365 straight days of posting, a new studio, quitting short-form content, switching churches. What worked out for me in 2024.
What was 2024 like for me?
This is part of a series under my new #ost_virtual_character series, where I share my life publicly to show exactly how I move forward, what difficulties I run into, and how I deal with them.
In this post I’ll talk about what worked out in 2024; in the next one, I’ll share what didn’t.
I spent the whole year on a “not a day without a line” marathon — writing and posting text every single day for all 365 days of the challenge.
In March we moved into a new office and relaunched our video production outfit, Almost Studio, now also as a podcast studio.
In April I took a course on social media. There I learned about a “research” technique that let us pull in far more views and grow our follower count even faster. Later we even picked up clients for that service and started helping other people and businesses grow on social media.
In July I found a housekeeper to help my parents — she cooks for them and cleans their apartment. That was a relief, since it had been weighing on me emotionally for a long time.
Over the summer our team grew significantly. We brought on a full-time employee at the studio for filming and editing video. We also hired a few more people remotely.
Later I also hired an HR manager and a new accountant. So far I’m very happy with their work.
I started the process of getting my dad’s teeth fixed. He got a full set of upper prosthetics and partial lower ones. Getting my dad’s teeth done had been one of my important goals.
In July I completed chaplaincy training and got certified by the Christian Rescue Union (ХСП).
At the end of August, I wrapped up the year’s numbers for the New Lifestyle school. Over the academic year (September to September), more than 1,000 students enrolled with us.
Paula and I also launched a new format of practical courses, where someone can learn a new specialty. We built a program called “SMM From Scratch,” with Paula as the lead instructor. 50 people enrolled in the very first cohort.
I also became a second-year student in the psychology department. Academic knowledge doesn’t help me much yet in counseling people, but personally I find it incredibly interesting and useful to dig into the fundamentals of the field.
In September I completely gave up short-form content (reels and stories). I can say this has been the single best decision for my productivity in my entire life.
Also at the end of September, I threw Nastya a surprise party for her birthday. I gathered friends, booked a restaurant, brought in a photographer, a videographer, a decorator, an artist, and an event organizer. I loved that experience.
In October I switched from Spasenie (Salvation) Church to Ecclesia Church, where Oleg Bogomaz serves as pastor. I’m very grateful to everyone at Spasenie for the 7 years we spent together.
I got a full health check-up and ran a series of tests. Went for a few preventive ultrasounds. Got all my teeth treated. Started flossing on a permanent basis — turns out it’s the single most important part of dental hygiene.
In November my “not a day without a line” marathon ended, and I started working systematically on new books. I started with a book about relationships. When I feel myself getting tired of that topic, I open the drafts of other books and change the context for a while.
In December, Facebook paid out my first money from video monetization. It turns out they pay about 10 times more than YouTube. I’m really looking forward to TikTok monetization.
At the end of the year, as always, I tally up the results. Out of 67 goals for 2024, I managed to complete 39. That’s roughly 60% of the plan. Overall, not bad.
Goals come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes one goal can outweigh 10 others in terms of emotional weight and significance.
I’m glad that the things it was fundamentally important for me to get done in 2024, I actually managed to accomplish, with God’s help.