Welcome to The Knup Letter: 2024 Recap, 2025 Goals

Lessons learned, goals set, and a fresh start for the journey ahead in sports, business, tech, and content.

Jan 06, 2025

A couple of years ago, I had this idea to start my own newsletter, but I wanted to have some fun with it—especially since my last name (Knuppel) is notoriously hard to pronounce. My nickname, "Knup," comes from my last name, but here's the kicker: it's not pronounced "k-nup" or "nup." It's pronounced "noop."

Fast forward to this year, when I decided to finally go all in on this project. And just like that, The Knup Letter was officially born.

This is going to be a truly hybrid newsletter. You'll find a mix of personal and entrepreneurial stories, professional tips, a bit of humor, and insights pulled from the four areas I’m deeply involved in: SPORTS, BUSINESS, TECH, and CONTENT. These are my pillars, and I’ll be sharing news, tips, picks, advice, experiences & more from each.

I run multiple businesses and have plenty of hobbies in these spaces, so expect an honest look at the wins, losses, and lessons from my journey.

The Knup Letter will always have a valuable free version, but we’ll also launch a premium paid tier in the very near future with exclusive content and perks. Go ahead and “pledge your support” if you are interested in that when the time comes.

Plus, there will be two sponsor slots available in each issue. The plan is to release 5 days a week, but will see how it progresses. If you’re interested in getting exposure for your business, service, or product, shoot me an email for my 2025 Media Kit.

So, welcome! Let’s dive right into this first edition which is going to be a bit different than the day to day versions. We are going to start with a recap of 2024 and a look ahead at the goals for 2025. Enjoy the ride!

We’re excited to announce that The Knup Letter is officially open for sponsorships! To kick things off, we’re trying something new: a scaled pricing model. Sponsor rates will start very low in January and gradually increase each month as we build momentum and grow our audience. Do you want to be the first? For details, email me at ryan@knup.com, and let’s make 2025 a win for both of us!

2024 had it’s fair share of challenges. From it being the most expensive time of life (2 kids in college) to having to scale back my team drastically due to transitioning to AI (tough on the heart). It was the year of BUSINESS CHANGE.

But hard times always bring lessons, and I’ve grown a lot because of it. I feel like a better version of myself, and my businesses, is ready for 2025. Let’s take a look at four things I learned from last year.

ACT MORE — CONSUME LESS

This was a big one for me in 2024. I realized I was spending way too much time consuming—whether it was watching, reading, or even researching—and not enough time taking action. In health, business, and marketing, I kept falling into the trap of “preparing” instead of doing. This year, the focus is on taking ACTION: creating, selling, building, and improving. Less buying into things I don’t need, and more selling what I’ve already built. Progress happens when you act, not when you just consume ideas.

I LOVE VARIETY

This one really hit home for me last year. I tried focusing on ONLY one thing for a period of time—really dialing it in to see if I could only work on that single area. But I quickly realized something important: I get bored when I’m not juggling multiple things.

Life isn’t meant to be boring! For me, entrepreneurship is my life. It’s how I feed the family. But that doesn’t mean it has to be about making $250K from one business; I’d rather make $50K from five businesses/products and have fun doing it (made that actual $$$ dollars up obviously).

There are downsides to this mindset & strategy, of course. It can be hard to scale when your attention is divided, and managing multiple ventures means more complexity and stress. But the upsides? It keeps me sharp, engaged, and motivated.

Having variety fuels my creativity and mental health. I’ve learned that having multiple irons in the fire works for me, even if it’s not the “traditional” path to success.

I’M ALL IN ON AI

AI has completely changed the way I think about business, content, and efficiency. Over the past year, I’ve went deep into how it can transform almost everything I do—creating smarter workflows, building better content, and even dreaming up entirely new tools and products. AI isn’t just a tool; it’s the future. And I’m all in.

From AI agents to content creation, I’ve already started integrating it into my businesses with incredible results. One of my big projects, Coded Content, is set to be a game-changer in 2025 for companies looking to scale sports content at an unbeatable price. I can’t wait to get you all using it.

And let’s face it, AI content is everywhere now—the lines between human and AI creation are blurring. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. Heck, maybe this is “AI Knup Bot” writing this newsletter... Or is it “Ryan Knuppel”? You will never know :) Either way, expect plenty of AI talk here in The Knup Letter as 2025 unfolds.

DON’T BE SCARED TO MONETIZE

For years, I’ve had this hesitation when it comes to truly monetizing my products, services, skills, knowledge, and experiences. Why? Fear of judgment? Imposter syndrome? Afraid of Sales? Who knows.

But here’s the thing: I’ve spent years learning, building, and growing — and mastering my niches. What I bring to the table is valuable, and there’s nothing wrong with charging for that value. Whether it’s services, products, consulting, premium content, or sharing insights, I’ve realized it’s not just okay to monetize — it’s the right move to ensure I can “make it” as an entrepreneur.

Let’s first take a look at some of the highlights from the past year—because progress is always worth celebrating.

Knup Solutions LLC

This was a big year for Knup Solutions as we officially got clarity & launched Coded Content, our new AI-powered sports content solution. We successfully transitioned most of our human-writing clients to this platform, proving that AI content can be both efficient and effective for the sports industry. We also made a pretty big strategic partnership and landed a massive Coded Content client in December of 2025 — official announcements on those coming soon.

Knup LLC

We made a big change in 2024 on Knup Sports. We deleted a TON of old content. Delete? Yes, sometimes it’s ok to remove old content. 95% of our stuff will be evergreen content, with the only “day to day” content coming from Coded Content. Knup Sports continued to grow in multiple ways:

Website Traffic: KnupSports.com saw increased traffic and engagement, reflecting our efforts to create quality content. We ended with 548,000 Page Views in 2024.
Podcasts: The Knup Sports Show had 7,580 all time listens over 23 episodes in 2024.
Sports Cards: Between WhatNot ($21,050 over 74 Live Streams), eBay sales ($5,702 over 116 items sold) & Physical Card Shows ($10,000 over 4 shows) — we made solid strides in the sports card space.
Domains: While this is a space I’m phasing out of, there were still some wins here. I continued to manage (1400~ in the portfolio) and sell domains ($21,058 via 7 sales), focusing on reducing the domain portfolio and honing in on top assets.
Media Partnerships: Our media partnerships went amazing with both SBC and iGaming Next. We worked hard to promote and attend their events, and will continue to do so as 2025 comes.

Rewritten Life LLC

I couldn’t be prouder of my wife’s work with Rewritten Life LLC. This year, she brought her vision to life with LNPC Academy, partnering with a homeschool program for athletes. Starting from scratch, this program went from an idea to 10 kids in the first semester and 18 in the second—all because of her ability to take action and make things happen. I’ve been glad to support her with tech, finances, sports business insights, and strategy as she continues to grow this incredible venture.

Personal Wins

2024 was a milestone year for me personally as well:

No Drinking: I’m proud to say I didn’t drink a drop of alcohol this year—continuing a streak that now totals 530 days. For anyone who’s ever tried to quit drinking, you know it’s a real test of discipline and commitment. Thank the Lord for N/A beers like Athletic Brewing. Love it! This journey has taught me a lot about myself, and I’ll be sharing more about it as The Knup Letter unfolds.
Another Year of Kids: I made it through another year with two kids in college. My son Drew is a Junior at University of Tampa. He is redshirting so will have two more years of basketball action after this. Music to my ears, his 5th year he is entering the entrepreneurship program for a 1 year masters in entrepreneurship! Alyssa, my daughter, is a sophomore at Tampa as well. She’s majoring in Phyiscal Therapy and thriving at life. My youngest is a sophomore in highschool, loving the LNPC Academy and has goals of playing College Baseball!

CLARITY

We will provide a “Word of the Day” with every edition of the Knup Letter.

As I wrap up 2024 and look ahead to 2025, the word "clarity" keeps coming to mind. This past year taught me the importance of seeing things clearly—whether it was cutting back on distractions, focusing on action over consumption, or realizing that variety isn’t a flaw, but part of who I am.

Clarity means understanding what works for you and owning it, even if it goes against the grain. For me, it’s knowing that having multiple irons in the fire isn’t chaos—it’s how I thrive.

As I plan for 2025, clarity also means setting specific goals, leaning into AI, and fully embracing the value I bring to the table. It’s about simplifying where I can and doubling down on what truly matters.

When you’re clear on your purpose and your path, everything feels a little lighter and a lot more achievable. That’s the mindset I’m bringing into this new year.

What do you need to get Clarity on?

No year is complete without its share of missteps, and 2024 was no different. While the successes were great, the mistakes were where the real lessons came from.

Here’s where I stumbled and what I took away from it.

Getting Scammed

Like many others, I got burned a couple of times in 2024. From crypto investments, to stolen NFT’s, to sports card deals gone wrong — it was a tough reminder to be extra cautious in new ventures. I’ll share more detailed stories about these experiences in future editions of The Knup Letter. If nothing else, they’ve made for some valuable lessons—and some stories worth telling.

Knup Advisors Didn’t Take Off

One of my ideas that didn’t pan out was Knup Advisors LLC, my attempt at building an advisory business. I love connecting people and helping them find the right solutions, but I’ve always done it for free. That’s where the problem came in—turning it into a paid service never felt natural. While this didn’t work out, I’m still passionate about being a connector and will always look for ways to help others, even if it’s just on a personal level. Win some, lose some, and move on.

Wasting Time Without Clarity

Looking back, I wasted way too much time on things that lacked a clear direction. For example, I spent countless hours scanning my entire sports card collection in bulk, only to realize I didn’t actually need most of it cataloged. The same goes for Coded Content. We went through iteration after iteration, constantly rewriting and rethinking it. But now that we’ve nailed the vision, things are moving fast. I’m more confident than ever that 2025 will be the year Coded Content hits its stride.

Scaling Back My Team

This was by far the hardest part of 2024 for me. At the peak of my agency, we had over 100 planners, writers, editors, and publishers. But with the rise of AI and the efficiency of Coded Content, we needed fewer people to get the same work done. Letting go of my team was incredibly tough—I’ve built real relationships with these people, and telling them they weren’t needed anymore was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do.

I’m optimistic about 2025. I’m excited to ramp up again, but in different ways. I’ll be building a new kind of team—one focused on AI, video content, and sales. It’s tough to say goodbye, but I’m looking forward to what’s next.

Too Many Businesses on Paper

In 2024, I realized I was overcomplicating things by creating too many separate businesses on paper. It felt like every new idea needed its own LLC, which only made things harder to manage. Moving into 2025, I’m simplifying things from a paperwork perspective while still keeping the focus on the key areas of my work:

Knup Solutions LLC will handle all content services and products.
Knup LLC will be my catch-all personal business, covering multiple divisions from sports media, to sports cards, to consulting, to domains.
Rewritten Life LLC will remain focused on personal development and home education projects with my wife.

Want to see your business here? We’re offering two sponsorship slots in each issue of The Knup Letter. With our scaled pricing model, rates start low in January and increase monthly as we grow. Don’t miss your chance to get in early! Email ryan@knup.com for details.

With 2024 in the rearview, it’s time to set the focus for 2025. This year, I’m aiming for clarity, growth, and alignment across my businesses and personal life. Here’s the game plan: