Students Lotte and Merlin are proud owners of their own company ‘Helemaal Content': Doubts about starting your own business? Just do it!
Social, entrepreneurial and proud owners of their own company, Helemaal Content. We are talking about creative commercial economics students Lotte and Merlin. "At the moment, we are busy growing Helemaal Content," they say.
Started with cleaning
It might sound like music to your ears: starting your own business. But how do you start such a thing? Both Merlin and Lotte were eager to start their own business, but with what was unclear at first. "On Instagram, we often saw those 'satisfying' cleaning videos popping up. You know, when they go over the fabric of a sofa or armchair with a hoover to get it clean again. We wanted to make those videos ourselves. So, no sooner said than done. We borrowed such a hoover and started making those videos. At that point, we found out pretty quickly that we enjoyed making the content much more than the cleaning itself."
The first client at the Friday afternoon drinks
After that, the content ball started rolling. "We got our first client at a Friday afternoon drink in February 2022. It started as a joke, but eventually, we were allowed to manage the company's socials. In June 2022, we registered with the Chamber of Commerce as Helemaal Content to make everything official. Are you hesitating to register with the Chamber of Commerce? Our tip: just do it! It's always a good shot, right? With our company 'Helemaal Content', we make other companies fully content, with content ("Helemaal" = fully in Dutch). Do you still understand? We focus mainly on images. After all, it has been proven that images stick 80% better than text. Partly due to the minor 'Startup Entrepreneur' of Saxion Centre for Entrepreneurship, we can now really move forward. Meanwhile, we have gained a number of (regular) clients."
Studying and entrepreneurship
Occasionally, of course, it is quite complicated to do business alongside a study. "When we both had to choose a minor, we came across the minor 'Startup Entrepreneur'. This minor was actually our first choice. Why? Because it really fits our needs as budding entrepreneurs perfectly. It is important that you choose a minor that you want to learn more about, and grow into and that it is, of course, something that really suits you. Our dream is to grow further with our company ‘Helemaal Content’. The minor 'Startup Entrepreneur' gives you a stable basis as a company. In addition, the stories of entrepreneurs are very motivating and you learn a lot from them. The other day, for example, we received a motivating tip from Digital Agency Kemari: 'Think big, more is often possible than you think'."