Hello, 2023 👋🏾 and Goodbye, 2022; you had a lot to offer. Let’s have a look.

Chuffed Solutions

At the beginning of the year, I had become a rising talent on Upwork, but this was my only avenue for work. All my eggs were in one basket. So I managed to grab clients on other platforms, with the client I worked the most with not being from Upwork.

I have taken the approach of stepping away from the “freelance Product Manager” guise and define Chuffed as a service that takes you from idea to app. Thinking of my role as more of “what I do” rather than “who I am” connects with people with more success, something I wish I did as an employee.

My earnings in total were that of my previous role, which is very validating and allowed me to live in my flat independently.

Overall I have shipped a lot of features and updates in 2022, which Users onboard and turn up again and again.

My Products

Whilst I did manage to diversify my incoming work, I also started projects to diversify my income generation. Although not monetised, I am in an iterative process and hope to capitalise on the opportunity.

Hatstand.io is a project that seeks to help solopreneurs and a small team in tech to wear all the hats to run their companies. Starting with Mike, we have launched a Minimum Viable Product and gained some engagement.

Encounters London is a community looking to meet like-minded people for mutual and consensual encounters in London. I have built a tool that helps people verify who they are and remain anonymous.

Flutter

I adopted Flutter, a framework for building apps, with the intent of quickly building prototypes, proof of concepts, and MVPs to offer as a service. As of writing, that is being realised with my newest client, which is really validating for me.

I have been doing about an hour a day for the past year, and now I can build basic apps that I can deploy to the web, iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS.

You can see things I mess around with at sandbox.chuffed.app and, of course, Weeknotes.

Personal

I fulfilled a dream and went to Wrestlemania, and it was incredible. Overall in 2022, I had brilliant experiences going to live podcasts, seeing theatre shows, popping to a few places around the country, and spending nearly two months in Austin.

I learnt that having a co-working buddy for work and personal tasks helps me focus and get things done. I work best when breaking things into many smaller tasks I do over the week, and it comes with the benefits of being able to drop things easily if I don’t see it working out.

Whilst learning Flutter, I have been streaming myself coding, which has been a great experience. I like talking aloud as I work and the benefit I can deliver to others.

In 2022 I walked a lot. It is good for my body but gives me space to think. Also, I have discovered many interesting places and taken special photos along the way.

Politics were a big part of me in 2022. I went to several protests, talked to people on the picket lines, attended council meetings/workshops, and witnessed the ridiculousness of UK Politics, specifically the Conservative party and their uselessness.

I am moving towards health goals and changing my perspective from weight loss to longevity. Turning 40 did give me some things to think about.

People

My friends have been a power for my personal and professional success, helping me focus, being critical, and showing up when needed. I couldn’t ask for better people in life.

I have also met new folks through local events, getting to know my neighbours better, and networking events.

Moving forward, I want to be more involved with the community and use my problem-solving skills to help out where I can.

My 2022 themes

I went into the year with these main themes:

Reflection:

Making the time to look at what I have achieved and having moments to appreciate it rather than what I haven’t done.

Experimentation:

Try new things to find out who I am true as a person. Those are lessons I find I keep learning from.

Mindfulness:

Spending a lot of time in the past reflecting on the future and experimenting leads me to remember to enjoy the moment.

These have served me well and led to some important revelations. I would describe 2022 as the Year of Finding My Way.

My 2023 Themes

The Year of Refinement

Specificity:

As I Feel confident in my delivery of “idea to app", I need to find my niche and increase my value with a productised service.

Expression:

Over the last 18 months, I have built and created a lot of resources. Now I want to shape that voice into the brand of Chuffed, personally and professionally.

Methodical:

To find opportunity, develop into realisation, and find success, using developed frameworks, tools, templates, prototypes, and experimentation.