Now

This /now page is inspired by Derek Sivers - it’s the place where I record the overarching themes of what I’m thinking about in a given month, as well as books I read and places I visited.

January 2024

Travel!

Still cranking on my website.

Consumption

Places visited

Strasbourg, France
Interlaken, Switzerland
Zurich, Switzerland

December 2023

Lots of travel with some of our best U.S. friends.

Getting organized, planning, and eliminating digital clutter.

My journaling habits have been picking up.

Migrating much of my life to Obsidian, and creating my website with Obisidian Publish.

Places visited

Cordoba, Spain
Granada, Spain
London, England
Paris, France

November 2023

Hired a developer to help take some development tasks off my plate as I focus more on content and marketing.

October 2023

Went to MicroConf Europe in Lisbon. This was my fourth one, and had the best time ever. I made so many new friends, and left with mountains of inspiration, as always.

Been brainstorming with JanTheSaaSGuy and we’ve started breaking ground on UserSpark

Working on The Bootstrapper’s Mindset; what started as a ‘guide’ but looks like it’ll end up being a course.

The amount of creator friends I’ve been making has started to pick up a lot, due to Twitter and the newsletter.

Was on the iOS Dev podcast.

Places visited:

Lisbon, Portugal (MicroConf)
Denia, Spain

September 2023

Was on a couple podcasts.

We arrived in Valencia, Spain, on the 1st. Getting to know the city, searching or an apartment, etc. We are loving it!

The Art of Accomplishment Connection course is amazing. Intense at times, as we get deeply vulnerable but I love it.

Watching the $100M Leads videos.

Cranking on SaaS Pulse, to launch soon.

Been working on something new with Jan!

Places visited:

Valencia, Spain

August 2023

Was on a couple podcasts.

Have had a good meditation streak of an hour a day. Need to keep this up.

Had my first viral post.

Started the Art of Accomplishment Connection course.

Hired @rickyshq for branding work on the SaaS bootstrapper.

Reading:

The Mind Illuminated (amazing)

Places visited:

Denia, Spain
Porto, Portugal
Aviero, Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal
Odeceixe, Portugal

July 2023

Geeking out on copywriting.

Reading:

Expert secrets (re-reading)
The Mom Test
Ben Settle - Interview with an Amazing Marketer

Places visited:

Kotor, Montenegro
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Split, Croatia
Belgrade, Serbia
Korcula, Croatia
Lisbon, Portugal

June 2023

Had lots of visitors come see us in Croatia.

Places visited:

Rovinj, Croatia
Cavtat, Croatia
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Motovun, Croatia
Porec, Croatia
Groznjan, Croatia
Oprtalj, Croatia

May 2023

Did the Fighting Monkey Zero Form Essentials course.

Reading: The Mind Illuminated (amazing)

Places visited:

Crikvenica, Croatia

April 2023

Our friend Ashley came to visit from Amsterdam, and made us the best tacos we’ve ever had.

We went to Rome for spring break, and had front row seats to Cirque de Soleil.

Reading:

Places visited:

Rome, Italy
Bologna, Italy
Padua, Italy
Cortona, Italy

March 2023

Reading:

Places visited:

Venice, Italy

February 2023

I’ve been migrating digital tools again. Every time I switch away from the most minimal tools, I regret it. I prefer VIM and text/markdown files every time. I was trying Notion, then Obsidian, and they were fine, but I don’t like having to use a mouse more than I need to and I’m much more comfortable in VIM. Any time I forget this, I should just go back to Derek Sivers’ site for an inspirational reminder.

In addition I’ve been thinking a lot about the format and delivery of the content I’m producing. I’ve discovered digital gardens, and Maggie Appleton, and loving this concept of evergreen, deeply-linked content, forming a web of associations, over the linear streams of information we’ve become used to on the web.

I read Tiago Forte’s Building a Second Brain, and while I enjoy the overall concept, going back in time to the Zettlekasten has been more productive for me. I love the way it ties in to a digital garden.

I’ve started a digital garden and considering how I’ll incorporate it into macmartine.com, and The SaaS Bootstrapper newsletter. The newsletter may simply become my best/favorite Zettlekasten’s from the previous week.

Books read:

The War of Art - Steven Pressfield
Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert
Perennial Seller - Ryan Holiday
On Writing - Stephen King

Places visited:

Sarajevo, Bosnia
Banja Luka, Bosia
Mostar, Bosnia
Laktasi, Bosnia

January 2023

I joined the Small Bets community, and went through the course. I really enjoyed it, and loved the Nassim Taleb references, as he’s one of my favorite authors.

Also started the Farnam Street Decisions by Design course which is 12-weeks long. It’s also been great.

We’ve been working on getting ready to apply for the Portugal Digital Nomad Visa. It’s been more difficult than it was to get the Croatia one, partly because we’re doing it from Croatia, and not the U.S. It makes things much harder. It’s the simple things you wouldn’t think about, like trying to send a check or money order the FBI, or sending a pre-paid return envelope. It’s no-one’s fault so much as incompatible systems. Europe doesn’t have a notion of personal checks or money orders without having the destination account’s routing number and account number on it. We don’t have personal checks with us, and the FBI doesn’t give out their bank account information for us to get a EU-style check for them. It’s that kind of stuff times twenty.

Not to mention Portugal required opening a bank account before applying, which can only be done in person in Portugal. And they require a signed 12-month apartment lease prior to applying, which isn’t easy to get from afar, sight-unseen, 8 months in advance.