Last December I attended a Startup Speeddating event and I saw great ideas managed by passionate people, from mobility services to 3D food printing. I already started a solo proprietorship in October 2019, so I wanted to connect with others that have the entrepreneurship spirit. Birds of a feather flock together, goes the saying.

In March 2020 I became part of a start-up as Marketing & Design Intern and I had observed and participated in the necessary processes for launching a product. I fell in love with the adrenaline, so I am determined to transform, together with 4 other friends, our MOTUM project into a start-up - the process isn’t a piece of cake, but it’s extremely empowering and we get to participate at nice events.

Starting your own business while still pursuing your studies can be terrifying, but if you would have the information needed and a starter pack, you’d be more inclined to give it a go. Balancing studies and a business can become overwhelming and tiring, not to mention the financial aspect (feel free to mention other challenges as well). But oh, the feeling of accomplishment and pride you’ll get when seeing your “baby” out into the world!

Why should you choose a start-up? (1) You will wear almost as many hats as Roger Buckey Legried had (100,336). Your job description is purely indicative, and you will often have to go beyond it. The cool thing? You learn a lot, from different departments and several people. (2) There will be a time when children will ask themselves: Which ones are faster? Ferraris or start-up careers? Yes, that’s how fast you can advance in your professional path. 

However, babies are not born unicorns, so they need a lot of work and attention. The speed brings out a great quantity of ambiguity and if you know you’re not comfortable with it, maybe a 9-5 job makes more sense. It’s not like others don’t want to help you - they just don’t know how. You will have to figure many things out on your own as you’ll sometimes come across unique issues.

In July 2020 I decided that I want to deep dive into the student entrepreneurship topic and I had joined Kickoff EHV as Marketing & Community Manager. The Netherlands is a great place for entrepreneurship, but we need to know more about success and failure rates, while having some statistics in mind. Reach out and tell me what you are interested in and I will (try to) find relevant information and connect you with people that can help.

Entrepreneurship is great because you create your own solutions and you have a lot of freedom, but before you make the jump into the start-up world, give yourself time to think and identify the reason why you are doing this. Talk directly with entrepreneurs to find out how easy or hard it is to run a business (keep an eye on our Instagram and Facebook for up-coming events). The start-up idea only works if you are passionate about what you are doing. And if you are, you won’t give up.