activities like content creation and strategy.
Review and document annual learnings publicly through videos, turning reflections into accountability tools for consistent personal branding.
Avoid downtime fillers by embracing "doing nothing" intentionally, preventing the urge to 5x down on work during gaps.

FACTS

Mainco generated approximately $30 million in 2024 and reached around $34 million in cash collected for 2025 in the info-coaching space.
A 60-day revenue sprint hit $10.6 million, but it exposed and broke key processes in acquisition, sales, and leadership.
Ryan maintained a five-year streak of daily 30-60 minute workouts until the last 3-4 months of 2025, when desk time disrupted it.
Ads provided initial summer success for Mainco but "nuked" performance afterward, highlighting reliance on a single volatile traffic source.
Custom enterprise data tools led to messy reporting, requiring nine approvals and scraping for decisions, slowing the lean operation.
WAPU partnership structures sweat equity around account activation, targeting new merchants from $0 to $10K monthly processing.
Merit-based communities on WAPU launched for those processing $100K and $1M monthly, including exclusive chats and in-person events.
Competitors focusing solely on cash-flow plays in specific niches outpaced Mainco due to specialized product experience and focus.

REFERENCES

Ryan’s Rolodex: https://www.ryanclogg.com/rolodex
Instagram: /ryanclogg
X (Twitter): https://www.x.com/ryanclogg
Cole’s event (speaking engagement)
Iman’s events (attendance and discussions)
Jeremy’s events (attendance)
Daniel Fazio’s event (speaking)
WAPU (payment processing platform, founders Cam and Steven; partnership for account services)
Iman Gadzhi (event attendance, partnership talks)
Jeremy (likely Jeremy Young, event and travel context)
Gavin (internal leader for WAPU account activation)
Blake Broka (video reference for contrasting lifestyle)
Audible and podcasts (for learning during physical training)
Stripe (legacy processing comparison)
Shopify and HubSpot (examples of partner networks)

HOW TO APPLY

Identify leadership gaps by auditing team retention and role alignments, then invest in development to retain top talent and reduce churn.
Prioritize projects using bottleneck analysis, focusing team efforts on high-impact tasks to convert inputs into measurable outputs efficiently.
Diversify traffic sources by building an organic content army across platforms, targeting 80% organic bookings to mitigate ad volatility.
Revamp sales processes to treat every lead as an individual, implementing CRM rebuilds and multi-path conversions for higher yields.
Streamline data systems to source-of-truth tools, eliminating custom enterprise bloat for real-time clarity in decision-making.
Form strategic partnerships like sweat equity in adjacent platforms, leveraging merit-based communities for account growth without direct sales.
Hire specialized roles such as assistants and account managers to cover bandwidth, enabling focus on core strengths like content and strategy.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Master leadership, efficiency, and diversification to transform 2025's stagnant growth into 2026's scalable breakthroughs for Mainco and personal life.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Develop leadership skills through targeted training or hires to attract and retain quality talent, solving cascading business issues.
Implement strict prioritization frameworks to focus efforts, ensuring inputs yield proportional outputs without scattering resources.
Embrace intentional downtime to prevent burnout, using gaps for true rest rather than overworking to sustain long-term performance.
Evaluate and pursue select equity opportunities that align with strengths, avoiding rigid "no-selling" rules that limit upside.
Balance long- and short-game moves by blending cash-flow plays with equity builds, preventing focus dilution on ambitious projects.
Leverage long-form content on YouTube as a primary hack for networking and brand building in competitive spaces.
Rebuild sales with empathetic, person-centered approaches and diversified funnels to boost conversions beyond closer-only models.
Shift toward direct-to-cart and organic dominance to reduce ad reliance, creating a stable, brand-centric growth engine.
Maximize LTV through partnerships and continuity, exploring acquisitions for physical products instead of ground-up development.
Prioritize lean data systems over enterprise customs to enable swift, informed decisions at volume scales.
Integrate sweat equity in platforms like WAPU for non-sales revenue, focusing on account activation and merit-based perks.
Hire an assistant immediately to handle logistics, freeing time for consistent content and physical health routines.
Systematically avoid "stupid" distractions by questioning motives, stacking small wins into compounded life and financial advantages.

MEMO

Ryan Clogg, the driven founder of Mainco, an info-coaching empire that clocked $34 million in 2025 revenue, sat down for a candid year-end reckoning. After months of silence on his YouTube channel, he dissected the highs and lows of a year that felt like treading water—record topline figures masking missed profit targets and a nagging sense of repetition from 2024. Leadership emerged as his starkest shortfall: talented hires slipped away to more magnetic organizations, roles misaligned, and his own management style left teams firefighting scattered priorities. "By far, this is my biggest skill gap," Clogg admitted, framing people challenges as the potential silver bullet for 99% of Mainco's woes. Inputs—hundreds of grueling desk hours—poured in without proportional outputs, a scattershot frenzy that burned the team and eroded efficiency.

Yet amid the losses, glimmers of progress shone through. Clogg's plunge into long-form YouTube videos proved a revelation, a "business hack of our current time" that unlocked invitations to elite events by figures like Iman Gadzhi and Jeremy Young. Speaking at gatherings hosted by Cole and Daniel Fazio, he forged connections impossible in isolation, while leaning into local family ties mended long-neglected bonds. Financially, a high-octane 60-day sprint netted $10.6 million to win a bet, a proof-of-concept for team firepower—but at the cost of shattered processes in sales and acquisition, leaving months of painful rebuilding. Fitness, once a five-year daily ritual, derailed under desk-bound marathons, and Clogg rued denying equity stakes in promising ventures, clinging to a purist "no-selling" ethos that now seemed shortsighted.

Looking to 2026, Clogg's blueprint for Mainco pulses with urgency: efficiency as the north star. Bureaucracy crept in, bloating touchpoints and stalling projects for months—antithetical to the speed that "money loves." Ads, long a volatile crutch, faltered post-summer highs, underscoring the perils of single-source dependency. Sales treated leads as mere numbers, forsaking the human pain points behind every opt-in. The pivot? A direct-to-cart assault on low-ticket sales, bolstered by a "sales army" and an organic juggernaut aiming for 80% of bookings from content across platforms—long-form videos, UGC shorts, even affiliate plays. Lifetime value gets a boost via partnerships, co-brands, and continuity beyond the core offering, potentially acquiring physical products rather than building from scratch.

A pivotal alliance with WAPU, a payment platform, marks Clogg's sly entry into upside without direct hawking. Through sweat equity, he's spearheading account activation—free courses on offers, info sales, and scaling—plus management for VIP support and growth initiatives like merit-based communities for high-earners. Exclusive chats, plaques for $1M processors, and vetted partner networks tackle bottlenecks in sales or media, turning WAPU into a growth ecosystem. "Instead of paying $50K for an inner circle," Clogg mused, "we do it merit-based." Systems overhaul looms large: ditching clunky enterprise data tools for lean source-of-truth clarity, ensuring decisions flow without scraping spreadsheets.

On the personal front, Clogg confronts his spread-thin reality—18-hour days crammed with 20 meetings—by hunting a remote assistant to reclaim bandwidth for content cadence on X, LinkedIn, and Instagram. A physical odyssey, perhaps an Ironman, beckons as dual therapy: rebuilding fitness while carving mental space for podcasts and walks, countering the cold-weather sickness that chains him indoors. Sun and warmth demand navigation via trips or relocation, all while vowing to sidestep "stupid" distractions—dopamine-fueled detours that stack into lost multiples. Family balance persists as a struggle, but intentionality sharpens it.

In essence, Clogg's 2026 vow breaks the stagnation cycle: "If you do the same thing, you get the same result." With people and systems as twin pillars—curating experts, automating smartly, delivering best-in-class results—Mainco eyes exitable evolution. For Clogg, it's holistic flourishing: avoiding potholes, embracing rest, and channeling relentless energy into favored rings. His raw reflection, unpolished yet profound, underscores a timeless entrepreneurial truth—fundamental reinvention fuels the leap from survival to dominance.