Retrospective: 5 Years In Review

Premise

A new year is traditionally a time for retrospection and new resolutions to change things (usually for the better) in the upcoming year. This is not only true for our personal lives but also very much so for our professional lives as well.

As much as I tend to forgo traditional holidays or conventions in general, the truth is that it’s just as good a time as any to reflect on past performance and make any changes necessary to push myself or my business back in the right direction.

However, it’s not the last calendar year that I would like to look back and reflect on. Instead, I would like to focus on another anniversary I was lucky enough to celebrate not long ago: the fifth anniversary of the founding of my company Ixudra, on the 7th of September 2018. So here goes.

Rushed beginnings

Let’s be honest: I had no business starting a web development company when I did: it all happened way to quickly for my taste. But in my defense: I truly didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter and it honestly was the best thing I could have done given the situation.

Let me set the scene for you: in May of 2013, I was still happily working for Cegeka for about a year and a half and I had no intention of leaving that job just yet. I was however eager to expand and learn new things on my own. For this reason, I started to perform freelance web development as a secondary occupation ("bijberoep" for Belgian readers), without actually starting a company to do so. Originally, I had given this quite some thought and I intended to do this for several years before (probably) making the switch to a full-time freelance web development position.

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Jan