My 2025 Unwrapped: Books, Stages And Something Better Than 6 Figures

Year 3 of my business has been fun and intense and all I can say is that I’m still figuring things out, making mistakes, celebrating some wins and having a blast along the way.

And as I’m writing this report, I realize that the most valuable part is not what I achieved but what I learned along the way and how it can be helpful to my community.

Showing what you did is bragging. Showing how you did it is helping.

So here is my open journal with my notes and messy thoughts and a few resources that can help you on your creative journey.

On writing books: Paving the path

The journey

As an author, my highlight this year was the launch of The Anti-Procrastinator, my 4^th book and the first with a Big Five. It led to my first international book tour across literary festivals in India, Singapore and Hong Kong and I loved it!

While the book didn’t make me rich, it opened new opportunities such as public speaking engagements, podcasts and interviews and helped me build my brand as an author and credibility as a speaker.

The learning

The key thing I’m learning about publishing books is that there is never a finish line. This year, I met and interviewed NYT bestsellers, global award-winning authors and 7-figure ghostwriters and they are all still actively promoting their work day in and day out. It’s a bit like parenting: you are never quite done. In fact, even though it’s been 10 months, I’m still actively promoting my book on podcasts and book clubs.

For me, being an author is a journey, a mindset and a lifestyle, and each book plays a role and is a reflection of my own creative path and where my mind and my business are at every stage. Lately, I’ve been thinking and writing a lot about growing a sustainable business, investing in lifestyle and being a mompreneur, so my next book is hiding somewhere between those lines. I just have to bring it out…

Note to self: You don’t retire from being an author (or a parent).

Resources

My Substack Section “Authors VIP Corner” (Paid Subscribers) is a collection of exclusive Post and videos to help you publish books, land publisher deals and build your author brand.

On public speaking: Embracing the imposter

The journey

My public speaking business took off this year (after a heck of a lot of work) and sent me to places like Sydney and Shanghai to deliver talks on leadership and communication for global organizations such as UBS, AIA, and others. I spoke at a huge conference in Hong Kong (the DEI Summit) and experienced the biggest imposter syndrome speaking in front of 1,000 people and sharing the stage with C-level executives.

I also started diversifying my portfolio by offering a variety of services, from keynotes for large events to corporate training and customized workshops for smaller groups. That helped boost the revenue and public speaking is now my #1 income stream and a business on its own right, so a lot of my focus and energy is going there.

The learning

Every time I go on a stage, especially a bigger and more senior one, I have this stupid and irrational feeling that a security guard is going to show up and escort me out because I don’t belong there. I’m learning to embrace that these feelings come from stepping into bigger shoes, so in 2026, I’m welcoming both the imposter and the bigger shoes as part of the journey.

If your goal is to speak in public, this is my main advice to you:

50% is how you speak to the audience, but the remaining 50% is how you speak to yourself: the story you choose to believe and the character you choose to embody.

My goal for 2026 is to expand internationally and tackle new markets and new languages, while raising my fees and my profile. I recently signed new partnerships with 2 Speaker Bureaux and increased my fees to 10K US$ per session. This is the story I choose to believe in.

Resources

All my leads for public speaking come from LinkedIn, my website and referrals/ word of mouth. You can take a look at my public speaking engagements this year on my website.

And if you want to know how I started from zero and the strategy I use to gain leads and close deals with corporates, you can check out my digital course Speak to Scale.

On Substack: Investing in community

The journey

While I had a decent growth this year and hit 13,000+ subscribers (combined) my focus on community-building really paid off and I’ve nurtured a group of loyal readers, connections and collaborators. The truth is that only around 10% of those are truly engaged and these are the people I really want to invest my time and energy in.

The first highlight this year was my Spanish community, which went from zero to 2,800 subscribers in 13 months (65 paid) across 64 countries. This is more of a personal project and I love building something in my native language.

The second highlight has been my focus on collaboration: I had over 60 partnerships, ranging from Guest Posts to live sessions, podcasts and interviews and even a co-authored book with other Substackers!

Those partnerships have helped me grow organically, together with my daily activity on Notes and the Recommendations from my members, which represent 75% of my total subscribers.

The learning

Transparency is one of my key values so I want to be 100% transparent here: monetization on Substack is a slippery slope. Relying purely on paid subscriptions to grow your writing business is a risky bet. Yes, some writers are successful, but they are usually on very niche topics that involve making money: AI (to make money), writing (to make money) or Substack growth hacks (to make money). And while everybody claims to make 5K US$ a month, the reality is that only a tiny percentage of creators hit those numbers and I’m not one of them.

To manage expectations, here is a data point: my publication is in the top 100 on the Education ranking and on average, I make 2.5K US$ on paid subscriptions every month (3K US$ on the good months). This is after almost 3 years, a lot of hard work and a topic (digital business) that is more sexy and profitable than most.

While it’s not bad for a newsletter (it’s significantly more than the minimum salary in Spain!), it’s not life-changing. But, and this is a big but, there’s a silver lining here:

Substack is a goldmine as a community builder.

I personally think it’s smarter to think of Substack as a strategic gateway into your digital ecosystem and a platform that allows you to build a community of loyal readers who are then likely to purchase your books, take your courses, become your coaching clients, join your cohort and even meet you for coffee when you visit their city!

This is my take in a nutshell: As a creative entrepreneur, most of my earnings happen outside of Substack but they wouldn’t be able to happen without Substack.

Resources

Everything I know about Substack and made me a Substack Bestseller can be found in my digital course, How To Win On Substack.

On building a digital ecosystem: leverage speed to market

In 2025, I decided to try new things and focus on testing, experimenting. Innovation 101.

Although I had already toyed around with Gumroad, this year I went bigger and deeper: I published my first 4 digital courses (3 in English, 1 in Spanish), my first lead magnets and learned the ins and outs of the platform by doing and experimenting.

It’s now adding an average of 1,000 US$ monthly, which is a nice passive income from an evergreen portfolio. My goal is to keep expanding my digital library, as now that I have a system in place, it’s much easier to replicate and scale.

The learning

The key to growing a profitable digital ecosystem is to be nimble, agile and fast in your go-to-market strategy. In our day and age, your biggest leverage is the first-mover advantage and your ability to be ahead: ahead of the financial markets, AI, consumer trends, platforms, whatever your topic is…

However, most people end up behind because they get caught in the wheel of perfectionism: how to build a perfect funnel, a perfect email sequence, a perfect lead magnet, a perfect cover, and by the time they are finally ready to publish, the market has moved on and they’ve become irrelevant or white noise because there’s too much competition.

Note to self: People don’t want a perfect product; they want a functional one with fewer steps, fewer clicks and actual deliverables that help them achieve the result: learn about a topic, master a skill, achieve a specific result.

Do people really need 27 modules to learn something or can they get the essence in 5 and have a clear direction to practice and learn on the go?

My goal is to reduce my digital production chain, minimizing the time between idea and launch, making the learning process simple and effective.

Resources

If you want to know how I’m able to create and launch digital courses in 4 weeks, you can check out The Gumroad Academy, my step-by-step video guide to go from zero to launch.

The verdict

I don’t have an impressive figure or a mind-blowing growth to end this report “on a high,” but I don’t need one either and that’s the point.

The high is the journey: growing a business I’m passionate but also growing as a person while doing the things I love most - creating memories with my family, learning, traveling and exercising.

Your business is honestly as good as the lifestyle it creates, and 2025 was pretty epic in that regard, and that’s what I’m most proud of.

Creating beautiful memories with family across Asia and New Zealand, learning and reading about new topics, running the Sydney half-marathon with my best friend Bea, spending quality time with our families in Spain and Australia, doing the Phuket triathlon with my Hong Kong buddies, putting my girls to bed every single night (not a given in the corporate world)…

These stats are, in my opinion, much more impressive than a bunch of zeros on paper.

Whatever brings you joy in life, that, is your true measure of success.

Thank for for being part of this ❤️

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Lemons & Lemonade 🍋

2026 will be all about sustainable solopreneurship at The Lemon Tree Mindset. My goal is to share what I’m learning so that you can grow your own business faster.

Everything I create and publish will go through one filter:

How can this be more sustainable?

If you are/ become a premium member, this is what you can expect in the coming months:

💌 Exclusive weekly strategies to grow a well-rounded business (publishing books, public speaking, digital businesses, Substack)

🎬 2+ Monthly Substack Live with practical frameworks for writers and creators

💬 VIP Group Chat for targeted discussions, challenges, collaborations and personalized feedback

✨40% discount on ALL my digital courses (+ become my Marketing Affiliate)

🎓 1:1 session for your customized 360 digital strategy (Founding Members)

🌟 Motivation, an awesome tribe and great vibes!

Last chance to upgrade before prices go up on January 1st from 79US$ to 99US$ (annual membership)

See you in 2026 ✨