I am almost at the end of a year again. Bye 2010……  It’s gone so fast but hey what else is new? Reflect? Actually, I am a future person; I look ahead, make plans and look forward most of the time. However, some weeks ago my CRAVE Amsterdam team gathered to make our schedule for the upcoming year, because our network is much more than a book! We talked about future events for our network, what matches with our own talents and wishes and what would our community expect from us? In line with the CRAVE USA teams and brand we felt we wanted to organise a CRAVE Chat and as the date would be in december, we decided to make it a ‘reflections-chat’.  Inspiration for this subject was not only the new year ahead but also the story that team member Athalie had written some weeks before on what shé had learned this year and how she had experienced working with- and for CRAVE Amsterdam entrepreneurs. So here I go. All inspired and ready to open up; What (the hell) did I learn this year?

In 2010

•I turned 42 • I visited Copenhagen Fashion Week • IS WORKS turned 1 • We launched the CRAVE Amsterdam Book • My new website was born • I was healthy, alive and kicking • Some amazing new clients hired me for my talents • I was wearing a shine through dress to AIFW • One of my best friends survived cancer • I bought 6 new pairs of shoes • I learned about the enneagram • I got my IPad • I met a lot of inspirational people • I won the award for ‘Best dressed recruiter 2010′ • My son was celebrating his 10th birthday • I trippled my followers on Twitter • I ‘ve spent too little time with friends • I’ve seen New York again after 12 years • My parents were still healthy and sparkling • It had been a year since I stopped smoking • I got hooked on Solar nails • I learned a lot!

“Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love”

From the start of my company IS WORKS, this is my slogan. I learned that I have to keep this thought in mind. This is the reason I started up my concept and this is what I believe in. This is what I want to bring to people and companies, to give them different eyes to look at themselves and be proud of it. The love for what I do brings energy, interest, connection, exciting projects and new clients. It is also life experience that brings you your knowing. I should learn and practise that every year!

Connect

My company is my network. Making a connection is one of my strongest assets. I love to learn about other peoples drives, passions and life-experience and I guide companies in finding and telling their story through creative connection. I believe that the value of interacting with others is mostly about combining talents and actions in order to accomplish the things that I want to bring to my company and clients, but my interaction is much more important than that……..I allways assumed that only pleasing relationships have value, but I learned that this is not the case. I became aware that even uncomfortable interactions with others form the basis of my expansion. Although it’s a learning process I try to feel appreciation for others so that I can fully enjoy every encounter with them, no matter how brief, or regardless of whether I agree with them or not.

Female Vibes

Apart from the CRAVE project, which portrays and connects female entrepreneurs within a certain city, I had a lot more female vibes and fascination coming my way this year. First I was asked to be a member of De Raad van Anders, an initiative of Microsoft Nederland to look with different eyes to in-company issues. This Raad was selected to look at diversity with a spin-off towards ‘what women want and don’t want’ in a corporate environment. Through this occupation I encountered the leading ladies behind Women Inc. and became a fan of their ambitions and platform. Last but not least I subscribed to an ‘enneagram training’ , told and hosted by Carin Biegnolé of Villa Sophia. The enneagram is about returning to the essence of it all and about personal growth. These evenings gave me insight and fascination on female intuïtion and mechanism. I suddenly understood a lot of what’s going on in my life and my career and I’m honoustly proud to be a woman and to see what my femininity can add to a creative economy. Women bring change. Finally, through CRAVE I got to meet many other women, who I maybe had not met within my daily routine and work. I became very proud of all these women and their drive to run a business of their own. Wow!

Draw the line

When I started my company 1,5 years ago I was full of excitement on experiencing the organic flow and energy that came from ‘just’ showing my talents. I came across interesting people and companies, started great projects and blogged my ass off on all this new inspiration I wanted to share. I was enjoying this enormous freedom and couldn’t resist myself from tweeting now an then “I Love my life!’ I did! And I still do! But this year I learned that it’s ‘ok’ to draw a line. Because without borders your energy goes all directions and people also don’t feel boundaries in contacting you, or better: whát they are contacting me for , asking for attention and favours. These attention and favours, in many cases, were just thát what my expertise and company is all about: Connecting people, consultancy, visibility and activating projects around and about fashion. And don’t get me wrong, I believe in giving and sharing as a mechanism for connection and growth, but I saw clearly that if i did not draw a line, and make myself clearer, I would spent half of my time with people sucking energy away from me. Unpayed. Unsatisfied. I’ve been working on making my authority more clear, more visible and my talents more exclusive to cling to. It’s mainly an attitude thing and about not giving it all away too soon, too fast. I’m even planning 2 fixed days a month on which I schedule meetings with new people, instead of arranging my agenda around everyone’s needs. And guess what? It works. IS WORKS!

Stay tuned

“Wherever you are, is just fine…You can get to wherever you want to be from wherever you are… It’s time to stop measuring where you are in relationship to where anybody else is. The only factor that has anything to do with you is where you are in relationship with where you want to be” Last year I learned about Abraham-Hicks and their  ’Law of Atrraction’. I am not going in that too deep, but I subscribed to their daily mails for which every morning I receive a thought or a quote coming from their philosophy which mainly is about to stay tuned with your own energy. What I learn from these little messages in my mailbox is that I have a choice to feel positive or negative emotions. If you’re not selfish enough to want to feel good, then you can’t connect with the energy that is your source which does always feel good. And I keep that in mind in my communications and interactions with others. Mind you; I’m still learning…….

What did YOU learn this year?

Our first CRAVE Amsterdam Chat will take place on thursday the 9th of december from 09:30-12:00 at the CASA 400.
Vera van de Ven, founder of Innerearth and  Catriona Ravelli of LaptopLounge will be our guest speakers, sharing with us how they learned to use reflections to be more successful.

I would love to welcome you there and learn about what yoú learned this year! Please subscribe here.