Here are the 36 things I wish I knew sooner..

If you're not born into an entrepreneurial family, if you don't have many friends who own a business and if you're believing everything they tell you at school, then starting & running a business can be quite hard.

Believe me I know ;-).

So especially for those who are feeling a bit of a mismatch between what their business could be and what it is now, I created this podcast episode; a collection of all the things I wish I knew a lot sooner, it would have made my life and business a lot easier.

I strongly believe running your business should be easy and I strongly disagree with the hustle culture that many business coaches encourage you to work on.

The result does count, but the process too and if something doesn't work for you, you can always stop what you're doing.

  1. You are never to old to pivot your business
  2. Your diploma doesn’t define you
  3. Don’t let others tell you what works for you – understand who’s telling you this: do they have the life you desire? 
  4. Do not be afraid to ask for help: wheel of life: slaapproblemen Paulien
  5. Never create before you sell
  6. Talk & listen to your ideal client – a lot
  7. Break with existing structures: you can disrupt the world
  8. Take radical responsibility for your life business and those around you
  9. Share your expertise with others: in the old world we had to be careful what to share with others. It’s a myth
  10. Do take time off for yourself: selfcare
  11. Try to figure out what work times work best for you: for instance work 6 hours
  12. No one cares about you as much as you think
  13. Try things in life as much as you can, I was on instagram, but now on LinkedIn I am growing much faster or on youtube my feminism podcast was doing great
  14. Have a clear framework or something that people know you off (personal brand)
  15. Stop working with clients who treat and pay you badly
  16. If you’re feeling signs of burn-out it probably is: my personal experience was horrible
  17. Try to talk to 10 new people everyday, it makes your vision broader and stops you from being stuck
  18. Take enough exercise: steps or a workout you like, i personally love to dance on my become big playlist
  19. Do your mindset work everyday (gratitude, affirmations)
  20. Work on your money mindset; my relationship with money was really bad. Was thinking negative thoughts, but now I am in a much better place because I worked on this. Corona really hit me, but this inflation + possible recession isn’t
  21. You are not competing with others, you are competing with yourself
  22. Working and creating an impact can go together: i was doing volunteer work since I was 12 and in the end I was miserable
  23. If your work allows it: try to fragment reading the news. 
  24. Remove all push notifications from your apps
  25. Do what you loved as a child. As a child I was always writing: creative writing but also writing plans for the future & business plans, writing in my diary, guess who wrote this episode?
  26. Choose your friends wisely: only be around those who asks you how you are doing, instead of just talking about themselves, you deserve better
  27. Have a clear picture of what your future should look like. My clients work with me starting with that: have a clear picture of where you’re going
  28. Start creating a legacy: write that book, create that course, your thoughts and ideas count. 
  29. Fight for a cause you really care about: donate, raise funds. Do not stop at just sharing a meme on twitter
  30. Believe in yourself. It took me a while before I realised I should be pro-active and approach other people instead of waiting for them to approach me
  31. Your network is your net worth: invest in those around, especially if you’re pivotting
  32. Treat yourself to: a vacation, a great glass of wine, a lovely dinner, someone who helps you in house keeping
  33. Have some hobbies just for fun; not just for making money. I love creating playlists for instance
  34. Start a collection of something you desire. My husband and I collect contemporary art, but we also collect Versace china and I am constantly thinking about buying a baccarat wine glass, just for myself
  35. Celebrate your wins, but also celebrate absolutely nothing
  36. Life is too short to do what you do not like. Reconsider everything in your life, you don’t have to be stuck. Wheel of life & get help.


Ways to work with me:

  1. You can start by following my free training on your sales strategy: apply here.
  2. Want to work on one specific part in your business? Apply for the 3-week intensive to see if I can help you.
  3. You just missed the opportunity to work with me in the Mastermind. The next round will start again in February, apply for the waitlist here.

invest to harvest!

Big business

Do you want to take charge of your (freelance) business and be in control of your revenue, clients and your offer? 

You are in control of your business. 

I’ve created a form in which we can see if you are going to be a fit for one of my programs. Filling this out won’t mean you have to buy, this is just seeing if we can work together.

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