My 2025 year in review

​2025 has come to an end, and it’s been an incredible year. If I had to pick one word to describe it, it would be courage.

This was a year full of live music performances and less business activity.

Since everything happens so fast, I usually don’t get a chance to document it all in one place. This is why I decided to write a yearly recap (2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021), so I can keep a diary of myself to reflect on as I get older.

Plus, some friends seem to be enjoying reading these recaps. This gives me more motivation to keep on writing. 🙂

Personal Highlights

I would have never thought that music would bring so much impact into my life, especially when I started Busking.

This year, most of my time was spent doing live acoustic performances from busking on malls, performing at special events like weddings, performing at restaurants, and performing at the new Capiz Provincial Capitol building.

I’d like to add and share this experience in my personal highlights section because it helped me not just because it functioned as a side gig, but because it helped me in my personal growth in the process.

I will explain how it functions as a side gig on the business highlights. But first, here are some things that helped me when performing live in public:

Manage self-doubt and build confidence

When I decided to give live solo acoustic performance a shot, I wasn’t confident back when I started, as I am today. Even though I can play guitar while singing at home, performing in front of real audiences in public is different.

When singing in real audiences, you are not just singing for yourself anymore, but singing for them and trying to entertain them the best you can.

And the one who helped me overcome this fear of self-doubt and build my confidence was my friend Bryan. He allowed me to mentor myself, for which I am so grateful to him.

During his gigs, he allowed me to jam with him so that I could slowly build confidence.

To be honest, when I started playing, I kinda losses myself, and fear took over, which resulted in poor performance. And It was because I’m scared to make mistakes.  

The more I think of not making a mistake, the more I make mistakes.

Fortunately, Bryan guided and gave me some advice like it’s okay to make mistakes because even professionals make mistakes.

And from that moment, I always carry that advice whenever I perform. And to my surprise, the more I think that its okay to make mistakes, the more I delivered a better performance.

Here’s a photo of Bryan and me during his break time at Palamahawan sa Culasi Slope gig.

And by the way, you can catch him there every Wednesday and Sunday at 5-9PM.

Knowing my limits

​We are always told that we should push our limits, but it’s also important to know where our limits are and when to stop.  

It was at Robinson’s Roxas where I first started busking. And when I started, I was so excited and loved to perform and aimed for longer hours (3-4), but to my surprise, my voice couldn’t keep up.

As a beginning performer planning to perform in longer hours, I lasted only 1 and a half hours before I lost and strained my voice. That’s when I knew that it was my limit back then.

But as time went by and I performed regularly, my vocal cords improved, which allowed me to perform for 3-4 hours with no problem.

Music fosters good habits

I never thought that through music, I would change into a more healthier lifestyle. When you are singing, I learned that smoking and drinking alcoholic drinks can damage your vocal cords significantly.

Though I tried smoking in the past, I didn’t really get addicted to it. And now, it just gave me a strong reason not to even consider trying it again. I have also reduced my alcohol intake significantly and only drink on very special occasions.

Plus, to those who sing, it’s important to have enough sleep. 

Because I’ve learned and experienced that if you don’t have enough sleep, you will have problems hitting higher notes and struggle with vocal control.

​So it’s important to have enough sleep, especially when performing.

​I also learned that staying in shape is great for singers because it helps singing improve breathing control, stamina, and posture, which leads to a powerful, clearer, and less strained voice.

​And because I do regular exercise like jogging since 2023, it really helps a lot.

​In addition to these, performing at live audience also helps me improve my guitar skills,  learn how to set up and use a mixer, and met talented musicians.

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​Business Highlights

​Since 2023, I’ve been looking and doing side gigs while running a business. And this year, I’m grateful that I found a side gig that surprisingly provides a really good income on the side.  

​But before I give updates on the business side, let me share with you the side gigs that I’ve been doing this year.

​Remote Work

​Earlier this year, I was actively looking for online jobs. And fortunately, in February, I found one.

​I was fortunate to get hired and work remotely with a company based in the US.

​It was a great experience because the pay is higher than the average wage if you are just working here in the Philippines, and I get to work with different nationalities.

The overall experience was great. But it didn’t last long because working at night and adapting to a US-based timezone is really quite challenging for me.

​Plus, it’s taking a ton of my time because it’s already a full time job and not the part time job that I was really looking for.

​Well, I had the opportunity to stay longer, but I have decided to part ways. I’m just grateful for that experience and have met an awesome team, even for a short period of time, and I just wish them all the best.

​Live Acoustic Music

​If you’ve read my  2024 year in review,  I shared that I tried performing in some bars in Iloilo City, and have said that performing live acoustic music isn’t a sustainable way of making money on the side.

​I was wrong, and I take it back. I just said that it wasn’t sustainable at the time, because I didn’t really explore the music industry that much.

​But this year, as I spend more time and explore the industry, I made good money just by doing solo acoustic performer. Starting as a busker performing at the malls, which then leads to having special gigs like performing at weddings and birthdays, and even perform at local restaurants.

​And I know everyone’s been wondering and asking how much buskers make. In my experience, it really depends on how a buskers performs, and on the number of people that pass by on the busking area.

But to me, so far it has been really good, performing 3-4 hours on just tips 🙂

​And it was a great deal, because I get to share the music with everyone, make good money, and still have more time in a day to do other stuff.

​By the way, if you’re looking for live acoustic performers, don’t hesitate to message me 🙂

​Vegetable business

​Early this year, I parted ways with my partners in our vegetable business, particularly the onion business.

​I won’t go into much detail, but one of the major reasons is that my interest isn’t with the industry anymore, and I would like to explore in different industries.

​I just wish them all the best.

​Digital Publishing

​With my goals of blogging consistently with my blogs (Faultylogger | Plankton Media | Personal blog), i wasnt really consistent as I thought I would be.

​So in 2026, I will be  focusing only on the blog, which I think will bring the most impact, not just in monetization, but where most of my interests are, which is to help others become entrepreneurs.

​And it’s gonna be my Personal blog.

​Magpainsure.com

​We launched Magpainsure earlier this year, expected to go all in, but that’s not really what happened.

We really weren’t all out as we thought we would be in executing this venture. Everyone’s been busy, which is why this project become less of a priority.

​But in terms of testing the idea, Mikey, one of our co-founder was spot on.

​We generated sales through our platform, which confirmed our assumption that people would be willing to purchase insurance online.

​The only problem is that we lack a strong commitment to taking this to a different level. But what’s great about this is that we didn’t spend much on marketing because we utilise organic strategies like SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

​So what will Magpainsure’s future look like? I’m not quite sure.

This needs to be discussed with my co-founders. And then we will see it from there.

​Lessons Learned

​I have learned through reading books, blogs, personal experiences, and talking to other people.

​And since I’ve shared some of the lessons already in my personal highlights section, I’ll just add a couple more 🙂

​Be careful when doing referrals

​This was my worst referral experience so far. It was when I referred a friend to a company which my other friend owns, but then the one I referred to acted foolishly on the job.

​I didn’t expect him to do foolish things. Even though I wasn’t the one who acted foolishly, I felt I also damaged my reputation because I was the one who referred that person and trusted him in the first place.

​So when doing referrals, make sure you are more than 100% sure of that person you want to refer to, because you are not just referring a person, but your reputation is also on the line.

​​It’s easier to avoid temptation than resist it

​Based on my experience, this is 100% true. This one is a really effective strategy in building good habits and avoiding bad ones.

​So, for example, if you want to avoid drinking alcohol, and a friend invites you to a party and says “it’s okay not to drink, we won’t force you. You just need to be there”, and then you decided to come, most likely the urge to drink alcohol will be great even if you don’t have to intention of drinking from the start because your environment influences your behavior, and end up drinking too much alcohol.

​But if you would rather stay at home and politely decline the invitation, the urge to drink alcohol won’t be there, and you will have a much more productive day.

​This was just my experience. What’s your take on this? Let me know in the comments below.

​Not learning my lesson

​One of the lessons I’ve learned in 2023 was to find something you love, so you won’t think of it as work. But not practicing this lesson led me to having poor output and little to no significant growth.

​I realized that some of my projects aren’t really something I love to do.

So in 2026, I’ll be focusing on projects that I really love to do, get rid of the ones that are not, and outsource the rest.

The enemy of good is perfect

Because we want to make everything so perfect, we end up doing nothing at all. Always remember that continuous improvement beats perfection.

​Books for 2025

​The BIR Survival Guide by Marien Faye Velasco – You will learn how to file your own taxes, basic bookkeeping, how to register a business, and much more, even without prior knowledge of the subject.

​I didn’t read as many books this year as most of my free time was focused on improving my live acoustic performance, and learning digital marketing.

​Goals for 2026

Looking back this year, it seems that the only goal I’ve accomplished is by having a side gig 😂.

​Now, I will be more realistic when setting goals. Goals that I can really achieve for 2026.

​Take more pics – This has been my goal since 2021. And I think I’m getting better and better as the years pass by. But still, I will be doing my best, AGAIN, for 2026 🙂

​Start travelling abroad – If all goes according to plan, me and my friends will be joining the Rotary International Convention in Taiwan in June of 2026. This will be my first trip abroad, and I’m excited to experience different cultures in different countries.

​Start Vlogging – I’ve seen talented buskers doing vlogs on social media platforms, and I was fascinated by them. I was thinking about joining the trend also haha!

Launch an online store – Since the failure of our online store back in 2021, I promised that one day, when the time is right, I will start this venture again. And 2026 is the right time.

​Get back from basketball – This year, I rarely played basketball and miss my friends where I share the court. So to basketball friends, be ready, because when I get back, I will be a different beast on the court!

Despite all the challenges and changes this year, I am still incredibly grateful for the things that happened.

​In the meantime, enjoy more pics from the year, and have a great year ahead! 🙂

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