In 2010, Seth Godin asked people to make a list of what they shipped that year. I did the exercise in 2010, 2012 and 2013. I have come to believe that this is a important exercise, especially for solopreneuers to see what they have accomplished.

The biggest thing I did in 2014 was start a publishing company. Astronaut Projects shipped five titles this year, widening distribution on two books and launching three new ones to the marketplace. As for the new ones:

• If you work in enterprise IT or know someone who does, The Phoenix Project is a great book for them. We have more than 75,000 copies and the sales keep growing each month.
• If being a leader is a part of what you do (and a hint: it is a part of what everyone does), then you need to read 10th anniversary edition of Radical Leap and then read Radical Edge.

Playing publisher this year has had me going to trade shows, dealing with inventory stock-outs, and planning strategy for how to build on the successes we have had. The most important thing it has shown me is how the scale of distribution can make a huge difference in the success of a book.

The second thing I did was travel. Alot. In July, I spent two weeks solo in Japan. In August, we took a two week road trip to meet my family in Colorado. And in September, I spent the better part of a week in San Juan Islands with a great friend. I also had trips to San Francisco and New York City.

The one goal I didn’t accomplish was relaunching the Every Book Is a Startup. I looked at it several times throughout the year. I got the book moved out into a format I could edit and found that I wanted to rewrite the whole thing. My view of books as startups has evolved alot in the last two years. The time to clarify those views was hard to come by. I continue to think it is important and am thinking about how I can accomplish this one in the new year.

I am grateful for everything that was 2014 and I found myself more focused on the quality of the effort rather than the magnitude of the outcomes.

There are changes afoot for 2015. More about those next week.