Ugh… 2024! How will I remember you? Full of two words: Chaos and Upheaval. Thankfully, for the better, this time. I had many objectives this year, but I achieved the two biggest ones: Securing a job in my Personal Life and launching this thing. In this post, I am going to be frank and honest about the year I’ve had, how I think this Blog has developed so far and give a taster for what you, the readers, can expect in 2025, assuming I don’t have to endure any more major upheaval!
Let’s start with the year just gone. One of my priorities was to find a job, nearly two years after finishing my degree in Accounting & Finance. Why? Two reasons. Firstly, I needed an income I could call my own so that I can start planning the knocking of things off my bucket list and ease the financial pressure on my household. And secondly, my first love, profession wise, was accountancy and my job search so far had proven fruitless, which I was finding more and more frustrating the longer it dragged on. But I did manage to finally find a position as a Trainee Accountant in June at a small accounting firm, which has since had a change of office I’ve had to adapt to. I would describe the experience so far as a learning curve in all departments. From the way I communicate, to the way I think about working, to how I react to mistakes and misdeeds. But I highly value being organised and I think that part of me has been extremely useful in the office so far. Especially in the Archive Room!
Obviously, one of the biggest difficulties when you’re working is balancing that with doing something like this. And to be honest, striking the balance here has been more difficult than I thought mostly due to the many diverts I have going on in my head. From mobile games to Toastmasters (more on that in a future post), to countless pet projects and collections I have on the go. Believe me, I am bursting with post ideas and various visions for this Blog (some of which I’ll share on Page 2), but time has not been my friend, especially as I’ve had to adapt from working two days a week to three days a week and then four days a week. It will soon be five days a week which probably isn’t going to help this cause. Although, as the expression goes, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
However, I’m not interested in Blogging as my full-time job yet. Why? Firstly, I’ve only just started, and I clearly haven’t established myself neither properly nor consistently yet. Secondly, I’m not keen on the idea of monetising my content, especially considering some of the visions I have in mind, unless an offer that I cannot resist in any way arrives in my Inbox. Thirdly, there are skills I clearly lack since this was an idea that randomly came into my head in 2022, and it’s only this year I’ve taken the plunge before quickly realising there’s more to it than meets the eye. And fourth, I am someone who believes in having a craft to fall back on if an internet career like this is no longer financially viable. That craft, for me, is Accountancy and that’s what I want to solidify first before exploring courses in Social Media or something.
So, what am I interested in doing in 2025? As well as getting better at Accountancy, I want my year to be dominated by one word: Consistency. In the context of this Blog, that means becoming consistent and setting a standard with how I display everything, how often I post and meet my self-set deadlines and how I promote and make the most of opportunities that come into my Inbox.
That last point usually comes about through connecting with the audience or people I think might be interested in what I type about. Unfortunately, networking has not really been something I’ve practised very much of. Although I do intend to start correcting that by overhauling my LinkedIn Network and dividing it into several compartments: Professional (people from my current industry), Blogging (people who also do Blogs or who might help boost my Blog’s presence and reputation) and Contacts (people who might do me favours or I could help out myself). I’ll also try and do the same on Instagram, X (until it becomes a Ghost Town) and, from New Year’s Day, BlueSky. That’s right, I’m extending my presence to the Blue Sky crafted by Jack Dorsey and shortly, I’ll be explaining what you can expect from there and all my Socials apart from more promotion of every post I make on here.
Before I do, just to expand on the other two things about Blogging I want to be consistent about in the next 12 months. When it comes to displaying things, I refer to the images I use in most posts. In general, where I feel it’s more efficient to display several images together in one, I piece them together on a Microsoft PowerPoint Slide and reference each one used separately. However, the actual display has been pretty inconsistent in design which is why I’m going to create one template that I will use for all multi-image slides going forward.
And when it comes to how often I post and meeting deadlines, I clearly fell way off the mark with my Posting Blitz just before Christmas. When I read them back, the trio I dropped on Christmas Day looked rushed and weren’t as thorough as they could have been. And if truth be told, they were because of me feeling so tired after working hard IRL before scrambling to bring the three together in 48 Hours. Thankfully, I had the ideas already penned on paper, which is half the battle. But… I promise not to have another scramble as bad as that going forward. Which is why, if I believe I’m not going to publish a particular post on time or need more to piece one together properly, you’ll hear me say so on my Social Media pages. As well as lots of others things I’m about to tease on the next page.
The ADog Blog 