I can’t believe it, but The Circular Economist has been alive and kicking for 90 days now.
In those 90 days, I’ve:
- Gotten more grey hair
- My coffee intake got out of control
- Delivered 7 keynotes with 5-star reviews
- Generated 14 million impressions on LinkedIn
- Had countless amazing convos and connections
…. and failed and learned a lot…
It’s been a crazy ride, with a lot of ups and downs. Mostly ups!
In today’s issue, I want to give a breakdown of what happened in those 90 days, and my 5 top lessons learned.
But first things first.
The Circular Economist is not:
❌ consultancy
❌ marketing agency
❌ short-term stunt
The Circular Economist is:
✅ 1-person creator business
✅ inspiring millions to get into the circular economy
✅ giving actionable tools, insights, and advice to brands
Now that’s out of the way, let’s get going.
Here are some key milestones from the last 90 days:
The Loop, my free newsletter has 2603 readers.
– I am super proud of the 59% open rate
– 6 companies ran ads about their awesome solutions, like Miniloop today
– I wrote 14 newsletter editions and sent 25,000 emails (the scale is scary)
Lesson #1: Writing longer-form content is super rewarding. It brings clarity, leads, and inspiration. Newsletter is a platform I own, not dependent on algorithms.
Finding the time during the week has been a real challenge, and it comes down to systems and productivity hacks. My favorite is “no meeting Tuesday”.
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I spoke at 13 events (I’ve been traveling nearly every 2nd week)
– 4x workshops, 2x moderations, 4x panels, 7x keynotes (all with 5-star ratings)
– and I am nearly booked out till November 2024
Lesson #2: I used to think it all comes down to delivery. But the more I invest in aligning with event hosts and understanding the audience, the better it gets.
I used to be nervous, but the more public appearances I do, the easier it gets. Working with my speaker coach Vanya helped a lot too!
And of course: Practice, practice, practice. I memorize my keynotes from the first to the last word. I don’t use text in my slides. I practice it around 6 times to perfection.
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A few folks got great help with my 1:1 Power Hours
– It’s best value for sustainability managers in mid – larger companies
– It’s best if it doesn’t come out of your own pocket, but a corporate budget
– It’s best if you need advice on your company’s circular economy direction, but not a whole report for 100,000 EUR.
Lesson #3: I am still figuring this one out… So many people write me wanting to “pick my brain”, or “jump on a short call.”
So I thought, great, let’s put a price tag on that because I can’t talk to everyone all the time. To my big surprise, 99.9% of all the people suddenly don’t want to pick my brain.
I am still working on communicating this service properly, but already got some awesome testimonials, and am working on a really cool spin to this.
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♻️ On my radar 2) Faircado, an AI power second-hand search raises 3 mio EUR 3) Volvo Group opens circular factory in Sweden 4) Meet me at London Climate Action Week (26th – 28th of June) 5) or in Madrid on the 3rd of October at the ESG Summit Europe |
I ran several brand partnership campaigns via LinkedIn
– hundreds of thousands of views generated
– some of the posts went even viral!
– Results? Awareness, followers, and new clients booked!
Lesson #4: This could be the fastest-growing side of my business. But, it’s absolutely key to make sure that the brand deals are carefully picked and selected.
Second, LinkedIn is becoming the next frontier for B2B influencer marketing. Many brands are realising the insane potential. 2024+ is getting really interesting.
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I am at 112k followers on LinkedIn
– 14 million impressions & 169,000 likes in 90 days
– Countless great chats and connections
Lesson #5: I summed all my lessons here.
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If you’ve read it so far, thank you.
Thank you for all the support, and for staying with me on this journey.
If not already, I hope our paths will cross one day.
It’s been a crazy ride, yet I am just getting started.
My biggest lesson is cheesy but true:
If you have an idea, TRY IT OUT. Build something. Get out there. Even if it’s not 100% ready. Especially if it’s not ready! Validate first in a smart way!
Stop reading, planning, and talking about it, but actually DO IT.
Building things in real life is by far the biggest and fastest path to success and impact.
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I have lots of plans for what’s next.
If you have any ideas about what would love to see from The Circular Economist factory, hit reply and please let me know.
That’s it for this week, see ya next Saturday!