After many enjoyable years in the corporate world of hotels (and receiving a steady paycheque), I made the bold decision to become a full-time entrepreneur again. Something I had successfully done before, so really how hard can it be?
Of course a few things are different this time around. I am no longer in my late 20’s/early 30’s, I have 2 beautiful young daughters to look after and it’s a completely different type of business model.
Although this is a very personal story, I hope sharing my experience can help or even inspire other starting entrepreneurs, people who are dreaming to be an entrepreneur or those who are just curious about entrepreneurship.
When you read about entrepreneurship you’ll find things such as a great idea doesn’t make you an entrepreneur, which in its own right is absolutely true. However, having a great idea is still the starting point. That said, your idea needs to resolve a problem, you need to have a strong desire to resolve that problem and be willing to put a lot of time, effort and (your own) money into it. Now most people who are interested in entrepreneurship probably know this already.
What some might not know is that entrepreneurship can be very lonely at times, that you are nobody’s priority and that you need to be able to motivate yourself every single day - even on the tough ones. This is why I think the desire to resolve a problem has to be the absolute number one priority before embarking on the journey of being an entrepreneur.
Another thing you will hear a lot is that having a network is the most important thing, but this is not different than working for a company. Or is it? When you work for an existing company often you’ll inherit parts of your network through your predecessor, your colleagues and the companies position in the market. As an entrepreneur you will have to create every connection one by one. That said, there is probably something even more important which is not talked about as much. Maybe this is because the English language doesn’t seem to have a real term for it. However, the Dutch do and they call it the ‘Gun Factor’. Whilst ‘factor’ has the same meaning in both languages, the word ‘gun’ in the Dutch language doesn’t mean a weapon. The closest English word is probably ‘deserve’. In my opinion this is almost more important and having a small network with a high ‘Gun Factor’ is better than having a large network with a low ‘Gun Factor’.
So what is the ‘Gun Factor’?
The ‘Gun Factor’ is the level of support people are willing to give you and the genuine interest they have in your success.
All of us make these decisions everyday and most of the time we are not even aware of it. For example, when a company invites you to do an online survey you make the decision to support that company with your time or not. The ‘Gun Factor’ can come in many ways, but most often relates to time, effort or financials. For the ‘Gun Factor’ to truly work in business (and personal life), things in general have to go both ways - give and take. This is something I have always strongly believed in. I have always been fortunate enough to be in a position that I could give opportunities to individuals as well as (starting) companies throughout my professional career and there is nothing more satisfying than to see them grow and be successful. Vice versa I have received the same in return and I am truly grateful for that.
Over the last year whilst building Hospo.life I have received great support from the development team at Orfeostory. They believed in what I am trying to do for the global hospitality and tourism community and they have truly gone above and beyond to build the best platform they have ever created. A company that definitely has the ‘Gun Factor’. Of course, the ‘Gun Factor’ is not created by a company (this is merely a registered piece of paper), it is created by the people you work with.
Since our soft launch a few months ago I have received wonderful support from people in as well as outside of my direct network. As we are working towards our full launch I have received commitments from several major players in the industry and these will all be revealed on Hospo.life in due course. To all of you I would like to say: thank you! Thank you for believing in me and for your support to the future generations in hospitality. As most of us are well aware, it’s not easy to attract these future generations at the moment. One of my main goals with Hospo.life is to work with all industry players (small and big) to rekindle the image of hospitality and to show the world that this is an amazing industry to work in! Why the world? Because it is a true global problem. Over the last few months I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to speak with many educators, business people and other senior leaders and no matter where they are located the problems are the same: not enough students, not enough staff (no longer even talking about ‘experienced’ staff), high turnover as people are leaving the industry and not being able to run their respective businesses at maximum capacity.
So, what do I think about my second time entrepreneurship to date?
So far I have learned that the second time is not necessarily any easier than the first time, but definitely not less fun either. That whilst the product or service might be different the journey is definitely not. That having a network with a high ‘Gun Factor’ is still one of the keys to success. Whilst you would think, that with age and more experience you learn and get ahead the reality might be different. The world around us is changing fast, very fast so continuous learning is key. A former CEO once told me that after doing the same job for 3 years every other year is just a repeat of the previous three and your level of learning will drastically decrease. Maybe he was right? Or maybe it really depends on the job and your own personal efforts? Either way, I prefer something more simple and direct that my Dutch Grandma told me: if you stop learning, you’re dead already. So I think I will hold on to that for now, and continue to look for new ways to learn, to contribute and to do my part in making the (hospitality) world a better place.