It’s almost become a tradition now. This is the fifth year in a row that I’m publishing my “Year in Review”. While it’s too late for any year in reviews, I think it’s better late than never.

So, what do I cover in these Year in Reviews and why should you read it? 

Well, in these blogs, I go through my learnings from the last year, and share my personal and professional experiences, my successes, my failures, and everything in between. The idea of these blogs is to document my journey and hopefully help readers like yourself learn a thing or two.

Enough blabber, let’s get into the fun stuff. 

Your Workspace is More Important Than What You Think

Last year I moved into a bigger place and I knew I had to create a space that I will enjoy working in. To begin with, it’s very important to invest in a good table and chair, especially if you work from home.

I’m currently, rocking the sit-stand desk from ErgoYou (highly recommended) and a chair from Featherlite which I really enjoy and has been serving me well. While you buy, make sure to get a foot stand as well, I have a plastic one, you’ll get plenty of options on Amazon.

Further, I’d recommend getting a monitor.  Having two screens really helps you increase your productivity. I have a few recommendations below –

LG 27inch FHD Monitor
Acer 27inch 2K 144 HZ (Excellent for gaming as well)
LG 4K Monitor 

A few other items worth investing is a desk clock (to keep track of your time), a notebook (for creating a to-do list or noting down random ideas), sticky notes, and a few fake plants or figurines to make the place your own. 

While there’s so much more you can do, I think the above is a good place to start. A few things to keep in mind are – 

• Ensure to keep your desk clean and organized. It’s one less distraction.
• Please keep it away from your bed or living area. This really helps to get more done and disconnect later when you’re done working. 

Contributed to Ahrefs 

2022 was life-changing for me as I writer. I contributed to Ahrefs.

After almost landing a job at Ahrefs, I started contributing to Ahrefs. For any writer, getting their work featured in a blog like Ahrefs is a big achievement. I get at least a few DMs every week from people asking how I managed to contribute to Ahrefs. While I’d love to answer that the short answer is that it’s not that straightforward.

The only piece of advice I’d give to content writers is that try building your authority in your niche and keep pushing out great content. I’d also like to point out I’m paid for every article and it’s almost 5-10x more than what an experienced writer would make in India. 

There are numerous benefits of getting your work featured on websites like Ahrefs – 

• You understand how content is published at scale and what goes behind publishing a great piece of content, from ideation to the final article.
• Makes it very easy for you to contribute to other large publications. 
• Helps massively in improving your personal branding

If you haven’t read my articles, you can do it here. 

My first step in becoming a speaker 

The Ahrefs gig helped me land a few opportunities as a speaker. The year started with my speaking about content distribution for The SEOTalkers, India’s first and oldest running Twitter Chat & Community for SEO. 

Next was HelloMeets. From volunteering for HelloMeets sessions to becoming a speaker, life came full circle. In this one, I again covered B2B Content Distribution. I really enjoyed the entire process of creating a PPT and delivering it online. Here’s the link to the slides, if you’re interested.

After HelloMeets, it was GrowthSchool where I spoke about B2B Content Marketing Growth Hacks.

I hope to do more of these this year as well. No luck so far though.

Anyways, reach out to me if you want me to do a session around content marketing. 

Joined MoEngage as a Content Marketing Manager

After spending almost two years at Skit.ai, I switched ships and joined MoEngage. It’s almost a year now and I’m thankful I took this step. As a marketer, it’s important to have experience working at companies at different stages.

For example, MoEngage is already a leader in the customer engagement tool space and is growing crazily. So while working as one person team at AirCTO gave me a lot of learnings, working with a 20-person content marketing team will help you improve certain skills which are impossible in the primary.

I’m grateful to my friend and my awesome manager, Pulkit for referring me . Thanks, man.

The journey is so far good. Lately, I’m working on launching a global report for six different regions. While it’s overwhelming, I’m enjoying the process and the learnings that come along with it. 

So, if you’re avoiding moving to a larger company because you think you won’t grow enough, I’d recommend you to think again.

Your first’s are always special 

While work and earning money are important, it’s also important to take time out for yourself.

Watching my first cricket match live in the stadium 

Same time last year, I flew down to Pune to watch, my favorite IPL team, CSK playing against RCB. And let me tell you it’s an unreal experience. 

I have grown up watching cricket but never got a chance to watch a game live. While I had certain notions going into the match, I was blown away by the experience and thrill you get when you watch a game in the stadium. All the money you pay for it is worth it. While CSK lost that day I really enjoyed seeing them play, so much so that my throat was paining after all that cheering.

It even got better when I watched India play against South Africa in Ranchi. While watching it from the stands is different, you’d enjoy the hospitality a VIP ticket offers, especially in an ODI game.

A huge shout to Vijaya and Shubhaiyan for the tickets. 

Got my first big bike 

Learning to drive a bike at the age of 27 is something different. Over the years, I’ve loved the idea of exploring places on a two-wheeler. It’s a little risky for sure and can become torturous but it’s all worth it.

There’s so much to explore around Bengaluru that it is very hard to resist not going out. Hope to drive this beauty across the South more. Wish me luck.

Watched my first standup 

Thanks to Guptaji for making my first standup experience so memorable and for not roasting me.

Travelled to a bunch of places 

It started with exploring Mumbai. Loved the local train, the food, and the vibe. Amazing city for sure barring the weather

The second was traveling to Ooty for the fifth or sixth time (can’t keep a count now). I can’t get enough of the place

The next was exploring coastal Karnataka. Udupi, Manipal, and Gokarna were all very amazing.

Then it was Coorg and Shimla. Traveling to the latter brought some childhood memories.

Exploring Kerala was always on my bucket list and I’m glad that I started with exploring Wayanad and Kannur. Both are amazing. I really enjoyed the zip lining, a fun experience. 

Until Next Time

That’s it, folks. I’ll be back next year. Have a great rest of the year ahead.

Also, let me know if you learned a thing or two from this blog. I’d love to know. Drop them in the comments.

Here’s my Year in Review 2021, if you’re interested.