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Wrapping up 2024
Wooo!! 🥳
Exactly a year ago, I sent out my first two posts on this newsletter. For those of you that have been around since the start, you'll probably remember the newsletter was actually called "Onchain Letters". The initial idea was to write letters to people in the crypto space that were building and doing interesting things.
And since then, it's been a non-stop grind....this is my 96th post!
Looking back at the year, it's pretty cool to see how many changes this newsletter has gone through. Besides the name, even the format and topics have evolved quite a bit. I started off writing the "onchain letters" posts I mentioned above. Then I started curating and sharing what I minted on the OP Stack every Sunday. In March, I launched a hypersub and started experimenting with community building (that's when the name changed to Terminally Onchain as well). Then, around May, I got the "builders bug" in me and started sharing updates on the Onchain BeReal game and Farcaster client I was developing. By August, I decided that the most exciting thing for me was really just the research and writing. So I strictly focused on showing up twice a week and doing my best to draft deep dives covering onchain strategy. That's also when I changed the newsletter banner image to the excalidraw sketches you all are probably used to seeing by now. And finally, most recently, I decided to double down on the crypto x AI vertical in terms of the focus for the newsletter.
Numbers wise, the Terminally Onchain community grew to ~8,800 amazing people!! And across 96 posts, TOC has received 38,000 page views 🔥 And that's not even including the views on these articles reposted to Twitter as well.
I cannot thank you all enough for the support throughout this past year. I've received countless messages, social media shoutouts, etc. from so many new people. I can say with certainty that there’s no better fuel for my writing than that kind of love for TOC. It truly means a lot. Thank you so much to each and every single one of you :)
For me personally, I also see clear improvements in the quality, depth, and structure of my writing. In terms of length, my average piece has gone from being 500-750 words to almost 2500-3000 words. The thought of skipping a post now literally haunts me...I simply refuse to break the consistency as it can be such a slippery slope. And most importantly, I 100% notice a clear increase in confidence when it comes to hitting the publish button - the idea of sending out an imperfect draft no longer feels daunting.
With that being said, the thing I am most proud of in 2024 in regards to my work is that I just stuck with it. I didn't quit this newsletter. And after hitting countless dead ends in the idea maze, I finally found a rhythm and style that works for me. Even today's flow will probably change in some form or fashion in the future, but it doesn't matter as long as I stick to it! On January 1st of this year, I posted my goals for Terminally Onchain and am feeling pretty proud of myself looking back at it:
So, this year, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Spend less time thinking of what to do and instead just write. I'm not sure how the future will play out and what this journey will look like. But all I know is that in the present moment, my job is going to be to show up daily, put words on paper, and hit the publish button.
Of course, this is just the start! This first year was about building the foundation and getting into my flow state. The real fun starts in 2025. And in all honesty, in terms of goals, it's pretty much the same as the snippet above: my job is going to be to show up daily, put words on paper, and hit the publish button. The only thing I'll add is working on being more secure about my work and not being afraid to "shill" my writing on social media. I get very self-conscious when it comes to sharing these posts, but I realize that it's part of the job and I should be proud of the work I'm doing.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but for the first time in my life, I can't wait for the holiday period to be over and for me to be back at my desk with a cup of coffee. As I mentioned on Friday's post, there is so much I want to learn and share with all of you. But! I think it'll be good for me to take two weeks off and spend time with family. I'm definitely feeling a bit tired so the vacation will be perfect to give my brain some rest (is there really such thing in crypto?) and come back ready to attack 2025 from the start 💪
I hope all of you have an absolutely amazing last few weeks of 2024. Next year is going to be a crazy time for the Terminally Onchain community, and I couldn't be more excited!
I'll see you all back on Tuesday, January 7th 2025.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!
- YB
