What was a pivotal moment where your business made a big leap forward?
When the Kirby team turned into shareholders in our new company. The feeling of owning the company together as a team had a big, positive impact on me.
What do you wish you had known 10 years ago?
Small, consistent steps get you a lot further and are more sustainable than exhausting jumps. It sounds like such an obvious learning, but to choose exciting jumps over boring small steps keeps being way too tempting.
What shift in perspective / mindset has allowed you to see things differently?
I was a solo freelancer for too long and that blocked me from being a good team player. To truly see myself as part of a team and not just as an individual within a team was a very important shift in mindset.
What's a skill that we should pay more attention to in the workplace?
As design students, we had to learn to be very critical with our work and throw it in the bin without regrets. It's a skill that still helps me a lot, although I'm far from perfect at it. It's more like constantly training a muscle. Keeping your ego in check and learning how to be good at receiving, but also giving constructive critique is often seen as a given, but in reality it comes with hard challenges for everyone.
What do you do to maintain balance in your life?
Turning away from the screen whenever possible. No matter if it's time with the family, sport, building physical objects or playing guitar – I can really feel how my brain and my heart need more screen antidotes the longer I work in the digital realm.
What’s an important guiding principle that informs the way you build and run your business?
Trust. I trust us as a team and each one individually, that we make the right choices together, that we are honest with each other and that we make mistakes but also manage to learn from them together.
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Here’s More, From Other Founders Around the World
What do you wish you had known 10 years ago?
I always thought that my life can be balanced between personal, business, health, family, finances and love. In that sense how much energy I put in and get back. But with the years, I learned that life is imbalanced by nature. It's still a goal for me and I believe if all parts are some kind of balanced, this speaks of a highly valuable life, but accepting that there will always be a certain imbalance, helped me a lot.
What's the biggest insight you learned in recent years?
It’s always a good idea to be connected to your product – even if you have to deal with high-level topics, always remember the things you offer.
What personal habit helped you accelerate your personal growth?
In one of the hardest times of my life so far, I started journaling for 1-2h on Sundays. Not digital, but with paper and pen. Always answering the same questions related to self, social life and work. This brutally honest and regular reflection once a week helped me identify problems early and iterate fast.
When times are tough, who or what is an anchor for you?
My co-founders are my anchor in work-related topics. Having an environment where failure is welcomed with a helping hand and where weakness is valued as openness, once you are down those people will drag you up.