The year I tried everything, and failed
How the first half of 2024 became a book's worth of lessons
On February 1st, 2024, at 15 years old, I launched my first “business“ online.
I hit publish.
I waited.
And…nothing.
Zero clients. Zero messages. Zero direction.
This pretty much sums up the first half of my 2024 — the year I tried everything and mostly failed. But these failures taught me the most.
In 2023, I woke up after being lost for years.
I realized I could rewrite my life, and I started doing just that:
I hit the gym, got into self-improvement, switched schools, and even changed my personality on purpose.
When 2024 started, I felt unstoppable.
I thought this was the start of my rise.
I was wrong: this was the start of my education.
The spreadsheet that started it all
At the start of the year, I made a simple habit tracker called PLUS+.
Nothing fancy, just a daily checklist:
Workout
Self-improvement
Do one uncomfortable thing
By the end of January, the tracking calendar was filled.
For the first time, I saw proof: “Wait… I actually have some control over my life.”
Around the same time, I discovered Iman Gadzhi and Teachingmensfashion — creators who quietly shaped my view on self-improvement, business, success, and discipline.
For the first time, I felt in control.
My first business (and my first crash)
Two weeks into the year, I got my craziest idea yet: start a business on Fiverr.
I came up with ImpressPPT, a presentation design service.
I did it all myself — pricing, visuals, workflow, portfolio. The scariest part was telling my parents.
Then came February 1st. I hit publish.
And then…silence.
This crushed me, and I had no clue what to do about it.
In a week, everything I built collapsed.
The only true win was the gym:
first pull-up
1-plate (60 kg) bench
120 kg deadlift
At least one part of my life was breaking records.
The comeback that wasn’t a comeback
In March, I returned with a bigger idea.
Project: Knowledge Academy
Goal: build an entire course platform + record a coding course + launch it by June.
There was just one tiny issue:
I barely knew how to code.
I had never edited a video.
I had no idea how to launch anything.
I made long docs, detailed plans, and ambitious strategies.
But when it was time to take action, I froze.
By the time summer hit, I admitted it:
I was building a castle out of dreams, not skills.
I paused everything.
Stopped going to the gym (then not long after came back).
I didn’t jump into another “big idea“, but I wasn’t idle either:
I ran a small YouTube test: an AI-assisted channel.
One video hit 1000+ thousand views, which felt insane at the time.
Then, I found the idea
Something that would define the next 6 months of my life.
Something that changed everything.
But that’s another story, for Chapter 3.
- Zoli
Chapter 2 of Roots, the story of how it all began.