{"id":1569,"date":"2023-12-31T13:44:48","date_gmt":"2023-12-31T11:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stefanvetter.com\/en\/?p=1569"},"modified":"2025-01-03T10:07:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T08:07:29","slug":"2023-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stefanvetter.com\/en\/2023-review","title":{"rendered":"2023 Year in Review: Breakthrough"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
In 2022, I thought that the next year couldn’t get any more exhausting<\/a>. I was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, 2023 was a year full of breakthroughs. I have probably never achieved so much in one year:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the first three years of its existence, Friendly generated a loss* of 72\u202f520 CHF<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a bootstrapped start-up without investors<\/a>, I had to fill this hole out of my own pocket. My finances became so tight that I had to borrow over 50\u202f000 CHF<\/a> from friends and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am all the more pleased that Friendly achieved a profit* of 13\u202f795 CHF** in 2023 and that I didn’t have to contribute any more money for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And there are numerous other positive developments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n * \u201cIn the black\u201d, \u201closs\u201d and \u201cprofit\u201d are deliberately put in quotation marks because I have not yet paid myself a salary for my work and, as a sole founder without investors, I have yet to make up for the loss so far. My agency Wortspiel<\/a> was characterized by calm and stability in its eighth year of existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fluctuation in the team<\/a> was 0%. There were also few changes in terms of customers. We lost mandates in the expected range and gained a few new customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At 443\u202f049 CHF (-3%), net sales were almost on a par with the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That makes me proud. My goal was never to build one of the biggest companies in its industry, but one of the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fact that we have existed<\/a> for almost a decade proves that Wortspiel creates value for employees and customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many small good habits<\/a> can make a big difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the cold showers<\/a>, I went one step further in 2023 and incorporated ice baths into my daily routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apart from convincing myself, the big challenge was implementing it. The obvious way of dumping ice cubes into the bathtub is quite time-consuming, expensive and has a poor energy balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I found the solution in this video on YouTube<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\nFriendly “in the black”* for the first time<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

\n
** Extrapolated, based on the numbers for January-November 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\nStability at Wortspiel<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Atomic Habits: Ice baths, walks and no more overtime<\/h1>\n\n\n\n