Just taking a quick moment on this beautiful monday morning to let you know that I'll be in Paris between November 2-10th. And I'd love to meet up with readers of the blog, as well as friends and just about anyone else, hence this announcement.
My plan during the week is to work, go out, have fun, attend a concert or two, and make the most of what the city has to offer. So hit me up, ahead of time and let's get together!
With upcoming projects and travels coming soon, I’ve decided to invest in slightly better gear for my nomadic aspiration. TL;DR: I’ve bought the new GoPro Hero 5 Black to help me record memories on the go, without the need to always have my bulky (bulkier) camera with me in my bag.
Here’s a quick comparison and test between the GoPro and the Sony Nex-5N I’ve been using until now…
It took me a while to get this one out, and I’m still thinking about ways to improve the recording, editing, and publishing process — finding a faster/simpler workflow.
Anyways, please enjoy “the end of the summer” !
It took me a while to get this one out, and I’m still thinking about ways to improve the recording, editing, and publishing process — finding a faster/simpler workflow.
After the attack in Nice, it’s been really good to enjoy live, go out, and spend some quality time with friends! Thanks to all those wonderful friends that have been around during this period!
We went to Eze this past sunday. It’s a charming medieval village on the French Riviera. Its unique Exotic Gardens sit on top of the Mediterranean Sea.
This past year has been a wild ride, to say the least.
In May last year, I finished working for Realmac and started working as a contractor for a low-key B2B SaaS company.
Officially, I’m working like an employee, working the whole week on behalf of this one of a kind small business. They’ve been around since 1991, as old as I am, which is something to celebrate in this fast industry. And they cater to a very specific niche: offering a desktop software licensing & analytics solution for ISVs (independent software developers).
I’ve learnt a lot in this past year, and in the past few months, I’ve even managed to find the time and discipline to take on more client work and work on new projects.
As a contractor, my #1 problem is: What happens if Primary Client is unhappy about my work? The answer is simple: I will need to find a new opportunity veryvery fast. Of course, living in Western Europe, there’s always plan Z: being unemployed for a couple of months until I figure things out, but I’m proud to have avoided any form of unemployment so far and would like to keep it that way.
To try and bypass this, I’m trying to save a little bit of money every month, as a safety net. At this point in time, let me tell you that the net is not nearly as comfortable as I’d hope it would be. Then again, I don’t think one would ever be satisfied about the size of a financial safety net.
Thankfully, I already have a few things going for me: I don’t have any debt, I’m able to pay my bills, and I’m slowly trying to get more money and experience from side-projects, missions, and other client work.
But this is not enough: I won’t always be in good health, or working for this client. And as someone who’s very pragmatic, I know that if I continue working as a freelancer, there likely will be some hard times where I won’t have either work OR an income. Thankfully, this is a risk I’ve acknowledged from Day One and I’m working on a generic roadmap, setting things up to try and avoid the downfall of freelancing.
So, at the time of writing this article, here are my short, mid-, and long-term plans:
Short term:
I’m continuing to work for the B2B company. It provides me with a lot of responsibilities, and I’m still learning a lot. It pays me moderately well, enough to afford to pay the rent and bills.
Mid-term:
I want to take on more client work. I’ve come to realise that for sole-traders such as myself, there’s a wealth of opportunities offering marketing services to smaller companies. The hard part is landing those early gigs.
Originally, I was thinking about working with local businesses: they clearly don’t have the money to afford a new website designed by a marketing agency, and they don’t have the time to spend on marketing campaign, social media, ads, SEO and all of these different topics. But maybe I could handle it for them, for a smaller fee. However, I’ve come to realise that most of the time, they aren’t willing to spend the money on those services, even at a discount compared to industry standards. And most of them are looking for an old-school “webmaster” to manage everything for them. My goal was to teach them how to manage their ecommerce websites or social media presence, not make a commitment for months (or worse, years to come.) It didn’t work out for me, but I have other things I can find and do.
In the short term, I have found some new clients that require my services, for completely different things that I handle day-to-day with the Primary Client. This helps me diversify my income, which is the single biggest threat to my existing working life.
Oh, and if you need some help with your website, marketing, or customers support, get in touch!
Long-term:
That’s a very good question.
I’m trying to build an audience for my podcast, and I’d like that to start making a little bit of money on the side. It doesn’t have to be my full-time job, but I love having and sharing these conversation for the Digital Digest podcast, and I love hearing what people think about these interviews. My dream would be to have a financial complement, at the very least, if not relying on podcasting as a business.
I know it’s a long shot, but with patience, continued efforts, and good content, I’m confident that I can make it. It just might take a couple of years, and I’m OK with that: I knew it coming in, and, as Josh Long would say: “for every overnight success, there’s 10 years behind that.” I’m hoping that learning from the best helps me accelerate my learning process and avoid a few mistakes along the way.
For the rest, I really like the freedom that comes by being a location-independent freelancer. And I truly think that the what has been the hardest part so far, is now behind me: finding new clients and projects to work on. For the rest, I’m hoping to follow in the footsteps of my other independent friends (like Adam, Greg, Axelle and Paul) and trust that my passion, reputation, network and current gigs are enough to help me find some new work in the future.
And there you have it, a not-so-certain 5-year plan that could change today or tomorrow. Times are a-changin', hey?
About 18 years ago, something incredible happened in France. It was in between the months of June and July 1998. Our team won the FIFA World Cup. Two years later, during the Euro, France won again, being the time ever that a team would win both titles back to back.
During this time, I was 7-9 then, you could really feel the excitement of young kids in school. This coincided with the time that we moved from the suburbs of Paris to the South of France. But nearly a thousand kilometres apart, the excitement was just as strong. The love that our people developed for the sport, the national team, and the local clubs was incredible. During that time period, our champions had given us so much hope, so much joy, and for a time, we felt on top of the world.
Ask anyone in France what Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” song represent to them, and if they were born before 1994, it’s likely that they’ll tell you about the ’98 World Cup.
I felt the same type of reaction amongst my peers, but on a lower scale, back in 2007 when France hosted the Rugby World Cup. On a lower scale still, as Football is still the dominant sport here in France, by far. But since 2007, more and more people have started to follow rugby, partially as an attraction to the sport, and partly as a reaction to the bad culture that has been around football too.
See, when a rugbyman gets pushed down, he goes back up immediately. When football players hit the ground, they tend to dive and look for a foul, possibly a yellow or red card against the person who touched them. For a lot of people, myself included, this has become unbearable. The corruption around the sport, the ego of some of the massively overpaid superstars, the lack of humility, it all started feeling dishonest for me, and that’s why I’ve only kept in touch with big international competitions.
But this year, something is in the air, something I haven’t felt since 1998. This year, France is hosting the 2016 UEFA tournament, the “European Cup”. The team has slowly been renewed since 2014, with a lot of fresh blood, exciting talented players, and a new coach. And despite some controversies around the team and the staff, there remains an excitement in the air.
I haven’t felt this excited about football since 1998. I haven’t felt so proud and hopeful about this new French team in many years. And I hope that we win this competition, but even if we don’t, I hope that this team delivers and that they give it all that they’ve got.
It’s hard to host a competition and be on the opening match. No matter the discipline, there’s an immeasurable amount of pressure on the local team to win the first game, and to continue getting better, stronger, and to some extent, our 2-1 victory over Romania has been a huge relief.
But the most important, whether we win this year or not, is that this team learns to work well together. Because we can’t wait another 18 years to inspire our youth and our people. Allez Les Bleus, on est tous avec vous!
"For women, safety while walking down the street is something we think about pretty much daily, most times we leave the house."
What I found most impressive during the keynote, behind feature updates and announcements, was Apple’s true commitment to diversity.
Between a very diverse keynote (4 women on stage, 3 people of color, and the incredible Bozoma St John - whom everyone is asking to see in upcoming keynotes), and features dedicated to security and to users with disabilities, it feels clear to me that no other company really tries to help their end-users who happen to be outside of the stereotypical Silicon Valley White Man.
A chat with Eamonn Carey, Entrepreneur in Residence at Techstars. We discuss startups, technology hubs around the world, VC funding, The Bubble™… And what the hell is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence anyway?!
I’ve been meaning to do a bit more on the music front, so here’s a very special something I’ve cooked up overnight: a relaxing mix I’ve pulled out of some old Soundcloud favourites!
