
3 lessons for the headstrong social entrepreneur (and anyone else!)
About the value of a good crisis, social entrepreneurship before it was cool and how to work together when you’re very good at being headstrong.

Find your marketing sweet spot
Social media marketing seems to be the go to solution to reach potential customers these days. There are other and often less expensive ways to get your voice out there. 3 ways and examples.

3 polarities for creatives running a company
Sometimes you want one thing in work, but need to do the other thing or you just want to do both but they get in each others way. Polarities you could say. How to deal with them?

To un-go from the flow
Going with the flow is easy at first. At some point the flow will not feel like a flow anymore. It is not easy to act when the conventional does not meet your needs anymore. There are three steps to get you out of the rut and into designing a life, education, company - you name it! - that works for you.

Trust & Chemistry
When you decide to look into co-foundership you might want to consider what is important to make it work together. Do you share the same values? And do you complement each other? Evaluate your current relationship. A basis of trust and chemistry is what you need.

Calculated Risks
Entrepreneurs are often viewed as risk takers. That doesn’t mean they are reckless. These are often calculated risks based upon worst-case scenarios with contingency plans. So some risks won’t hurt you, unless you think about them at least a bit wisely.

Chaordic Balance
When a business becomes bigger it usually adopts more systems and rules to function. Innovation and creating new things becomes more difficult resulting in stagnation. On the other hand you have the creatives who thrive in a free environment and form creative ideas like there is no tomorrow. But the risk thereof is not finishing projects and risking no output. The secret lies in balancing Chaos and Order.

Can endless work be part of proper self-care?
If your work is fulfilling and gives you energy you’re one happy person. Fulfillment is part of self-care and therefore quite important. But when is it not fulfilling anymore? What is the tipping point of your fulfilling work becoming too much? Think about it.

Innovate small
So you feel it’s time for a change. A new plan next to your current business. How do you get there without losing ground? Start small, experiment and accept the transition period. It takes time and you will get there.

Be incomplete
Selling your work is much more difficult if you aren’t able to keep it simple. Yes, you are a wonderful complex and skilled human being. To be complete in communicating your capabilities can make your message towards a possible client unnecessarily broad and unspecific. When you get the job you can elaborate on your skills, before that keep it simple!

What's the worst that can happen?
Many will recognize that the fear that things could go wrong keeps us from acting. When you notice that in yourself, an interesting exercise to do is to ask yourself "and then what?" multiple times. It might change your mind.

Thinking for yourself
Do you keep things from others that you would’ve liked to share out loud? Maybe you’re afraid of their reaction or you think they cannot handle it. Why not let them be the judge of that? So next time take the step and work your way towards mutual understanding.

Think vs Act
We think before we act because we want to minimize the risk of failure. But what are we afraid of will happen? And when is enough enough?

Creative 'Unsurity'
Being a creative entrepreneur or freelancer means dealing with your work and the subjective view of people on your work. Your work may suck sometimes, that’s just the way it is. But don’t let that get you down! In order to grow you need to not know sometimes. Be creative, take a hit or a win and move on. It’s about the work, not about YOU as a person.

The adult in you
It is easy to blame others when bad or annoying things happen to you. Lost your job? Don’t feel valued at work? Back in the days you probably had your parents to look out for you and make you feel safe. At some point you have to become your own adult. From an entrepreneurial point of view it means you can take ownership of very interesting things: Choose your clients, create your own business strategy and so on. That doesn’t sound so bad right?