This post marks an attempt to publish more personal & regular articles. I’ve actually written this part yesterday, but thought I’d split my post in two smaller and more manageable bits.
Throughout the day, I try to switch off of my client work to catch up on interesting newsletters, and other bit of news.1
You can also find me hanging out on my Twitter or Facebook feeds sporadically. Interestingly I’ve ditched Snapchat and catch up on Instagram and its stories because I also use the app for my client work. Posting on several accounts, I also take a minute to see what my friends have posted recently.
Around 3-4pm, until 5-6pm, I get to see and hang out with the girlfriend, as she comes home for her break from work (she works in a restaurant). Usually, she comes home and naps, and later I walk her to the restaurant and we stop for a coffee and sweet treat on the way. It’s a good way for us to spend some time together throughout our work days, but also for me to head out and take a breather from work.
It also serves two more purposes:
First, it allows me to find the time to run errands before heading home.
And perhaps more importantly, it helps me find the time to find my composure and reflect upon the tasks I need to finish before the end of the day. I usually make a mental note, or sometimes jot my thoughts down in OmniFocus, my productivity app of choice.2
I usually stop working around 7pm, when a French TV show called Quotidien comes on the air. It’s a mixture of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — two of my favourite daily talk shows in the US. Essentially, they take a critical look at the day’s news, focus on one important topic in the first half, and then take a more relaxed approach to subjects of concern.
With the French Presidential election coming on next year, you can be sure that politicians are heavily featured in the spotlight these days.
To be continued tomorrow when I’ll be talking about a totally different subject…
Here’s something else that I need to write about: newsletters I subscribe to, podcasts I listen to, music platforms I use (and their different purposes.)↩
Having recently purchased a GoPro to help me with my Vlogs, I was waiting to use the exciting new Quik Desktop, the laptop-friendly version of a french-made iOS app to help streamline the entire editing process.
Turns out it was already available, but needed to be found on the support pages of the GoPro website. (It wasn’t on the main page when I looked 10 days ago.)
Long story short, I’ve finally found, downloaded, and installed it, and I’m excited to give it a try!
This post marks an attempt to publish more personal & regular articles. Let’s see if I manage to write more frequently.
It’s Monday here. Just like any other time during the week, I woke up, and started my day with coffee and catching up on a TV show. Most Mondays, it’s a broadcast of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, from the night before.
After this start, I usually walk up the stairs in this lovely duplex apartment, to take a shower, which usually gives me time to listen to some music and clear my thoughts for the day.
Then, it’s finally time to get to work. While I catch up on emails and other planning & notifications, I tend to listen to Monocle’s The Globalist1, to catch up on global news, away from a crazy 24h news cycle.
At the moment, I’m actually quite worried about the humanitarian crisis in Syria, but also about the prospect of the upcoming Second Cold War - which sounds like something out of a Marvel comic book but is actually a real prospect. And these two issues are actually tied together. 2
This week, I’ll be taking some of my client work in a different direction, and I’m excited to test new things to get better results on their behalf.
It’s always interesting to start with business goals and then look at what you can achieve at the current point in time, given the things that you can do, and the stuff that needs to be put on the side until you get the right assets and moving parts.
It’s rare that I pick up a printed book or newspaper these days. But I’m buying more magazines than I ever have – they’re just better and more expensive.
There’s nothing else I need to add here — My own experience closely ressembles' Adam’s. And to go one layer deeper[^1], Offscreen Magazine, the one used in Adam’s first photo here, is actually the magazine that kickstarted my obsession for indie magazines, back in 2012.[^2]
It is Friday, October 14th at the time of writing. A lot has been happening, outside of work, and I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.
On today’s TibzLetter:
Work
Life
Preparing a trip to Paris
Halloween
Work
But let’s talk about work first: until my Parisian trip (November 2nd-10th — see you there?), I’m trying to focus on doing a lot of work and billing my clients accordingly, so that I can take it easy (easier?) by the time we get to the end of the year…
Some days are a bit hectic, I have to say, balancing some time between two clients on tasks & projects that both have certain level of urgency. But some other days, like today, are a bit quieter and allow me to breathe in a little.
Life on the French Riviera
The weather has been really nice here, up until October 2nd. I managed to beat my self-imposed challenge of wearing shorts every day of the month of September.
Since then, it’s been a bit grey-er and a bit cold-er. And as I type these lines, we’ve just had about 36 hours of straight up rain and storm. It’s nice though: I swapped continuous small bits of rain 3 times a week for a much warmer, nicer weather where, in turns, you get 2-3 days of intense rainstorm.
Preparing a trip to Paris
I’ll be in Paris next month. (Or did I mention that already?) Well, I’ve already got a few activities planned out, amongst which one exhibition and two concerts:
John Carpenter Live at Le Grand Rex (the formerly biggest cinema in Europe).
Which leads me to…
Halloween
Halloween is in about 2 weeks, and I’ll be travelling to see my family and relatives when it happens, so I decided to start early this year: this means finally watching these classic late 1970’s to early 1990’s horror movies from the Master himself.
On my watchlist so far, I’ve got:
The “Apocalypse Trilogy” which actually consists of
The Thing
Prince of Darkness
In the Mouth of Madness
They Live
The Fog
Halloween
Escape from L.A. (I’ve seen the first “Escape from New York” recently)
Christine
Big Trouble in Little China
And as a non-Carpenter-related bonus:
Halloween I & II (the Rob Zombie remakes)
Hellraiser (which believe it or not, I’ve never seen)
If you have any other suggestions, I’d be happy to hear it: leave me a comment below!
That’s is for me this week. I had a lot to talk about, but I’ve saved some for next week! Take care all of you, and have a great weekend!
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!
Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot more music, bringing the ratio of music-to-podcast back to a healthy 50%.
I needed something to work along to, and since re-reading this article, I figured, why not listen to something hard, heavy and filthy: Skrillex. Beats1 has actually given Skrillex his own show, called “OWSLA Radio”, after his own label. So I caught up on recent episodes here on Mixcloud:
At some point in this sixth episode, Skrillex & co started shouting someone’s name: “Bibiii”. This part of the episode kinda stayed with me. So, earlier today, when I browsed through I-D’s website and saw a video feature about the lady in question, I decided to check it out.
Turns out that Bibi is actually a songwriter who’s written Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money”. And one of the background tracks in the video is from her. Something I had heard before but hadn’t had the chance to identify the singer at the time. I started listening to her on Spotify. She’s actually released her debut EP “Free The Real (Pt. #1)”today!
So then, I started adding Jon Bellion to my Spotify Listening Queue. I’ve been a fan of his for a couple of years now and can’t wait for his first studio album (“The Human Condition” —out June 10th.) I really like Jon’s style, and have so much respect for him because he’s able to write, sing, produce and record all on his own. He’s just ridiculously talented.
And then I looked over on Hypebeast Music, one of my favourite websites to keep up with music, only to realise that 3 albums that I expected had dropped.
and on a more gangsta-related note, Skepta’s latest album “Konnichiwa”
Kaytranada
This album is SO GOOD! Kaytra is an incredibly talented beat maker and producer based out of Montreal. I’ve discovered him via Soulection’s iconic radio shows and I was so excited about his debut LP. And the man delivered!
This is a great album that will get you to jump, dance, vibe, and enjoy! And a possibly the album to play all summer long!
Like his previous albums, James Blake delivered a very ambiant and melancholic album. I love this type of music and this really did it for me. I feel like it’s gonna be on repeat all autumn/winter-long. It’s the kind of music you listen to on repeat on a rainy day, when the sky is grey and your mood is clearly meh.
But just like everything Blake touches, it’s really well produced. And I’ve absolutely loved “I need Forest Fire”, featuring… BON IVER (!!!)
At 17 tracks for a total of 76mn, it’s a long one, but definitely worth your while.
And finally, the return of the king of grime. I’m not too familiar with grime or with Skepta in general, but there’s been a lot of hype for this album, and around Skepta and grime in general, so it was very interesting for me to indulge in this artist’s world.
Since the announcement of Prince’s passing, I’ve finally taken the time to educate myself and listen to his music, trying to learn from the different records he’s put out over the past 40 years.
Prince was an artist who’s transcended music: he was moving across other arts, has influenced the world of fashion, and was so influential that he’s amongst the handful of human beings that have done more for the acceptance of others, regardless of their identities, gender and sexuality, than most politicians, regulators, or even artists.
But coming back to the music, I was impressed to learn that he simply knew everything about music: creating and playing, of course, but also all of the technical aspects that go into making and publishing a record. Legend has it that he showed up to a Music Studio as a teenage musician, and impressed the owner so much that the latter gave him a job working some of the machines (remember this is the 80’s, we take it for granted that one could potentially create, produce and release an entire album from a computer or an iPad nowadays.)
I’ve done a lot of reading over the past week or so, adding articles from the New York Times, Pitchfork, the New Yorker, Rolling Stones, The Atlantic, and many others, on to my Instapaper queue. However the piece that’s actually done the best job at explaining who Prince was as an artist was probably the personal one written by Michael Oates-Palmer for Vox.com
I remember being again stunned by his guitar playing. He was so good at everything else — singing, songwriting, dancing, being his crazy self — that we so rarely talk about how phenomenal a guitar player he was.
That second part of the quote also hits the spot:
Think of that: probably the fourth skill in his toolbox, and he was one of the 10 greatest guitar players of all time. One of the only ones of the last 30 years where even if you hear just three-seconds of a lick, you instantly know it's him.
Properly listening and discovering Prince, I’ve come to realise that what I had in mind when thinking of “crazy 80’s guitar solo” was actually Prince. 80’s trademark sounds: Prince. Some of the biggest hits in the history of pop music? Yep: Prince too!
Between the deaths of Prince and David Bowie, 2016 has left a giant gap by taking away two seemingly immortal legends responsible for some of the best party anthems we’ve ever heard, at a time when the love and partying would be much appreciated. Like Bowie, Prince will be sorely missed, however I’m grateful to live in a day an age where it’s so easy to discover so much about these artists. Time to educate myself.
