Goodbye 2024! Hello 2025!!
31st December 2024
Today is the last day of 2024 and I planned to start posting on this blog tomorrow.
But I thought of writing what I had learned this year...kind of like a reflection.
Let me start from the beginning:
I'm Duon Ada.
You may know me by another name or not....you may not even know me at all.
I chose this name because I wanted to stand out. It's like the name chose me.
Duon Ada is actually an abbreviation of all my native names and at that period where I was struggling with my identity online, it just clicked.
This year, I decided to make some cash online because it seemed that was what everyone was doing.
I was already writing stories and poems on paper...so I searched for how I could make money from writing.
I found a site called Opera News Hub where I could write articles for a specific category and get paid based on the number of engagement.
I started writing articles and most of them got rejected, which discouraged me. Then I quit.
I signed up on different platforms that pay peanuts for performing mini tasks, but I couldn't keep up with it.
I had the thought that there were better things I could do with my time. I was right.
Then I signed up on Instagram and my initiation into scrolling was completed. My first IG page was a mess, but I left a link to my Whatsapp DM, just in case.
Then I saw on of those fancy posts (ads!) that promised a free class. The post took me to Whatsapp which I was already using and I was fascinated (at the time 😅).
That was how I learned about affiliate marketing. I paid for access to a series of video recordings on how the business worked.
The learning curve started. I took notes as I watched the videos and paid attention.
Then I signed up to a free affiliate network (Stakecut). The promotions started.
My Whatsapp status turned into a cough-up of promotional posts, videos and affiliate links.
I spammed friends and family with links to various courses and most of them ignored me.
I don't really blame them 😆
Looking back now, I would tell anyone going into marketing this one thing:
Get strangers to buy from you because family and friends won't.
Two months and a disastrous Whatsapp class later, I made my first sale.
The buyer was a friend from school that I had lost contact with. He bought from me because he knew, liked and trusted me.
Another lesson:
If people know you, like you and trust you, they will buy from you.
Be visible online!
It's not who you know, it's who knows you.
(I wish I knew that when I started)
But I left affiliate marketing for a while after discovering copywriting through a YouTube video where a billionaire copywriter convinced me that I could make tons of money by writing!
Something I was interested in.
I got into this famous copywriter's list and Skool community.
I wrote some copy of my own, sent it to the community for review and reviewed the copy of others as well.
That was the start of something I'm going to master.
All this happened as I started to reconnect with friends from school and make new friends too.
I would tell you that this year wasn't easy for me, online and offline.
I felt extremely overwhelmed with everything happening online and decided to take some time off social media.
For 2 months....the months of September and October.
During that time, I learned about routines, habits and practiced copywriting as well.
I also presented myself for an interview that didn't go well, listened to podcasts on marketing and made amigurumi.
I documented every single day of my offline period in a moblog I called, Thinking Out Loud.
I just had to....a podcast convinced me 😅
But I must warn you, it's as irregular as your random thoughts and in a long block of text....hence it's name. Then I was just thinking and typing.... didn't even make any edits before posting.
Do you see where I'm going with this? I don't think you do.
I'm a writer.
I came back online and started my newsletter, DuonXplores.
I also signed up on Threads and have up to 150 followers.
Also opened my Facebook account, started a page and found out about Buffer for scheduling.
Just this month, I got a content writing gig and got paid for my service.
I've also created an offer I want to promote this year ( shhh! you heard it first🤫)
If anyone was going to tell me on this day last year that I was going to accomplish all this, I would have laughed at his attempt at a joke.
It was a wonderful year.... I'll tell you that.
But 2025 is going to be better.
I believe so.
I started this new blog to accomplish one of my 3 main goals for the year.
The goal is to document 2025.
Every single day.
If I tell you that this doesn't scare me, I would be lying.
Because one thing I tend to do is overthink.
Mental movies of what could go wrong when I want to start something.
Documenting 365 days in a row sounds impossible.
But why can't I do it?
No reason....then scratch that.
I can do it.
If you took time to read this post till the end, I thank you.
You're the real MVP here... taking time to hear what this stranger has to say.
I decided to write this one as an intro into the new year.
In coming posts, I would include the date of each post, my thoughts on lessons I've learned in personal development and pictures (from AI...shh 🤫 another secret!)
At the end of each post, I would include one link.
It could be to a resource, my social media page or to my offer.
I just wanted to let you know beforehand.
And dear reader, can I call you Ami?
Ami stands for 'Friend' in French, a language I'm enthusiastic about.
That's what I call my newsletter subscribers, because I believe that each post is read one person at a time and I want to make my posts feel personal.
If you agree, comment 'Ami' on the social media post that led you here.
It would be my pleasure to tell you my story as I live it, one day at a time.
See you in 2025!
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