I ate 73 pizza this year 🍕
A few numbers & one lesson learned
Hello hello,
How's your festive season going?
I hope you had a heartwarming time with your family and friends!
But don't worry, as we are approaching the year's end, I won't keep you busy for long.
This update will be short and sweet.
*chef's kiss* 🤌
My 2023 in Review
🗺️ Burnout → Healed
🎯 Customers: 1500 → 2000
📮 NL Subscribers: 320 → 500
📢 Followers: 2300 → 2675
💰 Indie Revenue: $235
💸 Runway: 18 → 6 months
🏕️ Walked from Bologna to Florence
🍕 Pizza eaten: 73
A year under the sign of rebirth
While 2022 has been the year of leaping into entrepreneurship and going from freelancer to indie maker, 2023 brought a shit-storm.
Back in January, I couldn't know. Everything planned didn't go as expected, and there's nothing much I have achieved after stepping out for 11 months. Things grew even without any active effort from my side (a third of this year's revenue came by on its own), but the views plummeted, and so did their metrics.
Despite the start, however, I turned things around and am back!
In case you missed it: How I burnt out and healed (avoid these 3 mistakes).
Embracing a new challenge
My knees tremble as I write this.
I have six months of runway left before looking for collabs again.
Being out of the game for a while and squandering the savings to survive forced me to ditch the beginner mindset and evaluate where to put my efforts.
Every product and tool I build should bring money to push the runway further.
It's now a challenge with the clock: no more free stuff before having something to sell.
My proudest achievement this year
In 2023, I traveled less but walked more than the previous five years together.
And back in April, I walked from Bologna to Florence in 6 days.
Going through the woods and mountains of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines for 130 km with a backpack has been a fantastic experience. Disconnecting, relying only on your feet, and meeting with other hikers along the way was so good.
Next adventure on the list?
What eating 73 pizzas this year taught me
I love pizza. I can spot a good one just by looking at a photo. I state that "Life is too short to put pineapple on pizza" on my Twitter bio, and there's even a pizza wall on my website.
This year, I ate one every five days on average.
(I also watched three different documentaries about pizza.)
Pizza is my passion.
Yet, having a passion for something doesn't necessarily qualify me as an expert.
It doesn't matter how much I can talk about the topic or how many topped doughs I can eat. Not every interest is worth pursuing or should turn into something.
Passion provides the drive, but expertise is hard-won by producing.
Tell me about yourself.
How was your 2023? What has been your most significant achievement this year?
Mattia
PS: Whenever you’re ready, partner up with The Maker Journey.
PS2: Have an excellent 2024!
Oh, I didn't know about this hike from Bologna to Florence so thanks for sharing! 🙇♂️ This is now part of my plan for next year (and always open for more suggestions). Last year my wife and I did the Portuguese way to Santiago and it was such a great experience that we really need to do something like this again. It's a ~ 10 days route which I strongly recommend if you haven't done yet.
This was a very challenging year for you as well Mattia.
I hope 2024 will bring more stability to your journey, I see you’re already on a good path 💪