2024 Review: The most challenging, emotional year of my life.

This year has been the craziest year of my life. I became a father in January which as parents know, is a whirlwind of emotions and learnings. The first few months were very difficult for me, society normalises that you should immediately bond with something that is 50% you.

You should have an overwhelming sense of love for your child the second it arrives into the world, right? Not for me. It took a good few months for that wave to hit me, but when it did it completely shifted my life and my mentality.

A few days before writing this I had the best Christmas ever. Seeing my son smile, laugh and enjoy time with friends and family expels such strong emotions in me that it has separated my life into two. My life before kids, and my life after kids.

I also proposed to my partner and found out that we are expecting a little girl in mid-2025. Life is accelerating at a crazy speed. A depressing speed actually. Time has never been more valuable and it has flared up anxious thoughts about how I spend my time, and what I spend my time on.

It's also made me think about my own health, how I teach, how I learn, how I present myself, how I view myself and all of the other sub-conscious priorities that unknowingly disappear when you are becoming a young man in a ever-distracting world.

Life is moving at a speed that makes it hard for me to grasp a sense of control, as if if I am on a rollercoaster that I have crafted for myself but the speed is left to fate. I enjoy this rollercoaster dearly, and am grateful for the incredible journey that it has and will take me on, but I have no idea how to slow it down, to take it in as deeply and as consciously as possible.

Before kids, I was a very spontaneous person. I would launch businesses on a whim, try new things, take big risks, travel when I wanted, took time off to think when needed, treat my partner whenever I wanted, but 2024 has certainly put a stop to that.

With children, comes sacrifice. I am no longer creating a path for myself, it is now a path for the entire family. A long term path which I have to tread carefully, and thoughtfully, without being spontaneous, instead planned and organised.

The business that I have created over the last 6 years has taken a drastic turn, which goes against the organises, planned and financially smart moves that I need to take for the sake of my family.

Throughout 2024, I've been constantly fighting with Google. It has been an exhausting battle, that started in September 2023.

Google is burning my business to the ground and making my 6 years of work invisible to anyone who wants to find it. Google's algorithm changes has made independent websites across the world invisible with the press of a button.

Independent websites receive a little bit of hate online because of the way that they are monetised. I get it, nobody wants to see display ads, but the advertising industry (as annoying as it is) allows creatives and the freedom of speech to flourish. It's a form of monetisation that I believe will dissipate over the coming years, but as of right now, it allows creatives to put food on the table for their families and build businesses that employs millions of other creatives from around the world. My media company alone as small as it is has paid talent £100,000's over the last few years and the same goes for other publications. But we can't do that anymore and it's truly sad to see so much incredible creative talent out of work. Some of my closest friends can no longer do what they love because of what Google is doing to the web.

I could write an entire 10,000 word article on why independent publishing is incredibly important to our society. Without small independent sites operating, the web will be owned and operated by just a handful of greedy media goliaths if Google continues to favour them (and pay them) in their algorithm changes.

Retro Dodo is thankfully still profitable, but there's no denying that we have had to strip back, both on freelancers, and expenses. Our future plan looks a little different than it did two years ago, but we're agile and we'll continue doing what we are doing..

During the chaos of changing nappies and letting staff go, it has given me a lot of time to think. I have researched and trialed new directions, liaised with entrepreneurial friends about projects, and had deep discussions with my partner on what I should do. Do I stick to taking risks, or do I work on something that is slightly more secure and meaningful?

Do I continue Retro Dodo full-time? Do I pursue it part-time? Do I hand over the keys? Do I work on something completely different? Do I partner with someone else? Do I turn off my electronics and build a career away from these darn screens? Do I use what's left of the companies cash to start something completely different?

The online bubble that I have unfortunately followed for years now is trying to drag me into the world of manipulating the web for profit. To spam social media with memes, produce brain rot content that corrupts the minds of the young, create an AI tool that steals from the very people that make the web a better place, or to build a SEO agency that sells courses to the wounded based on propaganda.

That ain't me. I think I could have easily fell into that hole (i've certainly dabbled in it a couple of times), and likely made a lot of money but thankfully my son has shifted my mindset. When he is my age he will look back at what I have produced and that motivates me deeply. Will he see that I followed my passion, and have helped build something that betters lives? Or will he see that I have added to the problem of the enshittification of the web? The very web that he will likely be consuming and spending a lot of time in/on. The very web that AI is being trained on.

This shift was another wave that hit me hard and it hit me in the summer of this year. A reality check into what I have been building. Yes, Retro Dodo has certainly helped people, it has given them joy and allowed them to feel an overwhelming sense of nostalgia at moments when they really need it, but at what expense?

I too have spammed social media with my posts, I have created memes for page likes, I have optimised my articles to enhance its exposure on search engines, I have created videos that attempt at keeping a viewers attention for 3+ minutes so it increases the chances of being recommended to others. I followed the crowed. I followed that awful algorithm that controls our attention far too closely in the past. It saps any sort of creativity from our content and forces us to build content that feels/looks like everything else.

So, I have decided to make a change. Retro Dodo will undergo some major changes over the next year. A more organic, less algorithm-reliant strategy that focuses only on our audience. The future of independent publishing is changing, it's happening quicker than we can imagine, and I no longer want to build a business that manipulates algorithms nor relies on them. If my business relies on them, so does my family.

This will drastically affect revenue. It will mean less or even no ads at all, being proactive for sponsorships, acquiring paid members over ad impressions, building video content that puts quality first. A true, passionate community of paid members that helps us do what we do without exterior bias.

With the understanding of which direction I want to take Retro Dodo, I than had to make a decision whether or not, deep down if it's something I want to personally continue doing. I am deeply passionate about it, and will always own Retro Dodo and guide it to where I want the brand to be, but operating, managing and creating a content brand is exhausting. I have been doing it since it for 17 years, it's brutal, and at times mind-numbing. It's even more painful when one of the world's biggest companies is trying to drown you with every algorithm update.

On a deeper level, and I know this is a personal negative of mine, and likely something I need to seek therapy for, but I at times, struggle to find meaning in my work. Does my work actually matter at Retro Dodo? My good friend and editor-in-chief knows that this has pained me for many years, and he's very good at bringing me back down to earth and clarifying what we do at Retro Dodo. He will often share comments, emails and videos of our community sharing their lovely opinions about us, and it certainly helps.

But on a broader scale, how can I use my skills to help more people? How can I help other creatives that have been crushed by Google? How can I help consumers be more productive and not chained to algorithms or be made a puppet to consume adverts on every single click throughout their journey on the internet?

That is the main reason why for the first time in over 6 years I asked someone for a "job". That person is Vladimir Prelovac, the founder of Kagi.

The Big Change

I don't want this section to feel like I am simply promoting Kagi, but more of an understanding as to why I am willing to sacrifice time spent on building the world's best independent retro gaming publication.

Kagi on a deeper level is simply a movement for a better web. But from a consumers perspective Kagi is an unbiased, privacy-friendly search engine that doesn't track any of your data and doesn't show you any advertisements, all while allowing its customers to customise the search results to their tastes.

One of my favourite features is the fact that Kagi allows you to favour or punish websites of your choice. Do you have a favourite independent website that you love reading but Google has made invisible? Simply press raise to adjust its ranking presence. Is there a website that you hate seeing because they have manipulated their domain authority using SEO or have a deal with Google to train their AI? You can lower, or straight up block them.

It will even show you how many ads and trackers websites have, so you know what you'll see and how the websites are tracking you. Kagi actually demotes websites with too many intrusive ads and tracking, which again should help independent publishers that treat their readers and their data with respect.

Because Kagi charges a few bucks a month, this aligns the incentives with the customer, building a portal to the internet without distractions or corruption, assisting you with your search intent as a search engine should.

A search engine like this can do wonders for the world. It can help students, business owners and parents find the information they are searching for more efficiently.

It's a true, clean, unbiased front-door to the web.

This Shit Is Scary

I haven't worked for anyone in close to 6 years. Now that I am consulting on a regular basis I can no longer use the same strategies as I used for my own company. This isn't my money, I need to spend every penny wisely and strategically. My mistakes aren't just mine, they will ripple through the whole company and could affect my team. I am learning things on a daily basis, and any implementation that I want to pursue has to be technically sound, with reason and proof behind it, which takes time.

Time in online publishing can be the reason you win or lose, I have had to adapt and act quickly when building my media company just to stay alive. The last 6 years has felt like being a small fish in a big pond, dodging prey that could swallow us up in one bite.

But now, being a part of a profitable, well-established company means I have to think and act differently, and sometimes against my own nature. I can take my time, I can be more accurate, I can collaborate with a team rather than use a single mind to plan projects.

There are areas of working in a bigger team that I certainly dislike. The wasted time in meetings, the never-ending mound of documents that I have to sieve through and the small emails that stack up that require attention etc.

It's a new way of working, one that I may or may not like. I honestly have no idea as of yet if I will enjoy it, but I know it's something that will give me meaning and a mission that I whole heartedly believe in. I also believe i'll be good at marketing it, as I am not only the perfect customer, I am also the person that has been targeted by Google via their algorithm updates, the person that has had one on one meetings with Google's search team to discuss how they can help creators.

I have a unique perspective that gives me an advantage being in a position to help market what Kagi is doing. I also want this position to challenge me, I want to meet new people, learn new things, get better at content marketing and be known for the person who helped Kagi become what i know it's going to become.

What pains me the most.

What quite literally keeps me up at night is the fact that consulting work stops me from experimenting with my own life. I have never been great with schedule. If I want to do something, go somewhere, take time off, I will do it.

A job should not be the main reason I get up in the mornings. It should be there to create a life that I want and to help people. I believe this change could help with that, but I'd be lying if sometimes I just don't want to take orders from someone, or ask if i can take time off with my son, or have to reason with someone as to why I want to try something.

That does irritate me and could become a big enough itch for me to take time to think if it's worth the sacrifice of being tied to a schedule. Only time will tell.

I also want to build Retro Dodo into an incredible retro gaming source, but with less time comes less chance of that happening. There is sacrifice in joining a meaningful mission, and I have to learn that sacrifice is needed to obtain great things.

That great thing is working on something meaningful and financially support my family.

2025 will be a drastically different year compared to others. It still comes with risk, but less than it would if I was to pursue my own projects and continue battling with Google.

I am now battling Google on an entirely different playing field, with a team of passionate internet guardians that genuinely wants to build a more humane web. They have punished me and other independent publishers for too long, now I am fighting back. Not only will I help build one of the best search engines in the world, but i'll also help build the best fucking retro gaming website in the world, all because Google wouldn't let me.

And I get to do that while supporting my family financially. My partner can focus on rest while we bring another life into this world, and I can be close to my son, teaching him the ways of the world.

2025 is not the year of being entrepreneurial. It is the year of change. The year of fighting back. The year of family.