Jean Galea

Health, Wealth, Relationships, Wisdom

A Simple Payment Card Strategy for Running an Online Company

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bank card strategy for small company

A few years ago, an employee left and I discovered their card was attached to our hosting, three AI tools, and the domain registrar. Cancelling the card triggered a chain of failed payments that took days to untangle. Some services suspended without warning. One nearly deleted our data after a grace period I didn’t know about.

That week I set up a proper card system. It took about an hour and I haven’t had a billing emergency since.

If you run a small online company, you probably pay for dozens of services — hosting, SaaS tools, ad platforms, AI APIs, domain registrars. Payment cards are the plumbing behind all of it, and most people don’t think about them until something breaks. Here’s how to make sure it doesn’t.

Default to Virtual Cards

Physical cards are mostly irrelevant for an online business. Nearly everything you pay for — cloud infrastructure, subscriptions, developer tools, advertising — is billed online.

Virtual cards are better in every way for this. You can create them instantly, freeze them in seconds, and delete them without affecting anything else. If one is compromised, the blast radius is limited to whatever that card was used for.

Setting This Up in Revolut and Wise

The two platforms I’ve used most for this are Revolut Business and Wise Business. Both support virtual cards and work well for this system, but they handle things differently.

Revolut Business is the more polished option for managing multiple cards. You can create virtual cards instantly, assign them labels, set per-card spending limits, and freeze or delete them from the app. Creating the four-card setup described above takes minutes. Revolut also gives you a clearer dashboard for tracking spend across cards, which makes the periodic review easier.

Wise Business supports virtual cards too, but the experience is simpler. You can create cards linked to specific currency balances, which is useful if you pay for services in multiple currencies and want to avoid conversion fees. Wise’s per-card controls are more basic — you can freeze and delete, but spending limits per card aren’t as granular as Revolut’s.

In short: Revolut is better if you want tight control over multiple cards with detailed limits. Wise is better if you deal with multiple currencies and want to hold and pay in each directly. Many small companies end up using both.

If your current bank doesn’t offer virtual cards at all, either of these is a significant upgrade. I’ve written more detailed reviews of both Revolut and Wise if you want to dig deeper.

Don’t Let Cards Depend on People

One of the most common mistakes is letting employees attach their company cards to services. It works fine until they leave. Then you cancel the card, billing breaks, and services start getting suspended — sometimes silently.

Cards should be owned by the company account, not by individuals. Store the details in a password manager like 1Password or Bitwarden, organised by purpose. Team members copy the details when they need to add billing somewhere. When someone leaves, nothing changes.

Segment Cards by Purpose

Using a single card for everything feels simpler, but it’s a trap. When that card expires or gets replaced, you’re updating every service you pay for. Miss one and you find out weeks later when something stops working.

Instead, use a small number of cards, each dedicated to a category:

Infrastructure — hosting, cloud platforms, AI APIs, domains, security tools. These are services where a billing failure actually hurts. This card gets the highest limit and the most attention.

SaaS subscriptions — collaboration tools, project management, analytics, productivity apps. Important but less urgent. If billing lapses for a day, nothing catches fire.

Advertising — Google Ads, Meta, and any other ad platforms. Ad platforms have unpredictable billing behaviour — irregular charge amounts, failed payment retries, sudden spend spikes. Isolating them prevents surprises on your other cards.

Experiments — anything you’re trying out. New tools, free trials that ask for a card, services you’re evaluating. Keep a low spending limit on this one. If a forgotten trial converts to a paid plan or something charges unexpectedly, the damage is contained.

With this setup, replacing a card means updating one category of services, not everything.

Keep One Physical Card for the Real World

Even a fully online company has occasional offline expenses — travel, hardware, team meals, conferences. One physical card for the founder covers this. Just don’t use it for subscriptions or recurring payments. Keep it separate from the system above.

Set Limits and Review Regularly

Most fintech platforms let you set spending limits per card. Use them. A low cap on the experiments card and a reasonable cap on SaaS prevent the slow accumulation of forgotten charges.

It’s also worth reviewing your SaaS card transactions every few months. Tools accumulate. Trials convert. Teams stop using things but nobody cancels them. A quick audit usually turns up a few subscriptions that can be cut.

The Full Setup

For most small online companies, this is all you need:

  • 3–4 virtual cards segmented by purpose
  • 1 physical card for offline spending
  • All cards owned by the company, not individuals
  • Details stored in a shared password manager vault

It takes about an hour to set up and saves you from a class of problems that are annoying, disruptive, and entirely preventable.

What It’s Like Living in Malta in 2026

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malta 2026Malta in 2026 is a strange place. On paper it looks like a success story: one of the richest countries in Europe, the fastest-growing economy in the EU, rising salaries, booming industries, cranes everywhere.

In reality, daily life feels increasingly chaotic, unfair, and psychologically exhausting.

This is not an outsider’s rant. It’s the perspective of someone who has seen the country change over the last decade and now struggles to recognise it.

What Malta Still Gets Right

Before getting into what is going wrong, it is only fair to acknowledge what Malta still does well.

The weather is hard to beat. Over 300 days of sunshine a year, mild winters, and warm, swimmable seas from May through November. The country is English-speaking, which makes it uniquely accessible compared to most of southern Europe.

Malta’s compactness means you can fit a remarkable amount into a single day: work, the beach, dinner out, and still be home early. The food scene has improved significantly. Family and community ties remain strong.

And there are real career opportunities that did not exist a generation ago, thanks to the financial services, iGaming, and maritime sectors that have set up on the island, drawn largely by Malta’s regulatory and tax framework rather than organic growth, but providing employment and economic activity nonetheless.

None of this erases what follows, but ignoring it would be dishonest.

Wealth Without Class

One of the most jarring features of modern Malta is how disconnected money is from culture, class, or refinement.

Plenty of people are doing very well financially, yet this has not translated into better public behaviour, higher standards, or more civic pride. If anything, it often feels like the opposite: more money, less respect for others.

Policing, Corruption, and Being “Untouchable”

Policing often feels non-existent. Corruption is not subtle; it is widely assumed.

There is a strong perception that many people are effectively above the law thanks to political connections or influence. Even at street level there is little respect for basic rules or common decency.

A classic example: owning a garage means very little when someone feels perfectly entitled to park in front of it anyway, and often acts as if they have every right to do so.

Driving in Malta Is Not for the Faint-Hearted

Malta is effectively one continuous urban area with an extraordinary number of cars crammed into 316 square kilometres. The congestion is obvious to anyone who spends time on the island, and it gets worse with every visit.

Some people point out that traffic is bad in any major city, and to a certain extent, that is true. But most major cities also have functional public transport and metro systems. Malta has neither. In London, Barcelona, or Berlin, you can leave the car at home and still get anywhere you need to go. Those cities also have extensive cycling infrastructure. In Malta, cycling anywhere is genuinely risky. So you are stuck in the car.

In most countries, you can also choose to live outside the city and avoid the worst of it while still having access to essential services. In Malta, the only comparable option would be to move to Gozo, and for most people, that is not a realistic choice.

Now add the human element. Turn signals are optional. Being overtaken aggressively or forced to overtake from the so-called “slow” lane is normal. Road rage is common.

In 2025 there was even a murder linked to a traffic incident. If you are hoping for swift justice, prepare for disappointment. Court cases drag on for years, a problem Malta shares with many European countries, though Malta’s small size makes the lack of progress harder to excuse, and there are no real guarantees that justice will ever be done.

Infrastructure That No Longer Copes

With 1,806 people per square kilometre, Malta’s infrastructure is visibly straining.

Endless roadworks with little coordination. Summer power cuts. Patchy internet and mobile coverage even in residential areas. Water quality problems that people quietly accept as normal.

Some of this is an inevitable consequence of rapid population growth rather than outright failure. But the gap between Malta’s economic ambitions and the infrastructure supporting daily life is growing, not shrinking.

Construction as Daily Trauma

The cranes are not a metaphor. They define daily life.

Dust, noise, blocked streets, unsafe practices, all largely unenforced. Developments appear overnight with no regard for neighbours, structural impact, or liveability. It creates the constant feeling that you have no control over your own environment.

Malta does still have more open spaces than many residents give it credit for. The countryside in the north and west of the island can still surprise you. But in the urban core where most people live and work, the construction pressure is relentless.

A Constant Air of Amateurism

There is an ever-present sense of amateurism in how things are done and how people interact.

If you do not speak Maltese you are partially insulated, because you are spared from understanding the running commentary around you, which is often negative, loud, and emotionally charged.

Health Care: Under Growing Pressure

Malta’s public health system is free, universal, and geographically accessible. These are genuine advantages that should not be taken for granted. No one in Malta is hours away from a hospital, and the system still has dedicated, capable people working within it.

That said, the pressure is mounting. The OECD’s 2025 Country Health Profile for Malta reports that occupancy rates for curative care beds are above the EU average, and the situation at Mater Dei’s emergency department became so strained that in January 2025, the government signed a deal to outsource non-complicated emergency cases to three private hospitals.

Waiting times for specialist referrals and elective procedures have worsened since the pandemic, according to both the WHO and the OECD.

Private care has long been the norm for primary care in Malta, and is increasingly becoming the only option for anyone who wants timely specialist diagnosis or treatment. Out-of-pocket health spending in Malta stands at 31% of total health expenditure, nearly double the EU average of 16%. The WHO found that nearly 7% of Maltese households face catastrophic health spending, with the burden falling hardest on the poorest fifth of the population (22%) and households headed by older people (14%).

Malta also has the highest obesity rate in the EU, with nearly two out of three adults classified as overweight and male obesity at 28.7%, the highest in Europe. Among 15-year-olds, 32% are overweight or obese, around 1.5 times the EU average. This is not just a lifestyle issue. It places enormous strain on an already stretched health system, driving demand for chronic disease management, diabetes care, cardiovascular treatment, and joint replacements.

The system was built for a smaller population and has not scaled to match demand. Malta’s population grew by 32% in just ten years, mainly through an influx of expatriate workers, and the healthcare infrastructure has not kept pace.

Raising Kids in Malta

For families, there is one major upside: foreign children can get an English-first education in the public system. In most European countries that would require expensive private schooling.

There are more kids’ activities than in the past, and sports facilities are generally decent. But Malta’s small size, isolation, lack of real nature beyond the sea, and shrinking diversity eventually become limiting.

Housing Without Community

New developments are not neighbourhoods. They are financial products.

No green space. No walkability. No shared identity. Apartments are built to flip, not to live in. You don’t build social fabric with one-bedroom investor boxes.

Malta as a Tourist Destination

For low-cost tourism, Malta still works. For higher-end travellers, unless you are coming specifically for diving, history, or yachting, there are far better destinations in Europe. The only exception is cruise liner tourism, since as a tourist on a ship you get to experience entry into one of the most scenic ports in Europe and a heavily curated day visiting the best-preserved locations in Malta, giving you a false impression of the islands.

For everyone else the islands feel overpopulated, and the pressure is visible everywhere.

The Money Paradox

On paper, Malta is one of the richest countries in Europe. In the World Happiness Report, it barely cracks the top 50, ranking behind Kosovo, Belize, and El Salvador.

That gap tells you everything.

Malta’s economic output is genuinely impressive, and to its credit the country is not solely reliant on tourism. Financial services, iGaming (whatever you think of its usefulness to humanity), and maritime logistics have created real career opportunities that did not exist a generation ago. But let’s be clear: these industries are here primarily because of Malta’s regulatory framework, tax structure, and the historical advantage of being an English-speaking country. On top of that, the real estate sector has turned into a machine: build, sell, repeat. The bubble never seems to burst.

The question is whether any of this wealth is translating into a better life. I don’t think it is.

What do you actually do with a higher salary if you are stuck in the same traffic, or worse? If the nature around you is being chipped away year by year? If the infrastructure is visibly crumbling under the weight of a population it was never designed for? If everyone around you is stressed, rushing, and short-tempered? If trust in the institutions that are supposed to serve you is eroding?

With more money you should be able to improve your life. In most places, you can. In Malta, you are still facing the same problems every single day, and no salary fixes that. It is a false gain.

The IMF’s 2025 assessment of Malta says it plainly: the labour-intensive, immigration-led growth model is approaching its limits. Gaming and tourism are nearing saturation. Structural reforms are needed. Even the people whose job it is to measure economic success are saying the current path has a ceiling.

It is easy to make money in Malta today. It is harder to live well.

From Positivity to Collective Exhaustion

A decade ago there was still a sense of optimism. Criticising the country was frowned upon.

Today it is the opposite. Complaining is constant, and even without following Maltese news it is impossible to escape the negativity. It is draining.

Randomness and Extremes

Malta has become a land of extremes.

You may meet the kindest, most helpful person one minute, and an absolute animal the next. This unpredictability keeps everyone permanently on edge. Humans crave predictable environments. Malta now offers anything but.

The Psychological Cost

The real damage is not just physical. It is mental.

The noise. The unpredictability. The lack of accountability. The sense that standards are optional. Over time this grinds people down. You stop expecting things to work. You adapt to dysfunction.

That is the real tragedy.

The Maltese Exodus

More and more Maltese are leaving, but not all for the same reasons or the same places.

Sicily is the most visible trend. An increasing number of Maltese are buying property there or relocating if they can work remotely. The draw is specific: proximity to Malta, access to real nature, excellent cuisine, and property prices that make Maltese real estate look absurd. It is not that Sicily is a better place to live in a direct comparison. It has its own well-documented problems, including higher unemployment, worse bureaucracy, and infrastructure that in many areas makes Malta look efficient. There is a reason Sicilians themselves have been leaving the island for decades. But for remote workers on Maltese salaries who want more space and a slower pace, the appeal is real.

Others are leaving for more established destinations entirely: cities and countries with better job opportunities, less pollution, less stress, and a better environment for raising children. For these people, it is not about finding a cheaper version of the Mediterranean but about finding a place where the overall quality of life is moving in the right direction, not backwards.

Would I Move to Malta in 2026?

As a foreigner, only temporarily, mainly for tax reasons.

For long-term living, the downsides are now too many and the quality-of-life trend is clearly downward. If what you are after is Mediterranean climate and lifestyle, Spain or Italy are simply more compelling choices today.

Aftermarket Parts for the Traxxas TRX-4M: A Brand-by-Brand Guide

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The Traxxas TRX-4M took the RC crawling world by storm as a 1/18-scale trail truck that punches well above its weight class. Its compact size, portal axles, and surprisingly capable suspension made it an instant hit — and it didn’t take long for the aftermarket to respond. Whether you’re chasing better trail performance, durability, or just want your mini crawler to stand out, there’s no shortage of upgrades available. Here’s a breakdown of where to find them and which brands are leading the way.

Electronics & Power

Furitek

Furitek has become practically synonymous with mini crawler electronics. Their Lizard Pro and Lizard V2 brushless ESCs are purpose-built for 1/18 and 1/24-scale crawlers, offering drag brake tuning, proportional throttle control, and smooth low-speed crawling that the stock Traxxas ESC simply can’t match. Pair one with a Furitek Micro Komodo or Stinger brushless motor and the TRX-4M transforms into a completely different machine. They also sell combo kits that include the ESC, motor, and wiring harness pre-configured for the TRX-4M, taking the guesswork out of the swap.

Emax

For those looking at servo upgrades, Emax offers micro servos like the ES08A II that fit the TRX-4M’s tight chassis dimensions and deliver noticeably faster, stronger steering response than the stock unit.

Aluminum & CNC-Machined Upgrades

Treal Hobby

Treal has arguably the widest catalog of CNC aluminum and brass parts specifically designed for the TRX-4M. Their offerings include aluminum portal housings, steering links, shock towers, chassis rails, and transmission cases — all precision-machined and available in multiple anodized colors (black, red, blue, titanium, and more). Their brass portal covers and knuckles are especially popular because they add weight exactly where crawlers need it most: down low and at the axles. Treal sells direct through their website and Amazon, and pricing sits in a competitive middle ground between budget and premium.

Hot Racing

Hot Racing is a veteran name in RC upgrades and their TRX-4M line doesn’t disappoint. They produce aluminum shock bodies, sway bar kits, steering links, and drive shafts. Their parts tend to be slightly more premium in finish and fitment. The aluminum front and rear bumper/skid plate combos are particularly well-regarded for both looks and protection. Available through most major hobby retailers including AMain Hobbies and Amazon.

Meus Racing

Meus Racing has been steadily building a following in the mini crawler community with a broad and affordable parts catalog for the TRX-4M. They cover a lot of ground — aluminum suspension links, shock towers, skid plates, portal housings, steering components, and chassis braces — all CNC-machined and offered in multiple anodized color options. Where Meus Racing particularly stands out is in their scale and functional accessories: detailed roof racks, side step bars, bumpers with shackle mounts, and even full chassis rail conversion kits. Their brass upgrade parts (diff covers, portal knuckle weights, and axle-mounted counterweights) compete directly with Treal and Injora on both quality and price. They also offer complete upgrade bundles that package multiple parts together at a discount, which is appealing if you’re doing a full build rather than upgrading one piece at a time. Most of their catalog is available through Amazon and their own storefront. Meus Racing occupies a sweet spot — more variety than GPM with quality that competes with Treal, all at accessible pricing.

GPM Racing

GPM offers a massive selection of aluminum replacement parts at aggressive price points. Nearly every stock plastic component on the TRX-4M has a GPM aluminum equivalent — knuckles, C-hubs, shock mounts, body posts, even the differential cover. Quality can vary piece to piece, but for the price they represent solid value, especially if you’re upgrading the entire truck at once. Widely available on Amazon and eBay.

Brass & Weight Additions

Injora

Injora has built a strong reputation in the mini crawler community for affordable brass and aluminum upgrades. Their brass portal covers, counterweights, and wheel weights are among the most popular TRX-4M parts sold online. They also offer complete brass axle housing sets, skid plates, and steering components. Beyond metal parts, Injora carries a full range of wheels, tires, body shells, and scale accessories specifically sized for the TRX-4M. Their direct website often has bundle deals, and their Amazon storefront makes ordering easy.

Yeah Racing

Yeah Racing produces brass diff covers, portal housings, and link sets for the TRX-4M. Their parts are well-machined and competitively priced. They’re a solid middle-of-the-road option if you want quality brass without paying top dollar.

Bodies & Shells

Bitty Design

Bitty Design is an Italian company known for high-quality polycarbonate body shells across multiple RC scales, and they’ve brought that expertise to the TRX-4M. Their Rock Lizard 1/18 crawler body is a standout — a purpose-designed crawling shell with aggressive lines, proper wheel clearance, and scale detailing that looks fantastic on the TRX-4M chassis. Unlike generic hard bodies, Bitty Design shells are lightweight polycarbonate, which gives you more freedom to add brass weight down low where it matters without making the truck top-heavy. They come clear for custom painting, and the fit and trimlines are precise. Available through most major hobby retailers and their direct website, they’re a premium option for anyone who wants their TRX-4M to look as unique as it performs.

Hobby Details

Hobby Details carries a growing selection of TRX-4M body shells (Bronco, Land Cruiser, Defender styles), LED light kits, and interior components. They’re a good one-stop shop for making your TRX-4M look as good as it crawls, with hard body options that bring serious scale realism to the 1/18 platform.

Tires & Wheels

Injora

In addition to their metal parts, Injora dominates the TRX-4M tire and wheel market. They offer dozens of wheel designs in aluminum and plastic (beadlock and non-beadlock), plus soft-compound tire options in various tread patterns. Their 1.0″ beadlock wheels paired with super-soft sticky tires are one of the most common upgrades and make an immediate difference on rocks and technical terrain.

Powerhobby

Powerhobby produces 1.0″ tires specifically for the TRX-4M class, including the Raptor and Armor patterns that offer excellent grip on multiple surfaces. They also sell wheel and tire combos pre-mounted and ready to bolt on.

RC4WD

RC4WD offers scale-realistic 1.0″ tire and wheel options for those building a more true-to-life rig. Their Mud Plugger and Interco licensed tires bring full-size tire aesthetics down to 1/18 scale, and their stamped steel-style beadlock wheels are hard to beat for realism.

Specialty & Scale Parts

Mofo RC

Mofo RC has carved out a niche with creative, well-designed TRX-4M-specific parts. They’re known for functional accessories like high-clearance skid plates, chassis-mounted servo setups, bumpers, and rock sliders. Many of their parts are designed to solve specific performance problems rather than just look good, which makes them a favorite among serious trail runners. Available through their own website.

Knight Customs (3D Printed)

For scale body accessories — roof racks, light bars, snorkels, fender flares, and interior details — Knight Customs offers an extensive line of 3D-printed parts sized for TRX-4M bodies. They sell through their own storefront, and the level of detail is impressive for the price.

Drivetrain & Hardware

MIP

MIP (Moore’s Ideal Products) makes precision spline drive shafts and CVDs for a range of RC vehicles. Their steel and aluminum drive shafts for the TRX-4M are a worthwhile upgrade if you’re running more powerful brushless setups that put extra stress on the drivetrain.

1UP Racing

For those who obsess over the details, 1UP Racing offers precision bearing kits and premium hardware (titanium screws, anti-wear lubricants) that fit the TRX-4M. A full bearing kit swap reduces friction throughout the drivetrain and is one of the best bang-for-buck upgrades you can make on any RC vehicle.

Where to Buy

  • Amazon — The largest selection from nearly every brand mentioned. Convenient but watch for counterfeit or mislabeled parts from unknown sellers.
  • AMain Hobbies — One of the biggest dedicated RC hobby retailers. Carries Hot Racing, Yeah Racing, MIP, and more with reliable shipping.
  • Jenny’s RC — Well-stocked hobby shop that carries Treal, Furitek, Injora, and many niche brands. Often has parts in stock that bigger retailers don’t.
  • Horizon Hobby — Carries select aftermarket brands alongside Traxxas stock parts.
  • Brand Direct Websites — Treal, Furitek, Injora, Meus Racing, Bitty Design, and Mofo RC all sell directly through their own websites, often with bundle pricing or early access to new releases.
  • eBay — Good for GPM Racing parts and deals on used or overstock items.

Final Thoughts

The TRX-4M aftermarket is remarkably mature for a truck in this size class. Whether you’re spending $10 on a set of brass portal covers or $100+ on a full brushless electronics swap, the upgrade path is deep and well-supported. Start with tires and brass weight — those two changes alone will dramatically improve capability on the trail. From there, electronics and aluminum chassis components let you build a mini crawler that genuinely rivals full-size rigs in technical ability.

The best part? At 1/18 scale, even the premium upgrades are a fraction of what you’d spend on a full-size truck. That makes the TRX-4M one of the most rewarding platforms to build and modify in the hobby today.

The Complete WordPress Performance Optimization Guide: How to Pass Core Web Vitals in 2026

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core web vitalsIs your WordPress site failing Core Web Vitals? You’re not alone. Google’s performance metrics have become increasingly important for both SEO and user experience, and many WordPress sites struggle to meet these standards.

In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through the exact steps I used to take my site from failing Core Web Vitals to passing—with a focus on fixing the most common culprit: Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

Understanding Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are a set of specific metrics that Google uses to measure user experience. The three main metrics are:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures loading performance. To provide a good user experience, LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds of when the page first starts loading.

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) measures interactivity. Pages should have an INP of 200 milliseconds or less to ensure a responsive experience.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures visual stability. Pages should maintain a CLS of 0.1 or less to avoid frustrating unexpected layout shifts.

The Most Common Problem: CLS

After auditing dozens of WordPress sites over the years, I’ve found that CLS is by far the most common reason for failing Core Web Vitals. The primary causes include:

Images without dimensions – When browsers don’t know the size of an image before it loads, the page layout shifts as images appear. This is often the biggest contributor to CLS issues.

Web fonts causing FOUT/FOIT – When custom fonts load, they can cause text to reflow, creating layout shifts.

Dynamic content injection – Ads, embeds, and dynamically loaded content that pushes existing content around.

Third-party scripts – Analytics, chat widgets, and other scripts that modify the DOM after initial load.

The Solution: A Systematic Approach

Rather than randomly trying different optimization plugins, I recommend a systematic approach using a single, well-designed performance plugin. My tool of choice is Perfmatters, but similar results can be achieved with other optimization plugins.

Step 1: Fix Image Loading Issues

The single most impactful change you can make is enabling “Add Missing Image Dimensions” in your optimization plugin. This automatically adds width and height attributes to images that are missing them, allowing browsers to reserve the correct space before images load.

Additionally, enable lazy loading for images and iframes. This defers the loading of off-screen images until users scroll near them, improving initial page load time without affecting CLS (as long as dimensions are set).

Step 2: Optimize JavaScript Delivery

JavaScript can block rendering and delay interactivity. Optimize it by:

Deferring JavaScript – This tells the browser to download scripts in parallel but execute them only after the HTML is fully parsed.

Delaying non-critical JavaScript – Some scripts (analytics, chat widgets) don’t need to run immediately. Delay them until user interaction.

Minifying JavaScript – Remove unnecessary whitespace and comments to reduce file sizes.

Step 3: Optimize CSS

CSS optimization focuses on reducing file sizes and eliminating render-blocking stylesheets:

Minify CSS – Remove whitespace, comments, and unnecessary characters from your stylesheets.

Remove unused CSS – Many themes and plugins load CSS that isn’t used on every page. Removing this unused code can significantly reduce file sizes.

Step 4: Optimize Fonts

Font optimization is crucial for both performance and CLS:

Host Google Fonts locally – Instead of loading fonts from Google’s servers, host them on your own server. This eliminates an external request and gives you more control over font loading.

Use font-display: swap – This CSS property tells browsers to use a fallback font immediately and swap to the custom font once it’s loaded. This prevents invisible text and reduces CLS.

Step 5: Remove WordPress Bloat

WordPress includes several features that most sites don’t need:

Disable emojis – WordPress loads a JavaScript file to convert emoji shortcodes to images. Unless you heavily use emojis, this is unnecessary overhead.

Disable dashicons on the front end – The Dashicons font is loaded for logged-out users even though it’s only needed in the admin area.

Disable embeds – The oEmbed feature allows embedding content from other sites but adds JavaScript that many sites don’t need.

Step 6: Leverage Server-Side Caching

If you’re on managed WordPress hosting like Kinsta, WP Engine, or Cloudways, you already have server-side caching. Make sure to clear your caches after making optimization changes so visitors receive the updated, optimized version of your site.

Measuring Your Results

After implementing these changes, measure your results using:

PageSpeed Insights – Google’s free tool that provides both lab data (simulated tests) and field data (real user metrics from the Chrome User Experience Report).

Web Vitals Chrome Extension – Get real-time Core Web Vitals metrics as you browse your site.

Keep in mind that field data takes 28 days to update fully, so you may see improvements in lab data before they appear in field data.

Additional Optimizations

Once you’ve addressed the fundamentals, consider these additional optimizations:

Use a CDN – A Content Delivery Network serves your static assets from servers closer to your visitors, reducing latency.

Optimize your database – Clean up post revisions, spam comments, and expired transients to keep your database lean.

Audit your plugins – Deactivate and delete plugins you’re not using. Each active plugin adds overhead.

Consider image formats – Modern formats like WebP and AVIF offer better compression than JPEG and PNG.

Conclusion

Passing Core Web Vitals doesn’t require technical expertise or expensive tools. By systematically addressing the common issues—especially CLS caused by images without dimensions—you can significantly improve your site’s performance.

Start with the fundamentals: add image dimensions, optimize JavaScript and CSS delivery, and remove unnecessary bloat. Then measure your results and iterate. With patience and the right approach, your WordPress site can achieve excellent Core Web Vitals scores.

Have questions about WordPress performance optimization? Leave a comment below, and I’ll do my best to help.

Don’t Just Surround Yourself With Smarter People

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smarter person

One of the most repeated pieces of advice in business and personal development is simple enough:

“Surround yourself with smarter people.”

It sounds good. It flatters ambition. It suggests that your future depends on upgrading the average IQ or success level in your WhatsApp groups.

Over the years, though, I’ve come to realise that this advice is incomplete. Often, it pushes people deeper into the very traps they’re trying to escape: burnout, golden handcuffs, status games that leave them quietly empty.

I think there’s a better version of this advice:

Don’t just surround yourself with smarter people. Surround yourself with people who are free in different ways than you are.

This idea sits at the core of how I think about life design, and it’s also the core design principle behind The Good Life Collective (GLC), the private community I run.

Want to be in a room like that?
You can learn more about The Good Life Collective and how to join here:
Join The Good Life Collective →

Two Kinds of Freedom

When I say “free”, I’m not talking about passports, politics, or being able to work from a laptop on a beach.

I’m talking about the room you actually have to move inside your own life.

In practice, I see two very different kinds of freedom:

1. Freedom to win.

This is the one most people optimise for. You pick a game—your career, a business, a public profile, a net worth target—and you get very good at winning inside that game. You learn the rules, acquire leverage, build skills, and improve your position.

If you surround yourself with “smarter people” in the conventional sense, this is usually what you’re buying: better tactics, sharper thinking, insider knowledge. You become more effective at the current game.

2. Freedom to keep playing.

This one is quieter and more important. It’s the ability to zoom out of the current game entirely:

  • to walk away from a path that no longer makes sense, even if you’re “winning” on paper
  • to change countries, careers, or identities without your life collapsing
  • to spot when a game is slowly destroying your health, relationships, or sanity—and actually change course

You can be highly free inside a narrow game and almost totally unfree outside it. Think of the executive who is unbeatable in meetings, but genuinely cannot imagine a life without their title. Or the entrepreneur who can pull off million-euro deals, but is incapable of slowing down long enough to actually enjoy any of it.

On paper, they’re powerful. In reality, they are trapped by their own success.

How We Fall Asleep Inside a Game

Most of us never consciously choose our main game. We slide into it.

You get good at something, opportunities appear, money and status follow, and before you know it, your entire life is organised around one scoreboard: revenue, valuation, salary, number of properties, number of followers, whatever.

At first, it’s energising. You’re progressing. The numbers are going up. People around you approve.

Then, slowly, the walls close in:

  • you filter people based on whether they help or hinder that one metric
  • you stop doing things that don’t “move the needle”
  • you treat anything that doesn’t fit the game as a distraction or a threat

At some point, the game becomes invisible. It stops feeling like a choice and starts feeling like “just how life is”. That’s what I mean by falling asleep inside a game.

Now imagine you take the classic advice literally and “surround yourself with smarter people” who are all playing the same game as you, just a bit better.

You’ll get sharper. You’ll get richer. You’ll pick up advanced tactics. But you’ll also share the same blind spots, the same unexamined trade-offs, and the same silent fears.

You all get better at winning. None of you get better at asking whether this is a game still worth playing.

What Differently Free People Look Like

This is where the idea of differently free people comes in.

A differently free person isn’t just “smarter”. They’ve escaped a trap you’re still in, or they’re willing to pay costs you’re not yet willing to pay, in exchange for a kind of freedom you haven’t prioritised.

Their life doesn’t fit your script, and that’s the whole point.

You’ll recognise them because their choices make you pause:

  • You’re obsessed with efficiency; they leave deliberate empty space in their week and guard it like a hawk.
  • You’re focused on accumulating more; they walked away from “more” and are clearly lighter and happier.
  • You’re chasing visibility; they choose depth over reach and are uninterested in being known at scale.

Under your current logic, some of their decisions look irrational. But you can’t dismiss them, because the results are undeniably real: they’re calm where you’re anxious, present where you’re split in ten directions, rooted where you’re constantly drifting.

This isn’t about copying their life. It’s about letting their way of living expose the invisible walls of your own.

Why I Built the GLC Around This Idea

The Good Life Collective wasn’t created as a generic “networking group” or a fan club. It’s a deliberate attempt to assemble high-agency people who are playing different games, at a similar level of seriousness, and keep them in conversation long enough for their freedoms to rub off on each other.

Within the GLC, you will find these kinds of profiles:

  • someone who sold a business early, and consciously chose a slower, more grounded life instead of chasing the next big exit
  • someone who optimises everything around being an involved parent, even if it means saying no to prestigious opportunities
  • someone who moved countries two or three times to build a legal and lifestyle setup that actually matches their values
  • someone who is “under-earning” relative to what they could command, because they refuse to sacrifice health or freedom of time

On paper, they’re all “smart”. In practice, what matters is that each of them is free in a way the others are not.

Put them in the same room, and something interesting happens:

  • the entrepreneur who only thinks in terms of net worth starts to see the cost in terms of time with kids, stress, and fragility
  • the person who over-indexes on safety starts to see how much opportunity and aliveness they’ve been leaving on the table
  • the restless nomad sees, up close, the long-term richness of deep roots and long-standing relationships

Nobody is held up as “the correct template”. Instead, each person makes different options visible. You’re exposed to freedoms you didn’t know how to value before.

This is the point of the GLC: not just to trade tips, but to expand the menu of possible lives you can consciously choose from.

If you want to be in this kind of room, you can read about how the GLC works and how to join here:
Learn more about The Good Life Collective →

Freedom, Family, and the Long Game

A recurring theme in our conversations inside the GLC is the tension between work, family, and the long game.

Many members are in the thick of it: young kids, demanding businesses, geographical moves, ageing parents, changing tax regimes. It’s very easy to slip into a quiet story that says, “I’ll sacrifice now, and later I’ll be free.”

On a spreadsheet, that story is neat. In real life, it’s messy. Time with kids doesn’t come back. Health doesn’t magically restore itself on command. Relationships don’t pause gracefully while you chase a number.

When you sit with people at different stages of the journey, the trade-offs become more real. You hear from those who over-invested in work and now live with a sense of having missed something important. You hear from those who protected family time and see what that bought them. You hear from people who tried to do everything at once and hit a wall.

Again, there’s no single right answer. But your decisions stop being theoretical. You’re not optimising your life in isolation. You’re learning directly from the consequences other people have already lived through.

That’s what I mean by freedom to keep playing. You’re designing your life so that 10, 20, 30 years from now, you’re still in the game with your health, relationships, and sense of self intact—not just with a nice financial statement.

Beware the “I’m Above All Games” Trap

There is another pattern worth mentioning.

Once you see that any particular game can trap you, it’s tempting to swing to the other extreme and never fully commit to anything. You become a permanent observer:
always exploring, always keeping options open, never going all in.

That, too, is a game.

Refusing to choose is still a choice. Floating above the concrete realities of work, family, money, and place might feel clever, but it usually leads to drift and a low-grade dissatisfaction that never resolves into anything solid.

The goal is not to avoid all finite games. The goal is to play them deeply, but stay awake to the fact that they are games—and to maintain enough inner and outer freedom to change course without blowing up your life.

In my experience, you don’t develop that kind of awareness in isolation. You develop it in conversation with people whose games and freedoms don’t match your own.

The Upgrade: From “Smarter” to “Differently Free”

So let’s come back to that original line:

“Surround yourself with smarter people.”

It’s not wrong. But on its own, it’s shallow.

If you only follow that advice, you’ll end up extremely good at one thing and oddly fragile everywhere else. You’ll be free to win inside a narrow game and unfree everywhere outside it.

The upgrade looks like this:

Surround yourself with people who are free in ways you’re not.

People whose lives don’t fit your template. People whose choices confuse you at first, then quietly expand your idea of what’s possible.

By all means, learn from people who are “smarter” in your field. But don’t stop there. Find the ones who are calm where you’re restless, brave where you’re cautious, rooted where you’re scattered. Let their freedoms challenge your defaults.

Over time, that mix is what protects you from winning the wrong game.

If this resonates, the GLC might be a good home for you.

It’s a space for high-agency people who care about money, yes, but also about family, health, meaning, and geography—and who want to make better decisions across the whole arc of life, not just in one narrow domain.

If you’d like to explore joining, you can find the details and application process here:

Discover The Good Life Collective →

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Jean Galea

Investor | Dad | Global Citizen | Athlete