2025 was one of the most “volatile” and unstable periods of my life, but that is probably because I dared more and took more risks. In this piece, I’d share so many things that I am grateful for and a few things that didn’t quite turn out well. It is going to be a long read, but I promise it’ll be worth your time.
For me, 2025 started with so many unrealized plans carried over from the previous year, but I did well to squash every single one of them by the end of the first quarter—Not a single one was spared. That also meant that my 2025 started kind of later than it should.
I had started 2025 with one clear purpose: to reach and touch more people than I have ever done within a single year. I love teaching a lot, and it is one of the ways of giving a bit of myself to every person that I meet. So to achieve this, I got more serious with social media, organically growing my Facebook following from 12K to about 20.5K followers.
In February, I took a 14-day leave from work. It was during this time that I came up with ZHero No-code Web Design Course. Thanks to encouragement from one of my Facebook friends and mentees, Increase Moses. As of the time of writing, the course has sold over 250 times, bringing together students from various African countries.
Got More Intentional with Friendships
I am an outspoken person and enjoy meeting new people, but I struggle to maintain close friendships long-term due to my unique interests. Throughout my life, I’ve kept only two truly close friends. Unfortunately, this year I had to make the painful decision to cut ties with one of them for personal reasons. I did my best, but it didn’t quite work out. Now, I have just one close friend, and we’ve known each other for at least 11 years.
Nonetheless, it’s worth mentioning some of the good social friends that I have been lucky to meet physically. Olumide Ayinla of PrintHouse Nigeria, Paul Axennic Ikonne & Family, and Safwan Idris.
This year, I also physically linked up with a UK-based client whom I have constantly worked with since 2017. He is one of my important clients, and meeting him was a dream come true for me.
On the other hand, I attended more events this year and met new people, but honestly, none stuck. The memories aren’t quite there. Typical me!
Showing Up for Family When It Mattered
I started investing more time showing up for my family—both nuclear and extended. I reached out to my grandmother when she was ill and showed up for my little sis on her Nikkah Ceremony in November, having previously helped with logistics during her relocation to their new apartment. I showed up for my cousin, DJ OP DOT’s Homecoming Concert in the same month. I paid two visits to Jaido P, who is also a cousin of mine, just to cool off and vibe. I love the concept of family so much, and I keep it sacred.
I Rewarded Myself Every Month
I am a father of three, which is already enough financial responsibility, but I still managed to get myself something every month, no matter how little. This single act kept me trimmed and helped me to stay happy, fulfilled, and youthful. I couldn’t afford the time to hit the gym, but I’ve always looked fit.
I love streetwear and sneakers a lot, so I spent so much money on those until it became an addiction. I am not looking to stop soon, though; I am just looking to make more money to finance that addiction. Bad Bunny, Nike, JFG, New Balance, Rhude, Fear of God, you name it. I started jumping in and out of boutiques.
I Wasn’t Prepared Enough
Since starting my full-time job at Sterling Bank as a Senior UX Web Design Executive three years ago, my lovely Branditechture took the hit. I no longer had the time to run it efficiently because priorities had to be reordered. Due to this, it had to be the sacrificial lamb in my quest for some corporate experience.
However, I have included the redesign of Branditechture in the course outline of my web design course, which means I’ll be killing two birds with one stone.
But this also means that I did not have the resources needed for some enterprise clients who reached out to work with me. To fix this, I locked in during the final month of this year and was finally able to complete the design of my professional corporate profile. With this, I am readily positioned to advance talks with most corporate clients who would come my way in 2026. It would also aid my proposal writing if I were to reach out to them first.
My Wins
- I got my second car in two years—a Honda Accord 2010 EX-L.
- Grew my 15-year-old Facebook Account from 12K to 20,500+ followers.
- I got Monetized on Facebook via the Content Monetization Program (CMP.)
- I bought shares worth 6M NGN for the first time in a year.
- I acquired an iPhone 17 Pro Max at a time when it wasn’t commonly accessible. (It was a big flex.)
- I got promoted at work—my second promotion in three years.
- I created a Web Design Course that generated over 10 million NGN in sales revenue within the first ten months.
My Losses Lessons
- On Dec 28, Facebook suspended my monetized account. It was such a painful experience. It caused me real pain because I lost 15 years’ worth of irrecoverable memories. The account had most of my teenage photos, and it perfectly represented my journey and growth through life. Read the story here and the lesson learned here.
- I lost my first car to multiple engine-related issues, so I got rid of it. Read the story and lesson the learned here.
- I lost a long-term friendship because we outgrew each other and started to have irreconcilable objectives. I tried to make adjustments and spoke about it, but it did not work out in the end.
What’s Next
Frankly speaking, I was surprised by how much AI democratized skill acquisition this year, resulting in a large influx of very young people into tech.
Things like AI Video Generation, AI Automation, MCP, Agentic IDEs, and the Vibecoding Culture blew up, and quite a lot of very young people milked it. This resulted in a seismic shift in the way talents are accessed, and HRs and recruiters are getting overwhelmed daily with massive volumes of entry-level applications.
Getting an enthusiastic freelance whiz kid is now as easy as scrolling through your Facebook Timeline or X Feed.
I’ll be honest—I’ve never felt this left behind in my life. I admit that if I’m going to sustain my reputation and position in this industry, then dedicating significant time next year to learning and researching AI tools, models, and prompting strategies has to be a top priority.
I will carry out a series of AI automation experiments using my various websites to see which ones are dependable enough for enterprise use.
I plan to build a new startup next year. I’ll reveal this in a future article, so please Subscribe to My Thoughts if you haven’t.
It will be interesting to see what 2026 brings, but I’m fully prepared and strategically positioned for whatever comes my way.
Cheers to a crazy year!
