2023 Goals

It’s now July 2023 and I’ve made enough progress to feel comfortable sharing the goals I wrote down in January for the year.

They were only two: 1) to start a product studio company based in the US and 2) to move to Sweden.

2022 was a pivotal year. I left the Catfarm eco-community after 19 months of volunteering, found and lost love, and got back into freelancing as a SEO / technical writer. 2023 felt like the right time to kickstart a new chapter.

As I’m approaching 30, I need a long-term plan for my financial stability and health. Creating an umbrella company in the US and label it as a product studio is a no-brainer, since it allows me to make the most of my skills and experience while giving me the flexibility to work on my own things and simply live. Having one company in Europe and another in the United States also gives me peace of mind.

I approached my Twitter friend Joel Benjamin to be my co-founder because we’ve worked together in the past, he has complementary skills, and we share a similar mindset of finding balance between work and personal freedom. 3 months later, we’re now incorporated in Wyoming and have a bank account and customers. I’m still figuring out my business model regarding SEO services, but I’m already ramen profitable.

In parallel, I moved to Sweden in April. Packed everything in my car and drove 2000 km to Varmland.

My initial plan was to get there and buy some land, but I figured out it would be much simpler to simply build a floating house on a lake. No building permit required, no taxes, no mortgage, no bills.

I rented an Airbnb for a month and built the prototype in the backyard in 2 weeks. Then, I sailed for 100 km to Karlstad and settled there in June. I found a spot not far from the city and bought a little rowboat while renting a place.

Now the prototype is done, I’m finishing up the final version to live in it. Shouldn’t take more 2 weeks to get there. My only remaining priority is to winterize it before the end of September.

I’d say I’ve achieved my goals for 2023, but I still have 6 months remaining. I’m taking two weeks off to visit family in France, and I’ll leave Sweden in October to spend winter in Asia and come back next year.