I run a few businesses, I'm building things in Portugal, and I write about what I actually learn along the way. No fluff, no LinkedIn energy.
I'm from Mauritius, studied hospitality in France, and ended up building businesses in Portugal. I run short-term rentals, import/export, an NFC tech franchise, an e-commerce brand, and a cleaning management app. They're all connected — even when they don't look like it.
In no particular order of importance.
This took me a while to see clearly. Nothing is random.
Capital and time go into the next thing. The rentals funded the import/export. That funded the brand.
Every business needed a system. SummerClean was built for the rentals. Then it became its own product.
Rental income is steady. Import/export is project-based. Tapni is relational. Three different rhythms.
Fix what's broken. Keep what works. Put the surplus back in. This is the whole thing, repeated.
I built SummerClean in a weekend to stop missing rental turnovers. Two other operators adopted it without me even asking. Here's what that taught me about building tools vs. building businesses.
Drew this on a napkin in 2023. Still the clearest explanation I have.
The mindset shift is bigger than the contract. A few things I wish I'd known earlier.
Not the hosting fees. The WhatsApp chaos, the missed cleanings, the double-bookings. And how I systemised my way out of it.
It means you're one person writing emails in three languages hoping the client replies before the quote expires.
A short post about systems, willpower, and why automation is the only honest answer.
Not complaining.
The drawer every business has.
Tried entering a new European market with no ground-level relationships. Good product, wrong approach. Pulled back.
LearnedFor Cœur Salé — ran campaigns before the buyer profile was clear. Burned budget. Rebuilt from word-of-mouth.
LearnedFirst version had too many features. Built to impress, not to be used. Stripped it back and adoption tripled.
RebuiltNumbers worked. Operational load didn't. Passed on it. Still watching the market.
On holdBusiness stuff, collaboration, or if you're trying to figure out how one of these operations actually works.