Dmitrii goes public - The new beginning (Issue #2)
Hey everyone! 👋
I sent my first newsletter six months ago but never sent any follow-ups. I’ve had quite a lot of changes in my life since then. But I want to get back to writing this newsletter in a different format. I want to make it more personal and focus on the stuff I enjoy doing. Big shout‑out to Ali Abdaal’s video for poking me to get back to writing it again.
But let’s start with what happened over the last six months.
🇳🇱 Immigration to the Netherlands
The most significant change in my life was that I moved to The Netherlands and said goodbye to my nomadic life. Becoming a digital nomad was one of the best decisions of my life, but I don't think it's something you want to pursue forever. By the end of our 4th year as nomads, both my wife and I noticed that we were getting tired of living out of suitcases. We wanted a home base and more comfort. Even the most expensive Airbnb will never replace a home.
Our initial plan was to move to Canada. We went through a lot of procedures to get in line. Unfortunately, during COVID‑19, Canada stopped issuing immigration invitations, and we couldn't get in. The plan was to keep traveling and wait until things resumed, but then Russia invaded Ukraine.
Despite not living in Russia for almost four years, we still have Russian passports. We never planned to return, but the war became the last straw. We realized we needed to move fast and get new documents. I won't go too deep into politics or world news. Let’s just say we no longer see ourselves as part of that country. And we still hope every day for our friends in Ukraine to be safe 🇺🇦❤️
We both had been working for a Dutch company for a while. They offered us an option to move to The Netherlands, and after some thinking, we decided it was a good option. We had considered The Netherlands before, but then COVID‑19 started and it was almost impossible to get in, so we dropped the idea.
Fast forward to today: we’re in The Hague, and we’re extremely happy with the choice. The Netherlands is excellent—at least it has been for the last month we’ve been here.
This month was a bit crazy because moving to a new country means doing many things at once: new documents, finding a place to live, buying furniture, and arranging everything inside the apartment. Plus, we had to work as well. That consumed all our time.
Things are slowing down now, so I want to get back to my projects and pick up writing again. One of the topics of this newsletter will be living in The Netherlands as an expat. I also hope to travel around Europe more (first time with unlimited EU travel!) and share the trips with you.
📺 YouTube
Because of the reasons above, I abandoned all my projects. I haven't uploaded new videos since May 27th, and I almost didn't ship anything to my main project Taco Digest.
Honestly, I’m testing what I want to work on next. I’m 100% sure I want to do YouTube, and I’ll start editing a new video today. I have two already shot back in Georgia. I still have a few ideas for videos about Georgia. Then I’ll switch to making videos about The Netherlands and traveling Europe. I also enjoy discussing finances, so I’ll experiment there too.
The first minor goal is to reach monetization. I’m currently at 1,455 subscribers, which is nice, but watch hours are still around ~3,200 and I need 4,000. By my calculations, I should get there in 2–3 months.
Another topic I want to cover in this newsletter is growth on YouTube. I’ll share my stats, what’s happening with the channel, and the challenges I’m facing.
👷 Taco Digest and other projects
I’ll continue working on Taco Digest for some time. I have a list of what I want to ship to mark the project as version 2 and relaunch it. One big thing I want to try is replacing free tiers with a free trial. My main goal with Taco is to get MRR growing, so I want to experiment with monetization.
Life is more stable now. I switched to working full‑time (well, almost—four days a week) from freelancing. I’m on speed with my financial goals. Hence, I want to experiment more.
For example, I have a very ambitious idea for a project, but it won’t make money soon. It’s something I’ve wanted to work on for a long time. It’s pretty big and a bit silly, but I’m quite interested in it. It’s related to video games. I also have a few ideas that are more profit‑focused, so let’s hope I’ll start working on them this year.
I’ll share in this newsletter what’s going on with these projects from my perspective as an entrepreneur. The goal isn’t to advertise, but to tell the story of growing them.
💰 Finance and FIRE
Another area I love is finance. I got into finance, investing, and FIRE a few years ago, and I enjoy the topic. Seeing your net worth grow—and moving toward financial freedom—is cathartic. Recently, the market wasn’t as exciting as last year, but that’s not a big deal for a long‑term investor.
We’ve reached 30% of our FIRE goal, and I’ll discuss it more in future issues. The plan is to reach financial independence before 40, which means in 5–6 years, and we’re on track.
I’m not an expert by any means, so I’ll share my perspective on finance and reaching FIRE as an ordinary person here.
🎁 Content I’m consuming
Another part of many newsletters I always liked is content recommendations. I want to add something similar here. Likely YouTube channels, articles, books, movies, TV shows, and video games.
By the way, I finally managed to buy a PlayStation 5, which is usually sold out everywhere. More gaming is coming! I already started Horizon Forbidden West, and the game looks terrific.
Last week, I returned to the mainstream on YouTube and enjoyed a lot of MrBeast videos—perfect for summer binge‑watching after assembling another IKEA piece.
I’m also rewatching Entourage. Still fun, but more sexist than I remember it being 7–8 years ago.
I didn’t read much, and I’m still in the middle of Work Rules!. To be honest, the book isn’t as good as I hoped, but not bad enough to drop—so I’m still going.
In the cinema world, I enjoyed Licorice Pizza from Paul Thomas Anderson—exactly the level of weird, fun, and meaning that I love. Also, the Pixar animation Lightyear. Not as great as the Toy Story series, but not as bad as the IMDb score suggests.
All right, this newsletter is already long—huge thanks if you made it to the end. I appreciate it. 🙏
Please let me know what you think about the format or ask any questions by hitting reply.
I plan to send it every Wednesday. Stay tuned for the next one, and I’d appreciate it if you shared it with friends!
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Written on the balcony in The Hague,
Dmitrii