🤯 2022 Review: Living the dream but facing limits

« Le talent, c’est l’audace que les autres n’ont pas. » — Oxmo

Don’t tell to people what you will do, show them what you did!

It’s becoming a ritual for me, taking time off, focusing on analyzing my year, and ensuring I’m still working in the right direction to achieve my dreams.

2022 was a STRANGE year for me, exhausting with many different tasks and launching a project that didn’t have strong links. I had this feeling to be a little bit of Schizophrenia.

The only thing I’m sure about last year is that I was super busy and took big risks (personally & professionally).

In this review, I will talk about my solopreneur journey, facing the limit of this model. I will also project you inside 3 of my Side Projects: Growth.Talent, Kara.ventures & my Youtube Channel.

I’m expecting you to ask me questions and tell me if you want to work closer to me next Year,

because 2023 will be built to be the complete opposite of 2022. 🙂

But let’s focus on 2022!

So what do I decide to include in this review?

• 🙌 What I'm proud to have accomplished this year!

  Building a community (Growth.Talent) and launching a VC Fund (Kara.ventures) it was the year of ambitious side-projects. I spend most of my year in Africa.
  It's a mix of personal and professional learnings all around the year.

  • My 2022 Goals's achieved.

  • Deep Dive: How did I make Money in 2022?

  • Deep dive into more personal topics

• ⚡️ Deep Dive into my Content/Media strategy in 2022
  Double down on Linkedin and invest massively in Youtube. Let’s talk numbers.

• 🤩 A list of unbelievable experiences I lived
  Remember to offer you a unique experience and personal Gift. This year I authorize myself to invest more in my happiness.

• 💰 Zoom on my VC Fund (Kara.ventures)
  What is a side-fund, and how we made it? Let me present to you Rena who made this project a reality.

• 😠 Life is also challenging; here are my bad and frustrations during 2022

  2022 was an intense year, and I have plenty of frustrations. It's very important to share them.

• 🌍 A quick timeline of the place I have been

  Working remotely and traveling around the world was my top priority. Some places weren't planned :)

• 🎯 What are my goals for 2023?
  Don’t tell people what you will do. Show them what you did! Ok, few pillars for next year.

Have a good reading 📚…

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🙌 What I’m proud to have accomplished in 2022.

My first year (completely) independent, split into 4 main projects across different continents. I reached the dream life I had when I left Spendesk: working remotely, advising startups, having a community, and investing in Africa.

For example, in my last review, I had 4 pillars for 2023:

• I will travel a lot, mainly in Africa. ✅

• I want to triple my yearly income and continue to invest in a different types of assets (startups, real estate, wine, trading) ✅

• I want to launch a media and produce more content. ✅

• I want to spend more time with my friends and family. ✅

Let me deep dive inside my accomplishment:

💼 PROFESSIONALLY 

1. Launched my VC Funds (Kara.ventures) to invest in 20 African Startups with Rena Kakon

   That was the most ambitious project I had in mind for this year, and I needed the right partner to make it happen. I’m so happy to meet and work with Rena, who may be the perfect opposite of me regarding skills and mindset. But we’re reunited with the same passion for Startups in Africa.

   It can seem crazy to imagine that one of our side projects this year was launching a VC Fund. But we did it.

   • We raised money with our network to be able to invest in 20 startups.

   • We set up all the Legal + Admin aspects to be able to operate

   • We implemented a robust back-office + CRM to work efficiently

   • We visited & explore more than 12 countries on the continents: 🇸🇳 Senegal, 🇷🇼 Rwanda, 🇲🇺 Mauritius, 🇰🇪 Kenya, 🇲🇦 Morocco,🇹🇳 Tunisia, 🇺🇬 Uganda, 🇿🇦 South Africa, 🇬🇭 Ghana, 🇳🇬 Nigéria, 🇨🇮 Ivory Coast

   • We interview +180 startups.

   • And we invested in 6 of them. 🙌

   This is just the beginning of this 10 years side project, where I currently invested most of my cash.

2. Create a Community (Growth.Talent) to change the mindset about Growth in France
   I can’t pass the page on Growth while leaving France without keeping connecting with my peers.

   I wanted to bring the support I missed when I started my career in Growth in Paris.

   Around different pillars:

   1. Create a community of experts who share the same mindset and ambition. Not another boring Slack where everyone is here.

   2. Capture the best Job opportunity in the market and make them available

   3. Document & Benchmark our jobs, starting with the Salary Benchmark.

   4. Create powerful matchmaking based on specific request

   5. Organize events to connect and celebrate together

   6. Helps companies to understand the jobs better

   Thanks to @Timothée, in a few months we released the website and platform: growthtalent.org, monetize the community, reach 1,000 members, and launch many initiatives.

   I prepare a Deep Dive about it lower in this newsletter.

   

3. Spendesk becomes a Unicorn 🦄
   In January last year, Spendesk announced recent funding with Tiger Global and reached the Unicorn Statut 6 years after its creation. It’s a massive milestone for early employees like me, who gave us credibility worldwide, and I hope for financial power for the rest of our lives.

   

4. Finally, launch my Youtube Channel.

   Youtube is from far away my favorite platform, since a teenager, I have spent hours every week learning new things. I always wanted to produce videos, and after the substantial success of my Spendesk Departure Video, I knew I needed to explore this channel.

   I decided to hire a talented & ambitious video Marker: Augustin Chenard

   And in the last 6 months, we explored, tried, created, and iterated to understand how Youtube was working.

   I had a lot of fun on this project, which cost me a lot (from salaries and freelance to pro video material), with no clear ROI. It is more like a passion than a project or job.

   I will continue to invest in it next year.

   You can find more results about the Youtube launch in the Community Section

5. My African Tours and the robust network that I built on the continent
   I planned to travel around Africa for years and finally took the time to do it this year. It’s difficult to explain, but I invested so much time, money, and energy in this project that I was tired when I came back to France.

   I explored Senegal 🇸🇳, Mauritius Island 🇲🇺, Ghana 🇬🇭, Nigeria 🇳🇬, Sao Tomé 🇸🇹, Cote d’Ivoire 🇨🇮.

   It was a revelation for me, and I succeeded in building strong online connections, talking with people, and creating friendships when I was there. I was welcomed almost like a president and got the opportunity to learn so much about the culture, history, and startup scene.

   I will definitely continue next year to learn more and explore this continent. Next stop: Egypt 🇪🇬

6. I’m entering the 6-digit Solopreneur Categorie.

   It was my first year as a full-time freelancer (or Solopreneur), and I finished the year with +250k€ of income.
   It’s definitely a lot of money, double my Salary as VP of Growth at Spendesk. But I can confess that I had to work more to get this result.

   I made so many mistakes that cost me to have done double this number, I also generated a considerable amount of stress at some part of the year, when sleeping was difficult.

   I decided to talk more about this complicated year as Solopreneur in the Challenges section.

7. Growth.Awards 2022 – We made it: The Biggest Growth Event in 🇫🇷
   Imagine having a Theatre of +300 Growth People, with a jury and 6 different trophies to showcase why France is the capital of Growth. It took me 6 months, to find the right partner, and sponsors to make this event a success.

   I wasn’t scared to animate the party in front of all those people, and now I know that I can manage a big event alone from 0.

   The feedback is unanimous, it was definitely a success, and we will come back next year, with enormous ambition and more trophies.

8. My collaboration with Timothée & Augustin

   Last year I contracted Timothée, to help me with Growth.Talent, he dedicates a lot of energy and time to making this project a success. We took the decision to stop the collaboration back in June, and I’m so happy to see that he is now Lead Growth in a startup of my portfolio. This guy is talented. Follow him ;)

   I was also lucky enough to hire another futur Rockstar: Augustin, who is managing and producing Youtube content with me.

   PS: Merci Tim & Gus 🙏

9. The (indirect) success of Scalability
   For more than 1 year, I have supported and advised Benjamin Donteville, who launched Scalability, A Growth Agency focusing exclusively on Outbound.

   I start to help him when he was “just” a freelancer with 3/4 of customers. He is now the owner of one of the most promising Growth agencies in Paris, onboarding a cofounder, and hiring a talented Growth Outbound Manager. X

   This year was the year of all records for Scalability, and I’m proud to be part of it!

10. Becoming a Board Member of a startup studio in Africa: mStudio
    I will never imagine that that will happen! If you ask me last year during the same period when I started to prepare 2022, that was not planned, but a few months later it happens. I’m now a Board Member of a Startup Studio in Abidjan 🇨🇮

    mStudio has the ambition to launch 4/6 startups to support the informal sectors in West Africa.

    My mission is to find an onboard talented founder while helping startups grow and find the product market fit.

    That was the first time I got paid for a mission on the African Continent.

11. I help 46 Talented Growth Profiles to change their career
    This is maybe the most significant achievement of the year, supporting 46 talents to find their new challenge in Growth. And at the same time helps 46 startups to build their Growth Team.

    Special mention to Mojo, Polar Analytic, Le Wagon, & Deep Reach for the perfect collaboration 👌

💰 Deep Dive: How did I make Money in 2022?

More important than the final amount, the way I made +250k must inspire you.

I’m always interested in connecting and talking about a potential collaboration, let’s talk about it: jeremy@goillot.com

My business was focused on 3 pillars:

1. VP Growth Part-Time
   I support B2B SaaS companies or Growth Agencies and Startups Studios to Grow. I mainly work with the CEO and the Head of Growth.

   I like to work like a Github Issue Framework, I have a list of problem assign to me and need to solve them.

   This can be: Hire a Head of Growth, Change the pricing or Launch a new acquisition Channel.

   This job is custom for each customer. I put in place simple pricing based on the time dedicated. Most of the job is done in Async with Recurring meetings every week.

   Most of my customers have 6 months agreement.

2. Building a Growth Team and hiring the Head of Growth for startups
   This is still the money maker of my activity because it answers one of the biggest needs of startups. Hire one of the most vital profiles of their teams.

   I try a lot of different formats, and at the end of the year, I was satisfied with the type of customers that I have and the satisfaction behind my work.

   I work exclusively with a Retainer (money paid upfront), and I get a success fee if the job is over.

   It’s different than Headhunter because I spend more time teaching the CEO how to hire a Head of Growth rather than contacting the profile myself.

   Most of my customers are Inbound or referrals.

   I want now to focus on the Head of position, completely remote, and managing a team.

   I need to be better at rejecting wrong-fit customers, who bring me more problems, and who don’t succeed in closing a candidate.

3. Launching the Job Board: growthtalent.org/jobs

   At the beginning of the year, I wanted to “Productise my Headhunting” activity by launching a job board. Inspired by RemoteOk.com.

   I was always frustrated by the job offers about Growth because most of them are boring, without context and clear missions. And none of them have a Salary range!

   We design with (Anagram.club), leveraging 200 members of Growth.Talent, the best Job offer possible for a Growth candidate. Make them very clear and attractive.

   We charge companies for the redaction and promotion of those job offers as Flat Fees. We don’t take commission or fees if the candidate is hired.

   It was a substantial investment in money (+40k€) and time (4 months), and as of today, the project is now profitable.

   I’m working with other Growth.Talent members who help me to redact and edit the job description.

   I have a lot of ambition for next year, making all the Job Board “Web3 Friendly” where members get paid to post offers or refer candidates.

   Our end goal is to make the best option for candidates to access the best opportunity in Growth.

“I made the mistake of managing my business like a unicorn rather than a solopreneur.”

I learned how to manage a business in a profitable way, I always had my Spendesk Reflex in mind to always hire in advance, works with the best freelance, take a bold decision, and not always check the ROI of a project…

💡 Here is my biggest mistake this year as Solopreneur:

• Invest more money than needed. My saving is very low in the end. I can’t take 1-month break.

• I hired 2 full-time people when the revenue was heavily dependent on me, I bring a monthly recurring cost on a non-recurring revenue. Some months were scary, I remember in July checking my bank account every night before going to bed.

• Investing 40k€ in branding + platform, buying the Rolls Royce as a first car instead of learning how to drive with a “No code” car 🙂

• Repeat the same mistake with youtube, +10k€ of equipment rather than an iPhone. I may have the highest cost per interview if you include plane tickets + hotels. Why didn’t I start with a simple Reel before traveling all around Africa with a professional caméra?

I realized about this problem during the summer and switch my activity around profitability. These are not easy decisions to make, but bring you peace of mind and cash flow.

💡 I faced the limit of the Solopreneur model (according to me):

• Being alone is not done for me, I need team spirit and diverse types of profiles. I miss my Spendesk team.

• Your business relies on your Name and not on a company. People want me, I can never be sick, tired, or send someone else. They want me.

• Your energy/motivation is your revenue. When you are not motivated, your revenue is down.

• I was not able to take brake/vacations, I’m depressed when I see that I’m missing business opportunities or potentially missing revenue.

My Qonto account during the year 2022

😇 PERSONALLY 

On a personal side, it was a busy and intense year. I took important decisions and commitments in my couple's life while supporting the people I love. I also offer fun to myself.

1. We signed a PACS with Maria ❤️
   I’m still in Love with the person who shares my life and supports me, trust me, it’s not that easy (to support me). After moving together last year, we’re now officially living together for both France & Colombian governments.

2. I got my 🏍️ Driving Licence and I own a Vespa PV150
   Yes, I’m this type of hipster driving a 1995 Vespa. I got my driving license in Colombia, and it was a fun process, very different than in France.

   I planning to keep the Vespa for a while before switching to a bigger moto. Do I still a minimalist after adding this item to my collection list? :)

   Let me know if you are in for a road trip in a Royal Enfield in Colombia.

3. I support Maria in her life change.

   After pushing/helping Maria, she decided to quit Mercado Libre, one of the biggest unicorns in LATAM, and start to study at Ironhack, the Bootcamp in Paris. She wanted to work in a smaller environment with more flexibility about Remote.

   She also launched her own podcast (El Brief de UX), and published 26 episodes 🤯 and reach 1,000 followers on Linkedin.

4. I help my Brother to start his career in the Startup Nation
   Geoffrey is the complete opposite of me, but he decided to do his first interview in the startup nation at Moka.Care. I was there to help him identify companies and create a persecuting spontaneous application.

   He is now looking for a 6-month internship as a Sales person inside Seed or Serie A startup. I guarantee that If he is not doing his quota, I will help the Growth department for free 😂

5. Continue to discover Africa
   That was my main goal for this year, to learn and discover about African countries, and for this time, I focused a lot on west Africa. I lived something quite magic, but I also faced corruption and injustice.

   But one thing is sure, Africa is the past and the future of our civilization.

6. Renovate my Flat in Paris and reach profitability on Airbnb
   After purchasing my apartment in November 2021, I took the time in May with my dad to fully renovate the kitchen, toilet, living room, and stairs of the Apartment.

   The result is impressive for 5 days of work and I clearly see the impact on Airbnb (+30% of the night price, +140% of occupation).

   Next year I want to build a Terrace in the bedroom and install the AC.

7. The purchase of my first NFT: cosmodinos.com

   I did not escape the hype behind NFT, I was lucky enough to learn everything from my close friend Valentin Salmon. Who succeeded in 2022 in launching one of the most extensive collections of NFT.

   Behind the hype, I was impressed to discover a lot of new technologies and payment solutions.

   “Why are gas fees too high?”, I had this type of newbie question back in time 🙂

   

8. Spend precious time with my Family ✅

   Living abroad and becoming older make you realize your family's importance. I’m happy about what I succeeded in creating in 2022 with the people I love the most. From a Mum's birthday trip in Portugal to camping 2 nights in the mountains, and hiking with my dad. Definitely not enough, but a perfect start :)

9. Welcome friends in Colombia
   In 2022 Colombia became my second country. Some Colombians are saying that I’m more Colombian than them now :) It’s always a pleasure to receive friends or friends of friends here.

   If you plan to discover Latin America, Colombia is definitely a place to come, and you will be well received!

10. Build a ‘Work from Home’ Setup
    Yes, I was this type of remote worker, selling expensive services while working from the dinner table. I spend a fortune on Coffees and coworking daily passes during the year. I took a step back and started to follow the Instagram Account CalmSetup, and the little geek inside me accepted his pulsion to invest in this setup.

Work from Home Setup, still missing pieces, I will be finished, I hope the 1st of February. 😊

⚡️ Deep Dive into my Content/Media strategy in 2022

Building content is a routine and a constraint that obligates me to be more creative, formalize more ideas and become more social. I don’t want to become an influencer and get money to create content, but I believe in building a product that can reach millions of people, start by doing it with yourself.

I learned faster than anyone the power of the network. When you grew up without any connections, you have to invest more than others. This is why I am building content!

I tried to dedicate between 12 to 16 hours per week to this content creation. When I was focusing on Youtube, it was almost 4 days per week :)

Last year I focused and doubled down on Linkedin and started to invest massively in Youtube

Here are my numbers, reach in 2022

💙 STATS ABOUT LINKEDIN

• Number of posts: 135 (vs. 73 in 2021)

• Number of reaches: 6 195 386 ( vs. 2,3M in 2021)

• Number of likes: 44 859 (vs. 28k5 in 2021)

In Average:

• 2,5 posts per week

• 332 likes per post

• 45 892 views per post

Here are my top 5 posts this year:

• Pourquoi on n’apprend pas à l’école que l’Afrique est plus grande que l'Europe, la Chine et les États-Unis réunis ?!

• Le Passport est l’objet le plus injuste au monde !

• Le Miami d’Afrique!

• Travailler en remote n’est pas fait pour tout le monde!

• C’est officiel on lance notre fonds d’investissement (Side-Fund) pour investir dans 20 startups africaines 🎉 🎉 🎉

💡Learnings about Linkedin:

• Have fun posting, don’t do it for the likes or business: I had a lot of fun producing posts this year

• Talking about Main Stream Subject generate more reach (Africa vs. Growth Marketing)

• Controversial posts have a good reach

• Reproduce your viral post is a good strategy: My analysis per African Countries

• Personal news is still your best post

• A short post, just with a picture can perform well

• The Senegal community is strong on Linkedin :)

• Video is not performing well for the moment

• The time you post has a strong impact on your reach

What I will love to try

• Repost/Recycle all my successfull post of 2022 in 2023

• Continue to share more videos on Linkedin

• Produce more posts in Spanish or English

• Succeed in talking about Remote Work without generating Virtual Signaling

• Talk more about travel and lifestyle

🔴 STATS ABOUT YOUTUBE

Youtube has always been my favorite platform, and I have always wanted to have a Youtube Channel. This is also the most challenging type of content. Speaking alone in front of a camera is not easy. But if I succeed in mastering it, the rest is history 🙂

I was also interested in having a platform where your content “never dies.” If you have a successful video, people will always watch it. For example, 4,000 people have watched my Spendesk Departure video from Last year 🤯

As an entrepreneur, I’m convinced that this channel will be one of the most significant acquisition levels in my next life. I need to understand the code. #LongTermVision.

• Number of videos posted: 15

• Number of Shorts posted: 31

• Number of subscribers: 1,029 🎉

• Number of views: 31,6k

💡Learning & Mistakes:

• Start small and post a lot

• Produce video quickly, less travel, fewer speakers, more selfie content iPhone recording.

• Short/Reel are more content viral and gets visibility to your channel

• I didn’t find a video format that I love (VLOG + TRAVEL + STARTUPS)

• For the interview format, we need to get people who already have visibility and people are interested to see

• It’s better to have 300 views where people watch 100% of the video than 10,000 of 5 min

• The script of the content of the video has to be aligned with the video

Youtube Analytic during the year, first video uploaded in September.

👍 My Favorite Content consumed this year

• 📚 My favorite book – The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness

• 🎥 My favorite documentary – Downfall: The Case Against Boeing (Netflix)

• 📹 My favorite YouTube Channel – Ali Abdaal

• 🎧 My favorite podcast – Transfert by Slate.fr

• 🎤 My favorite Rap Album – Civilisation @Orelsan (yes 2 year in a row)

🤩 Here are some crazy moments/experiences that ma this year unforgettable!

1. I got a Spendesk Tattoo – September 2017: “If 1 day we raised 100m€, I’ll tattoo the Spendesk Logo on my butts” …

2. Got “PACS” with Maria, and generally my life with her -Bring me love, stability and long term vision.

3. Hotel Collines de Niassam in Senegal – One of the best hotel I ever stayed

4. Being back in Mauritius Island – Fall in love about the island in 2018, I made a lot of friends, and it is a paradise. 💜 Manu, MERCI!

5. Assinie-Mafia Boat Tour with Cédric – One of the most peaceful place I seen in 2022, welcome by the best guest.

6. Insightful moment with friends – I did my best to create those moments, from Guatapé to Belleville.

7. Steve McCurry’s exposition in Paris – This is the type of Art I loved, portrait of people inside war countries.

8. Camping in the Pyréneés – All my family together for 2 days in the mountains, sleeping in tents. A “Madeleine de Proust” feeling

9. A lot of Golf – I started to Golf, mainly practice, very funny activity. We tried 5/6 different spot this year.

10. Football Game in Medellin: El Clásico Paisa – You can’t imagine the atmosphere when 2 teams from Medellin are playing agains each others.

11. My addiction to Karting – Another activities we discovered in 2022, where we spent a little bit too much money. I have to say that Rayan 🇨🇮 was the best driver I’ve faced.

12. New Year in Providencia 🇨🇴 – This little island in the Caribbean was so peaceful, celebrating with new friends in a paradisiaque beach.

💰 Zoom on my VC Fund - Kara .ventures

Quote from 2021 Review:

“What’s next:  Launching my own small fund next year to invest in emerging countries (LATAM + AFRICA).”

2021 was the year where I discovered Angel Investing. I made 19 investments, mainly in Fintech, in France, UK & USA.

Angel investing is an expensive hobby that stimulates you a lot. I’m always addicted to startups; I can spend my Saturday night watching startups on Crunchbase. Difficult to explain why.

After all those investments, I had the feeling that every investment was quite similar, from the founder's background to the Acquisition playbook. So I didn’t feel amazed anymore.

I started to connect & network with startups in the emerging market, particularly Africa, and I was learning new things every day. And to be honest, I was very fascinated by it.

To launch a project, you need to meet the right person, and this is what happened to me in February.

I met with Rena Kakon, a startup lawyer with solid experience in Africa, who wanted to start investing in Africa. It was the perfect match.

We start to connect weekly about this idea of investing together, then create a collective to finally decide to build a fund. Yes, I know having a lawyer as a co-founder is an unfair advantage.

(30 Sec - Start a VC Fund playbook) Here are the different steps we did before our first investment:

1. We write down these: how much money we will invest, what stage of the company, the average number of tickets, the number of tickets…

2. We list down why companies will accept our money

3. We make it very clear how we can support the company

4. We aligned on the type of investment we wanted to do

5. We start to connect with a lot of startups, I travel to Senegal and Rena to Kenya to test our thesis of investment in front of a startup.

6. We started to get interested in startups

7. We raised money, and even though Rena and myself invested 20% of the fund, we connected with other investors to onboard them in our project.

8. We incorporate the structure in Delaware: “Invest with Passion LLC” (that was the most expensive & complex part, kudos to Rena).

9. We continue to connect & reach out to startups. The best startups are not looking for money you need to chase them.

10. And then, we did it, our first ticket, inside the beautiful Payroll Software: Workpay 🇰🇪

11. It’s not over; this is just the beginning; a VC Fund needs between 7 to 10 years to be profitable. This is when we will know if yes or not we made money.

We visited 10 countries, interviewed 187 startups, and signed 6 investments. This is Kara Ventures.

As you may understand, I put most of my cash inside Kara Venture, I can’t invest in startups anymore, but I did 4 investments in France 🇫🇷 in 2022. Only in friend startups. Let me present them to you:

1. 🌍 Tocco.earth 🇫🇷 Launched by the talented Baptiste Debever
   Supplier management platform focused on sustainable sourcing. The company's platform helps in sourcing sustainable products, automating procurement processes, and managing the carbon footprint, enabling clients to reduce sourcing costs and offer better and more affordable products.

2. 🚢 GerCargo.io 🇫🇷 Founded for 2 ex Spendesk, Aurélien & Max CRMs are dead; use your data warehouse. Imagine running your campaign directly from Snowflake. An alternative to customer.io & Braze directly connected from your Data Warehouse.

3. 🕯️ Meterly 🇫🇷 Launched by Lucas Bedout (ex-VP Eng Spendesk)

   Solving billing issues of Software companies to allow them to test, iterate and deploy different pricing simultaneously. Finally, a billing software aligned with usage-based pricing.

4. 🪵  Louis.design 🇫🇷 Created by Thomas Devineaux Manufacturer of furniture intended to serve offices, made in France, sustainable, and fully customizable. They make office furniture sustainable that never gets old. Most of Spendesk tables are done by them 🙂

2022 was all about investment, and most of my energy went into it. Let’s talk about my big frustrations in the year.

🤯 Life is also challenging; here are my bad and frustrations during 2022

💼 PROFESSIONALLY 

1. I only have Side-Project, not Long term project that can change my life.
   Ok, I did a decent amount of money this year. I have been busy working on cool topics that I choose. I succeed in making it happen very fast.

   But now that I have this Solopreneur life, I want more. I want to have a business that is bigger than me, that solves one problem of thousands of people, and build a talented team to solve it. I want to build a startup again!

2. A lot of accounting & URSAFF issues

   I made the big mistake of taking an “Online Accountant,” which was not expensive when I created my company in March 2020. It was just a side business. But when this business grew, I just got nightmares and nightmares with the administration. Tax not being paid …

   I spent most of 2022 fixing those issues with my new accountant. I still do not understand how VAT collection failed all the time.

   It has become normal in France to work with a broken system. We all the time find excuses, like our National Health Care… But the way we’re treated by the administration is unacceptable.

All this shows for not “ticking” the right box in the Qonto settings.

3. How I managed my business + money
   I already talked about it, I managed my Solopreneur business like a startup with big ambitions. It took me ages (7 months) to understand that I needed to keep the extreme majority of Cash and not invest it (in the same business).

4. Not launch a Podcast or Show about Remote Work
   This is the subject that motivates me the most, and I didn’t produce any content relative to that. I sometimes need to choose who I am. Am I the Growth guy from Spendesk? The crazy Investor in African Startups? Or another Remote Worker?

   I need to keep in mind that people remind you for one thing and need to make that thing so obvious.

5. My inbox EXPLODED (👋 Inbox 0)

   I like to reply fast to emails and be super reactive, but in 2022 I failed terribly…

   First, my Linkedin became as busy as AirFrance support during a strike, and I didn’t pass the cap to “not reply to people.”

   Second, I didn’t prioritize it, for me, “Doing my mail” is an activity when you have nothing else to do. I always find something more “urgent” than INBOX 0.

   Third, How do you manage Whatsapp? I just got FULL of messages all the time!

   Next year will be different. I want to be better on Whatsapp, Linkedin & Email, have templates to reply to, inbox 0 most of the time, and spend at least 1 hour in my Inbox daily.

6. I don’t know who my followers are

   I reached the cap of 25,000 followers on Linkedin, there are people who have the feeling to know me, but I never heard about them. Here are 2 fun facts.

   I went to my bank in the countryside in France (Ariège 09), and the guy at the front desk said: “Oh Jeremy, I follow you on Linkedin..”

   More seriously, while traveling in Africa, I interacted with people who followed me and made my life so much easier, giving me a car, connecting me with people, organize trips for us.

   I’m sure that behind these 25,000 numbers are my next co-founders, roommates, investors, or best friends.❓ Any tips to know you better?

7. I didn’t build my Hotel, not enough cash in the bank…
   I always have in mind to build a Hotel for remote workers, where you can stay 1 month in a luxury apartment and enjoy the common area, pool, podcast studio, coworking, kitchen…

   I already find the land in Medellin, where I want to build it.

   This project is on hold until I can sell my Spendesk stocks to finance it. Otherwise, I have to convince a private investor, and I’m already raising a VC Fund; I ask too much money this year.

   I will love to explore this possibility next year and make it happen.

😇 PERSONALLY 

1. Not launch a side project with Maria, my brother, or my best friend
   Am I becoming used to having Side projects, right? But I failed in launching a “small one” with someone that I love sincerely outside of work 🙂

   We had a bunch of ideas, from the Silent Room for Podcast or Zoom Call in Medellin to a new podcast about travel and work to selling Concrete frames. But nothing goes through.

2. Not invest in real estate…
   I learn a lot while buying and renovating my flat in Paris, I’m happy to live in one of the most profitable cities in the world on Airbnb (Medellin 🇨🇴). I need to continue to invest in real estate.

   I definitely need to become more friends with Real Estate agents in Colombia.

3. Create more moments & memories with my family
   It must always be a frustration. To remind you how important they are to you. I want to continue to make those moments meaningful. Only one goal for next year, more meaningful moments than 2022.

4. I spend more time with strangers than with my friends.
   Most of my week I have between 20 to 35 calls from CEOs who raised money to people looking for a new jobs. I spend more time on the phone with “strangers” than my friends.

   That may be rational, but I feel sad about it.

In general, I’m a frustrated person, and this is my engine in life. I’m working against frustration, but It always has been the same.
It will still be in 2023. (and I have a lot to focus on 😂)

🌎 Places visited

• I started 2022, Celebrating from Cuzco in Peru 🇵🇪

• Huacachina 🇵🇪

• Lima 🇵🇪

• Salento 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Curaçao 🇨🇼 - to celebrate my 27 birthday 🎂

• Ibagué 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• 17 February - Moving back to France 🇫🇷

• Toulouse 🇫🇷

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Rennes + Mont Saint-Michel 🇫🇷

• Copenhagen 🇩🇰

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Etretat 🇫🇷

• Porto 🇵🇹

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Dakar 🇸🇳

• Sally 🇸🇳

• Sine Saloum 🇸🇳

• Dubrovnik 🇭🇷

• Split 🇭🇷

• Hvar 🇭🇷

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Mauricius Island 🇲🇺

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Toulouse 🇫🇷

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Ibagué 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Bogota 🇨🇴

• Guatapé 🇨🇴

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Accra 🇬🇭

• Lagos 🇳🇬 (The city I was the most surprised in 2022)

• Accra 🇬🇭

• Sao Tomé and Principe 🇸🇹

• Accra 🇬🇭

• Abidjan 🇨🇮

• Asinie 🇨🇮

• Accra 🇬🇭

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Toulouse 🇫🇷

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Bogota 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Ibagué 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• San Andres 🇨🇴

• Providencia 🇨🇴 🏝️ to celebrate the end of the year in Paradise.

🎯 What are my goals for 2023?

Don’t tell people what you will do. Show them what you did! See you next year :) 

But wait a moment, I know what I want for next year:

• I want to spend more time in the same place and have a better routine

• I will speak less and ask more questions

• I want to have a BIG PROJECT on top of my current side project, where I allocate most of my time and energy for the following years.

• It’s mean I want to build or join a very early-stage startup with strong ambition

• I want to optimize my Fiscal & Tax setup

• I want to spend more time with my family and friends

• I want to interview 10 Celebrities that I admire for my Youtube Channel

• I want to climb a summit higher than the Mont Blanc

• I want to own another Real Estate Property

• I want to dive deep into Meditation technics and breathing tricks

And I will continue to take risks, documents and share them.

2023 = 365 days; how will you use them?

From Providencia 🇨🇴 with determination for 2023.

Jérémy.

That’s all for this year!

If you enjoyed this year’s review, hit reply and let me know. I love hearing from you!