2 builders who never spoke to each other

Expect the record month to fall back

Attribute a peak to the specific promotion or season that caused it and set expectations for the drop before it arrives rather than after. Nine consecutive years of growth can still turn over, so treat the best month as an event to be explained rather than the new baseline.

The method

1. 01

   Attribute a record month to the specific promotion that caused it, then expect the next month to fall back toward baseline rather than treating the peak as your new normal.

2. 02

   A seasonal consumer product can post its best month on almost no work at all, so learn the annual shape and stop attributing those months to your own effort.

3. 03

   Nine years of compounding growth can still turn over: after climbing every single year, product income fell by more than thirty percent.

4. 04

   Expect any revenue trend to break eventually, and set expectations before the dip rather than after it.

5. 05

   Never read a strong run of months as your new baseline when the product is a one-time purchase; revenue moves in steps forward and back.

What it returned

• 58%

  Pegasus profit fell about 58% from its record $4,043 May, which had been driven by a content push plus a new pricing tier, to $1,682 in June, still its second best month.

• 2018

  November 2018 brought $2,170 in revenue, up 34%, with 126,609 cards made and 7 hours worked, which Zue attributed entirely to the annual holiday bump

• $800

  Zue's product income went $800 in 2017, $12,000 in 2018, then $25k, $42k, $110k and $145k before he stopped publishing figures, and 2025 was the first down year, off by over 30%

• $1,000

  Place Card Me crossed $1,000 in a month in August 2018 against $3 of all-time revenue a year earlier; Zue recalled knowing the January drop was coming and still being knocked down by it

Sources

• The FlopCory Zue · coryzue.com · Progress is not linear · 2021-03-01
• What goes up...Cory Zue · coryzue.com · Last Month’s Profit · 2020-07-01
• When the line stops going upCory Zue · coryzue.com · The numbers · 2025-12-30
• Milestones, working for others, and committing to side projectsCory Zue · coryzue.com · The month past · 2018-09-03
• The New NormalCory Zue · coryzue.com · Place Card Me · 2018-12-03
• 2020 Year in ReviewPreetam Nath · preetamnath.com · Built a business to $30k MRR · 2020-12-27