Round-Up: Full 2025 Year Earnings Report
2025 was the year I finally built a sustainable, predictable, and recurring income on the side of my 9-5, working just 2 hours per day with AI and automations. And I hit my first $10k month.
While most people reflect on 2025, I’m now looking into 2026.
Because 2025 was the year when I built my foundations, but 2026 is the year when I scale it.
One year ago?
It was a dream.
I’ve just become a Substack bestseller, experiencing my first viral Note. Wondering how I can actually automate all this manual work that was draining me in the evenings after my 9-5.
Today?
I’ve done it.
I’ve got an AI-powered and automated system that works for me. I’m working on scaling it beyond $10k/month.
Reality check: Reaching consistent $5k months and hitting my first $10k month wasn’t easy. And my system is not a simple thing to maintain, but it’s manageable with a 9-5, and that’s all I need to scale it.
So.
This roundup is going to be a bit different: I’ll cover the entire 2025, how I actually landed here, starting from scratch, and what are the ingredients that you can borrow for your business.
Plus: the fuck-ups you want to avoid at all costs.
Let’s do this!
Background: September - December 2024
Back in September 2024, I had just gone all-in on Substack on September 1st after months of testing. I was making around $1,000 revenue per month, and I had figured out one crucial thing:
I needed growth fully under my control, not another job, and ultimately NOT more bosses (i.e. clients).
The Foundation I Built
Launched Monthly Notes & Writing Challenges (September 2024)
Started my Write2Sell column for my sales method I’ve mastered in my 9-5, adapted to online sales
Launched my first custom GPTs
Went all in on growth through daily interaction, Notes and recommendations
Major kick in the sales after three months of questionable growth - from 3 to 10 new paid subs per month to ~30.
That’s the moment I realized it’s A LOT about the offer you have and the community built around it. The content is just the vehicle, not “your offer”.
Major focus: replace unreliable Medium earnings with something meaningful ASAP. Done by December.
I enabled paid subscriptions from day 1. If I had to do it all over again, I’d do the same thing. Even if the growth IS slower. Free posts drive faster growth, but paid drive faster revenues.
Key Metrics for 2024:
6.9% conversion rate - above Substack average (that was the signal)
~30 new paid subscribers per month in sales
I proved it’s working.
But I also proved it depends on more of me.
me posting for paid subscribers
me posting for free subscribers
me posting Notes
me sending daily BiTES
me interacting with others
me promoting my paid tier
me staring at the stats daily
me analyzing every data point
me building GPTs (I call them my minions)
me reverse engineering how others succeed
me trying to figure how to grow with more than 10 subs/day (this is how the Viral Notes Writer System was born)
and me designing some sort of a digital product that’s different (this is how the QUEST was born)
me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me
I’ve built another job…on the side of my current one…only, I had much less hours to invest in it….
I’ll be brutally honest here: running a paid membership IS a pain in the ass, but I already knew that from my job. The question was how to automate something. Anything…
So I stared at my screen…
I needed growth that worked while I slept…
Growth that worked for me, not the other way around.
And that’s when my real momentum started.
Today I have a fully automated, AI-powered paid newsletter business which I can confidently run on the side of my 9-5, which is making me consistent $5-$10k/month.
And here’s the full, detailed breakdown of how I got there, what I used, and how you can borrow and reuse.