2022 Year in Review

Every year I reflect back to help inform the year ahead. Here are some highlights, key insights, lessons learned and stats.

Thanks for being a part of my 2022!

— Jacob Cass

Highlights of 2022

⚡️ 5x Our growth since 2021, with 10 MIL Page views to the JUST Creative Blog & over 400+ articles posted

👏 Grew & managed a team of 12 writers & editors from UK, USA, India and Philippines

🌎 16+ branding clients served globally with 11 brand workshops completed

🔴 21x Episodes of the JUST Branding Podcast recorded, co-hosted with Matt Davies (~13k monthly downloads)

🌲 Launched The Forest (a Web3 & NFT educational platform & community for creatives)

🤓 Released JUST Sans™, our very own typeface (available for sale)

🗨️ Spoke in VR at the world’s first Design Conference in the Metaverse

📈 80+ Members in our membership community, Exponential Creatives

🗣 70+ Hours of coaching completed to 15+ creatives around the world

🎙 25x Collaborations (summits, interviews, lives, podcasts, etc)

📧 100+ Newsletter emails sent

🚀 Launched a new Brand Story video with custom branded audio + photoshoot

🥇 4x Jury Panel member for various Global Design Awards

🎓 12x  Sessions with my coach (a Tony Robbins certified coach)

🎓 Completed a ‘Mini MBA in Marketing’ with Mark Ritson

🏆 My logo design work was featured in the Logo Lounge book series for the 11th consecutive year

💸 We referred millions of dollars to over 50+ affiliate partners

🎗 We continue to give back & make the greatest possible impact through our partnership with B1G1 & pro-bono projects.

✈️ 6 trips away, including our first overseas trip since Covid!

🚗 New electric car + studio set up for 2023!

Struggles & Lessons Learned in 2022

We actually went backward in community members this year, crashed our car, lost a ton of cash in crypto (on paper at least), and spent considerable time building The Forest for little return (the market crashed).

I wasted a ton of time on calls (need a better screening process), and posting on social media was far too sporadic and unfocused.

I failed to complete a number of courses (I assume this is not just me?!), and launched a ‘Masters’ event series which proved to be way too much admin to be sustainable, I totally underestimated how much time building & running a membership community took.

And our business is becoming increasingly more complex which means our focus is being spread too thin.

2022 Stats

We’re all hybrids wearing many different hats and thus have to master a variety of skills.

These are the areas that I specialise in and how I will help others in 2023 (aka how I make money online).

• Brand Consultancy / Brand Design / Brand Strategy
• Paid Membership Community
• Coaching (1:1 and Group)
• Amazon Associates Program
• Affiliate Marketing + SEO
• Course Sales (Referring other people’s products/courses)
• Ads (BuySellAds, GoogleAds, Mediavine)
• Products (JUST Sans font)
• Email Newsletter Media Buys

Below are some stats from these areas.

Brand Consulting Stats

• ​​11 Brand Workshops Completed
• 16 Branding Clients served

Collaborations + Speaking

• 25x Collaborations with Experts (Live trainings, summits, workshops, webinars, Instagram Lives, Facebook Lives, Clubhouse sessions, podcasts, etc)

Blog Stats

• ~400 Articles Posted
• ~8 Million Unique Visits
• ~10 Million Page Views

Newsletter Stats

• 37,600 newsletter subscribers (Up from 31k)
• 30% Open Rate (Same from 2021)
• 100+ emails sent in 2022

Passive Income Stats

• Record month of $120k passive income over November (Smashing our records $34k in Nov. 2020 and $68k in Nov. 2021)
• 80+ Affiliate Partners
• Key partners include Amazon, Adobe, Skillshare, DesignCuts, Envato and independent course providers.

Social Stats

I am so thankful for every member of the JUST Creative community. You are why I do what I do!

• Newsletter – 36,000 (Up 5000)
• Twitter – 75,700 (Down 2000)
• Facebook – 108,000 (Same)
• Facebook Group – 12,600 (Same)
• YouTube – 6,003 (Up 900)
• Instagram – 42,500 (Up 5000)
• LinkedIn – 9,300 (Up 1800)
• Exponential Creatives – 80
• Coaching – 5 (Down 15)

Remember, even just one follower gives you influence. It’s not about the numbers.

Team Stats

We have a diverse team helping run JUST Creative from around the world.

• 10x Writers
• 2x Editors
• 1x Manager
• 1x Podcast Video / Audio Editor
• 1x Virtual Assistant

Shout out to Sam, Dan, Judah, Sarika, Gaurav, Bjorn, Gideon, Rakshita, Tomsy, Maybelle, Vijay, Subhashini, Naresh, BeriPod Squad, Anna, Marco and Bryan. I couldn’t do this without you guys!

JUST Branding Podcast Stats

• 4.9/5 Star Average Rating on Apple Podcasts (65+ Reviews)
• 13,500+ Monthly Downloads
• 5000+ Listens per episode
• 21 Episodes in Season 3
• 2 Episodes a Month
• The #1 Design Podcast in 10+ countries
• 47% USA, 12% UK, 6% Australia

Awards + Judging

I have been fortunate enough to judge a number of award programs around the world. In 2022, I was a part of 4 different juries.

• Graphic Arts Today MVP Awards Jury
• Horizon Interactive Design Awards Jury (2019- Current)
• LogoWave Jury Member (2017-Current)
• International Visual Identity Awards (2015-Current)

Thanks for being a part of my 2022.

JUST keep going!