The HUB

The HUB in Rotterdam is now officially open. Last friday a great auction took place and already this place is casting its shadows of its own mood. It is, in its very nature, a meeting place. Guess who I met? A lady with whom I might partner for doing a workshop for students after they will have returned from their study time abroad. Unimagnable that this is not done already! So necessary! So we will give it a try and see how it works out.

Europe project, here we come!

9 people. Cracking nuts. Running against walls. Finding doors, here and there. Climbing over self-created obsacles, but they are obstackles nevertheless. You never know why they are there. Sometimes they make you go into another direction, where you then find a nice vally to enjoy. You can build a camp there, to stay for some time. But soon you will break the tents down again and be back in the djungle.
It all started when the other group decided to go to Thailand. You know, sun, beach, laughter, happy faces...pollution...connections, learning, local people. Broaden your horizon. Social innovation! That would be the string that still connects us. We would be here. But there are more worlds than just the geographical one and both our groups would be together in the world of social innovation.

How do you discover a world? How do you set off, loose sight of the shore and discover something completely new? Without knowing where you go? We were hanging in a calm for quite some time, loosing energy, running in circles. We were stuck on trying to figure out where to search for our new world geographically, could it be Eastern Europe? Oh no, some people were severely against that. Berlin? Maybe. Barcelona? Nice shot, but did it have enough potential? Marocco. Ruled out quickly for financial reasons.
How do you discover a world when you don´t have any money? How do you still create an impact in the new area that you are approaching? That we were quite sure about: we wanted to leave a footprint. And not one that vanishes when the air blows over it, but one that really lasts.
Leave a footprint somewhere where you don´t even know how the ground looks like that can embrace the footprint...that´s a hard one.
But taking steps leaves footprints. So here we go.
And somehow, eventually, this new world also reaches out to you. Giving you new ideas and inspiration but also feeding you with its essential nutricious fruits. We came across such a fruit when we finally had the idea of going in two Vans into two directions, one east, one south, further exploring what we had just been stumbling across right there, when having this idea: What the f**k is social innovation? We are right in it. We don´t see it, but we are living it. So let´s make it visible not only to us, but to everybody! Why were movies invented anyways?!
Wading in muddy territories, insecure grounds, robbing forward we had finally reached that island. Wow! Sun is shining again! Blue skies, with rockets shooting through it, like bubbles in a glass of champaign. A firework of new ideas! Maybe we will take people with us along the road! Or we will connect to the underground scenes! Or we will do stand up theater! Or we will just ask people on the street! Or we will open up a dialogue between East and West! Or, or, or. Why should it be "or"? Can´t it be "and"? But where is the focus then?
Damn, we are back in the mud. But now we have a history, we already left footprints. How does the water look like that is slowly gathering in them, condensing into the essence of our quest? Maybe it is not cristal clear. But it is water, the essence of life! What springs to the eye when watching it is its authenticity. It is real.
This is what we are: we are real. Authentic. So let´s bring it on again! Let´s see how we explore, discover and create at the same time something that is like a raw diamond, hidden deep down in the earth, ready to be grinded by us, to reveal its ultimate beauty. How will it look like? Nobody knows, but everybody believes that it will shine. Beautifully. Magnificently! Wow, I wanna see it already!

holistic entrepreneurship...or how we ARE our businesses

Yesterday´s session about holistic entrepreneurship was really good. Learning about how the classic business way, the social/environmental business way and the spiritual business way all play an important role in the whole outcome was fascinating. Basically what I learned was: if I die (or burn out), my project dies with me. That would be a pity, wouldn´t it? For both of us. ;-)
We worked a bit on what our passion in life is, disconnected from our projects...but for some it actually turned out that their project does not cover what they really want to do in life (they had been stuck in their project before, so guess why...!)
I see it as such a big advantage, that in western Europe we have the luxury of being able to run a business as a way of self-realization. Here it is not about surviving. It is about making a living, yes, but it is not about surviving. So we are actually in a very enviable situation: we can dive into our life´s passion and create a business from there. Our identity becomes manifest in our business. Does this mean that by defining what you do, at the same time you are defining who you are? Or the other way around? Probably both at the same time. Since what you do makes you who you are.

and on we go

The last days I felt really dizzy. I think I worked too much. I was sooooo hyped about my idea and its development that I kind of forgot that it is not my whole life. There are other important things as well...like eating...or sleeping...or just relaxing, hang out with people I like and do nothing. Very important. But experiencing that rush helped me to now know that I should not take developing my company too deadly serious. Work on it yes, but just as much as my body allows me to! Although I get so passionate every time I work on it.
Yesterday I started working on a brochure for my product, including a product description. This really helped me to get a clearer image of what I am actually doing here! (I´ll post it as soon as I feel that this is a presentable version...not yet quite. Still undergoing changes.) I expanded my product portfolio by defining the core product and variations to it, finding introductory products (kind of appetizers so that people will want to work with me), add-ons for clients to buy later on when they were satisfied with my product and giving some thought to flagship product, really big fish, kind of Coca-Cola extra large. Not there yet either.
I also defined attributes and advanteages of my product and services. These will help me make a brochure in which I will describe and advertise my product. For the brochure I feel I need iWorks or any other proper program with templates. So I should get this first.
Presenting this work to my fellow Kaospilot students really helped me to get a more realistic view of what I am doing, their feedback was very helpful. They also helped me to think of new market segments that I could target. Plus it made me change my idea of how my product should actually look like...again. :-) It´s an ongoing process, this product and idea development...
Today we learned about packaging the product. Who would buy a perfume in a crappy plastic bag? Nonono, it has to be something special! Something extraorinary! You buy much more than the product, you buy a whole lifestyle, an experience, an identity. So you should better give your customer a clear idea of what you are selling him and make it attractive! Nobody wants a woman in dirty underwear. But give her some really nice dessous and everybody will be after her! She is still the same woman, but the package ist differen. (Maybe I should not choose this as an example, but I am a woman myself, so I may! ;-) )
Anyways, packaging I found really difficult. It made me realize that my idea of my product and my target group is not yet so clear. But that´s what this work is good for, right? To find out what you still have to think about and develop further. So here we go with the next creative act: what kind of people do I want to attract, how does my product "feel" like and how can I express this identity through, say, the way I dress, the way course facilities are set up, the interior, graphic design...even the invoice needs to be designed!
But tomorrow we will learn something about holistic entrepreneurship, so maybe this will be a source of inspiration!

stories of a startup - day 4

Yesterday I talked to a friend about my idea. I could very well imagine to work together with her, and she could as well. So we´ll see how things will work out.
Today I refined "my story" and my logo, but got a bit frustrated with this darn computer program for drawing, that I don´t know about and that somehow does not give me the options I want to have. Well, having something is better than having nothing. But still what I have will need further refinement. I should learn to manage this computer program (or get somebody to help me).

stories of a startup - the first 2 days

Starting up a company...nothing more exciting than this! After 2 days of working with David Madié I´m already on track. Man, it makes such a difference if you just have somebody to indicate to you the next possible step! And, even more important, who gives you the feeling that he believes in you, that you are going to be successfull, and who encourages you to start now. START NOW! This is the basic message that I want to yell out to everybody ever trying to start up: START NOW! Go with the passion. Whatever there is passion for is the next step. Don´t get caught up in planning and thinking about how you could or should do things, but DO them.
We worked with this guy from Startup Company, he´s a real pro. He gave us many worksheets on which we could see which next steps would be possible and then we just did what we felt most passionate about.
An idea is very fragile in the beginning. The energy that we can give it is all there is. So follow that energy!
He also talked about the fear of many entrepreneurs that their idea might get stolen. You have to overcome this fear. It is very unlikely that anybody steals it anyways, because those that might be interested in having the product that your idea is about are probably the ones who will never go all the way of bringing it into action, because they are no entrepreneurs. So the only group that might be "of danger" for you are entrepreneurs, but they are very unlikely to stal it, too, because it is not their idea, and entrepreneurs want to realize their own idea, not somebdy else´s. That´s only half the fun.
So yesterday and the day before I worked on my idea. I identified some next steps that I wanted to take, I did some of them, like research and writing an email and telling others about my idea and getting feedback, I identified the next key challenges of my start-up business, so that I would know what I wanted to work on next, like getting a better picture of the actual business idea or think about my market position, I found a mission statement and finally I found a name. Today I made a logo, looks so nice, and it makes it even more real, that this company is actually existing! Can´t believe it!
I also worked a bit on a story of why I am working on this company, answering questions like Who am I and where do I come from? Where did I get the inspiration for my idea? Why is this idea important to me? Why was I the right one to realize the idea? Who am I wirking with an how did I get to meet them? Answering theses questions and telling the story provides trust. If people know whom they are talking to and why this person is passionate about what he/she does, they are much likely to also find inspiration for it.
Anyways, the last question I cannot answer. Until now I am working alone on this. I made a very important experience on this topic: a teammate of mine asked me if she could work together with me. I said yes. This was in a very, very early stage of my idea and actually she was thinking that I was working on another idea that I had had before. I briefly told her about the current idea. She suggested some things on what we could do and suddenly I felt that all my energy went away. I felt totally drained. Something was going on that was not right. I could not pinpoint it, but I felt it had to do with her entering my project. So I told her that I would not like to work with her, which now I regret, because now I think what was actually going on was not that I did not want to work with her, but that I did not want to change my idea! Did not wanna kill my darling, oh no. I even started crying in front of her! Poor girl. The lesson I learned from this is that there are times when it is ok for somebody else to join and sometimes it is better to keep it for yourself. It is an issue of ownership. I felt as if somebody was stealing my baby. Now, that I am in a different phase, I would love to work together with somebody, because now I am more clear of what I actually want to do. But now she does not want to work with me on this one any more. Understandable. Funny to note that she had a similar thing with me some time ago.

It´s all about energy. When you have energy you can work and when you don´t have it, then it is better not to work. But sometimes the energy also comes while working. Today I felt the lack of a partner, somebody to talk to about the idea and to get inspired again. I started working on my logo and then showed some drafts to a friend. He liked them. Then my roommates came by and I also showed it to them and told them about the whole idea of starting a business (they did not know about it yet). They really liked the idea, liked the logo and even gave me new things to think about and make my range of thoughts bigger. This gave me a lot of energy again! It felt like quite a step to show the logo, who knows, they might not like it? But they did. They even guessed what the whole thing is about just from taking a look at the logo, without knowing what the company is about. Great! :-)

where is the open source idea collection?

I´ve been searching on the web for cool ideas for socially innovative projects, but did not really find anything. How come? There should be a simple list of ideas, open for everybody to take inspiration from or simply put one in action. Or do my searching skills just suck?
A simple list with the topic of: what concretely needs to be changed in my environment. Then anybody could go anywhere and do a project on such an issue. Anywhere in the world, but being sure that there is a real issue he/she is working on. Saves you a lot of research.

that´s exactly what this country needs!

a cock in a frock on a rock.
No, seriously, what do we need? Let´s go and have a look. Let´s take a skateboard, cross this country and see what is there and what is not. Let´s see what people really have and what they really don´t have. Be an outsider and see things from a different angle. Make a movie, make a book, and pick one thing yourself and start doing it.

unjust

I´ve been to the film festival in Rotterdam and there were lots of movies depicting different ugly situations in society. One was about a girl from Zimbabwe, whos mother died of AIDS and she and her little brother and little niece went to the nearest city to live with the aunt. She did not have much money either, so Zimbabwe, the girl, immigrated illegally to South Africa, via a "company" that smuggles peiple and gets them a job. She got a job as a housemaid. She had to give her earnings to the "company" that threatened her to turn her in as being illegal. The husband of the house where she worked raped her on a regular basis. She burned a shirt by accident and the wife made her pay for it from her salary (note that she easily said that she would just have to buy a new one). In the end she hit the husband to unconsciuosness when he raped her again. The one friend she had there adviced her to go back to Zimbabwe, what she happily did.

Another movie was about a Maroccan child that moves from a village in the mountains into the city and becomes a street kid. Stealing and selling stolen stuff is a way of making a living than a crime. Basic knowledge of the tourists languages would help to do other things.

A third one was about a prison for children in Russia. Kids younger than 14 years go there. Some had murdered a person. They liked the prison better than their home because they could go to school and got basically everything they needed, food, education, a bed. But they don´t get psychological help. The movie maker was the first one to ask them how they felt about what they had done and how they think they would continue their lives. Asking simple basic questions like this already made them think into a different direction.

Of course it is not this easy as it sounds to tackle these issues. But maybe we find ways to do some small change on a small scale and build in some elements that make it spread.

Ideas: projects, funstuff, anything. Open source.

There are so many people out there who really want to do more with their lives than a 9-5 job. Many of them are travellers, searching for a suitable way that fits their needs and at the same time makes them do something useful.
So let´s go to Brasil, stay at a youth hostel for some time and do facilitation on "what do I want to do with my life" with backpackers!

About

Once upon a time there was an old garden. It was very dark and moist, making you look over your shoulder constantly, but feeling intrigued by the smell of adventure. Being in there you could only see until the next tree, densly wrapped in lianes, emitting sweet smells. Strange sounds were all over the place, making you set your feet very carefully: what would you find behind that next gate of twigs? The question was never: how do I get out? the question was: how do I go in. Since living in this garden made you come across yourself eventually.