(Or Why to start a business in first place?)

One day I was staring at trees, chilling out with a good friend of mine. We were discussing the life style of having a high profile job when you were just over 30’s. Waking up early, going to bed late and still be thinking about work. Fighting yourself into a rightful place in the meeting room, to be heard (when it happened). Having the feeling you need to kill 100 beasts a day. It wouldn’t be so bad if we just stood behind the companies’ values… If we could just connect with its purpose, to some idea that we’d actually be helping the world to regenerate.

These Royal Palm trees have marked the day that I’ve surrendered to the desire of making things differently. They gave me a sense that the sky is actually the limit. When I realised that, actually, there was no limit for what one can create. Like a seed that becomes a tree, some things in life just evolve organically. What if this thought could be translated into a business?

If I would sow one seed, what would it contain? I soon enough realised I was rather…broadly oriented. I felt as an entrepreneur I could mix and mingle, have a go on all that I found interesting. Business, Arts, Literature, Music, Media, Storytelling…

NOT ALWAYS TRUE!

I’ve also learnt that focus is VERY important. And that the creative and executive parts of the business seldom walk hand in hand.

That aside, I wasn’t naive though: my mom had been an entrepreneur as well. I knew what it’d take: hard work, the right market feeling, mastering areas I wasn’t so familiar with to make my venture profitable. Choose business above family and friends many times.

All of that for the joy of being you own boss. To have the freedom to create and pioneer. And to bring something new to the world. I discovered that, to run a successful business, the level of attention and nurturing towards myself needed to be excellent. After all, as entrepreneurs, we are the foundation of anything we want to create. I didn’t realise at the time, but now I know that the seed I was planting was… me.

On the early stages, what kept me up at night was the thought: how can I make my business relevant for the biggest amount of people in the world? How can I wake up every morning with an unwavering faith to make it work? I know I couldn’t keep myself going without diving in to the depth of my WHY. WHY do I want to run a business? Why the need to make it relevant? So much information. In those days i’ve struggled a lot with mind clutters and analysis paralysis.

To get unstuck, I found inspiration on the Japanese concept of IKIGAI, that means “a reason for being”. The values one lives for, where you find yourself most at ease. And how you can best contribute to the world.

From my life choices, education, work experience and interests one thing got clear: my contribution to humanity is to raise equality through and with the messages we spread. My reason of being is to craft stories that have a positive impact in the world. To make it more diverse and inclusive. And to help others to do the same. A story does not exist until it is told. And heard.

I took my time to it figure out. I travelled the world, researched new industries and avant-garde movements to understand the game.  I listened to > 400 industry leaders, artists, musicians, philosophers, entrepreneurs, policy makers, educators. Now I have mastered my Ikigai and a brand new stories based marketing methodology that integrates traditional and creative industries elements to birth new stories from old narratives .

If you want to know more about what I do, I have opened a creative development studio where:

• I advise people to put their stories out there through Creative Development sessions 1:1 or in groups;
• I design trainings and develop programs for (creative) companies;
• I write stories and develop scripts about the themes that align individuals, communities and societies.

Also want to communicate from purpose and relevant stories? Let’s talk!

Book an intro talk here!