2024: Personal Snapshot
This is my annual review. I use it as a way to reflect on the past year and get a snapshot of “who I am” at the time of writing.
If it’s me rereading this, welcome back. This is Dylan from 2024.
In previous snapshots, I listed what went well and what didn’t. This year, I’m trying something new: a chronological approach. 2024 went through three clear distinct phases, and I found easier to reflect on each one.
Early 2024
This was my “I’ll do anything but build a consulting practice” phase.
In my last snapshot, I said that I was going to focus on building a consulting practice in 2024. Then I came up with a new product idea 😅 and spent a big chunk of the first two months of the year building a prototype.
AItheneum1 is a tool that helps you read classic philosophy books by making them easier to understand using AI. I pitched it as a way to make classic books more accessible to modern readers.
I had fun working on it, but it wasn’t really solving anyone’s problem. It was a vitamin, not a painkiller. By the time I released it, it was clear nobody cared about it (not even me!).
During this time, I was also half-assing talking to potential clients for freelance work and doing cold outreach to get clients. This had OK results, but I definitely didn’t put enough effort into it.
Later in the year, after reading Alex Hormozi’s 100M Leads, I realized that cold outreach at this stage was mostly a waste of time. When you’re just starting out, you should rely on warm introductions or referrals. If you haven’t built credibility yet, you’ll waste a lot of time trying to convince strangers to work with you.
When it comes to work, I essentially spent the first two months of the year focusing on the wrong things.
However, on a more positive note, I was also doing open mic sets almost every week. I had a lot of fun performing stand-up comedy, even though I bombed a few times.
After a few months, I eventually realized it wasn’t sustainable:
- To get good at stand-up, you have to make time for it. That means writing everyday, and performing as often as possible.
- Open mics take a lot of time. To practice an 8 minute set, I’d often have to commute for 1 hour and stay for 1-2 hours of show (during which I did my 8 minutes).
- As a beginner, you’ll only get spots during weekday evenings. Which isn’t great if you want to get enough sleep to be productive the next day.
Even so, I didn’t fully decide to quit until we had a health crisis at home. My wife and I weren’t prioritizing our health in the first months of the year, and it took its toll.
Stand-up was fun, but it was distracting me from more important things. So I stopped.
I’m not sad or regretful about it, I’m happy that I’ve tried it and that I’ve learned that it’s not what I want to do right now. I’d love to return to it in the future, once I have less pressing things to focus on.
That was the highlight of this phase: choosing what I want to focus on.
Mid 2024
This was the “work, learn, and build better habits” phase.
I worked with a couple of clients on AI projects in the legal, construction, and CPG industries. I also started blogging again.
I often worked 12 hours days. I stopped going to the gym and switched to home workouts. I rarely went to social events. Life went by fast. Remembering it feels like a blur.
It was intense. A few times, I felt very close to having a mental breakdown. I learned a lot about my own limits.
I also met some clients in person. While I’m a fan of remote work, seeing people face to face felt great. Being in the same room makes you more empathetic toward the people you’re working with.
The biggest lesson during this phase was that you can get a lot done if you deliberately choose to increase the intensity you put into things.
Late 2024
This was the “What should I do in 2025?” phase.
The last few months were still intense, but less focused. I was working with clients while also making time to think about the future.
I did more sales outreach, managed multiple projects, and kept writing blog posts. I also traveled to Venezuela for the first time in eight years, which was both wonderful and unsettling. Once you get used to life in a developed country, it’s easy to forget how challenging daily life can be elsewhere.
During this time, I started going through more academic research and refreshing my math skills.
The highlight of this phase was debunking a popular post about using Structured Outputs in LLMs.
Stats & Photos
Here are the stats for the year:
- 💻 Code: I committed code on 322 out of 365 days (+16% from last year).
- 💰 Financials:
- Highest revenue so far (+100% from last year).
- 66% of my revenue comes from time-based billing (daily, hourly).
- My biggest client represented 33% of my revenue.
- 📝 Sales:
- I worked on 9 projects with 7 different clients.
- I wrote 6 proposals.
- I got 3 new clients.
- 💪 Health & Fitness:
- 112 strength training sessions (approx. 2.2 sessions/week).
- 3,488 minutes of cardio (approx. 60 minutes/week).
- VO2 max: 46 ml/kg/min.
- RHR: 57 bpm.
You can see relevant photos from the year here.
Lessons Learned
The biggest three key takeaways I got from 2024 are: focus, intensity, and action.
Focus is about figuring out what are the right things to prioritize. It’s easy to say that, but it’s hard to do. Life is full of distractions, and it’s easy to get lost in the noise. Focus on the things that matter to you, specially the ones that will help you on your way regardless of their outcome.
If I dedicate more time to writing technical posts, I learn through the act of writing the posts, but also I get clients that are interested in my posts. The same with sales: I might not get a client from a sales call, but I learn a lot about the process and get better at it.
Intensity is about working hard. This year I handled more work than ever. My brain fought back, at times I was anxious, depressed, out of energy, and struggling with focus. But, eventually, my brain understood that there was no way out, and things got better. My brain stopped fighting back and started working for me.
It’s not fun and it’s not pretty. It’s uncomfortable and it’s hard. But it’s worth it.
Action is about staying in motion. It’s better to be too busy than too idle. When you’re busy, you learn a lot, you need to prioritize, and you end up becoming more creative as you often need to deliver under pressure.
I was afraid of being “too busy”. I thought it was going to prevent me from focusing on the right things. But I eventually realized that it was the other way around. The more I was busy, the more I learned and the better I got at what I was doing, which freed up time for the things I really wanted to do.
Being busy made me more productive.
What’s Next?
I’ve realized I’m not great at predicting what I’ll want to do, nor am I a great planner.
Right now, my biggest priority is growing my consulting practice. I also have a painkiller product idea that I’ve been slowly working on. If I find enough traction, I’ll pivot to it. But until then, my focus is on consulting.
The only thing I’m sure is that I’ll keep myself busy.
Footnotes
yes, I know, what a terrible name.↩︎
Citation
@online{castillo2025,
author = {Castillo, Dylan},
title = {2024: {Personal} {Snapshot}},
date = {2025-01-05},
url = {https://dylancastillo.co/posts/2024-personal-snapshot.html},
langid = {en}
}