Je hebt net een eigen bedrijf gestart of je bent juist al langer ondernemer. Je weet waar je goed in bent en wat je te bieden hebt.

Maar hoe geef je nu succesvol vorm aan jouw ondernemerschap – dichtbij jezelf, vanuit energie en plezier? En hoe vertaal je dat naar een heldere waardepropositie voor jouw klanten?

Samen met Vista Nova ben ik aan de slag gegaan. En dat bracht een inspirerende tweedaagse training voort.

We zijn blij je uit te nodigen voor de training Ondernemen vanuit energie. Op donderdag 20 april starten we in Utrecht. Meer weten?

What would be the best possible thing that could happen to you, professionally and personally? Would you like to find out?

You are invited to try out a BRIEF COACHING SESSION. It is brief and it helps you overcome the rocks and blocks on your travels. Yes, luckily, it is crazy too. We might talk solutions rather than problems.

Curious? I am. Please feel free to follow your curiosity. Call or mail me for an introduction via skype or phone.

You can now send LOVE to your loved one. http://www.petiteposte.com/petiteposte/artist.105/motif.4231/
Let’s make a toast to Love! Proud to be a Creative Challenger at Petit Poste.

Straight from the heart – to everyone close by and further away.

Agreed, it doesn’t look like it, but spring is really nearly there. Better start practicing right now.

I want to share this experience with you. Best is when you start doing it yourself. You need a stack of A4 paper, ± 10 kids color markers with stump points. Something to lay underneath, bigger then your A4 format, if you like to keep your desk clean. Make sure there is enough empty space on the table. Take your paper and put your markers around you. Start drawing like a toddler would.
If you don’t have kids or never observed them drawing, here are some tips. Stop thinking. Pick up a marker. Take it in your hand, while making a fist. This is vital: take the marker in your fist. Forget about trying to be careful with the markers or saving paper. Start drawing with all your might and energy. Maybe it is not drawing. Scratching, forcing the color down on the paper? Do not try to make something beautiful or meaningful. Get carried away. Do not linger. If you feel thoughts coming up or hesitations on how to continue. Stop. Take out the next paper. And GO!

For one thing it is liberating: it feels damn good! I call it the Toddler Drawing Method.

Art is freedom. It offers you the opportunity to look at things from a different perspective. I was invited to submit work and be part of the Grote Rotterdamse Kunstkalender 2013 / the Big (and I mean BIG) Rotterdam Art Calendar 2013. I gave some of my freedom (time) and in return I got 3 kilos of freedom back, the weight of this cheerful piece of art. Hurray!

Check it out: www.groterotterdamsekunstkalender.nl
You van order here: http://tinyurl.com/6taduxz

On Thursday, 1st of November 2012, BNO Amsterdam is organizing the event Alles begint met Passie. This event for Interior Architects is focussing on motivation, marketing and making choices. There will be a workshop Van Passie tot Promotie by Eric Stevens and I am invited to do a presentation De kerel van de Keuze – on the art of making choices. I look forward to meeting you there!

Recently I was invited by Doekes Prakken to write a column for Coaching Magazine – Coach in de Organisatie – #7. An inspiring online magazine, issued by De Baak. You can read it here.

Autumn love!

Write down the names of three of your most admired idols.
Can be anyone. Ghandi, Barack Obama, Simon Sinek, Dagobert Duck, Marilyn Monroe… Choose one.
Try to see everything you encounter today through his or her eyes.
Act accordingly. Exagerate. How does that feel?
You won’t know if your interpretation is right, but for sure things will look different today.

Some weeks ago I saw this big Jeff Koons exhibition in Basel. And liked it.
I wanted to write something about it. I looked for clever quotes by Koons. Didn’t find any. Tried to come up with some clever remarks myself. Couldn’t write any.
So what about that exhibition? Why did I like it? What was it about?
Yes, it is about surfaces & sublime craftsmanship. And it is about the new & banality & celebration, according to Mr. Koons himself.
But most of all to me it was about becoming a child again.
Everything was huge and colorful and shiny.
A little bit like walking into a dinosaur’s dollhouse with a party going on.
A little bit.
I suggest he will use that as a starting point for his next show.
Then I will like it even better.

Stop on red and go on green. But what to do with orange?
Many situations are orange; that means you can either stop or go.
Orange means freedom. It invites you to rely on your own judgement.
How do you react on orange?

Let’s (re)introduce some Pippi Action into our daily life. Even if you don’t wear braids.

I want to share with you this quote from the inspiring talk that Leendert Bikker gave at the Moed je doen! booklaunch, 12th of april, at Donner Selexyz, Rotterdam. (in Dutch)

Als er dan niemand meer gelooft wat je zegt, houdt een prachtig zinnetje van Pippi aan haar vriendjes Tommy en Annika mij op de been. Dat geldt ook voor jouw boek Pauline: “Soms zeg je zulke slimme dingen, dat ik bang ben dat je het nog ver zult brengen.” – Leendert Bikker

Made possible by my favorite pen, although it runs out of ink very quickly and stains my fingers ninety percent of the time. How about one Dirty Pen Day per month? No touchpad/keyboard interaction allowed. Just to keep our handwriting in shape.

“You can only see with your heart, the essential is invisible for your eyes.”
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Just after Moed je doen! was launched Gert Onnink, Algemeen Dagblad, interviewed me for his column Let’s ask… Read the interview here

Summertime.
Split them up and then combine.
Plenty of Summer. Plenty of Time.
Happy Summer to you too!

And Happy Birthday to you, Gtje! 

“Every time you use your memory you change it.”
– Roni Horn

Adequate medicine if you suffer from a sudden attack of What-if-teritus.
What if I cannot do this, what if I fail, what if shit happens? What if… ?
So what!
Let’s just start now and reflect later.
Because… What if you succeed?!

“I realized that I didn’t have to qualify my ideas. I could do anything I liked, it was only a question of how I did it that would make it original. I realized then that I could go on forever. “
– Vivienne Westwood

Snail down everything today.
Talk slow, walk slow, eat slow.
Dress slow, pick up the phone slow, answer slow.
Wink slow in slow motion.
Slowing down is the perfect mind massage.

I always feel that summer rain makes nature smile.
The smell of the earth confirms it. The birds whistle it.
Who needs more proof?

Your motivation is the password to your goal. What makes you tick?
Like passwords it can sometimes be difficult to remember.
Give it some thought and find out the answer.
You will be surprised.

“Calcutta’s biggest treasure is the people who live in it.”
– Priyanka Raja

“Enjoy your body, use it every way you can… don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.”
– Baz Luhrman

This weekend I went out on my first real uphill bike ride ever!