WelcomeAnother week, another newsletter! I hope that you all had a great one 🤩 This week has been TOUGH for me. We all face challenges. But sometimes, the weight feels like it's all just too much. Mine was like that. I'll tell you more in the Business section... Apart from that, life is good. The sun is back, school is over, and vacations are just around the corner (we're leaving to France in about a week). I'll use that time to relax, recharge, and think about the most impactful next steps I can take. Alright, let's gooooo 🚀
This is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts, and support my work, become a subscriber.
BusinessAs I said, this has been a TOUGH week... It all started with an "unexpected" invoice from my accountant. Knowing that my company has ~6K left in the bank, you can imagine how receiving a $3K invoice feels. Especially having paid 7.5K€ of taxes (company) and ~7K€ on a personal level. In an instant I realized that I had half the money left I thought I had. I already felt heavily under pressure to finally "succeed", but now I just feel like Joe Biden during his recent debate against Donald Trump. I feel like it's almost over, and I have little hope of being able to do anything about it. Being a solopreneur is a lonely journey. I did my best, and I'm proud of that, but it just wasn't enough so far... I will try to continue, but there's not much time left, that's for sure. I'm hesitating to invest some of my savings to keep going for a tad longer, but I feel like it's a really bad idea. The opportunity cost is already huge (over 30K€ of potential savings per year), so I probably should just call it a day, accept that my business has failed, and go back to work fulltime as an employee, even though it's clearly not what I want. As the popular song goes "You can't always get what you want". I'm not sure what to do next, and I have no one to turn to. It's a lonely path... My journey so far as an entrepreneurI need to write this to remind myself that I did all I could, based on what I knew at the time. I started without any help, without any funding. Zero, nada. I just knew I wanted to live a different life, expand my horizons, and learn new things. And on that level, I succeeded, and had a blast for the last five years. Here's a small recap of my journey so far... In 2018, I kept thinking about starting a business, working on a startup project, becoming a consultant, etc. I'm no risk taker, but I knew it's what I really wanted to do next. I had enough money set aside, and felt safe enough. I didn't know much about entrepreneurship, but I knew I'd find the answers. I've always been a problem solver and fast learner. I took a year off, launched my company in early 2019, and started consulting right away. I negotiated a contract with a small Belgian startup then worked for different clients. I was making 15-20K€/month, so that was good. But after a while, I realized that it just wasn't for me. I did not enjoy it much. I wanted to work on my own projects and dreams, not merely realize those of others. Meanwhile, I wrote and published an 800-pages book about the TypeScript programming language that was well received: I then worked for two years on a startup project that crashed and burned. We failed to go to market. I wrote about that story here: Moreover, my company almost went bankrupt during Covid. I had no consulting clients, and almost no money left in the bank. My company was saved by the government that was spraying money to keep companies alive. It was a traumatic experience, and it took me a long while to get back on my feet. Meanwhile, I had to go back to work half-time as an employee, which made me feel even worse. I continued writing, and published 3 more books about Software Development. I wanted to share my passion about the field. I had a grand vision of publishing a series of 12 books. I knew that many people were looking for something to help them get a more holistic view of IT and software development. It didn't exist on the market, and I wanted to make it happen. I ended up realizing that my project was too ambitious and would require many more months of work. I had no runway to continue and needed to try something else... I only sold a handful of copies, then decided to pivot. I still want to continue working on those books, but they'll have to wait... I've been blogging for many years. And over the last couple of years, I published hundreds of articles and newsletters, sharing my knowledge and ideas. I love writing, sharing ideas, teaching, and most importantly, helping others grow. At some point I pivoted to writing about Knowledge Management, realizing that there was a gap in the market, and way too few creators focusing on that. I wrote many articles on that topic, and also shared thousands of notes. And I'm not kidding, I have published more than six thousand notes:  My public notes A closer look:  A closer look at my public notes Once I fully recovered from my failed startup, I wanted to build a new product, focusing on Personal Knowledge Management. I started doing tons of research... Interestingly, the end result was not a startup (even though I had concrete plans), but what remains the largest collection of resources on the topic:
Personal Knowledge Management Library
IntroWho is this for?You want to learn how to organize your personal knowledgeYou wonder how to take smart notesYou want to remember more of what you readYou want to improve your knowledge management skillsIf concepts/acronyms such as PKM, SecondBrain, Zettelkasten, Evergreen notes, and Digital Garden make you curious, then you’ve come to the right place!It is well-known that our memories are not reliable. To store and organize knowledge bases, we need digital solutions to help us. But that’s not enough. To keep things manageable over time as our knowledge base scales, we need clear techniques and methodologies.What is this?I’ve been passionate about information, knowledge management, and PKM for more than 20 years. As a knowledge worker, author, blogger, and entrepreneur, I needed solutions to store and organize an enormous amount of information.Over the years, I’ve explored, used, and advocated many different tools: old-school wikis (e.g., MediaWiki, TiddlyWiki, DokuWiki, Confluence), note-taking solutions such as Evernote, Google Keep, Microsoft OneNote, Okular, Zim, and many more.Recently, the Personal Knowledge Management space has evolved a lot with the rise of tools such as Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research, LogSeq, and others. Those have drastically changed the knowledge management landscape and brought us the opportunity to manage knowledge much more efficiently, and to truly create ourselves a second brain, or digital garden.During most of 2021, I’ve done extensive research and curated a ton of information and links about the Personal Knowledge Management space. I’ve now regrouped all of this inside of a Notion space.It is now a solid database of the best resources you can find on the subject around the InternetEach and every week I add new resources to this Notion space: articles, blogs, books, courses, tools, videos, etc. This includes the content that I publish myself on the subject and my weekly newsletter.What you will getHere, you can buy lifetime access to my Notion space, and get regular updates; either for you personally, or for your team.What’s included?A list of 290+ toolsLinks to 350+ articlesLinks to 145+ videosA list of 90+ books about learning, thinking, writing, note-taking, journaling, neuroscience, psychology, stoicism, etcLinks to 225+ sites & blogsA list of 75+ Youtube channelsA list of 90+ coursesA list of 90+ newslettersA list of 40+ podcastsA list of podcast episodesA list of 70+ communities and forumsA list of ~2K PKM leaders, influencers, and enthusiastsA list of 50+ starter kits and templatesA list of 100+ Twitter hashtags to followA list of 80+ topics and links to relevant articles, books, videos, etcAnd more!I will keep adding to the Notion space, and I’ll continue contributing information for the whole community.You’ll also get lifetime access to the Personal Knowledge Management community for support and knowledge sharing.RefundsIf you’re not 100% satisfied, then just let me know, and I’ll issue a full refund. I’ll only ask one question: what can I do to improve the product.If you think about asking for a refund, then consider reaching out to me with your issues, questions, and remarks. I’m always available and happy to help. My goal is to help you succeed.
I then met a like-minded entrepreneur, and we started building focusd, a product that we both wanted/needed. Our idea was to mix time blocking, routines, and note-taking, with a strong calendar integration. I still believe such a tool would be valuable for many, but we ended up parting ways after creating the first design prototype. The timing was not right... While creating that prototype, I learned a lot about Figma, which was both interesting, and fun. The landing page and wait list are still up, but the project is dormant. I still plan on building it someday... I've kept the community around, because I enjoy discussing about sane productivity habits: Ultimately, after selling 200+ copies of the PKM Library, I realized that instead of building a startup, I could first focus on making small and riskless bets, creating tiny products like this, and building a community around my work. I was heavily influenced by Arvid Kahl's book: "The Embedded Entrepreneur" and by Daniel Vassalo's work. Meanwhile, I continued working as an IT consultant until the end of 2023. Not because I wanted to, but because I needed to keep my business going. This put a strict limit on the time I could actually invest in my own projects. At the time, I was already using Obsidian, and realized that my system could actually be valuable to others. Thus, I created the Obsidian Starter Kit, a complete solution mimicking my own approach. I knew it worked great, since I was (and still am) using it every single day:
Obsidian Starter Kit and community
Who is this for?You are just getting started with note-taking or you’ve recently switched to ObsidianYou wonder how to take smart notesYou want to know how to properly organize your notes and avoid creating an overwhelming messYou want a solid system that scalesYou wonder what Zettelkasten, the PARA method, and the Johnny decimal system areGetting started with Obsidian is not the hardest thing in the world, but it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out how to structure and organize your knowledge base. You have a busy life, and you don’t want to spend weeks or even months figuring out the “right” approach.What is this?I’ve been passionate about information, knowledge management, and PKM for more than 20 years. As an author, blogger, knowledge worker, and entrepreneur, I needed solutions to store and organize an enormous amount of information.Over the years, I’ve explored, used, and advocated many tools but have been using Obsidian extensively since 2020. With the Obsidian Starter Kit, I offer you the result of my own research and experimentation. It’s like a cheat code to jump straight to stress-free note-making.I’ve spent months refining and perfecting my Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) system, and have spent countless hours tweaking my system. I’ve published a few articles to share some ideas about this. My system combines the Zettelkasten approach, the PARA method, the Johnny decimal system, and other ideas to create a solid basis for my work as an author, blogger, and content creator.The Obsidian Starter Kit is a ready-made Obsidian vault that includes my recommended organization system and plugins, as well as example notes to help you get started. It also comes along with a user-friendly guide.What’s included?If you buy access to the Obsidian Starter Kit, you’ll get:The Obsidian vaultA comprehensive and solid structure with support for Journaling and ZettelkastenLeveraging the PARA method and the Johnny Decimal systemMany recommended plugins to boost productivity and automate actionsA clear system for Journaling, Meeting Notes, Periodic reviews, etcMany templates to improve consistency and productivityA powerful dashboardMaintenance notes (e.g., find duplicate and orphaned notes)Automation rulesMany examplesThe user guideLifetime access to the Personal Knowledge Management community for support and knowledge sharingIn addition, you’ll also get free access to all future updates. Over time, I’ll expand it step by step to include tutorials about the various aspects; from exploration/curation to summarization and reuse.What’s in the user guide?The user guide is a growing and evergreen knowledge base about how to take smart notes. It includes:Installation instructions.Details about the contents of the Obsidian Starter Kit (i.e., Obsidian vault structure, key design principles, included plugins, etc.)A clear overview of Obsidian and its core concepts (everything you should know and care about)Clear explanations about...The Zettelkasten methodAtomic notesProgressive summarizationThe PARA methodThe LIFT principleThe Johnny Decimal systemJournalingMaps of Content (MoCs)Periodic reviewsWhy and how to tag notesTemplatingThe Markdown syntaxWhy you need a single source of truth for everythingThe collector’s fallacyThe Inbox Zero principleHow to capture informationHow to capture quotesHow to capture information about persons of interestHow to extract knowledge from daily notesHow to save mental contextsObsidian tips and tricksWhat’s in the video course?The Obsidian Starter Course is a video course (~2h20) of content covering:Obsidian: installation, user interface, key features, plugins, automation, tips and tricks, etcThe Markdown syntaxYAML metadataPersonal Knowledge Management techniques and principles: the Johnny Decimal system, the PARA method (e.g., the Zettelkasten method, the LIFT principle, Atomic notes, Maps of Content, knowledge capture & extraction, etc)JournalingPeriodic reviewsTemplatesAutomationTask managementBest practices and recommendationsHands-on explanationsand more!Evergreen contentThe user guide of the Obsidian Starter Kit is expanding day after day, week after week. It will soon include:More theoryDetailed processes (e.g. when to take notes, how to use Zettelkasten in practice, daily notes, periodic reviews, ...)Additional how-to guidesMore tips and tricks...The Obsidian vault also evolves over time:The structure improvesNew templates are addedNew plugins are addedetcRefunds policyIf you’re not 100% satisfied, then just let me know, and I’ll issue a full refund. I’ll only ask you a single question: How can I improve the product?If you think about asking for a refund, then consider reaching out to me with your issues, questions, and remarks. I’m always available and happy to help. My goal is to help you succeed.Testimonials”Finally clickeđ how awesome @Obsidian is! Thanks to your excellent Obsidian Starter Kit!”— Cal Desmond-Pearson (@CalSocialHermit)“Off and running w/ @obsdmd. I’ve installed the app & have @dSebastien Starter Kit & my own fresh start Vault open. Learning from former & putting into practice w/ real content in latter. So far, so good”— Raymond D Sims (@rsims)“Great content - got me up to speed with what I was looking for fast ! Sébastien answered some questions by mail also which was much appreciated ! Thanks”— Sam Gonzales”As someone who has bounced around trying to find the right Knowledge tool, I’ve realized that many of my issues have been related to the complexity of the tools and the processes. The structure, design and explanations provided in the Obsidian Starter Kit have finally given me the foundation I’ve needed. 100% worth it”— Michael Aaron (via e-mail)“I absolutely love your kit and it has been so immensely helpful”— Ashwin Appiah (via e-mail)“Thanks for making the product. I’m making efforts to start using Obsidian more in my daily workflow and having a place to start makes the task much less daunting!”— Liam Weight (via Twitter DM)“I’m very new to PKM, but the Obsidian Starter Kit has been a tremendous help in getting me started”— Fredrik Nordström (via the PKM community Slack)“Sebastien’s Obsidian Starter Kit is a powerful tool for those looking to dive into the world of Obsidian without being overwhelmed. It’s a comprehensive solution that significantly shortens the learning curve, providing an impressively structured way to start capturing notes and facilitating daily journaling. The kit’s integration of automated tasks and pre-designed templates are a boon to beginners, alleviating the initial intimidation of starting from scratch. If you’re new to Obsidian and need a solid starting point, this starter kit comes highly recommended. It doesn’t just help you navigate Obsidian, but also empowers you to harness its full potential right from the get-go.”— Lubos KolouchFredrik (via the PKM community Slack)“Just to thank the work and content that allowed me to discover the background of a custom vault. It was a real boost for me and given the price, it was a real investment of time and learning.”— Trobrillant
I sold 750+ copies, and the feedback, ratings & reviews have been great. People REALLY enjoy it:  Reviews of the Obsidian Starter Kit Reading reviews like those motivated me to keep going in that direction. I started creating video content, launched a YouTube channel that I kept neglecting, and learned more and more about video editing, audio recording, etc. This enabled me to create a few intro videos for my products, videos for friends & family, but more importantly, to record and launch my first video course:
Obsidian Starter Course
Who is this for?You are just getting started with note-taking or you’ve recently switched to ObsidianYou want to discover Obsidian and its key featuresYou wonder how to take smart notesYou want to know how to properly organize your notes and avoid creating an overwhelming messYou want a solid system that scalesYou wonder what Zettelkasten, the PARA method, and the Johnny decimal system areYou have bought the Obsidian Starter Kit and want a full video course to help you get startedGetting started with Obsidian is not the hardest thing in the world, but it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out how to structure and organize your knowledge base. You have a busy life, and you don’t want to spend weeks or even months figuring out the “right” approach.What is this?The Obsidian Starter Course is a video course containing 2h20 of content. It’s a hands-on guide into the world of Obsidian, Personal Knowledge Management (PKM), and the Obsidian Starter Kit.Many of the explanations use the Obsidian Starter Kit’s vault/structure/plugins, but the explanations about Personal Knowledge Management (PKM), Markdown, YAML and recommendations can be applied to many other tools. Moreover, if you’re using Obsidian but don’t yet have a copy of the Obsidian Starter Kit, then this course is still incredibly useful. It will show you how you can organize your knowledge base, how to take smart notes, and much more!What’s in the video course?The Obsidian Starter Course covers the following topics:Obsidian: installation, user interface, key features, plugins, automation, tips and tricks, etcThe Markdown syntaxYAML metadataPersonal Knowledge Management techniques and principles: the Johnny Decimal system, the PARA method (e.g., the Zettelkasten method, the LIFT principle, Atomic notes, Maps of Content, knowledge capture & extraction, etc)JournalingPeriodic reviewsTemplatesAutomationTask managementBest practices and recommendationsHands-on explanationsand more!Refunds policyIf you’re not 100% satisfied, then just let me know, and I’ll issue a full refund. I’ll only ask you a single question: How can I improve the product?If you think about asking for a refund, then consider reaching out to me with your issues, questions, and remarks. I’m always available and happy to help. My goal is to help you succeed.
I focused more and more on community and small bets, and created flywheels to slowly build a sales funnel. I continued blogging, cross-posted my articles to Medium, DEV.to, HashNode, and more recently to Substack. I also created a Medium publication called the PKM Journal: I also created a Slack community, and a sub-reddit dedicated to PKM, a Twitter account dedicated to PKM. And various other things. I've also rebooted this newsletter, focusing on Knowledge Management, and revamped my Website. Then I launched a PKM coaching offering, and had many interesting and entertaining sessions with people diving into Knowledge Management. I don't want to do that full-time, but I enjoy each and every opportunity to share my knowledge. I also wanted to work on a product for Community Knowledge Management. I created Knowii and started building it. I still believe that communities lack proper tools to manage their knowledge. Most community tools are focused on conversations, but completely ignore the knowledge part. IMHO, there's still a lot to be done on that front. It's hard to identify the experts, the most valuable content, etc. Unfortunately, I had to put that project aside due to time and budget constraints. It's still a project that I strongly believe in though... My focus is now entirely on Knowledge Work and Knowledge Management. That's what I want to help people with. My software development skills still serve me a lot, but I've put those in the background. It's a weird feeling, after having dedicated so much of my life to tech... Now I see things differently. I loved tech. Now I love helping others grow, with or without tech. Tech is just a means to an end, not a goal in itself. Over time, I launched different landing pages, learned more and more about SEO, marketing, sales, email automation, and much more. As a lifelong learner, entrepreneurship is like a drug. There's a never-ending list of skills to acquire, and new things to learn. And it's not passive learning. You learn things so that you can make progress, not just for the sake of learning. Recently, I thought more and more about the relationship between Knowledge Work, Knowledge Management, Personal Organization and Productivity. Those are closely related, and properly combining solid systems leads to stellar results. And I know for a fact that most people: - Don't know anything about Knowledge Management
- Aren't organized (they don't have a solid system)
- Lack clarity and vision in their life
- Miss tons of opportunities in life
A while after joining Daniel Vassalo's wonderful Small Bets community, the idea struck me. I could take inspiration from his project to build a similar one, but focusing on Knowledge Work. The idea was to create a private community, provide them with A TON of knowledge, guidance, processes, tools, checklists, resources, but also to organize events, workshops, seminars, and more. The Knowledge Worker Kit was born:
Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)
Who is this for?You are a Knowledge Worker or Lifelong LearnerYou feel lost and overwhelmed by the pace of innovation, disorganized, or unproductiveYou want to be a top performer and stay ahead of the curveYou want to join a community of like-minded people you can exchange with, and learn fromYou want a solid system that scalesYou want to learn with the bestWhat is this?TL;DR: This is a private community accompanied by a detailed guide exploring many topics (e.g., Knowledge Work, Personal Organization, Learning, Time Management, Project Management, etc), sharing proven and scalable systems/guidance. The content will keep expanding over time, with courses, workshops, and more!The Knowledge Worker Kit is an evergreen project. You buy access once, and you get lifetime access to all the past and future content, courses, and events, including all the bonuses:Private communityDeep Dive Guide covering all the areas, as well as templates, references, and resourcesFree access to all future workshops, meetups, knowledge-sharing sessions, invited talks, AMAs, and to all the recorded sessions ...Bonuses:Knowledge Management for Beginners course ($69.99)Obsidian Starter Course ($59.99)Obsidian Starter Kit ($24.99)Evergreen ContentThe Knowledge Worker Kit is a living project, and a community of practice. It will continue expanding over time, and the value you will get out of it will keep growing. Day after day, week after week. Buy it once, and you will have access to all future content, courses, and events.Who is behind this?Hi, I’m Sébastien DuboisI’ve been passionate about Knowledge Management, Learning, Knowledge Work, Personal Organization, and Productivity for more than 20 years. As an author, entrepreneur, coach, and father of 3, I needed efficient and effective solutions to stay organized, focused, and productive. The Knowledge Worker Kit includes everything I know about these topics, and more!I have a proven track record of delivering at work, and with my side projects. I have worked as a software developer, team leader, project manager, IT architect, CTO, founder, coach, consultant, solopreneur, and more. I have also published 3 books, 300+ articles and newsletters, created courses, YouTube videos, digital products, and manage various communities. And I did it all with a busy life, a 9-5 job, and 3 kids.My personal system works and helps me learn quickly, achieve my goals consistently, with high quality standards, and without sacrificing my health and precious family time. And that’s why I want to share it with you: my system. Actually, my goal is not only to share my experience, but also to create a community of like-minded people, and help each other grow as much as possible.Tell me more...Being a Knowledge Worker today is much more challenging than it ever was. Getting started isn’t easy, and there are many traps to avoid. Spare yourself some time and benefit from my experience and battle-tested systems. I’ll share everything I know with you: my approach, my systems, my routines, my templates, guidance, my courses, my starter kits, and more! My mission is to help you be part of the top 1% of Knowledge workers.After you finish exploring the guide, you’ll have:Clarity in your life and an obvious path forwardSolid habits, routines, and systemsClear ideas about how to “manage” your careerAn effective approach to learning new thingsSolid knowledge management and personal organization systemsKnowledge about how to organize, plan, control, and manage projects (large and small!)A toolkit to prioritize workA system to manage your tasks at scaleEffective means to focus your attention and manage your timeWork methods that will propel your career forwardWhat’s included?WARNING: The Knowledge Worker Kit is in BETA. The content will be added and expanded over time. If you buy access now, you’ll benefit from the lowest price. The product is already available so that I can find early adopters and get as much feedback as possible in order to make it great for everyone.If you buy access to the Knowledge Worker Kit, you’ll get lifetime access to:The guide, the templates, guidance, references, and resourcesThe private communityAll past, and future courses (e.g., the Knowledge Management for Beginners course, the Obsidian Starter Kit)All past, and future community events (meetups, workshops, knowledge-sharing sessions, invited talks, etc)Ask Me Anything (AMA) Q&As with meMy starter kits (e.g., the Obsidian Starter Kit)In addition, you’ll also get free access to all future content updates. Over time, I’ll continue expanding the guide with new ideas, techniques, systems, templates, and more!What’s in the guide?The guide is a Notion space that includes detailed explanations, guidance, deep dives into the systems I rely on daily, links, references, templates, and various resources that all Knowledge Workers should explore.You will get to explore the content at your own pace, and to focus on what is useful to you right now, as each section is actionable on its own.Importantly, the guide will keep growing. It’s an evergreen knowledge base. Over time, we will grow the content further, adding new guides, deeper explanations, videos, and more.It covers the following topics:01. Clarity: values, behaviors, goals, non-goals, priorities, and intentions02. Habits, routines, systems, processes and methods03. Career Management and Anticipation04. Learning05. Projects Knowledge Management and Journaling06. Projects Organization07. Planning and Prioritization08. Task Management09. Focus, Attention, Time Management and Action10. Personal Development11. Control: periodic reviews, progress tracking, course-adjustment12. Personal Organization13. WorkOverview of the main topics01. ClarityThis part explores key elements that help bring clarity to one’s life:NeedsValuesPrinciplesGoalsPrioritiesEach of those is important to know what matters, what has value, and what to focus on.02. Habits, routines, systems, processes and methodsThis part explores the base elements of productivity systems:Habits and routinesSystems, processes, and methodsThose are key to building an “effortless” life, requiring as little willpower/motivation as possible to make things happen.03. Career Management and AnticipationThis part focuses on career management: its importance, your responsibility, the mindset you need to acquire, and all the related ideas.04. LearningThis part shares ideas about how to…Learn how you best learnLearn more effectivelyExplore new topicsResearchFilter informationLeverage AI and LLMs…05. Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and JournalingThis part explores how to collect, organize, and link all your knowledge and information. It explores the main concepts of PKM, note-taking, note-making, tools of the trade, and structures/tips to help you keep everything useful, manageable, and maintainable as your knowledge base grows.It also introduces journaling and how to approach it to support your whole life.06. Projects OrganizationThis part focuses on how to organize projects and their information in a way that enables you and your teams to make focused progress.It shares ideas about how to organize project information, how to document projects, how to organize backlogs, etc.07. Planning and PrioritizationThis part focuses on how to plan projects and tasks, how to deal with deadlines, and how to prioritize work using various methods.08. Task ManagementThis part focuses on task management for personal and professional projects. It explores ways to keep tasks under control, how to organize personal work, and how to make the link between your different backlogs and your day-to-day life.09. Focus, Attention, Time Management and ActionThis part focuses on how to make things happen every single day, regardless of whatever is going on in your life. It’s all about techniques, tips & tricks, and tools to help you better manage your time, focus, and attention in order to ACT.10. Personal DevelopmentThis part explores important aspects of Personal Development that can make a big difference in a Knowledge Worker’s life. A sane mind in a sane body.11. ControlThis part is dedicated to control. How to control your progress, your trajectory, your projects, etc. And also, how to adjust course when things don’t go as expected.12. Personal OrganizationThis part helps better organize yourself and your information. It shares “zen” techniques you can use to remain organized, independently of how much information you have to juggle with.13. WorkThis part is all about WORK. How to do the work, how to improve your attitude, your results, and your recognition. It also dives into how to better collaborate with others to achieve your goals and those of your company/group.
Gumroad
I started writing the sales copy, and thought about the content I wanted to deliver. This provided me with a clear roadmap: These are all areas in which I have acquired a deep level of expertise, and that is knowledge that I want to share. I have started delivering different pieces of the puzzle, and am now focusing on the Personal Knowledge Management part through the creation of a new video course: As I've announced recently, that course, along with my other ones will all be part of the Knowledge Worker Kit. There you have it. That's a short summary of what I focused on in the last five years. I have gone in various directions, probably spread myself too thin, and failed to find ONE thing to focus on. But the path is now clearer. Moving forward, the Knowledge Worker Kit is the core offer I want to focus on. I want to put all my energy into it, deliver a ton of value, and help people solve their organization, productivity, and knowledge management problems. As Alex Hormozi puts it, I want to create an offer "so good that people would feel stupid refusing it". I believe that what I have created in this space is valuable for the community. Unfortunately, so far, I have failed to generate enough revenue for this activity to be sustainable. Everything put together yields ~1K€/month, which is not enough to cover all my expenses, and I'm not even paying myself. Each month, I leave money on the table, and it doesn't contribute to my personal finances at all. So where do I go from here? Well, I'm still thinking about the next steps. But I know it's a path I truly enjoy. I love the freedom, I love taking responsibility, and I'm confident in my skills. I'm passionate about this work, and I could keep going forever if the lack of money was not stopping me. It's the life I want to live, and it's much more aligned with who I am, and how I want to help others. The open questions are if and how to keep my business alive (short-term), and how to make it grow past the point where I still need to work as an employee (long-term). The challenge is that my "runway" is very limited... It's time to be bold. BTW, the best way to support my work is to become a paid subscriber:
This is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts, and support my work, become a subscriber.
Some of my lessons learned after five years of solopreneurshipI've made a TON of mistakes in the last five years. Here are my lessons learned: - Don't mistake of believing that help will come your way. Nobody really cares aside from you
- Find what sparks joy. It's not only about money. Ditch the rest, life is way too short to be unhappy or bored
- Fight against perfectionism. It's a disease. Simplify, and cut everything you can
- Focus on ONE thing for a really long time, even if you don't get a return on investment right away. Success doesn't happen overnight. It happens gradually, and then suddenly
- Avoid embarking on projects with the wrong people. Listen to your gut feeling, and don't hesitate to say no/stop
- Don't fall for the sunk cost fallacy. It's deadly. Go to market FASTER, and don't be sentimental. Kill your darlings...
- Don't compete on price. Make your offer unique. Increase the value to price discrepancy as much as possible
- Focus on a very specific niche (I'm still struggling with this one)
- Don't build an audience, build a community
- Give away as much as you can for free. Focus on building trust, genuinely helping, and count on eventual reciprocity
- Build a default-alive business
- Build a personal brand
- Build flywheels. Their effects compound over time. Connect everything with (almost) everything else you have
- Promote promote promote. I really underestimated the level of effort required to keep your work on top of mind for other people
- Measure more
- Automate what can be, especially emails. I saw a massive impact when I started building e-mail automation, and don't do it nearly enough yet
- Make sure you find a great accountant. You need one that is active, and keeps you informed regularly
- Be strategic. Have a clear vision of where you want to end up
There's actually a lot more to say, but I'll keep that for another time... The lab 🧪Given the situation I'm in, most of my attention goes to making the right decisions to keep the business alive. I have a really hard time focusing on anything else right now... I have updated the price of all my products, and since the Knowledge Worker Kit is now my core offer, I've decided to include all my other Knowledge Management products as free bonuses:  The Knowledge Worker Kit bonuses People who buy the Knowledge Worker Kit will have free access to all the above, and more over time 🚀
Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)
Who is this for?You are an entrepreneur, founder, executive or leaderYou are a Knowledge Worker or Lifelong LearnerYou feel lost and overwhelmed by the pace of innovation, disorganized, or unproductiveYou want to be a top performer and stay ahead of the curveYou want to join a community of like-minded people you can exchange with, and learn fromYou want a solid system that scalesYou want to learn with the bestWhat is this?TL;DR: This is a private community accompanied by a detailed guide exploring many topics (e.g., Knowledge Work, Personal Organization, Learning, Time Management, Project Management, etc), sharing proven and scalable systems/guidance. The content will keep expanding over time, with courses, workshops, and more!The Knowledge Worker Kit is an evergreen project. You buy access once, and you get lifetime access to all the past and future content, courses, and events, including all the bonuses:Private communityDeep Dive Guide covering all the areas, as well as templates, references, and resourcesFree access to all future workshops, meetups, knowledge-sharing sessions, invited talks, AMAs, and to all the recorded sessions ...Included bonuses:Knowledge Management for Beginners Course ($69.99)Obsidian Starter Course ($69.99)Obsidian Starter Kit ($89.99)Personal Knowledge Management Library ($59.99)Beginner’s Guide to ObsidianTotal value of the included bonuses: $289.Evergreen ContentThe Knowledge Worker Kit is a living project, and a community of practice. It will continue expanding over time, and the value you will get out of it will keep growing. Day after day, week after week. Buy it once, and you will have access to all future content, courses, and events.Who is behind this?Hi, I’m Sébastien DuboisI’ve been passionate about Knowledge Management, Learning, Knowledge Work, Personal Organization, and Productivity for more than 20 years. As an author, entrepreneur, coach, and father of 3, I needed efficient and effective solutions to stay organized, focused, and productive. The Knowledge Worker Kit includes everything I know about these topics, and more!I have a proven track record of delivering at work, and with my side projects. I have worked as a software developer, team leader, project manager, IT architect, CTO, founder, coach, consultant, solopreneur, and more. I have also published 3 books, 300+ articles and newsletters, created courses, YouTube videos, digital products, and manage various communities. And I did it all with a busy life, a 9-5 job, and 3 kids.My personal system works and helps me learn quickly, achieve my goals consistently, with high quality standards, and without sacrificing my health and precious family time. And that’s why I want to share it with you: my system. Actually, my goal is not only to share my experience, but also to create a community of like-minded people, and help each other grow as much as possible.Tell me more...Being a Knowledge Worker today is much more challenging than it ever was. Getting started isn’t easy, and there are many traps to avoid. Spare yourself some time and benefit from my experience and battle-tested systems. I’ll share everything I know with you: my approach, my systems, my routines, my templates, guidance, my courses, my starter kits, and more! My mission is to help you be part of the top 1% of Knowledge workers.After you finish exploring the guide, you’ll have:Clarity in your life and an obvious path forwardSolid habits, routines, and systemsClear ideas about how to “manage” your careerAn effective approach to learning new thingsSolid knowledge management and personal organization systemsKnowledge about how to organize, plan, control, and manage projects (large and small!)A toolkit to prioritize workA system to manage your tasks at scaleEffective means to focus your attention and manage your timeWork methods that will propel your career forwardWhat’s included?WARNING: The Knowledge Worker Kit is in BETA. The content will be added and expanded over time. If you buy access now, you’ll benefit from the lowest price. The product is already available so that I can find early adopters and get as much feedback as possible in order to make it great for everyone.If you buy access to the Knowledge Worker Kit, you’ll get lifetime access to:The guide, the templates, guidance, references, and resourcesThe private communityAll past, and future courses (e.g., the Knowledge Management for Beginners course, the Obsidian Starter Kit)All past, and future community events (meetups, workshops, knowledge-sharing sessions, invited talks, etc)Ask Me Anything (AMA) Q&As with meMy starter kits (e.g., the Obsidian Starter Kit)In addition, you’ll also get free access to all future content updates. Over time, I’ll continue expanding the guide with new ideas, techniques, systems, templates, and more!What’s in the guide?The guide is a Notion space that includes detailed explanations, guidance, deep dives into the systems I rely on daily, links, references, templates, and various resources that all Knowledge Workers should explore.You will get to explore the content at your own pace, and to focus on what is useful to you right now, as each section is actionable on its own.Importantly, the guide will keep growing. It’s an evergreen knowledge base. Over time, we will grow the content further, adding new guides, deeper explanations, videos, and more.It covers the following topics:01. Clarity: values, behaviors, goals, non-goals, priorities, and intentions02. Habits, routines, systems, processes and methods03. Career Management and Anticipation04. Learning05. Projects Knowledge Management and Journaling06. Projects Organization07. Planning and Prioritization08. Task Management09. Focus, Attention, Time Management and Action10. Personal Development11. Control: periodic reviews, progress tracking, course-adjustment12. Personal Organization13. WorkOverview of the main topics01. ClarityThis part explores key elements that help bring clarity to one’s life:NeedsValuesPrinciplesGoalsPrioritiesEach of those is important to know what matters, what has value, and what to focus on.02. Habits, routines, systems, processes and methodsThis part explores the base elements of productivity systems:Habits and routinesSystems, processes, and methodsThose are key to building an “effortless” life, requiring as little willpower/motivation as possible to make things happen.03. Career Management and AnticipationThis part focuses on career management: its importance, your responsibility, the mindset you need to acquire, and all the related ideas.04. LearningThis part shares ideas about how to…Learn how you best learnLearn more effectivelyExplore new topicsResearchFilter informationLeverage AI and LLMs…05. Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and JournalingThis part explores how to collect, organize, and link all your knowledge and information. It explores the main concepts of PKM, note-taking, note-making, tools of the trade, and structures/tips to help you keep everything useful, manageable, and maintainable as your knowledge base grows.It also introduces journaling and how to approach it to support your whole life.06. Projects OrganizationThis part focuses on how to organize projects and their information in a way that enables you and your teams to make focused progress.It shares ideas about how to organize project information, how to document projects, how to organize backlogs, etc.07. Planning and PrioritizationThis part focuses on how to plan projects and tasks, how to deal with deadlines, and how to prioritize work using various methods.08. Task ManagementThis part focuses on task management for personal and professional projects. It explores ways to keep tasks under control, how to organize personal work, and how to make the link between your different backlogs and your day-to-day life.09. Focus, Attention, Time Management and ActionThis part focuses on how to make things happen every single day, regardless of whatever is going on in your life. It’s all about techniques, tips & tricks, and tools to help you better manage your time, focus, and attention in order to ACT.10. Personal DevelopmentThis part explores important aspects of Personal Development that can make a big difference in a Knowledge Worker’s life. A sane mind in a sane body.11. ControlThis part is dedicated to control. How to control your progress, your trajectory, your projects, etc. And also, how to adjust course when things don’t go as expected.12. Personal OrganizationThis part helps better organize yourself and your information. It shares “zen” techniques you can use to remain organized, independently of how much information you have to juggle with.13. WorkThis part is all about WORK. How to do the work, how to improve your attitude, your results, and your recognition. It also dives into how to better collaborate with others to achieve your goals and those of your company/group.
Gumroad
I have also decided to increase the price of that offer after every 10 sales I make. We'll see how that goes. I'm following advice from Alex Hormozi's "$100M Offers" book (a great read BTW). Aside from that, I've given paid ads another try, but without success. I spent $160 on Google Ads and didn't even make a single sale. My CAC is far from ideal to say the least 😂. In an ideal world I'd hire an expert to help me, but I just can't right now... I've also spent time integrating Gumroad, Google Analytics and Google Ads to try and better understand what works and what doesn't on the product/landing pages. New articlesI've published two new articles. In the first one, I've described how I organize my work as a solo founder. It's a description of the system I rely on daily, combining periodic reviews, journaling, PKM, Zen productivity practices, time blocking, backlogs, habits and routines: In the second one, I've given an overview of my own Knowledge Management system. It doesn't go into all the implementation details, but provides a clear understanding of how "knowledge" flows. Hopefully, it should give you some ideas about how to think about designing such a system: Note of the week Work on your list of why's https://notes.dsebastien.net/30+Areas/32+Literature+notes/32.02+Content/Work+on+your+list+of+why's Dataview Serializer plugin for ObsidianMy Dataview Serializer plugin for Obsidian is now available in the official list of community plugins 🎉  Installing the Dataview Serializer plugin for Obsidian As its name indicates, this plugin serializes Dataview queries. Duh?! Usually, Dataview queries display live results, but those do not create actual links within your knowledge base. By serializing Dataview query results to Markdown, this plugin creates actual links that enrich your knowledge graph. Here's an example: <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #time_blocking WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC -->
After adding above line to a note, the plugin automatically executes the query using Dataview, converts the results to Markdown, and replaces the line with this: The cool part is that the output is refreshed whenever you modify a file containing a query. It's also possible to trigger a refresh of all the queries in your vault. Note that since those are Dataview queries, you can do tons of cool things. In this case, I only included notes marked as public in my vault. As I mentioned, this enhances the knowledge graph:  Serialized queries create actual Markdown links, enhancing the Knowledge Graph I personally use it for Maps of Content (MoCs), people/contact notes, and periodic notes. But I have a few more use cases in mind. Another benefit is that it makes Dataview queries compatible with Obsidian Publish 🎉 To learn more about it, check the documentation here: The source code is on GitHub. Quotes of the week- Freedom is the ability to live life in a prison of your own making, rather than someone else's
- The benefit of PARA is the homogeneity of the system across platforms and apps. That is, having a single mental model for everything
Upgrade your subscription to get full access and support my work.
|
