In this video I’m sharing 12 lessons I learned in the 12 months of 2025 as a small business owner (and yes—some of them were harsh realities). I run Monica’s Collective, my cozy homebody online shop, and 2025 was the year I learned the most about my business and about myself. I go month-by-month through my camera roll—what was happening in my personal life (like buying a house and moving out of Hoboken) and what was happening behind the scenes in my business (launches, markets, online orders, burnout), and then I tell you the exact lesson that came out of it. I talk about the cost of success and how burnout can sneak up on you even when you’re “winning,” why online sales can be a total game changer, and how criticism is unavoidable—so you can’t run your business based on trying to prevent it. I also share what it looked like to be forced to pivot (hello, basement flooding and losing my planned studio space), why markets can be both the best and the worst, and how I used a really painful copycat situation as fuel to improve and keep going. By the second half of the year, I realized how much posting consistently on social media truly changes your life (for your business and opportunities), and I end with a mindset shift I’m still working on: balance is subjective, and it’s worth intentionally building months that actually feel like your dream life—not just your “productive” life.