“Without coaching, we would probably have made a few missteps.”
Start-up R-SOLUTION Medical from Barneveld developed a packaging robot for hospital Central Sterilisation Departments (CSAs). The ‘R-APPIT’, which packages instruments for operating theatres, not only reduces the amount of packaging material by around 25% but also ensures a quality improvement in the department.
For founders Mariska van der Vliet and Niels Welling, a CSA holds no secrets. Running a company, however, is a different story for them. “Without coaching, we would probably have made a few missteps in the area of international distribution,” Niels explains.
‘Entrepreneurship is More Than Your Product and an Accountant’
“There’s so much more to entrepreneurship than just your product and an accountant for the receipts,” says Mariska. She got to know business coach Lizanne Jakobs of Brilliant Work through a referral. “We see each other about once every six weeks, and then we discuss what has happened and what challenges we’re facing. We then analyse what comes to the surface. We’re emotionally involved,” she explains, “but Lizanne looks at things very calmly.”
“We’re very busy with our product, and Lizanne points us to other matters that also count,” Niels adds. “For example: you want to grow, but how? When are you going to hire people? And how many?” What Mariska finds so great about Lizanne’s coaching is that she looks at it from a business perspective. “Our forecasts are always numerically focused, like ‘we want to sell six machines.’ Lizanne then asks questions like ‘how are you going to do that?’ and ‘which countries do you want to focus on first?’ This makes us think.”
How do you choose the right coach?
The choice to go with Lizanne as their business coach was easy, according to Niels. “We find it important to immediately have a connection with the people we collaborate with. And we had that with Lizanne.” Of course, her knowledge and expertise also play a role. Lizanne’s experience with international distribution channels was very useful for us ,” he explains. “We also didn’t want to be treated like a number, and that was another reason why we chose Lizanne,” Mariska adds.
“Most start-ups are preoccupied with the delusion of the day: what needs to happen now,” Lizanne explains. “They look too little at other matters such as: are there subsidies available for me? What needs to happen next month? I look further: first, I ask where the entrepreneur wants their company to be in three years. Then we create an action plan, a kind of roadmap: where do you want to go and how do you get there? Once that’s in place, I can more easily provide substantive help.”
Find the Balance Between Thinking and Doing
“For start-ups in general: find the balance between thinking and doing,” Lizanne explains. “Find the balance between what you need to do weekly and where you want to be in a year or three. That’s often forgotten.”
Are you also looking for a good balance between the choices you need to make as a start-up entrepreneur? Or is your company growing so fast that the balance in some areas is off-kilter? Then feel free to contact us and discuss the possibilities of business coaching.
