My 2025 Wrapped

Closure of 2025

2025 was the year when I started seriously working for myself.

I am writing this late. I delayed this post-mortem because I didn’t want to announce "bad news." I paid for lessons in the currency of time and frustration. I hope whoever is reading and is in the same place as I did can get some courage and insight as I have.

Being an freelancer and entrepreneur was something I'm already doing it since 20s. This difference is back then, my expectation is to do something good enough, get "picked", then live off a network.

Practically, how it looks is contributing to Medium, LinkedIn, BigThink, use it as a portfolio for your resume and get hired by a company .

Now, after witnessing first-hand how corrupted most institutions are in terms of the gatekeeping process, recruitment process, and execution process, I decided living off them is not an option.

I backed myself into the corner where every attention and revenue must be earned from complete strangers with no history with me.

That said, resetting the dependency also changed all expectations of how I thought rules work. I start learning more about why the game isn't about working harder, but understanding the systems.

Each chapter will be format as follows:

• What is my ambition
• What I tried
• Why it didn't work out (to my standards)
• What could I have done differently
• Will it happen again?

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1. Music

Ambition

I started my year trying to be a music artist and have 1k followers by the end of the year. I planned to have 3 albums worth of content.

Prior to this, I have been training on production and spending my accumulated savings for the software and equipment.

The original aim was to produce, express, and make enough to match my cost. Of course, streams and passive discovery will not work out. My plan is to recruit performing partners during the process, then getting into commercial relationships or contracts with actual revenue generating business.

I budget 3 years to break even.

What I tried

• Just writing good quality songs.
• Commissioning editors and artists, paying them above market rates to collab.
• SEO and engagement hack for content. Analyzing followers and content meta.
• Documenting production process. Learning AI and building my own tools on making better sounds and composing flows.
• Reaching out to retails, distributors, performers by being personally helpful.
• Actually getting 3 albums of composition (did not release all of it due to lack of market response)

Why it didn't work out:

Art is a market where it still heavily appeals to the lowest common denominator and is heavily commodified.

Trying to be smart, niche, is bad for momentum. Trying to be pop turns you into commodity and slave to distribution rules which have already been entrenched in favor of big names. Passive distribution sucks more than I expected.

Performing partners quit prematurely -- you have all the problems of remote working relationship in an unprofitable market, with high ego immature youngsters.

AI generates music at good enough quality at high volume. My old model of passive streaming is even worse than what I modelled pre-2024.

The final nail in the coffin is a shock in family finance that I had to cover. If I do not quit this dream, people would no longer be able to depend on me.

What could I have done differently

Realized earlier that passive discovery is a dead model without a massive "live" or "social" hook, and that platforms won't do it for you, you must do it for yourself. Which means 90% of your work ends up being completely irrelevant from creating stuff you wanted.

Worked wayyyy harder in producing. Do a 300-day challenge and post daily on Twitter. Turn my profile and identity to a one-trick brand account instead of general personal account because most social media algorithm overweight on identical sim-cluster. This discipline should take anyone to 1000 followers in a year, but going from 1k to 10k would be another path I haven't figured out how to tread.

Ignore the distractions of algorithm, graphics, video. Just stick to one medium of expression (sound).

Yes, you will lose the engagement. You will feel like your creation didn't get the best "bang for the buck". Market seems to reward content that are "perfect", and that anything less than that gets 90% less views for everything that is missing.

But focus is everything in business, and music is still one of it. What you suffer in the lack of "potential engagement", you will make up in production volume and "entrenchment of competency", that is to say you eventually get too good to be ignored.

Will it happen again?

Likely yes. Distribution algorithms and market taste for entertainment is unpredictable.

I failed to play by the meta of 2025. But just because I start playing the meta of 2025, it is unclear if it would still work in the future.

Also, AFAIK it also takes a person from 0 to 1k, but it is unclear what's the path from 1k-100k is.

There is also a bigger question if I as an individual is worth putting up with these games as the unit economics (cost of attention, margins from streams) gets worse every year.

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2. Anti-Growth/Central Bank, Forensic Finance Crusade

Ambition

Trying to raise awareness of the theft, tax, and restriction mechanisms against democratic values.

I realize modern finance is not working for most people. People complain a lot, and I see a trend in young people following commie policies and witch hunting the wrong offenders.

IYKYK.

What I Tried

• Memeing modern finance and banking on LinkedIn using my forensics ability.
• Writing articles (here and Twitter)
• Engaging in debates or lecturing in Discord, public

Why it didn't work

Attention is all you need. Until you don't need excess attention.

I hit 10M views, connected with VCs from AU, UK, US, but my LinkedIn was permabanned for "impersonation" after it got viral enough. All satire was deleted.

Also, the public interest to earn freedom didn't exist; I noticed people wanted to complain, but not build.

You can explain who was doing the stealing, how it was happening, and they still fall for arguments that riles up resentment and jealousy.

What could I have done differently

I shouldn't have gone alone against a corrupting market. I didn't understand the "surveillance". Companies like Persona are cleverly disconnected from the corporations they serve (LinkedIn). My refusal to give away my identity cemented the permaban decision.

I shouldn't try things that depended on public to like me. Going up against propaganda is hard. IYKYK.

If I must declare war against the establishment, it cannot be for profit reasons. I must commit to it for the entire life. This is why political pundits get millions of subs -- they have no competition because the barriers to entry is enormous.

Knowing these commitments, I shouldn't have wasted time on it. Let the ignorant be ignorant. Game recognizes game. And I am not rich and bored enough for this fight.

My desire and tendency to "open-source", document, and share things for negative ROI is antithetical to information physics. Laws of "capitalism" still prevail in information markets. ¹

Most people who take no risk, or let other people take risk on behalf of them do not learn. You must keep doing things to understand the world. Occasionally, share something dangerous to probe for adversaries or allies. ²

Will it happen again?

Deplatforming risk is everywhere. I'm not cut out for the "professional whistleblower" life. The older I get, the more I understood why Peter Thiel did what he did.

IYKYK. ³

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Real-time Bidding App

Ambition

I wanted to challenge a real-time messaging and server-side obfuscation technology to build brand goodwill and connections with people I plan to work with.

Many gray markets want transactions. An anonymous bidding platform is a real problem many are waiting to solve, and do not announce such demand to the public. ⁴

What I Tried

• Building a bidding application focused on features and minimal experience. Anonymity, server-side obfuscation.
• Reaching out to people in person to use the tool I built
• Publicly announcing it as a loss leader with no path to profitability, monetization, or repurposing of data.

Why it didn't work

No trust by the public. No commercial market. No path to scale or profitability. The only users were charity donors and fund raisers. I focused on features over brand equity and distribution.

Gray markets are not stupid. They are cautious, regardless of how much they say they like you in your face.

They thought I wanted their data when I just wanted something to work -- either the system or the relationship.

What could I have done differently

Just don't do it.

I have so much on my plate, and I am only building a software liability and potentially getting myself deeper in trouble against the law by proxy. All for potential relationship with people who may or may not care about me. ⁵

Will it happen again?

It is a side project at best. I now know not to let "building" procrastinate "revenue."

Perhaps one day, I will revisit this idea again when transaction volumes start picking up to require this solution.

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4: Content & Blog as a Hedge

Ambition:

Making money off software is madness. There is nothing passive in any part of the process. Things keep upgrading, breaking, and you have a maintenance hell to make $5 from a single customer.

Content lets you "freeze" the things you built on the web and persists without the maintenance/stack upgrades required by software. Leading to "true passive income".

What I Tried:

• Writing this blog, creating labs for this website.
• Created AI comic on tech, finance, AI.
• Wrote songs and published on different streaming platforms

Why it "didn't" work:

I wouldn't say it failed, but it wasn't yet successful.

The site gets 1k visits/month, but 99% don't convert. It's a long game, and if you're in a rush for money, this is the last thing to do.

Attention half-life is a problem. Your content exist forever theoretically. Attention don't.

Your content catalog grows linearly, but your impression and revenue plateaus or declines. ⁶

What could I have done differently

Produce things for the fun of it, not for short-term expectations. Don't use content production as procrastination for actual products.

At this age and at this income I desired, I should be building products and doign marketing instead of writing content unless I am employed to do so, or because I love doing what I'm doing.

Will it happen again?

I will only do content if I love the game, not the return. You can't offer product and content simultaneously at this stage -- the half-life of attention is too short.

Ads are still better ways to convert customers. Blogs, labs, and comics are here to convert people into partners and for those who are in it for a long game.

If you are reading this and you don't know what you can do to help me. Be assured I have no expectations. Live your life at your own time. One day, you might grow to a valuable partner of mine and that is when I knew everything I done here has paid off.

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Lessons for 2026

1. Input vs. Output: Obsessing over output is an investor mindset. Execution requires obsessing over the input. Don't chase views and revenue. Chase a job well done and stick to the plan.
2. The "Rush" Trap: I now understand the difference between iteration and spinning in circles. Traction always takes longer than forecast. 1 year of "failure" is nothing compared to the lack of success experienced by many other founders for YEARS.
3. Ambition Audit: You cannot convince a person who refuses to move mountains to move them with you. Stop wasting time with unambitious people, regardless of the "proof" you show them.
4. The Market is Irrational: Markets and algorithms are math functions that hardly recognize input. Output is non-linear and feels like luck. You win by staying at the table long enough and increase your surface are for the math to work in your favor.
5. A Job Is Always The Better Option: For those who are still starting out. Most things have already been figured out for you. You just need to conform. If you can work with people you like, in an industry you are passionate about, and get paid a good salary, do it. Do not use your status as an employee to excuse yourself from learning business and market response. The best kind of employee works like a founder. The difference is you don't have to figure everything out from scratch. ⁷

Like everything we do, discipline and agency is success.

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Footnotes

1. This is why real information never gets taught in schools, and information edges or advantage will exist and persist despite democratization of information. Not neccesarily because a conspiracy exist, rather because certain "useful" knowledge can still yield negative returns during its distribution (blocked channels, consumer resistance, attacking the messenger). Therefore it wasn't done. Jesus didn't have to die for people's sins if only they are rational enough to listen. ↩

2. This is why salaried employees always have information gap behind employers and salesmen that are not commission-based make terrible negotiators. People who had to earn what they kill see and understand more risks, hence they make better negotiators. ↩

3. You notice I keep using IYKYK. This is not a dog whistle, or me trying to gatekeep knowledge. There really exist knowledge that must be derived from first-principles thinking. If you must hear it from someone, you can only get it from private groupchats or local conversations. I assure, 90% of you will not like what you find. There are no secrets. There is only censorship and what is refused to be discussed by people who don't want feelings to be hurt, or don't want to admit there exist at least 50% people in where they live who wanted the truth to fail. ↩

4. That was the front I am running with. The true reason of making anonymous bidding platform is to get deeper into dangerous markets. Eventually, I could learn things that lets me trade information for other dangerous market. I leave this footnote to signal potential buyers that I discovered things normal people don't. If you have worked with me before, you understand I value the privacy of my allies and adversary a lot. This is the only way to entrench information advantage. ↩

5. Sorry, this is why prostitution, rare collector market, and government contract bidding, etc stays unsafe, have high occurence of rigged pricing, and sellers often don't get best price. People like me tried. ↩

6. You make 90% of the lifetime revenue off a single song you make in the first week. You make money while you sleep, but it was not real enough to make a difference until you are Top-5%. Gurus and big content creators sold you a scam that there exist passive income of publishing. ↩

7. This is more relevant if the industry you are getting in has high barriers to entry, like biotech, semiconductors, game dev. There exist lots of interesting work that require a founder mindset, yet difficult for normal people to do unless they raise capital. Getting a job in these industries is almost always the better option relative to trying to be a startup. You might have to put up with politics, bureaucracy, and it feels like you are getting slowed down by BS and get tempted by starting your own venture. Be prepared you will be in for a hard fight if you plan your own venture. ↩