Dear Reader,
Well, we made it again. 2025 came by and flew away just like that. I hope you are enjoying time with your loved ones and some much deserved time off.
I made a video that summarized what my successful clients had in common this year, plus my analysis about what I observed, and why that made them successful. Check it out.
What went well this year?
- First off, 65% of readers were 5 stars this year. Compared to last year at this time, which was 42%, that increase in engagement for the newsletter is something I am pretty happy about. The five star rating means at least one interaction within the last month. Nice job.
- Six people I coached were able to get new job offers this year! More people took the leap of faith this year and signed up for the EJO program than last year. (Expats Job Miracle) And along with that, the actual rate of new subscribers turning into full-time clients increased. It was a year of growth.
- We also saw 60% of people who did the "Monthly Individual" program turn that into the full EJO program. That leads me to believe in the Monthly individual as a great starting point for you to get comfortable by experiencing how we will work together before you make the full investment.
- Zulfiqar came into the team as a Business Development/ AE for speaking with interested candidates and finding great fits on LinkedIn. This was a great decision and i'm pleased with the progress from him at this point.
- It was a goal of mine this year to increase the number of live events. We had 5 great live events this year. We had the "Roundtable focus group" in April, "How to secure the first interview as an expat in Germany" in July, "Circle of 7" also in July, the "Cover Letter Construction Team" workshop in August, and the most recent event hosted by Nomadic network called How to get a job in Europe. Two of those got recorded and are on my YouTube channel. While the others were live only - which encouraged people to make sure and go. I will look forward to seeing you at the next ones in 2026.
- The startup conference in Malta was really beneficial. I made some new connections with people that will help as business partners, and it was a great welcoming event into my new base. Malta is in the EU and a short 3 hour flight from Germany with beautiful weather and lower business costs. I made Malta officially the new home base for Immigrant Spirit in July, and now I split my time there with Berlin.
What did not work?
- Less people requesting the companies list this year and therefore less overall new readers for the weekly newsletter. It seems like company lists are becoming popular from copy cat freelancers and online blogs. That is to be expected, since a list of 100 companies is not rocket science or trademarked. I am just focusing on making sure the companies truly offer English-speaking roles, and added this year was a filter for industries inside the list. Hopefully that helped with sorting through the entire list. It's over 100 companies at this point since we are covering the EU and not only Germany now.
- Consultation offer. With free calls being available half the year with Zulfiqar, I saw less bookings for proper consultations. Both are available on the website, but the consultation offer is not as frequent as the free call offer. It is a constant reminder for you that if you want to have a full online profile, CV or other official documents review, that must be done in a consultation. Free calls are simply for a quick check about your situation and sharing how the business works, showing all the packages that are available to you. Whenever there was a chance I could help I proposed that we get started.
- Frozen end of the year job market. I heard way too much that roles were frozen or put on hold until 2026. My theory was that AI and other priorities took all the budget for the end of the year, as companies realized they could use robots much cheaper than human capital & labor. Robots also don't ask for a periodic salary raise ;) This could mean a good start to 2026 though - as some roles come back online that are still in the company's long term plan.
That's it from me this year. I applaud you for your determination and ask you to think about your resolutions for the new year. Make it happen.. Don't let anything get in the way!
See you soon next year 🤝🏼
Kevin
PS: Could I make a last request for 2025?
If you referred a friend this year and they signed up for one of our services, you got a bonus payment from me. So if you found the tips, resources, and advice helpful this year, could you share the link below with your friend who is looking for a job now? Please ask them to send me your name and email as well, so I can follow up with you. That would be much appreciated.
https://www.immigrantspirit.com/newest-companies-list
Thank you!