2025: The Year of Growth
A fun little retrospective of the year, because it was a big one.
I figured it was time. Half my articles are super internalised thoughts, and the other half are very “here’s what’s happening in the world right now”. So I wanted to do something different: a look back at my life, my growth, and what I actually want to achieve next year, mostly so people can hold me publicly accountable.
If I had to name the last few years, it’d be this:
2023: the year of death, where relationships ended, and a lot of people around me just… up and carked it.
2024: the year of mistakes, where I did a lot of re-finding myself, and a lot (and I mean a lot) of mistakes while trying to do that.
2025: the year of growth, the year things actually started to click.
And not the wishy-washy personal mambo-jumbo kind of growth. That was 2024, where I learned everything the hard way.
2025 was different. It was a reset. I figured out what I actually want to do with my life, built frameworks to keep myself steady, got myself into rooms I didn’t realise I could walk into, and grew both personally and business-wise.
I finally know what I want to do with my life, and it only took 25 years.
Photography
This year I started leaning into photography a lot more seriously.
I got deeper into shooting and started building a gallery-style collection with spare cash, which currently hangs on my wall until I organise a proper place for it.
I made a magazine of my photos from the past year.
I set up an online gallery for them.
I turned Bokeh into an actual thing (which took way too long because I kept getting distracted, but hey, it exists now).
It’s been one of the most grounding creative outlets I’ve had in a while.
Photography this year wasn’t just me “taking photos”, it was me starting to realise I want to make art, not just capture moments. And next year I want to lean way harder into that.
I want to do more surreal, conceptual stuff, images that feel a bit unreal, a bit cinematic, a bit “how did you even make that?” And I also want to do more model photography, because directing a shoot, building a scene, working with people, and creating a finished look is a completely different skillset… and I genuinely want to get good at it.
Because I can. And I will.
Tomedia
I finally set up Tomedia the way I always wanted it:
A snazzy website I’m genuinely happy with.
An incredible client base, the kind of clients I’m proud to build big things for.
I’ve started getting pulled into senior-level business decisions for some major clients, which still feels wild to say out loud.
I also built a bunch of extra “one step beyond” infrastructure:
Discover, a business discovery platform… honestly, just because I could.
Custom client analytics and reporting, because I like being that extra level of helpful.
A foundation that actually supports the future projects I want to build.
I also started working on some more technical, mathematical analysis stuff for SEO and marketing… which I seriously need to finish.
And all of that happened after I lost a massive client while I was overseas, literally a six-figure income gone in an instant. That kicked off about three months of struggle street: barely any income coming in, and a heap of debt owing to the government thanks to some “fun” finance issues from switching between sole trader and company (that I absolutely wasn’t expecting).
Good times, really.
But I made it through the struggle and got back on top, and I’m genuinely grateful for that.
MBA
I’m also in the process of finishing my MBA, which has been both annoying and genuinely useful. It’s forcing me to slow down and actually think through business frameworks properly, operations, structure, strategy, and finance, not just vibe my way through it.
I can already feel it sharpening how I run Tomedia and how I plan projects. And I will finish it, because I didn’t come this far to leave it half done.
Brianwaves
I finally found something I like doing, and I’m doing it just because it’s fun and easy to keep up with.
I did let it slide a bit this month because it was Christmas and (to be honest) the world got heavy. There was a terror attack, and I wrote an article about it, but it doesn’t feel right to publish, so I’m stepping back from that one for now.
On the fun side: I even turned Brianwaves into a little code project, something that converts my articles into printable zines I can throw in random places.
In theory, I will actually do that.
Right now, I mostly just have a stack of PDFs sitting around, ready to go. Where will they be published? No idea.
It took a lot of mucking around to get into the groove, and I still don’t feel like I’ve hit my full potential with it yet. I’ve got a lot of ideas, and I’m working with my sister on ways to keep it cohesive as a whole.
I might need to split things into separate categories too, because SEO whitepapers and model-building articles probably don’t sit neatly alongside the political nonsense Brianwaves currently is.
Personal life
This year taught me a lot about self-worth, my worth, and the worth of my family and the people around me.
I also had a bunch of weird (and sometimes hilarious) run-ins with people from my past. And as odd as that was, it was also kind of healing; old burns don’t hurt as much anymore.
I’m going into the new year with a more fulfilled sense of identity and self-worth.
And that’s honestly a beautiful thing.
2026: pulling it all together
So… what are my plans for the future and the new year?
No idea. I usually only plan two weeks ahead (which is exactly why I run into issues, because the far future always sneaks up on me).
But if I had to pick some major goals, it’s these:
1) Make Brianwaves bigger (and profitable)
I want Brianwaves to start making money and reaching more people, not because I need it to, but because it’s fun. If I can turn it into a small, steady side income, I’ll have a grand old time.
That means:
Podcasts
videos
more consistent output
more content, more often
2) Build Tomedia into an actual machine
My main goal: Tomedia having employees.
Specifically:
a dedicated account manager to handle client comms
hiring my sister full-time (or part-time) to cover areas my skills aren’t up to par
building the kind of internal system where I can step back when I need to, without everything collapsing
3) Get Discover generating real income
I want Discover to start generating income, analytics, reporting, whatever it needs to become genuinely valuable.
The bigger picture: I want Tomedia to move further toward SaaS.
I know it’s possible. I just need to figure out what, where, and why.
4) More side projects, smarter
I want to build more fun side projects, get the MVPs up and running, and see how far I can push them passively before they need someone else managing them.
My thinking is this: If I can build them to a point where I treat them like a Tomedia client, then they have their own small “retainer”, funded by their own profitability.
If I get five projects doing small numbers each month (I’m talking $500 profit/month, hardly anything really), that’s stable, ongoing income that loops back in on itself.
That first $500 will be the hardest $500, but I know it’s possible. I see it happen daily. It’s just streams and strategy.
5) Push photography further
I want my photos to end up in:
magazines (not made by me, lol)
galleries
larger collections
And if I can land bigger contracts, government art galleries, public collections, that kind of thing, it also becomes an “in” for another side project I’ve been quietly working on.
6) Build the Christian history timeline + blog
I also want to build a Christian-based history timeline and blog, just because I can.
It hasn’t left my mind for about two years. And if it’s still stuck there, it means I have to build it somehow.
So I will.
Conclusion
If I’m honest, 2025 didn’t feel like some dramatic “overnight success” story. It felt like showing up, fixing what was broken, rebuilding what I’d neglected, and stacking quiet wins until one day I looked around and realised: oh… I’m actually moving forward.
2025 was the year I stopped free-falling and started laying foundations that can hold weight, creatively, personally, and in business. Between rebuilding Tomedia, finding my rhythm again, and even finishing (or pushing through) my MBA, I’ve ended the year clearer, steadier, and more certain about what I’m building.
So here’s the part where you can hold me to it: 2026 is the year I pull it all together.
Not in a chaotic “do everything” way, but in a focused, consistent, finish what I start way.
By this time next year, I want to be able to look back and say:
Tomedia is becoming a real machine (with people, not just me).
Brianwaves is bigger, better, and actually making money.
Discover has momentum and measurable income.
My MBA is done and dusted (or properly completed).
My photography has moved into more surreal/conceptual work and proper model shoots, not just “content”, but art.
And I’ve started building the projects I keep thinking about instead of just talking about them.
2025 gave me the growth and the groundwork. Now it’s time to build something that lasts.
See you in 2026, and if I start drifting, call me on it.