02 Sep Scaling up as a ZZP’er
When the founders of BASE asked me to share my opinions and experiences regarding
scaling-up, I had to think about that for a while.
A few years ago, I would have immediately thought about scaling up in relation to hiring
employees. How would a sole business owner (ZZP’er in Dutch) scale-up?
Now, 7 years into running my own business, New2NL, I think I can share some better
examples. I am still the only person employed by my company, so in terms of the scale of the company, nothing has changed.
But I did expand in other ways. I have reached out for help, mainly to other
ZZP’ers and freelancers.
I no longer build my website, write reports, post on social media, edit my English texts, call schools for availability (I help international families find a suitable school for their children). I don’t need to do it by myself anymore.
I also bought software to make my job easier: send invoices, declare my VAT,
keep my time records, update my website. As a result, I don’t need to spend a lot of hours and
frustration doing these things anymore.
I also gathered people around me to learn from and to share ideas with. I regularly go to business-related network events and am part of a Mastermind group.
Having people around me has probably been the thing I missed most when switching from
working in a corporate environment to being my own boss. ‘Have you experienced this issue
before? Do you have any valuable contacts in this area? What would you recommend doing
in this case?’
These are all important questions I am happy I can still ask other people…at
these network events, or during a (virtual) coffee meeting. And of course, I like to help the
other members with my experience too.
I may be a sole business owner, but I am not alone! Therefore, I am very grateful that events like BASE Conference exist, and I am happy to actively contribute to these valuable initiatives. I look forward to meeting you all during the Conference, and to learn from each other.
To conclude with the initial question: can you scale up as a ZZP’er? Yes, of course, you can!
Written by: Annebet van Mameren
Have you booked your ticket to BASE Conference 2020 yet? Make sure to save your spot here:
https://baseconference.
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