Hey there,

Life is constantly changing, and business is no exception.

After moving back to France, spending the last year and a half rebuilding my life in Paris (again), and finally starting to feel settled, I was surprised by a new feeling: the urge to change everything again.

But it wasn’t wanderlust. I’m genuinely happy here. I love my life in Paris, and I have no desire to pack up and start over somewhere else… at least for now.

I was craving change in a different form, so I gave myself permission to daydream. I just started collecting ideas. Things I might want to do. Things I might want to learn. Directions I might want to explore.

Sometimes the most interesting ideas come from allowing ourselves to imagine possibilities without immediately turning them into goals.

A few of those ideas stuck around longer than others, so I thought I’d share three of them with you.

Inspired by Queer Social Club in Portland and Seattle, I’ve been toying with the idea of building something similar in Paris.

The challenge is that there are already several platforms in Paris that do something similar. And while Paris has a thriving queer nightlife, there seems to be much less infrastructure around queer socializing outside of bars, parties, and dating. Whether that’s an actual gap or simply a cultural difference I’m not fully understanding yet, I’m not sure.

For now, I’m mostly observing, asking questions, and paying attention to what’s already happening. I don’t have a clear vision for what this would look like yet, but it’s an idea I keep coming back to.

Marketing by Rocio is, in many ways, an American business. Most of my clients are American. Most of the conversations I have around queer entrepreneurship, personal branding, and community-driven marketing happen in an American context. Identity is often part of how businesses find their audience and build community around their work. And despite that being a relatively new phenomenon in American culture, there are certainly more spaces dedicated to that than in France.

There are plenty of queer entrepreneurs here in France, don’t get me wrong, and many of them are doing incredible work. Spend a weekend at a queer festival, market, or community event and you’ll find queer artists, designers, makers, performers, and organizers everywhere.

What feels different is the business culture surrounding them. In the United States, there’s an entire ecosystem built around queer entrepreneurship. Agencies, consultants, coaches, directories, networking groups, newsletters, conferences. Identity is often part of how businesses position themselves and find their audience.

In France, queer identity feels more visible in community spaces than in professional ones, at least from my experience.

These observations have made me curious about what building a business here might look like, independent of this American mentality. I want to create something that reflects how business is actually done here. Something rooted in expertise first, while still making space for the communities I care most about: women, queer people, and other founders who are building businesses on their own terms.

I don’t know exactly what that looks like yet, but it’s a question I’ve been thinking about more and more lately. And one thing is already for certain: market research is a-go.

One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is how much of running a business is actually a series of tiny pivots. Even after up and leaving the Netherlands and coming back to France, I still craved a change. Allowing myself to think about these new ideas might just scratch that itch, or at least help me figure out which ones are worth pursuing.

I’ve spent the last few years building a business that gives me a lot of freedom. These ideas are simply a byproduct of that freedom: questions I’m asking, directions I’m exploring, and experiments I’m letting myself consider without needing all the answers.

I’m just enjoying the journey and trying to find that balance, as cliché as that sounds.

What about you? Is there an idea you’ve been turning over in your head lately? A project, a pivot, a business, a move, a change? I’d love to hear what you’re allowing yourself to explore.

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