‘Investing was very scary in the beginning’

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‘I once wanted to study cultural anthropology, but my father said you couldn’t earn a living in that. So then it became communication, which is also about people. I wanted to start my own business early on, but I wasn’t brave enough. As a result, I worked for a long time and with great pleasure as head of communication at a university of applied sciences. But three years ago I wanted to give it a try, my own business. Then I finally took the step.

“I like it very much, but it always takes a while before a new assignment that I want to focus on. I am consciously trying to take on fewer jobs this year to be able to spend time with my son, but also to see what else I can do. Maybe I want to guide other women to become self-employed, see if I can build a course. The best advice I ever got was from a former colleague: ‘Just try it, who cares if it doesn’t go well?’ It’s actually that simple. You don’t have to be ashamed if it doesn’t work out.

“I normally work three to four days a week, but since six weeks I have gone back to twelve hours a week. In addition, I try out new ideas for my company and I network a lot. And today I have an interview for an interim assignment, again for 24 hours a week.”

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‘The money that I don’t use for fixed costs, I put aside for worse times. I save so that my son Remi (5) can study later, and I started investing a bit. That seemed fun to me, since you don’t get anything anymore when you save. It was really scary in the beginning, I watched every day what my money was doing. Now we are a year further and I see it fluctuating, but I am satisfied with the result so far, so I am confident.

“When I was in permanent employment, I never saved, I used up everything. Now I’m a bit stricter so I have some on hand. Suppose you are getting very old, then you must have something left over somewhere. But I think it’s especially nice that you don’t have to work after your sixtieth birthday, but that you can.

“I didn’t become a mother until I was forty and the people around me already had children. So I hardly ever have to buy anything myself: clothes, toys, children’s bicycles, we all get it through the media. And I don’t like shopping, once every few years I buy a few cardigans and then I can move forward.

“What is really a gift is the cleaner who comes once a month. I wasn’t having a great pregnancy, so I left the groceries and a cleaner came to the house. I liked the latter so much that I kept her.”