Most people think Karisma is just events.

I get it.
That’s what it looks like from the outside.

But the truth is events are NOT the product.
They’re just one of the features.

What we actually build is an environment for growth.
And one of the most powerful (and underrated) parts of that environment is...

Our WhatsApp group.

That probably sounds underwhelming.

But let me explain.

Real growth doesn’t come from information.

It comes from proximity.

Proximity to people who think differently. People who’ve already been where you’re going. People who answer your question in one sentence because they’ve lived it.

That’s what happens inside our WhatsApp every day.

I’ve seen people find co-founders or start projects there just by asking.

I’ve seen countless intros to world-class lawyers, investors, designers in minutes.

I’ve seen questions posted in the morning that completely changed the direction of someone’s business by the afternoon.

Not after months of networking or endless coffees.

And that’s the real work behind Karisma.

Curation.

We receive close to 200 applications every single month.

Many from impressive people with big titles and numbers.

And we still say no. A lot.

Because high ARR isn’t enough.

We curate for people who want to give.

Who ask clearly. Who answer generously. Who show up with openness instead of ego.

That’s what creates magic in a shared space.

Inside the chat you’ll find founders in their 20s and founders in their late 50s. People running 7- and 8-figure companies. Different industries. Different countries. Different life stages.

And yet, when someone asks a question, it gets answered.

Because the room works.

Life is good

Marc

I think I might be one of the luckiest founders in the world.

I get to sit in rooms people pay thousands of euros to be in.
Learn from world-class experts.
Listen to 7+ figure founders work through their top business AND life challenges.

And every now and then...

One of those days changes me.

Last week’s Founder Day at Talent Garden was one of those days.

We design our monthly Founder Days to help founders grow across the parts of life that usually get postponed and build authentic relationships.

This is how the day unfolded:

• Jake from Show Up and Ilo Studio opened the day with a grounding

  activation that instantly shifted the room.

• Connection dynamics took conversations past the surface and into

  something real.

• Timo, Founder of Cooltra, shared his journey from a 50-scooter shop to 700

  employees across 8 markets.

• Personalized mastermind groups helped each founder unlock a real

  business or life challenge.

At one point, the focus shifted inward...

We reflected across the different domains of life (work, relationships, health, lifestyle) and asked one simple question:

What is the one thing that would need to happen in each domain for 2026 to be a win?

The room went completely silent.

It was 30min of uninterrupted reflections without phones or distractions.

Just the thinking brain.

When I did the exercise myself, one theme kept showing up everywhere.

Slow down to speed up.

I realized how much my default mode is:

Go, do, push, carry.

And how often that creates:

Less presence, empathy and space for others (and myself).

I saw how trusting my team more, letting go of control and allowing things to breathe...

Isn’t a weakness.

It’s leadership.

Slowing down isn’t about doing less.

It’s about doing the right things fully.

Less, but better.

With presence.

Without the constant mental noise of “what else should I be doing?”

Because when I create space...

I think clearer.
I lead better.
I see bigger.

And paradoxically, that’s how real growth happens.

That’s what this Founder Day reminded me of.

Growth isn’t just revenue, strategy or execution.

It’s alignment.

Across life, energy and relationships.

This Founder Day is one of many big upgrades we’ve introduced this year.

Below is some proof that the room did its job.

But for now, I’ll say this:

These days aren’t here to make you hustle harder.

They’re here to help you become someone who doesn’t need to.

Life is good,

Marc

Last week, we brought in Alexandra Wennerholm, the leadership advisor behind Spotify, PwC, BDO and The Absolute Group, for one of our monthly Karisma Power Days.

What I didn’t expect was...

That I would need this session more than anyone.

And that it would expose the blind spot quietly pulling me toward burnout.

Because the truth is: the last few weeks, something in me felt off.

One sentence from my co-founder a few days prior hit me straight in the chest:
“You seem less excited.”

And he was right.

I wasn’t sleeping badly.
I wasn’t working insane hours.

But I was doing something far more dangerous:

I was making everyone else’s problems my own. Stepping into everything. Touching everything. Overthinking everything.

Not because I wanted to...

But because letting go still scares (more than I admit).

And during the event, it clicked:

The problem wasn’t workload. It was control.

It was the part of me that believed things only work if I push them.

Except it doesn’t.

Control kills creativity.
Control suffocates teams.
Control burns founders alive from the inside out.

And lately...

I was taking everything too seriously. Snapping at small things. Losing compassion for myself and others.

That’s not the leader I want to be.

That night, I journaled about one of my biggest takeaways:

“My biggest indicator of how good I am is my level of playfulness.
When it disappears, I know I’m on the wrong path.”

And it’s true.

The moment I lose my playfulness, everything else collapses with it. My leadership, my patience, my joy, my creativity.

So I made a commitment:

To trust.
To delegate.
To let go of control.
To protect my energy like my life depends on it (because it does).

That’s exactly what this expert helped us uncover:

How to lead from authenticity.
How to make work exciting again.
How to stay grounded while building big.

For me, it was a reset I didn’t know I needed.

And that’s why these Power Days matter.

Because they give founders something rare:

A space to see yourself clearly.
A space where one insight can change the next six months of your life.
A space where you walk out lighter, clearer, more you.

That day saved me from a path I didn’t see myself walking.

Life is good,

Marc

One of the most powerful things we do in Karisma are the Think Tanks.

We match founders in groups of 5-6 based on stage, personality, and experience. They meet once a month and help each other unlock their biggest bottlenecks. It’s basically your own board of advisors, except curated to perfection.

And with 70% of our members doing between 1M–50M ARR, I’m mind blown every single time by the level of conversations.

But there’s something most people don’t expect.

The biggest challenges aren’t about scaling faster, hiring better, or optimizing processes. At that level, the real work is internal.

Last week we had someone who’d been building for so long satisfying investors and hitting numbers that he forgot why he was even doing any of it. Someone asked him one question: “Are you having fun?”

The answer was a clear no.

He was burnt out, but he couldn’t even see it anymore.

What’s the point of success if you’re exhausted, disconnected, and stuck in autopilot?

Most founders don’t have people they can talk about this with. Either no one understands... Or people say, “What are you complaining about? You’re successful.”

Then we had another founder. Business booming. Team of 20. But he was still working morning till night.

He came in thinking he needed more hires. Turns out the real problem had nothing to do with hiring. It was the inability to let go.

That blind spot was creating all the chaos. Without that room reflecting it back to him, he would’ve gone straight to burnout.

Last, there was a third founder drowning in demand, loving every second of it. But she had zero boundaries. Saying yes to everything. Slowly suffocating herself.

From the outside it was obvious: Raise prices. Set criteria. Protect your time.

But when you’re in the storm, clarity is the first thing you lose.

That’s why these rooms matter.

Most founders don’t need more tactics. They need mirrors. They need honesty. They need people who get it.

Because this is a marathon.

Marc

It’s time you know.

Today, I’ll share the crazy story of how Karisma Selekt began over a year ago. And how we sold out in 8 days without a clear product.

Last year, Karisma was thriving. Hundreds of members. Endless events. Constant energy. From the outside, it looked perfect.

But deep down, something didn’t feel right.

We had founders at every stage. From “I’m looking for my purpose” to “just had my second exit.” And while that diversity was beautiful, it created a gap.

Because at some point, experience becomes its own kind of isolation. You can have a hundred people around you and still feel like no one truly gets it.

That’s when we knew: we needed something else.

A space for those who’d already made it but still wanted to grow not just their businesses but also themselves across all areas of life.

That’s how the idea for Karisma Selekt was born.

So, we reached out to everyone who’d been part of the journey. We opened a waitlist and announced only 16 spots.

We weren’t selling features (we barely knew them yet). Instead, we sold emotion, we sold belief, the why.

And then came the sneaky part...

The night before sales went live, we hosted a secret launch party in a private loft with handpicked founders who shared the same fire.

We told them the vision. We asked for trust.

Honestly, I was super nervous that day. Here’s the VLOG of that day.

The next morning, nearly half the spots were gone.

Eight days later, we sold out.

From idea to launch, only two months had gone by.

That’s when I learned a lesson I’ll never forget:

In community building, there’s always a chicken-and-egg problem. You can’t create a great experience without great people. But you can’t attract great people without a great experience.

So you start before you’re ready. You launch, you listen, you learn.

Those first 16 founders were our co-creators. They gave feedback, ideas and helped shape Karisma into what it is today.

(Compare this pic with the one after. One year difference. Totally different vibe.)

And one year later, I know this for sure:

The real product isn’t the events. It’s not the fancy features. It’s the people.

Because what high-level founders really want isn’t more tactics or advice. It’s belonging. It’s inspiration. It’s walking into a room where everyone gets it. Where ambition meets depth and every conversation makes you feel more alive.

Karisma wasn’t built on perfection. It was built on trust.

And that’s what made it work.

Now, one year later, we’re receiving around 200 applications a month.

It’s not enough to be a 7 or 8 figure founder. You have to share our values.

Curation is everything!

For this reason, we’re capping each city at 150 members.

And we’re already halfway there.

Life is good,
Marc & The Karisma Team

We had the 5-year Karisma anniversary planned to the millimeter.

90 tickets. Sold out. Catamaran booked. Sunset ride across the Barcelona coast.

It was supposed to be perfect.
Until it wasn’t.

That morning, I woke up to a WhatsApp message that simply said:
“Too windy. We have to cancel.”

My stomach dropped.

The last thing I wanted to do was plan a new event from scratch on a Saturday. But before I could even react, my team was already moving.

Ary (our events & partnerships wizard) called every rooftop in Barcelona until one said yes.

We sent one message with a Google Maps link and start time 6pm. No event page and no idea how many people would actually show up.

Then, something magical happened.

One by one, people started showing up — the ones from our first coliving, the first joiners of the social club in 2023, the newest faces from this month.

We had no agenda, no speakers, no production. And despite freezing our asses off, we stayed until 11:30pm.

All of the right people were there and that’s what it was all about.

But the moment that hit me hardest came when I was handed a golden notebook.

Inside were hand written messages from almost everyone about how Karisma had changed their life, their path, their sense of belonging...

I read them all that night before going to sleep. And yeah, I almost cried.

Because there were years I doubted everything. Times I thought maybe I was wasting my time.

And yet, here we are.

Five years later.

Business is booming.

Our best month ever in September. Over 200 applications a month. A team that’s on fire. The biggest Wellness Rave in Spain. And (most importantly) people’s lives being transformed.

It’s surreal.

Because I built Karisma for me. It started as the thing I wished existed for myself — a place to connect with ambitious people who also wanted to grow. Not just in business, but in life.

And seeing what it’s become... it’s wild.

So if you’re reading this and you’re building something of your own — keep going.

Even when it feels like it’s not working. Even when no one believes in it yet. Even when you want to give up.

Because one day, everything that once felt impossible will feel inevitable.

Life is good

Marc

Wild to even write that out.

Five years ago, Karisma was nothing more than a late-night idea in Dublin.

I just wanted freedom. I wanted to travel. I wanted to be around people who made life feel alive.

That’s how it started. But here’s how it unfolded:

Oct 2020: Idea sparks: build a surf house for remote entrepreneurs.
Nov 2020: Over dinner with my flat mate, the name Karisma is born.
2021–2022: Tested the concept with retreats in Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Croatia & Morocco.
June 2022: Lost €150K in a week. Moved back to home city of Barcelona broke, but determined.
Dec 2022: Launched first (physical) coliving brand for entrepreneurs in Barcelona. The community begins.
2023–2024: Karisma evolves into a social club. 500+ members, 200+ events.
Aug 2024: Selekt is born, new membership for high-level founders.
2025: Coliving sold. Memberships cut down. All-in on Selekt. Karisma = Selekt.

Looking back, it’s never really been about coliving, events, or even membership models. It’s always been about one thing: the people.

I never set out to build a business. I set out to build a life. One full of freedom, meaning, and connections that turn into transformations.

And somehow... that turned into Karisma.

Today, it’s not just me anymore. I’m building this with my two new co-founders (Dory & Stavros). For the three of us, this is our life project. Together, we’re obsessed with connecting founders authentically to help them transform their businesses AND lives.

So here we are. Five years in. Plenty of pivots, plenty of mistakes. But also... friendships that became family. Nights that became history. And a movement that’s only just beginning.

If you’ve been here since the beginning, thank you. Thank you for being part of this journey, really.

If you’re just arriving, welcome to year five. No worries, this show has only just began.

Either way, let’s toast to what’s been, and what’s still to come.

Life is good,
Marc

No more coliving, app, Montenegro project.
Less but higher quality events. All-in on Selekt.

The goal: do one thing extremely well.
Suddenly I had time to travel again and the business was thriving.
I hadn’t felt this good in a while. I was thriving.

Until last week...

Out of nowhere, I started getting triggered for the most random things.

I was not grounded at all.
Something was off.

Then on Tuesday, I went to one of our Karisma events led by Thijmen.
He’s a coach that works with very, very successful founders,

who despite all the successes still feel empty inside.
(often due to past traumas we’re not really aware of)

I decided to participate because why not.

As I started doing the exercises, this wave of frustration came up.
Then it turned into sadness I couldn’t explain.

Thijmen helped me dig deeper, and slowly, it all became clear.

All those triggers...

It wasn’t about the business.
It was about me.

Some old story from childhood.
That feeling of not being good enough, not being smart enough.

Here’s the truth, we hadn’t just simplified the business...

I made Stavros my co-founder and fully in charge of all sales & marketing
Brought in Dory, who’s frankly more experienced than our entire team combined.
Added an events manager who completes in one day what takes others a week.

So there I was.

Suddenly, I wasn’t overseeing every single part of the business anymore.
I was letting go of control.

And if I’m being real... I started feeling irrelevant in my own team.

But here’s what I realized in that session:

Your business and personal growth are inseparable.
The biggest limitation in your business is usually you.

And if you really want to go far...

First, you need to become the best version of yourself.

That’s what we profoundly believe at Karisma.
We don’t just help you build better, bigger businesses.

We help you unlock your full human potential.

Our mission is to help growth-minded founders design and live their dream life
by becoming the most aligned, unstoppable version of themselves.

As a team, we’ve never been hungrier to transform lives and support founders.

The second half of this year will be the real before and after.

When we go from a cool entrepreneur community in Barcelona to a serious global business.

Thanks for being part of this journey that has only just begun.

Life is good,

Marc

Yesterday, I officially sold the coliving side of Karisma.
What? Karisma did coliving too?

Yes... coliving is how we officially got started in Barcelona.
And it’s also what’s been giving us financial stability this whole time.

Before then, I used to run retreats for entrepreneurs around the world until I lost €150K in a week, forcing me to move back to Barcelona.

But that’s a story for another day.

That first coliving space was the birthplace of the Karisma community.
It was the place where I started organizing events.
They weren’t even under the Karisma brand.
All I wanted was to meet like-minded people.

I had just returned home after 7 years living abroad.

A year later, I followed my intuition to go all-in into building community while keeping the coliving business on autopilot.

Connecting people was what I cared about all along.
Definitely not property management.
That was the pivot into the Karisma we all know today.

That’s great but... why sell the coliving?

This April, I had a real emotional meltdown. It was bad.
I had spread myself too thin and taken on more things than I could handle.
Coliving, general membership, Selekt, app, Nomio project in Montenegro, endless events.

It was too much.
I couldn’t do it anymore.
Something had to change.

So the team and I took a step back.

We decided to simplify the business.
App: postponed.
Nomio: ciao.
Events: quality > quantity.
Coliving: sold.
Membership: karisma.club 😉

Ever since we started simplifying...

I’m working less and I have more hours in my day.

But things are running smoother and my team is executing better than ever.
It feels like I’m cheating on my business but things have never been better.
Because we are giving now 100% focus to the things that truly move the needle.
Instead of 20% to this, 30% to that, etc etc etc – you get the point.

My biggest lesson: the best businesses do one thing incredibly well.

This meant goodbye coliving.
It is now in much much better hands.

Buckle up.

Big big BIG things coming.

This is only just the beginning.

Life is good,

Marc

In just two months, we...
Revamped our main membership
Set up an epic April trip with Nomio
Restructured the team
Upgraded the entire Selekt experience

And yet, the biggest challenge?

Filling Selekt.

The first time we launched, we sold out in eight days.

This time... it took two and a half months. Yup.

Not because we couldn’t find great entrepreneurs.
But because we were only looking for the right ones.

This may sound weird but...

Members aren’t just customers. They’re also the product.
The people inside define the experience, the energy, and the growth.

So we went all in on curation.

• We reduced group sizes from 8 to 6 to build tighter, more synergized teams.

• We matched people based on revenue, industry, and personal fit.

• We turned down incredible candidates who didn’t show true commitment.

We knew this approach would be challenging.
And trust me, I had doubts along the way.
But we stuck to our vision.
And the moment I knew we had nailed it?

The Initiation Experience.

We redesigned everything—mixing our 16 founding members with 19 new joiners in an experience designed purely to create deeper bonds from day one.

We even brought in Sébastien—our new Think Tank facilitator, a TEDx speaker,
Mindvalley expert, and transformational leader.

And through this process, one theme kept coming up over and over again...

“It’s lonely at the top.”

At this level, decisions are bigger, stakes are higher.
But fewer people truly get it.
That leaves founders navigating challenges alone, when the right circle could change everything.

Selekt is that place.

It’s where successful founders connect, feel understood, and grow together.

Where you can have raw, honest conversations—without judgment.
When you’re surrounded by the right people, growth isn’t just faster.
It’s more meaningful.

The last few months have been a rollercoaster.
But after seeing this new cohort in action, I couldn’t be happier.
And now, we’re opening the doors again.

Much love,

Marc

But let’s rewind a bit.

Four years ago, I was living in Dublin, working a sales job at Oracle.

It wasn’t my passion, but I knew it would help me build skills and give me the time to figure out what I really wanted.

Before that, I’d spent a half a year traveling through Brazil, Australia, and Southeast Asia, meeting incredible people who changed how I saw the world.

It wasn’t the places that blew me away —it was the people.

Digital nomads, backpackers, and entrepreneurs, each living on their own terms.

That made me realize I wasn’t cut out for the typical 9-to-5, but I wasn’t sure where to even start.

When I moved to Dublin, I lived with Giacomo and Max —two entrepreneurial minds who were always pushing me to think bigger.
We’d spend nights brainstorming, bouncing ideas, and challenging each other to take action.

Then one late October night, something clicked and Karisma was born.

At first, it wasn’t some grand vision of a community for entrepreneurs.

Nope.

My first concept?

A surf house in Portugal. (Yup, that’s where it all started 😅 )

Back then, I wasn’t thinking about building a community around entrepreneurship or personal growth —those were just things I wanted for myself.

Karisma was my way of unlocking that, by building something that gave me the freedom to learn and grow alongside others.

But here’s the thing...

nothing ever goes according to plan.
I didn’t plan for Karisma to become what it is today.

The colivings, the community, the events —it all evolved because I stayed open to pivoting.

The truth is, we’ve pivoted more times than I can count, and each time we did, Karisma became a little more itself.*

Looking back, it’s crazy how it all came together.
But that’s the point —you don’t need a perfect idea or plan.

You just need to start.

Each step, each pivot, every failure shapes the journey.

That’s how Karisma was born—from a late-night convo, a surf camp idea, and a lot of unexpected turns.

If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this: take action, even if it’s messy.

That’s how dreams become reality.

Life is good,

Marc

P.S. Here’s a little something for you. Giacomo and I sent this image with our boss to our whole Oracle department to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Life’s short. Let’s have fun with it :)

Not so long ago,
I was deep in a very different world — the world of coliving.

For the first few years of Karisma, coliving was all I thought about.

The industry was new, exciting, and I was right in the thick of it.

Even though I had only hosted four pop-up colivings and launched a small 5-bedroom space in 2022,
Karisma stood out because of our community.

We were exclusive.

We had to be.

With only a handful of rooms,
I interviewed every single person to create a tight-knit group of high-achievers.

To be honest, I was just playing the cards I had.
Limited rooms meant I could afford to be picky.

But then something clicked.

I realized that what I cared about most wasn’t the coliving—it was the people.

So, we pivoted into a social club.

At first, we kept the same exclusivity, interviewing everyone.

But as we grew, that just wasn’t sustainable.

We needed more members, more diversity, and more connections.

The value we could provide for early-stage founders was off the charts.

So, we opened the doors wide.

Our community grew fast,

but we hit a challenge:

Connecting early-stage founders with more established ones wasn’t easy.

Their journeys were just different.

That’s how Karisma Selekt was born.

This wasn’t part of the original plan.
But the need was clear—experienced founders wanted a space where they could connect with peers who truly understood their challenges.

A tight, intimate, and impactful circle.

And the response?

Mind-blowing. Overwhelming.

Over 30% of applicants run businesses generating between 1M and 10M. 🤯

I’ve spent the last few days doing back-to-back interviews, and now we have just 5 spots left out of the original 16.

Selekt is going to bring in incredible entrepreneurs who will enrich the entire Karisma community.

I’m so excited for what’s next.

Much love,

Marc

Make sure to read until the end to find some hidden treasures :)

You know what I was MOST scared of
when I launched Karisma back in 2022?

(when we used to host retreats)

PUBLIC SPEAKING!

I was TERRIFIED of the idea of standing in front of all the new faces
and suddenly being out of breath.

My heart would start racing
just from thinking about it
months before it even happened,
leading to more and more self-doubt.

The week of my first retreat arrived and
not fcking it up was all I could think about.

My initial fear of public speaking
had turned into full on anxiety
and impostor syndrome.

I had to do something about it!

The guy I co-hosted my first retreat with
put me in touch (online) with a hypnotherapist
on the same morning of my launch.

After my session, I didn’t really feel much...

Did this even do anything?
There was only one way to find out.

The time came to stand in front of 12 entrepreneurs
who had traveled from all over the world to be there,
most of them almost a decade older than me...

Once I finished the onboarding,
I couldn’t believe what had just happened.

I fucking nailed it! WTFFFFFF 😱
This was a big big big deal. Woaaah!

Since then, I’ve still gotten nervous many times,
lost my breath a couple more and even
frozen in front of a group while giving a tour this year.

The difference?

I lost my fear of putting myself out there.

Last week, I gave my (by far) biggest talk yet at Itnig
in front of a huge crowd with 5 business titans.

I felt relaxed, excited, playful... in the zone.

I SMASHED IT!

… (according to my mom)

You can decide for yourself:

Oh, and here’s some nice pics:

Now, let’s get back to it!

Hypnotherapy helped, but...
what really the biggest factor was REPETITION.

Here’s the truth:
No one is perfect at first, and that’s OK.

You gotta get out there, be patient
and not focus on the final product.

This is what our events looked like...
just a little bit over a year ago:

Yes, I know... truly feels like another lifetime.
I cringe just looked at these pics but
it was this work in the “shadows” that
made me not even flinch but rather
look forward to standing in front of everyone.

These times laid the foundation for us to
fill up a whole space with members only,
book jaw-dropping speakers or
partner with Itnig for their iconic venue.

This new expert panel event format
marked a before and after for our business events.

We plan to host these twice a month
with bigger and bigger speakers
ONLY for the members of our community.

This is a huge milestone in so many ways
and I can’t wait to get back on stage.

We’ve just launched the Karisma YouTube channel,
where we’ll post these biweekly talks with the best highlights.

A huge thanks to Peel Creative for
making it happen and helping us out with
the recordings, production and posting.

Much love! Life is good :)

Marc

The last few months have been CRAZY!
Let me tell you why:

In 2023, we accomplished the unthinkable, launching both a coliving and social club in 8 months, while building one of Barcelona’s most thriving communities.

From the outside it all looked like rainbows and flowers, but inside... there was so many moments of doubt and uncertainty and even more pivots and experiments than I can count, leading to 2 burnouts (I’ll get into this in another letter).

And at the moment I followed my intuition – which, for the longest time, told me to pivot to the social club and go all into community building – everything started to flow.

Despite getting to work on my dream project, it still felt like we were building the plane mid-air, chaotically figuring out each part as we soared.
The plane isn’t fully built yet, but since we launched the social club in September, we’ve managed to get it to fly.

We have set 4 big intentional goals for 2024 and made our vision crystal clear and the biggest one is this:
We want to create an even bigger social and creative space,
A space where creators and entrepreneurs come together to foster collective growth across all aspects of life.
A space that creates a new precedent in the world of social clubs.

That’s all I’ll say for now.

I’m not the manifesting type of guy, but it totally blows my mind how many opportunities have come our way this past month alone and the unstoppable momentum we’ve built.
I have my dream team on board and growing,
A huge real estate developer wants to partner up with us to create something big...

And so opportunities are just popping out of nowhere.

I remember a goal setting workshop back in November.
When I visualized this iconic space, it was hard for me to believe that we’d be able to pull something off like this within a year
And this goal is now vividly right in front of our eyes.

Growth and expansion are not just on the horizon; they’re here.
Not just for us but for everyone in our community.
We push each other non stop and this energy is nothing but contagious.

Most importantly, we’re not just dreaming of success – we’re living it, right here, right now.

Success is getting to be on this journey with such incredibly supportive people around me.

2024 is shaping up to be a year for the books.
Thanks for being part of this incredible journey.

The best is yet to come.

Catch you in the next update. Life is good!

Saludos,
Marc

The truth is that finding my path didn’t just happen from one day to the next. A lot of time and energy were spent to get to that 1 aha moment.

Looking back at the past years, I genuinely believe that having a purpose is one of the keys to a happy life and that everyone can find his/her thing.

I’ve laid out the 3 steps I (unconsciously) took so you can find your path and start living the life of your dreams. Each step is paramount so make sure you read until the end.

1. Ready

2. Aim

3. Fire

I considered leaving parts out and making it shorter. However, I really want this to be an in-depth and practical step by step guide you can always go back to and not just another shallow motivational post.

I dedicate this to all the dreamers out there who’ll never settle until they make the one life they have their masterpiece.

Step 1: Ready

Before you can find your thing, you first need to know what options are really out there.

The more you step out of your comfort zone, the more things you try and the more things you say yes to, the more confident you’ll be in your final decision.

The goal is to expand your number of options from this…

… to this.

From my experience and that of many other people I’ve met who’ve found their purpose, changing your environment is the best thing you can do for this.

Particularly, I recommend traveling and, if possible, by yourself. Traveling not only puts you in a totally different environment but also gives you an opportunity to meet so many different people and to get to know yourself.

Every single person has so many diverse perspectives and life experiences that we can learn from. To make the most of your interactions, it’s an absolute must to keep an open mind and never ever judge a book by its cover.

Here are some other things you can do:

• Work in different industries

• Get a mentor

• Read lots of books

• Listen to podcasts

• Join a club or an online community

• Step out of your comfort zone

• Say yes to things that come your way

“We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.”

— Max Depree

Step 2: Aim

Once you’ve explored what’s out there and opened up your mind, it’s time to identify what your ideal lifestyle (aka destination) looks like based on what you like and don’t like.

Why does it matter? Well, a purpose is “an object to be reached; a target; an aim; a goal.” In other words, we gain a sense of purpose when we have a destination we’re moving towards.

To find your target, keep it super simple and forget about whether it’s possible or not. When I returned from my world travels, these were the 7 criteria I came up with:

1. I want to constantly meet interesting and diverse people

2. I want to have lots of variety and adventures in my life

3. I want to constantly grow and strive to become the best version of myself

4. I want to live on my own terms and be free to make my own decisions

5. I want to be able to live and work wherever I desire, whenever I desire

6. I don’t want money to be any of my issues

7. I love architecture and interior design

Once you’ve set these boundaries and clarified what your destination should look like, it will give you a sense of direction. Now you’re ready to pick the vehicle — a job, career or what you do — that will take you to your dream life.

As you can see, being a coliving entrepreneur (the vehicle) checks all of my boxes. However, someone else seeking stability, no stress and to be in one specific location would absolutely hate what I do.

This may seem very obvious at first, but the reality is that the large majority of people only pick between a limited number of vehicles and think that what they’ve chosen is the destination. I don’t blame them because this is how we’ve been conditioned to think since we were kids.

It starts in university with the degree we’d like to pursue, which makes it feel like this is what we’re destined to do for the rest of our lives. During my business studies, it felt like all I could pick once I graduated was a career in consulting, accounting, sales, finance, etc.

If living your dream life and finding your purpose is what you truly desire, you need to think outside the box and not succumb to the expectations of society, your family or others.

There have never been sooo many cool alternative paths out there that schools and universities never even mention. Don’t limit yourself, get creative and think big.

Had I not listened to myself and looked beyond the typical career options, I would have NEVER come across coliving (vehicle option 1) and most likely gotten a job in consulting (vehicle option 2), which would have only fit with 2 out of my 7 criteria.

Remember: Start with the things you like and don’t like, what you’re good and bad at and what you want your ideal life to look like. ONLY THEN consider the vehicle that will take you there. Never the other way around.

“Somewhere between college graduation and your second job, a chorus enters your internal dialogue: Be realistic and stop pretending. Life isn’t like the movies.”

— Tim Ferris

Step 3: Fire

By now, you should have a vague sense of direction. You’ve reduced the number of potential options and know that your purpose is somewhere in the green area.

It’s time to take action and figure out the rest on the go. Don’t wait to have everything figured out to take action. This is exactly what keeps so many people from reaching their dreams.

The perfect plan or idea will NEVER EVER come knocking at your door. If you really want to live your dream, don’t wait for “one day.” Take action now.

In case you still feel lost and don’t know where to start, this is the process you have to follow:

1. Pick 1 thing within the green area — your hypothesis

2. Test your hypothesis

3. Gather feedback

4. Repeat until you find it

It doesn’t matter if your hypothesis is taking you in the wrong direction or isn’t your final thing. You’re in the process of figuring it out and even negative feedback is valuable.

It’s better to go in the wrong direction than in no direction at all.

The more you repeat the process, the more you’ll reduce the number of final outcomes. This process requires both patience and agility. You want to wait for the right thing but also not get stuck on the wrong thing forever.

Be ready to get slapped in the face and to pivot quickly. Every failure and obstacle you encounter is an opportunity to learn and grow.

Before I came up with the idea of Karisma, I knew I wanted something that incorporated experiences, real estate, community, travel and growth.

In October 2020, I decided to explore the idea of opening a surf camp in Portugal. I knew pretty much nothing about Portugal or surfing but I kept an open mind and constantly set new hypothesis.

After 2 months of talking to every person I could and learning as much as possible, I set 1 key hypothesis: “what if I include an office in the surf camp so remote workers can stay and surf longer?”

That same week I came across coliving. I felt like I had found a gold mine. If you follow this process, you will get to that aha moment too.

It’s also very likely that you may come across multiple things you’d like to pursue. It’s not like there’s just “the one” purpose out there waiting for you. It’s about finding the things that excite you, which will evolve over time.

Here’s the crazy and beautiful thing: even if you find it, you will never stop figuring your purpose and yourself out. Once I committed to coliving, it felt like the bar returned to green so that I could find my place within the industry I had chosen.

Life is an endless journey, in which the only constant is change.

“We learn the way on the way.”

— Shannon Kaiser

Alright, enough for today. I hope this added some value to your journey of self-discovery and motivated you to take action.

Remember to:

1. Step out of your comfort zone and explore the world around you with an open mind

2. Focus on finding your destination and what you love doing, instead of the vehicle

3. Take action, pivot quickly and patiently figure it all out as you go

Please be patient; you don’t need to find your purpose tomorrow. If you don’t give up and just keep going, you’re 99% guaranteed to find it.

The most important thing, however, is to be present and to enjoy the journey. That’s what it’s all about.

I’m already working on the continuation of this post “How to go from idea to reality” to help you not only find but also create your dream life.

See you soon and have a wonderful day!

In summary, I discussed why Web3 — which is creeping up on the horizon — is inevitable and how it aims to give power back to the users of the internet.

Web3’s decentralized community-driven approach is moving beyond the web. This ethos is already radically changing businesses’ relationship to their customers, and turning communities into secret weapons.

Because there’s nothing more community-centered than a coliving, I’ve been researching since late 2021 how to actually leverage Web3 to supercharge your community and business.

Today is your lucky day because I’m about to share 3 practical (and potential) use cases Karisma might use so you can as well.

NFT vs. Tokens for dummies

Before we jump in, I’d like to quickly clarify the difference between an NFT (Non Fungible Token) and a (fungible) token with examples from the physical world.

The Mona Lisa is non-fungible; it’s one-of-a-kind and can’t be replaced. Money (including crypto) or airline miles, on the other hand, are fungible. If Juan and Antonia both give me a $5 bill and I return to each the $5 bill that the other person gave me, would they care? Of course not. You can’t do that with artwork or real estate, which are items that NFTs can represent.

Use case #1: Crowdfunding & Co-Ownership

Let’s start with the easiest example. While Karisma’s first properties will be rented through a loan from FFF (Family, Friends and Fools), we’d eventually like to acquire our own spaces through NFT crowdfunding. You can crowdfund pretty much anything, not just real estate.

If the space (or the project of your choice) costs $200 (I wish), you could create 20 NFTs of $10 each that people could then purchase. If you were to buy 1 of these NFTs, you’d own 10% of the property.

Why would I do this with NFTs, instead of using Kickstarter or other proven ways of crowdfunding?

For 2 main reasons that you’ll see play out in the next use cases as well:

• Ownership

• Utility

Ownership

Remember in Part 1 how I talked about how users turning into owners? Well, when you buy 1 share of the property in form of an NFT, you’re owning an asset that belongs to you and only you. This is where blockchain technology comes in handy, verifying that you’re the owner of the thing you bought.

You can immediately resell the NFT whenever you’d like without having to do any paperwork or going through any daunting legal procedures. The transaction costs are minimal. This is pretty much impossible with Kickstarter.

But wait, there’s more!

Utility

The most exciting thing is the utility you can program into the NFT. Here are some examples:

• The NFT can be the ticket that gives you access to the space. Only the owner can enter the property and no one else.

• You can program the NFT so that those who crowdfunded the space, get a revenue share (aka royalties) from all future earnings, rewarding early adopters.

• Only those holding the NFT will have voting rights over certain decisions that pertain to the actual space.

Are you seeing how this is a very powerful tool to involve and empower your community? Let me show you another NFT example.

Use case #2: Memberships & Segmentation

Karisma’s spaces will only be available to the selected members of the community. In the not so distant future, all memberships will be represented by an NFT that you can add to your phone wallet. Just like in the previous example, this membership NFT can grant you access to spaces worldwide and the online community.

What excites me most about these membership NFTs, however, is that you can very easily segment your community based on loyalty and target each segment accordingly. Let me show you what I mean.

Karisma may one day have 1000 active members each paying $150/month for their memberships, which give them access to the spaces, experiences and community. Juan may just join on special occasions whereas Antonia — a die hard fan — joins and contributes whenever she cans. Both are paying exactly the same and getting the same benefits, however.

What if you create an exclusive 50 NFT collection costing $10K each? Each NFT gives you free lifetime membership, priority access to all coliving spaces around the world, 20% off to all experiences, 1 coaching session per month and 1 dinner with the founder. (These numbers are totally made up)

Juan may not be interested. Antonia, on the other hand, may think it’s a steal. What if there’s 200 members like Antonia? Things can get pretty crazy. If Antonia manages to buy one of them and one day no longer wants it, she can resell it at a huge profit if the demand is still there.

It’s an asset, remember?

In terms of utility, Karisma can also program the NFT so that it receives 10% royalties for every sale. Imagine Antonia sells it for $15K after 2 years. She not only got a lot of value from it while owning it and even made a profit, but Karisma gets $1.5K from that transaction on top of the $500K from the primary sale.

Right there, you’ve built another source of income. Not bad, right?

Use case #3: Tokens & Gamification

Now that you understand how NFTs work, let’s move to tokens, which are more complex but extremely powerful.

Tokens are like Monopoly money or theme park tokens. They are only valuable because of the things you can do with them (buy a red hotel, use the roller coaster…). On top of that, you need to carefully decide how many of these tokens you’d like to issue/create… that’s the shit Jerome Powell (from The Federal Reserve) does for a living.

By attaching benefits to your tokens and gamifying the experience, you can incentivize certain behaviors within your community. For example, the longer you stay in our spaces, the more experiences you join or the more you contribute to the community by doing x, y or z, the more tokens you earn, just like you would with airline miles.

You can add value to your tokens by making them exchangeable against perks like:

• Free stays

• Discounts

• Free merch

• Exclusive deals

• Any utility you can think of…

With tokens, you have the possibility of creating your own internal economy. The tokens are only valuable if people perceive value in them. That is exactly why Monopoly can sometimes become so intense. If you manage to create enough demand around these tokens, eventually you can give them financial value by making them exchangeable against other cryptocurrencies. Money is a very powerful incentive.

I’m not sure about the token implementation within Karisma yet. What I’m sure about is that with the right incentives, you can get people to do pretty much anything and make your community run independently. This is the case with DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations), which are community-driven, Web3-native organizations, but that’s a conversation for another day.

How to supercharge your community

These are just some of the many use cases for NFTs and tokens. However, there’s one last thing I’ve saved for the end that will blow your mind, especially if you’re a community builder. Ready?

Remember the importance of ownership in Web3? NFTs and tokens are assets, which you can own.

That means that community members owning these assets now own a stake in the business or community they’re part of. We’re talking about an easily interchangeable asset that can increase or decrease in value.

In other words, if you own 1 NFT representing a share in one of the properties, you know that the more successful Karisma becomes, the more valuable your NFT will become. By having skin in the game, you’re involved in Karisma’s success and will very likely be incentivized to promote it, share Karisma’s stories and become an even more loyal member.

If Karisma succeeds, you succeed as well. We’re all on the same boat and the incentives are more aligned than ever. This totally changes the relationship that businesses and creators have with their audiences and customers.

Do you see what I’m seeing? This right here is an extremely powerful tool that can take your community to the next level.

These are some of the many use cases that have been brewing in my head for over half a year and I cannot wait for the day they finally get implemented.

Why haven’t I done it yet?

I think we’re still a tiny bit early and I’d rather wait on the sidelines for a little longer while learning from other people’s mistakes. More education and time are required until this gets fully adopted.

Web3 is coming soon; it’s inevitable. The question is when.

One of the milestones I’m really looking forward to is the moment people shift their attention from the stupid picture of an Ape or JPEG to the real utility behind each NFT or token. Instead of throwing fancy buzzwords that nobody understands, organizations should emphasize the true value that they’re providing.

If you’ve visited our brand new website, you’ll see how I’ve started hinting towards our move to Web3 while only focusing on the real utility and not mentioning any of these scammy-sounding buzzwords:

I really hope I’ve been able to provide some clarity around this complicated topic and get you interested in potentially becoming a member or co-owner. We may yet be small but just wait. Big things are coming.

Web3 — which involves crypto, NFTs and all of these fancy buzzwords — may seem like it has come to an end since prices came tumbling down.

I believe we’re just getting started, however. I believe we’re right at the Trough of Disillusionment or The Chasm and that the Slope of Enlightenment is still ahead of us.

Web3 is about to have as much of an impact in our lives as the internet did back in the 1990s. The internet is now so ingrained into our lives that we can’t even live without it.

Whether we like it or not, Web3 is about to do the same.

Specifically, Web3 will play a massive role in Karisma’s future and that of most businesses around the world. Those who fail to adapt will be left behind.

Today and next week, I’ll be releasing a 2-part series sharing in the simplest way possible:

• Part 1: What is Web3 and why it matters

• Part 2: How Karisma plans to leverage Web3 to fuel our community and vision

I’m confident that by the end of this post (part 1), you’ll understand the value and importance of Web3 and (hopefully) get excited about the future. Buckle up!

The evolution of the internet

To understand Web3 — which is the third wave of the internet — it’s crucial to understand the current state of the internet (Web2), how we got here and the current flaws.

When the internet started (Web1), all one could do was search, consume and read a website without much interaction. That is when search engines like Yahoo! and Google were born to let users easily access vast information like never before.

The rise of platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Wordpress gave rise to Web2, in which users were able to not just read but also create, write and interact with the web. Writing can be anything from posting a story, creating your own website, writing a blog post, order an Uber…

This is where we are right now.

What’s wrong with Web2

While these now massive companies have created the infrastructure of the internet and modern communication, they have accomplished it at the expense of all our data. These companies have become so powerful, in fact, that a select group of people, mainly within Google, Meta or Amazon, now controls the fate of the entire internet.

The 2 main flaws of Web2 are:

• Lack of ownership

• Centralization

We’ve all heard these buzzwords but let me show you via a simple example why they are problematic.

Lack of ownership

Let’s say you’re a YouTuber. You’ve been building your following for years and eventually you go viral. Who would you attribute all of the success to? Yourself for all the hard work? Sure. YouTube for providing the platform? That’s fair. What about your audience, though?

Firstly, without the users, YouTube would be worthless. It is the users that ultimately determine the success of one platform over another. Secondly, without users you have no audience and your audience is the one that helps you go viral by sharing and liking your content.

Centralization

Next, who decides over the fate of YouTube? Well, YouTube does. Duuuh. YouTube, just like any other platform, can decide to censor you, make the platform more and more addictive or change the algorithm from one day to the next (cough cough Instagram).

Most often these decisions are not in our best interest. The worst part is that, no matter if they delete the account you’ve managed to grow, sell our data or get us more hooked, they own not just all of our data but you. If you move to a new platform — from YouTube to Vimeo or Instagram to TikTok — you can’t take with you your audience or content you’ve created over time.

That’s how powerful these companies have become. A small group of select individuals in each of these organizations controls the masses and there’s nothing we can do about it.

If we the users are so relevant and keep the platforms alive, shouldn’t we have a minimal say over the platform that we use?

Via this example you can see how users and creators don’t have any ownership over their data and the platform they use and how all of these Web2 platforms have complete centralized power.

Web3 to the rescue

The good news is that Web3 solves these problems by giving the power back to the users. In Web3, users become owners not just of the platforms they use and the communities they belong to but also of their own identity and data.

Web3 gives users property rights. In other words, users will now have the ability to own a piece of the internet that they contribute to. Web3 proposes to change the imbalance created in Web2 by creating a decentralized internet with no company overlords.

This can be done through tokens and NFTs but we’ll save that for Part 2.

Hope all of this theory wasn’t too much to handle. I really tried to simplify it as much as I could and thought dividing it into 2 parts would make it easier to swallow.

Next week, we’ll get a little bit more hands-on. I’ll be showing you real life examples of

• how Web3 will be implemented within Karisma and,

• how you can supercharge your community.

Before you go…

Thank you for answering these quick polls ❤️

If you have any questions about Web3 or anything else, feel free to contact me at marc@karismaliving.com.

I wrote this short piece during one of my roadtrips while feeling inspired. Hope you enjoy it!

Oh, and here’s the long-awaited aftermovie of our epic Morocco coliving back in June:

If you’re in your 20s, now is the best time to fail.

Failure is an opportunity for growth and most importantly, a prerequisite for success — whatever that looks like for you. 

Winston Churchill couldn’t have said it any better: 

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm.”

The only way to succeed or fail is by taking risks and in your 20s, that’s exactly when you’ll have the best risk/reward ratio.

Let’s say things go south, what’s the worst that could happen? Moving back into your parents home? Getting a new job? Haters talking shit?

Now imagine you’ve got a mortgage to pay, kids to feed or other responsibilities to take care of. The potential downside is much bigger.

The reward side of the equation depends on how big you dare to dream and your level of execution.

The more you get slapped in the face and take accountability for your actions, the better you will get at turning ideas into reality and eventually reaching success.

Those who succeed are those who fail the most, learn the fastest and don’t give up. It’s that simple.

I failed miserably in university trying to launch NYX Party, I moved back into my parents home after losing all my money and 2 people left unsatisfied in my first ever coliving experience.

I will probably fail a million more times but know with certainty that each failure will take me one step closer to success.

• Phase 1 — Host coliving retreats in different parts of the world with the intention not only to build our brand and community but most importantly, to gain experience and clarity about the future in a quick and not-too-risky way. (Learn more)

• Phase 2 — Transition into real estate, open our first permanent coliving space in Barcelona in Fall 2022, focus on growing our community more locally and keep opening new spaces until we take over Barcelona. (Having a stable salary would be nice too)

Phase 1 has definitely given me the clarity I was looking for. The vision has finally become clear(er) but there’s still a very very long way to go. Not so long ago, I decided to break down my journey towards my ultimate vision into phases with the intention of becoming more grounded and focused with what’s right ahead of me.

Many of us have big dreams and aspirations. Sometimes they can feel so overwhelmingly big that we don’t even know where to start and end up getting stuck. What really matters, however, is the very next step you’re taking, no matter how small it is. Many steps in one direction are exactly what will get you to your destination. 

I’m constantly dreaming about having locations in every corner of the world, leveraging the power of web3 to supercharge my community, organizing epic yearly festivals and one-a-kind experiences, designing the most unique and aesthetic spaces… and sooo many more things. Those things will come (I know it) but for now, we’re in Barcelona and it’s time to open up our first space.

The purpose of this article is to share with you in a little bit more detail what phase 2 entails and why we’re doing what we’re doing. Specifically, I’ll be covering:

• Why we chose Barcelona

• What makes us unique

• What our spaces will look like

• When we plan to open

1️⃣ Why we chose Barcelona

Even though Portugal has always been in my radar from the very beginning (in part also because of the tax incentives I had with the crypto I no longer have), Barcelona is my home turf. Starting a business is already hard enough, so why make my life harder when I already have all the local Barcelona insights, a free place to stay in and a lot of valuable connections.

Putting personal reasons aside, I strongly believe that there’s a huge business opportunity in Barcelona. One one side, more and more people are flocking to this magical city, which has everything you can think of and more, with the intention of staying here for multiple months at a time. Demand: check. 

On the other side, there’s a huge supply issue. In the last year, rent in Barcelona has risen 18% not just because of the increased demand but because supply has dramatically decreased by 58% (La Vanguardia). This isn’t sustainable. Properties are literally getting ripped out of people’s hands. I posted 3 fake ads on 1 platform at different price points (800€, 950€ and 1200€), each receiving 15+ requests in half a week.

The worst part of all is that Barcelona’s infrastructure was built for short-term tourism. Pre-covid, people came for a weekend, maybe a week and very very rarely for 2 weeks or more. What do you do now if you want to come for 3, 6 or 9 months, which is the case for many remote workers and digital nomads? Airbnb? Too expensive. Long-term lease? Not flexible enough. Flat share? Good luck finding like-minded people.

Airbnb ends up being one of the go-to options, even though coliving is what people really need. People want to move in and out whenever they desire and feel at home right away. They want to pay one monthly bill, which includes furniture, appliances and other amenities. Coliving offers that, the community and so much more without paying an unsustainable nightly rate.

Coliving is exactly what Barcelona needs. While there’s already a bunch of players (like Circles, CoImpact, Aticco or Enso) popping up, it’s not enough.

2️⃣ What makes us unique

Apart from offering the much-needed flexible and all-inclusive living solution, we’re planning to differentiate ourselves with a unique approach to the following 3 fundamental pillars:

1. Community

2. Workspace

3. Experiences

Community — You become who you surround yourself with

Community is at the center of everything we do. Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts (“What your coliving community really wants"), I strongly believe that a successful coliving needs not just a space but also a strong community. Coliving is much more than just accommodation and real estate. That’s why we started with phase 1 to first build the community pillar and now we’re adding the real estate pillar.

Most colivings will claim to be all about community. The reality is that many colivings — especially those that get heavily funded — forget the “co” in coliving. When scalability and ROI become a priority, which is naturally what most investors care about, community loses relevance. The moment you forget about the people and the interactions that happen within the space is the moment a coliving becomes just another property manager. Counterintuitively, smaller players may actually have a competitive advantage over bigger players when it comes to attracting more community-oriented users, which is what the majority of nomads desire.

At Karisma, we commit to always putting our community first. For us, the community starts way before residents arrive at the space; it starts at the curation process. Who you live and surround yourself with has a dramatic impact on the quality of your life. You are the product of your environment. With our curation process we engineer that environment so you can surround yourself with like-minded people who help you become the best version of yourself. If accommodation is all you’re looking for, we may not be the place for you.

Workspace — Become unstoppable at work

We kreators strive to live a fulfilling and meaningful life. We know that work is a huge part of our journey in this world. That’s why, instead of living for the weekend, we take responsibility over our lives to find a path that’s truly authentic to ourselves and to make work feel like play. We kreators are passionate about what we do and find joy in creation.

All of our spaces are fully equipped with the tools and an ideal work setup so you can do groundbreaking work and unleash your creativity. Our spaces are designed for growth and creation to happen. We know we’ve done a good job when, the moment you leave Karisma, you think to yourself: “how am I supposed to get shit done with this tiny laptop screen and uncomfortable wooden chair?”

Experiences — We go above and beyond for our community

In the same post I mentioned above, I talked about how the best way to connect deeply with others is through shared experiences. For us, coliving is just one of the many tools available to bring people together. One of the biggest benefits of coliving is the social aspect, so why just limit the community building and fun to the actual space?

For phase 2, our vision is to have many satellite spaces in Barcelona (and all cities yet to be announced) and to unite the whole community through local and international experiences and events. Many of these will be available to local and foreign non-residents as well. This creates a fresh and dynamic environment, allowing our members to constantly meet and engage with new people, who will also be introduced to our ecosystem.

Imagine for a second you’re a remote worker coming to Barcelona for a few months. On the accommodation side, your main priority is to find a place to stay that’s cozy, flexible and ideally as convenient as possible, offering all the amenities you need. Check! You're also desiring to make new friendships and have the best time possible. Karisma not only connects you with inspiring like-minded people from all over the world but also offers a wide range of activities and the local insights for you to feel at home right away. Everything is taken care of.

We want to get really really creative when it comes to organizing experiences. Life is too short and precious not to take full advantage of it. Here are some of the things we’d love to do with our community: 

3️⃣ What our spaces will look like

Over time, our spaces will vary in shapes and sizes. However, what kind of property do we start with? I’ve given this a looot of thought and we’ve finally decided to start with 3-5 bedroom apartments. This is nothing like the 25-bedroom coliving in Portugal I originally envisioned or the spaces of the coliving retreats we’ve been hosting… so let me tell you our reasoning.

Quality > quantity

For our residents, one of the most critical parts of the experience is the people they’ll spend the majority of their time with. When I say quality, I’m referring to the alignment between our residents. We don’t ever want to accept someone who might be problematic or not a good fit to avoid making a loss. The experience of our residents always comes first. We feel very confident in our ability to fulfill this promise with 3-5 bedroom spaces at least at the beginning.

Slowmad-friendly

Our ideal customer is a slow-traveling remote workers (aka slowmad), wanting to fully immerse him/herself in the local culture and staying in each destination all the way from 1 month to 1 year. While larger spaces are the ideal place to meet lots of very interesting people, it can be very intense and overwhelming to live there for longer periods of time. We’ll provide you with plenty of opportunities to socialize and go on adventures, but we also give you a cozy and homey space with a more intimate group of people that you can go back to.

Less risk & more control

A smaller space means smaller upfront investment and monthly payments, meaning less risk. Apart from taking on less risky so early on in our project, we are focused on sustainable growth, while focusing on giving our community the best possible experience. We’ve received a big enough loan to get the ball rolling while still remaining in full control of our own destiny. For now, we don’t want to reply on big investors, who may be misaligned with our vision and our community-first approach.

Interior design

We’ve partnered up with a local up and coming interior designer who will help us create a space with character, prioritizing comfort, sustainability wellbeing and productivity. We’ll be documenting the entire journey of building the space on Instagram, so make sure to give us a follow.

4️⃣ When we plan to open

Our goal is to open out doors to you by October. For the first space, we’re looking for a non-furnished space in good conditions, which should take about 1 month to furnish and get ready. Ideally, we’re doing our very best to close the deal by the end of August. We already have some promising options but we won’t stop searching until we find the best possible home for our community.

We'll be documenting the whole journey all the way from the moment we acquire the property to the day we officially open on Instagram, so feel free to give us a follow 📲

🚨 If you’d like to move in with us, please head over to our new website and join the waitlist 🚨

Join waitlist

Thank you so much for reading all the way until the end. It really means a lot. I hope this gave you more clarity about where we’re heading.

For more info, check out our brand new website freshly designed by my dear friend Finn Dollimore. Click here 👈

If you have any questions or there’s anything I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me: marc@karismaliving.com.

Alright, here we go. Last month, while I was hosting the Morocco experience, I finally found the courage to check my crypto portfolio balance after the massive and (for me) unexpected crypto crash. It was worse than expected… I had officially lost my entire fortune that I had made from going all into crypto starting April 2020.

I few months before, I had reached 150,000€ and I thought I was the king of the world. I got greedy and didn’t want to spend any of it so I decided to take on a couple of loans using my crypto as collateral to pay for company expenses. When Bitcoin dipped all the way down to $20K, almost 99% of my wealth got liquidated, bringing me all the way back to 2,800€.

This money was my life vest. Exactly a year ago, this life vest gave me (and my parents) the confidence and tranquility to take the leap and go after my dreams. Losing it was a huge slap in the face. Not gonna lie, I was completely devastated at first and even doubted myself for a second about whether I’d be able to make it.

Fast forward to now, I feel so incredibly grateful for all of the lessons that this experience has given me at such a young age. I’m hungrier than ever and, most importantly, I’ve become 100% confident in my own abilities to reach my own personal success with or without the money.

I know everything will be more than fine in the long term. I believe it. I know it. Over the last month, I’ve identified 4 critical pillars, which I have been following unconsciously, that I believe contribute to the inevitability of success without the need of money, which is just another tool and not the end all be all.

1. Passion ❤️‍🔥

2. Action 🚀

3. Environment 🌍

4. Gratitude 🙏

Passion ❤️‍🔥

I’m the luckiest man in the world. I’m so fucking obsessed about what I do and could work on it every single day. In fact, it doesn’t even feel like work. My head is constantly thinking about Karisma to the point where sometimes I can’t even fall asleep because I’m constantly thinking of new ideas and writing them down.

This sounds like a dream, and for me, it is. However, I dedicate so many hours to my project and not all days are ecstatic. I’d even say that a loooot of my days are stressful, overwhelming and emotionally charged due to unforeseen problems or constant uncertainty.

I’ve come to believe that in life you need to find something worth struggling for. This may sound pessimistic but to get anything in life, you must sacrifice something else. If you wanna get fit, you need to put in the hours at the gym. If you wanna be a DJ, you need to spend endless hours in the studio and risk never even making it. Life isn’t as idilic as it may seem on social media.

However, when you do what you love, when you put all your passion into something and when you totally believe in what you do, it becomes much more likely for you to keep going no matter what hardships come your way. Reaching success doesn’t come just like that; it’s a journey. It takes work and it can take a very long time until you see the fruits of your labor. Passion is the fuel that will get you there.

Action 🚀

But Marc, I don’t even know what I’m passionate about or what way to even go in. I can assure you that the large majority of people who have reached their personal success very very likely started off not knowing either. What I’m also extremely sure about is that they all did the following 2 things: 1) take action and 2) learn from their failures.

How can I even take action if I don’t even know what I want? Well, before Karisma was born, all I knew was I wanted to create something that involved people, travel, growth and real estate (because I love architecture). I called that “thing” experiential real estate, even though it was very broad (and that’s OK). This eventually lead to the idea of creating a surf camp made out of shipping containers. Even though it wasn’t really my thing and I sucked at surfing, it served as a great starting point. After 2 months of researching the matter 1h after work every day and following my curiosity with an open mind, I finally came across coliving.

The point I’m trying to make is that it’s better to go in the wrong direction than in no direction at all. At least going in the wrong direction is telling you the things you don’t like and allowing you to recalibrate to find a direction that’s more suitable for you. The crazy part is that I’ve pivoted sooooo many times within the coliving niche. First it was a 25-room space in Portugal, then coliving retreats, I considered a social club, I went super deep down web3 and, finally after more than 1.5 years, I’ve finally gained a lot of clarity about the future but who knows what will happen.

Often we don’t take action because we’re afraid of failing without knowing that failing is the best thing that could happen to us. Failure is an opportunity for growth. There’s a saying that I couldn’t agree with more, which is “fail fast, learn faster.” The moment you stop learning is the moment you start dying. Just do it, be ready to pivot and keep going forward.

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm” — Winston Churchill

Environment 🌍

You are the product of your environment. Choosing the right (or wrong) environment can dramatically increase (or decrease) the quality of your life. If you’re always around optimistic, ambitious or hard-working people, you’ll be the next one. It’s that simple.

Since I embarked on my entrepreneurial journey, I’ve invested a lot into my network, which is the best thing that could’ve ever happened to me. In challenging moments like these, I’ve realized how lucky I am to be able to count on people much smarter and experienced than me. Even though Karisma may seem like a one man show, there’s sooo many friends, mentors/advisors and experts helping out in the background contributing to the overall success of this project. Without you, none of this would be possible ❤️

This is one of the huge reasons why coliving spaces can have such a profound positive impact in the life of any individual. If coliving is not an option, always be open to meeting new people or trying new things and say yes to plans, especially in your 20s. Otherwise, leverage the power of tools like LinkedIn or Instagram. It’s insane how many people I’ve met over LinkedIn or virtually before meeting in person. You’re just one outreach away from anyone in the world.

Gratitude 🙏

After my financial “tragedy,” I decided to move back into my parents home in Barcelona. I remember coming back home — after spending one magical week in Morocco with my fellow kreators and another one in Bulgaria to attend the epic Bansko Nomad Fest — and just feeling a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for life.

Coming back home made me stop for once and look back at the crazy things I’ve been fortunate to do and experience over the last few months building my own meaningful path. It also made me realize how much I already have. I have a beautiful and cozy home to go back to, friends and family I can always count on and that support me, a healthy and well-functioning body, and sooo much more.

So often we chase, chase, chase after things and dreams losing sight of the present. It’s awesome and even fulfilling to have a goal and something to strive towards, but it’s equally as important to have perspective and to be mindful of everything we already have and everything we’ve already accomplished. True joy and happiness is found in the now. Most likely, the things we’re chasing aren’t necessarily going to make us happier because joy comes from within and that, in it of itself, is a massive success.

Bonus: Luck 🍀

I gotta admit, it’s easy(er) to be grateful when you already have everything you need. Moving back into my parents home has been a true blessing. I barely have to cook, I never have to buy groceries, my room and my clothes are always clean…

You can always make your own luck and I agree with the famous quote “Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity,” but there’s no doubt that some have it much easier than others. I was born into a good family that will always have my back when things go south. That’s a life vest that some people can only dream of.

Losing all my money has probably been one of the most transformative and humbling experiences I’ve been fortunate to have in my yet short life. This is probably one of the best things that could’ve happened to me, especially as things are moving forward and getting serious with Karisma.

I’ve toughened up in these tough times and I’m more motivated than ever. Since I got back to Barcelona, I’ve been working harder than I ever have and getting Karisma ready for Phase 2. Next week, I’ll be sharing some very very exciting news about what’s next and where we’re heading. Stay tuned!

I hope this article was valuable for you and that introducing any of the 5 pillars into your life (passion, action, environment and gratitude + luck) dramatically increases your chances of success — whatever that looks like to you.