5 Reflections on 2025

Happy holidays everyone! Cannot believe 2025 is almost ending.

If you've noticed I've been quiet lately, there's a reason: I've been busy! It's the same excuse every time, I know. But this year-end brought more than the usual chaos—we were moving, packing, loading, cleaning, hunting for new schools and daycare, juggling holiday parties and year-end dinners. Most of my newsletters are born from morning walks, but I haven't taken one in almost two months.

Now, as 2025 draws to a close, I can't help but reflect on what I've learned—not the polished lessons you see in "how I built a 7-figure agency" posts, but the messy, contradictory truths nobody warns you about.

If you're an early-stage founder, solo bootstrapper, or building something of your own, these lessons might resonate with you too.

Lesson 1: scaling isn't just hiring more—especially in the AI age

I hired my second full-time designer this summer. Since then, I haven't hired another full-timer. And it's not for lack of trying. I've posted job descriptions, conducted interviews, hired part-time help, and run trial projects—not just for design roles, but admin and social media management too.

Initially, I wanted a virtual assistant. But in the two months we worked together, she made so many mistakes that I had to let her go. Meanwhile, I've worked with exceptional brand designers who wanted to join full-time, but our branding work is too infrequent to justify the hire. Eventually, I decided to let my current designers scale their speed and skillsets with AI and reliable part-time freelancers.

This year taught me something crucial about creative service businesses: our work fluctuates wildly. Some months are heavy on branding and web design. Other months, it's exclusively UX design. Here's the painful truth service founders face: more work leads to more workers, but more workers doesn't lead to more work.

I used to think scaling meant hiring, but hiring can actually trap a business. You end up managing people who aren't always busy, scrambling to find work to justify their hours.

That's the question I constantly ask myself while building a business in the AI age: How can I scale with the leanest team possible when we can leverage AI throughout the entire workflow?

Lesson 2: a founder's role evolves faster than their brand

Here's something nobody told me: as you build a business, you stop being the person doing the work and become the person thinking about the work.

In my second year, I'm no longer the main designer executing in Figma, solving specific interface problems. My role has evolved into running the business, building a team, critiquing work, and thinking strategically about each project's direction.

Because of that shift, when I finally have thinking space, my mind naturally gravitates toward life, business, and writing—things that move the business forward.

But here's the tension: I still position myself and my business in the design space. My audience expects design content. Designers and developers follow me hoping for design insights, and when I post about business or life instead, it's probably somewhat disappointing.

From a personal development perspective, it's necessary for someone with a design background to think beyond their original role. But from a marketing standpoint, consistency matters. People need to remember you for ONE thing. Only now do I finally understand the dilemma successful founders talk about: outgrowing your own brand. (I'm not there yet, but I see it coming.)

As a result of this thinking, I intend to focus more on design content in 2026, removing noise and unrelated content types. I still want to position myself in the design space—at least until I absolutely hate it.

Lesson 3: the privacy trade-off

Early on, when I first kickstarted the business, I shared everything: revenue numbers, client wins, each sale, mom struggles. It drove tremendous traction.

But it also attracted the wrong people.

When I posted revenue, I got dozens of messages from people asking, "How did you do it? Where do you get leads? How do you market?" They wanted the exact playbook. The problem is, the playbook on design roasting is probably outdated, and "referral & personal network" isn't replicable for everyone. To be honest, since I still haven't figured it out myself, I feel inadequate answering such questions without misleading people.

The more I think about it, I was attracting followers, but not customers.

There's also a practical issue: many clients we've worked with this year have NDAs. We can't show work before they launch. So the whole "build in public" playbook doesn't fit our current stage anymore.

And honestly, I've lost interest in showing revenue numbers. I also have zero desire to show off material items. I'd rather focus on design and startup insights—that's what I'll continue doing next year.

Lesson 4: Marketing is about staying top of mind

Many founders feel uncomfortable expressing themselves. Sometimes it's not about not knowing what to write—it's that they don't have time to think about it. I've been there this year. When I don't have time, I don't have the right mindset to share, then I lose momentum with marketing.

A few days ago, I caught up with a colleague in the accounting service sector. He reached out after seeing one of my LinkedIn posts. I told him I really can't find time for marketing, and sometimes I don't know if it actually converts. What he shared was eye-opening: Marketing isn't about converting—it's about staying top of mind.

The need won't be there immediately, but when people have the need and can't think of anyone else but you, your marketing is working.

As a first-time founder, I'm too eager to convert. Not just from marketing channels, but from anyone I meet at conferences or events. That's probably why I don't find some in-person events worth my time—my goal isn't about staying top of mind, it's about converting immediately. In 2026, I'll try to be more active about staying top of mind.

Lesson 5: Trust the invisible pipeline (A.K.A. Luck)

I often tell mentors and people I trust that even though my business grew 100% this year, it feels like pure luck. Why? Because I haven't figured out my pipeline or sales system, and I haven't hired anyone to replace me in doing sales. One month, a friend introduces someone looking for design. Another month, a previous PM from a startup we worked with transitions to a new company and hires us again. These referrals keep coming—it's great, but it's really out of my control. I call it luck.

When I talked to someone who runs a 200+ person dev agency with $10+ million in revenue, they told me they don't have a consistent sales system either. One time, their biggest client got acquired by another company, and all vendors were let go—including them. That was 40% of their revenue, and there was huge panic throughout the entire company. What surprised me was this: within three months, all the headcount was relocated to other projects. Their advice? Simply trust that when you do good work, people will remember you and refer you.

Building a business is tough because we can't predict what will happen. We can only do so much with limited resources at a certain stage. But if we continue to output great work for our customers, trust that luck will be on your side too.

Put it all together

After 1.5 years of building this business, here's what I've learned: scaling isn't about headcount—it's about leveraging AI and staying lean. Your role as a founder evolves faster than your brand can keep up, and that's okay. Sharing everything attracts the wrong audience; privacy has value. Marketing isn't about immediate conversions—it's about being memorable when the moment matters. And finally, when you can't control the pipeline, trust in doing excellent work. What looks like luck is often just deferred reputation paying dividends.

The messy truth? I still haven't figured it all out. But maybe that's the point. We're all just building, learning, and trusting the process.

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