My 2017 — The Year of Side Hustle
I’m late about publishing this, but 2017 was a defining year for me. Not only it marked the entrance into my thirties, but I kept experimenting, brushed up on my skills, and launched new projects. As a result, I gained creative confidence, and now have a clearer picture of where I’m headed. Here are the highlights of my year.
👊🏽 Self-Initiated Projects
Flow Supply Co.
The very first version of Flow Supply went live at the beginning of January. It was some kind of blog feed, meant to test out the idea of later opening an online store of useful and nice-looking office items.
Yet, the concept quickly changed, as I decided to focus exclusively on punchy, colorful posters and prints. To my great surprise, that second, early-stage version of the website was posted on Product Hunt, gaining more than 400 upvotes and landing amongst the top three products of the day.
After a few refinements, Flow Supply Co. now consists of an online gallery, showcasing the posters of independent designer and illustrators, that are available to buy on their own, artist-run online stores. To support their work, it is featured on the site for free, without affiliate links either, meaning that I don’t charge a commission off the prints sold via my website.
While it doesn’t allow for revenues yet, this model seems to pay off: the traffic on the site is now stable at 3,000 monthly average visitors, which is a good start.
Fresh Fonts
While I knew absolutely nothing about typography, in August I launched Fresh Fonts, a newsletter showcasing the newest, tightest and most solid typefaces released by independent foundries from around the world, including free and open source fonts.
By doing so, not only I quickly found out that I have a weak spot for fonts, but I also learned a ton about type design. I strongly enjoy the process, too, of screening the web for new typefaces and putting these emails together. This is in great part thanks to Revue, the incredibly user-friendly tool that I’m using to publish the newsletter.
After a few issues, I started sending the newsletter every two weeks, and by the end of the year, Fresh Fonts counted a bit more than 1,000 subscribers.
Main Learnings
A few good business advices that I picked from different makers and CEOs and tried to apply to my own projects through the year:
“Building a startup? Build an audience, first.” — Ryan Hoover
I came across this small post in which Ryan explains why you should take the time to build an audience before launching your company. Among other things, having an audience strongly helps with customer development by giving you an easy access to feedback, and letting you personally know who your customers are and what needs they have.
“But we’re taking it slow because we want to get it right.” — Ben Chestnut
This was probably my most important learning for 2017. While some people swear by the motto ‘move fast and break things’, I have come to realize that real progress is in slow things, and following long-term goals. It does take a lot of patience, but I guess all great things (and businesses) do.
“You need to keep launching, that’s the new thing.” — levels.io
This quote is from an awesome talk that Pieter gave at Growth Tribe. What he meant is that, in addition to doing a massive outreach to the press and to influencers when launching your product, you can do it again whenever you roll out new features or product versions.
Not only this tells your users that you keep improving the product, but it is of great help to attract new users as well. I would only add this:
“Launching is easy, consistently shipping new versions is hard.” — Tobias van Schneider
🌴 Travels
Chicago
I didn’t get the chance to travel much last year, but I was able to pay my friend John a visit in Chicago, discovering the American Midwest for the first time.
Chicago was literally love at first sight. I was welcomed with outstanding views over the Michigan Lake and the city’s skyline.
While exploring a few of its 200 neighborhoods, I met with local artists, hid behind the shelves of vintage bookstores and attended a few comedy shows. Overall, I had a great time and can’t wait to go back!
Vancouver
My cousin’s wedding in June gave me the perfect excuse to go and spend some time in Vancouver. While the city itself felt surprisingly small and quiet, especially when compared to Chicago, I found the locals very laidback and exceptionally friendly.
Also, I could clearly note some differences with the East Coast of Canada — Vancouver is much more outdoorsy, thanks to its warmer winters, and also, has a pretty strong Asian influence. Being the foodie that I am, I couldn’t help but take advantage of the affordable sushi everywhere. 😅
Secret Cove, BC
After carb-loading in Vancouver, I headed to Secret Cove, a beautiful spot off the coast of British Columbia, for my cousin’s lovely summer wedding. I mean… look at these two? 😍
Some guests even had the chance to sleep in pretty luxurious house tents, sitting right above the water. Taking notes for the next time I need a romantic getaway!
Montreal
Well, what can I say? I have a thing for Montreal. Spending the summer on “the Plateau”, I rediscovered the city that I had left six years before, falling back in love with its diversity, open mindedness and artsy vibe (and food, let it be said).
👾 Events & Entertainment
Mutek Montreal
I attended Mutek for the first time, a now international festival born in Montreal, that brings together electronic music and digital art. Last year’s edition was its most ambitious ever, celebrating both Montreal’s 375th anniversary and Canada’s 150th.
While Mutek took place in different locations, part of the live shows were hosted at SAT, the Society for Arts and Technology. What makes this venue truly distinctive is its ‘Satosphère’, a theater shaped as a dome that provides immersive experiences, placing the audience in the middle of its 360-degree spherical projection screen and 157 speakers. It’s definitely a pretty sick place for live performances!
Dynamic / MTL
I also made sure not to miss the twelth edition of Dynamic/MTL in August, where Eric Hu gave a pretty epic talk in which he introduced a new approach to rebranding “from the bottom up.” Eric also shared how his team and him designed a flexible typographic system to adapt to SSENSE’s changing tones and attitudes, with the help of Swiss type foundry Dinamo.
Best Movies I’ve Seen
Moonlight because altough the main character is not very talkative, even somewhat inexpressive, it transcended so many emotions that I could totally relate to. A touching story of loss, love, thoughening up and opening up.
Dunkirk for the growing tension that I could feel while watching this ever-intensifying story unfold. Of the two hours, there wasn’t a single second that I wasn’t completely absorbed by the movie. This doesn’t happen a lot!
Blade Runner 2049 for the outstanding quality of the visuals and aerial shots. I don’t buy easily into the sci-fi genre, but this was something else. Also, because both Denis Villeneuve and Ryan Gosling are Canadians.
✍🏻 Reading & Writing
Best Books I’ve Read
Here’s my Top Three for 2017: Originals by Adam Grant, The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno, and Mastery by Robert Greene. If you’re curious to know why, stay tuned — I’m cooking a blog post about five life-changing books that I recently read, including these three!
Writing
I unfortunately published very little writing in 2017. I didn’t post any new articles on my blog, but near the end of the year, I contributed a small piece for 8px Magazine, a new online magazine created by Luis Ouriach. It includes great take aways by talented designers and makers, and it’s available here.
🧘 ️Health & Sports
Kicked diabetes ass!
I was diagnosed with prediabetes two years ago, which is also one of the reason why I had to stay in Canada, to benefit from free healthcare. At my great surprise, after months of intense physical activity and a strict diet, in January I was told that I had reverted it— meaning that my blood sugar levels were back to normal. While I am still at risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life, this is very exceptional, and a massive victory for me!
Rafting
I went rafting for the first time during the summer, and god, that was amazing. We were lucky to catch the river on a day that the flow was particularly strong, making it only more exciting. Because I was the only one to remain on the boat when it capsized, I later jumped off into the rapids to get my own taste of the water.
I honestly loved every part of the experience, not only it reminded me of the soothing effect of being surrounded by nature, but it’s also a great way to explore the beautiful rivers of Canada. For me, it’s the perfect balance between danger and fun, and I can’t wait to go back!
Mindfulness
It’s been following me for years, but I have the tendency to get anxious and start losing sleep easily when feeling stressed. Thinking that it would help, for the first time in my life, I started seeing a therapist on a regular basis. All I can say is that it has been of invaluable help, slowly making me realize what the true sources of my anxiety were.
Of course, I’m still working on it, but I’m already much more aware of my needs and emotions, and how to communicate them better. Also, after realizing that I am the one in charge of my own happiness and well-being, I am learning how to protect myself, forgive, and move on.
Thanks for a great year everyone! ✨
I’m a Swiss designer, developer and marketer. I build, launch and grow my own projects. I’m currently building Flow Supply Co. and publishing the newsletter Fresh Fonts. Although I have a strong business education, I am wildly passionate about design, typography and anything happening at the crossroads of startups, technology and design. I live between Barcelona and Montreal and am an avid traveller (and foodie). Reach out if you would like me to write for you! — Noemi
