Goals Met: ~80%

Song Of The Year (listen while reading!): New Tricks - Petite League - Indie Pop

How did I do with last year’s goals?

  1. šŸŸ”Ā Kill SkinTheory or get it off my mind completely.

    • Results: A

    The wheels are in motion, SkinTheory as an Inc. is officially no more. I haven’t thought about it much.

    SkinTheory the app is still alive, and kind of just sitting there in a holding pattern until I want to come back to it, or apple/google make a change to the app store.

  2. šŸŸ”Ā Build 3 startup projects, and get faster and more publicity with each. Get atleast 1 to ā‚¬100 MRR.

    • Results: D

    Unfortunately, I only put out ExpatPho.net and iterated on it a bit. I did not really build in public. I’ve been considering my next idea, but I’ve really been spending too much time thinking. Need to move quick and try stuff.

  3. šŸŸ¢Ā Support myself with a cool job or through freelancing.

    • Results: A+

    I enjoyed freelancing with MyGroove and made a good bit of money. I enjoyed switching jobs to Formly and am still making good money, but now I have even better work life balance and get to be on a startup team.

    There’s a bit of fog with how our next raise will go, but I’m enjoying the ride for now.

  4. šŸŸ”Ā Keep myself networked in the startup/engineering scene.

    • Results: B

    I went to 3-4 engineering meetups, and 1 or 2 startup events, and a freelancer event. I did a better job but I wouldn’t say I feel well connected to the scene.

  5. šŸ”“Ā Get to the next level with CORP. Get on a label or manager that supports bigger bands or gets more publicity.

    • Results: F

    Unfortunately CORP. is still at about the same level as it was last year.

Goals For 2025

  1. Release/Work on 3 startup projects. Build them faster, throw them out faster.
    • I need to build quickly and release quickly. I need to clear time in my schedule for this.
    • Related lifetime goal: Run my own business.
  2. Show off 12 items of my work in public. 1 per month atleast.
    • I should build my projects in public. I should have my music out in public more. I should write blog posts. I enjoy the feedback.
    • Related lifetime goal: Run my own business / Have 100k fans of my music.
  3. Curate and keep to a more regular routine. 6hr side projects. Wake up by 8am.
    • Atleast 6hrs per week on music / side projects.
      • Decide on Sundays what I want to achieve with the week
    • Wake up by 8 regularly and work on my projects in the morning.
      • I do better work in the morning and need to keep this routine. Otherwise I’m tired at night and just watch tv.
    • Reduce my obligations/stress so that I have time to work on projects / music. I feel stressed with all the things I must do. I don’t have time for my passions then, and I also can’t stop and smell the roses in life.
    • Define what I’ll achieve each week.
  4. Release 4 SE.CORP songs. Set up a repeatable way to get listeners / viewers.
  5. Develop a better musical ear
    • I’d like to more readily be able to find notes, tab out songs, and jam over other songs

Any updates to my lifetime goals?

  1. Run my own business that allows me to: support myself, be relaxed, be innovative, love my work, travel.
  2. Backpack for 6 months through Asia.
    • I love backpacking, but I’m always dying to get back to my music and work. Maybe I should drop that down to 3 months, or figure out a way to work on my startup/music while doing this.
    • There’s probably a kid coming at some point in the future too, so idk when this’ll be possible.
  3. Have 100,000 fans of my music.
  4. ~Be relaxed and be excited to wake up to my life every day.~ Be relaxed and be excited to wake up to my life every day, and these days are meaningful long-term.

Highlights throughout the year

  • Moving fully to Friedrichshain, buying my first couch
  • Releasing ExpatPho.net for the first time
  • Freelancing for the first time with MyGroove
  • Dry January
  • Finding out that ExpatPho.net doesn’t work and deciding to keep going or not
  • Rory going home to Ireland, “leaving” CORP.
  • Joining Formly.ai full time
  • Adam’s Stag in Lisbon
  • Doing 3 weeks in Japan, making a video for it
  • Finish a solo song, Chlorine, getting stuck mastering it for ages, making reels for it and doing a big release. This all took so much longer than it should’ve.
  • Changed artist name to SE.CORP
  • Forbidden Fruit Festival with the mates in Ireland
  • Fusion Festival Germany
  • Glasgow Weekend
  • Wrote a blog post, although the feedback wasn’t great
  • Belgium with Nino
  • My American cousin and my brother in Berlin
  • Bought my first Bass, played my first Bass parts on my tunes
  • Sicily workcation
  • Made CORP. mugs (merch)
  • Will’s Birthday Party / Karaoke Lock in
  • Late night drinking sessions with Al
  • STRFKR concert was really good
  • Austin in Berlin
  • Made a 3 song set and filmed it with Conall
  • Halloween Sludgefest gig
  • Trip to USA
  • Buying laura some good presents (Northface Long Padding, Ipad)
  • New Gaming Laptop, which I’ve still barely used šŸ˜³
  • Mom’s 60th and trip to Ireland for xmas

Lessons Learned

  • Not drinking on a night out is enjoyable (to a point), more so the lack after effects and getting to go home earlier
  • Working 1 day a week for a client isn’t good unless it’s maintenance
  • Copilot/Cursor is amazing for coding, can’t ever go back
  • SMS sucks to deal with
  • Don’t get bogged down in a project that “might” work
  • You can work out a ton, with just dumbbells at home
  • Freelancing, it’s great for money, but in the end of the day your a hired gun. It may not help you career, help you manage people, or join in on strategy meetings.
  • Booking hotels as you go on a trip is nice for ease and spontaneity, but it takes extra work away from the vacation.
  • Videos of trips with music under them make them 5x more nostalgic
  • Negotiations for jobs are way better with leverage, like if you don’t need to take the job or your making more currently
  • Don’t take so long on songs, marketing, etc. Just put stuff out kinda shitty, within the same month. It’s so easy to get bogged down. Also make it fun to do with friends.
  • Getting pulled back into ExpatPho.net. Mistake, I knew I wasn’t 100% and then persevered. Don’t do stuff unless you love it. I spent easily an extra year unnecessarily on this.
  • ExpatPho.net - I also get stuck on marketing, how can I minimize that.
  • Don’t take fridays off on a 4 day work week, too easy to dick around
  • With blog posts, aim to acknowledge all edge cases instead of brevity
  • Reels/Tiktoks - its better just to copy easy content, than make fresh stuff. People want to read memes or laugh. Also what country you post from matters, Germany doesn’t like my content.
  • You kind of have kicks of hanging out with different people. Once you hang out once, you make plans to hang out more, which means not seeing other friends.
  • You need to practice and be excited to go to the studio, or else you’ll record like shit.
  • Dancers are great for live shows
  • Corporations are a PITA to own without paying for help
  • There is Ego in all work (art, biz, science, etc.)
  • I’ve felt like I’ve had no time for many months. This is due to travelling, but also CORP. stuff and all my goals I need to complete. I need to clear out my obligations. Maybe I can schedule time for my own things and use that excuse to skip social events that are not a big deal.
  • Looking back, the party days aren’t my favorite. It’s the life changes and meaningful vacations, when there’s something more than drinking to do. Feel like I learn this each year.
  • Work has 0 highlights for me, besides changing jobs. Only my own work, for me seems to be meaningful to me. I need to get back to doing meaningful work to me.
  • I enjoy working from home, but I miss the craic of being out with people, and I also don’t meet many new people then.