What’s next?

Someone asked me what’s next?

I think I should answer first “where are we now?”

We have sold about 7,000 books out of the 9,999 books that have been printed. We are trying to deliver the 7,000 ordered books before December 20th, which is a challenge on its own!

The sale of 7,000 books raises 80,000€ net for the Vanakam project if everybody pays the bill … and even if I end up with the other 3.000 books in my garage.

80,000€ is not too bad! At the contrary, I believe it is a real success. When I started the project, I told Christophe that our goal would be to sell 2,000 books, raising about 20,000 Euro!

But don’t doubt, we will get those other 3,000 out of the garage as well, again, with a little help from my friends…. This should bring another 60,000€ to 70.000€ to Vanakam!


The six degrees of separation test

By February 2011 we will have identified 99 authentic leaders/heroes in many different fields. Using the six degrees of separation concept, we will try to get a copy of TWEAK IT! to each of these 99 leaders/heroes through a friend of a friend of a friend … If we succeed, we will ask them to make a personal annotation in the book, sign it and return it to us. At the closing event in November 2011 we will auction the returned books.


The “just travelling around test

We will also grant books to travelers. During their trip, the travelers should make annotations in the book and should send it back after their journey. We will or auction the books or we will ask an artist to create something with the returned books. At the closing event in November 2011 we will auction it.


Other initiatives

A few people have come up with other fundraising ideas which we will further explore. Don’t hesitate to drop me a mail if you have a creative idea to start up a fundraising initiative for Vanakam!


The magic night in the Bijloke in Gent was just the start of this fundraising campaign for Vanakam. I have no idea how far this will go but again there is No Mountain Too High ... with a little help from my friends!


Wim & the No Mountain Too High- team

the Story behind No Mountain Too High & TWEAK IT!

TWEAK IT!

TWEAK IT! "Mindful Coaching Demystified"

we already sold 7,000 books (pre-order), so still 30 companies missing

but

TWEAK IT! is ready

become a 99-member TODAY and ORDER 99 copies of TWEAK IT!

TWEAK IT! will be officially launched on Nov 25 in Gent!

TWEAK IT!

TWEAK IT!

a book written by the No Mountain Too High team

a team inspired by the work of VANAKAM and led by Wim Wuyts


This is not about promoting just another book.

This is about getting the right people together, about connecting people, about dreaming of a better world but above all about giving a better future to the villages surrounding Uthami, a village in Tamil Nadu (South India).

By selling this book we want to raise more than €100,000 to finance at least the solar panels of the new field hospital in Uthami.

This field hospital is part of the Mensch Trust, an Indian foundation created by VANAKAM, a charity trust that started taking care of orphans in India about 10 years ago.

VANAKAM is led by Christophe Lambert, a Belgian who built the Saint Paul’s Home for Children’ in Uthami. Last year VANAKAM further expanded and has built a field hospital in the same village that provides basic health care services for the twenty surrounding villages. The main challenge for the new field hospital is maintaining services during the daily power interruptions in the region. Those power breaks make it impossible to do basic surgery. It’s our dream to make the field hospital self-sufficient by using solar panels.


TWEAK IT! - Our book

This is a book about coaching: executive coaching, performance coaching, and life coaching and sports coaching but is also a book about mindfulness, yoga and Ki-Do-Ma.

Five professionals have written a chapter aimed at demystifying each of these coaching and training techniques. The goal is to help the reader find a better balance in life. The chapters include examples from real leaders and companies.


99³ - Our ambitious dream

The No Mountain Too High team has set a very ambitious target to sell 9,999 books earning more than €100,000 for the VANAKAM projects in India.

On 25 November 2010, when we will officially launch the book, we hope to have identified 99 NMTH-friends committed to buying at least 99 books and to selling them within 99 days in their companies or networks (99³), (some companies have decided to offer the book to their managers or customers instead of selling it).

Selling 9,999 books is extremely ambitious. So we really need you to help make this come true! Please drop me an email confirming you want to be part of this ambitious and life saving project. The price per book will be €19.99.

Ki-Do-Ma

Today, I received the last chapter for the book.

This chapter is written by Marie-Amélie de Potter who gives us an insight in her Ki-Do-Ma coaching technique.

Ki-Do-Ma is a coaching technique, blending the common philosophy of martial arts, yoga, breathing exercises, meditation and western coaching and HR assessments, to master the mental, emotional and physical strength, to train people to produce just enough fuel for a specific objective.

It’s about daring to get back to the authentic self, to walk the talk and to create an appropriate physical condition for sparkling intelligence; key requirements for sustainable and human leadership.

You can find more about Ki-Do-Ma on www.kidomatrainings.be.


I will use August to finalize the book and I have now set October 15 as the hard target date to have the book ready for sale.

An official launch will take place in November.

Vincent Kompany - SOS Kinderdorpen

Up-date over VANAKAM

Na een verdiende en deugddoende vakantie beginnen onze kinderen op 1 juni aan een nieuw schooljaar in India. Het zal voor hen een blij weerzien zijn met elkaar. Er valt voor hen opnieuw veel te beleven, want naast de activiteiten in ons ziekenhuis die ze van dichtbij kunnen volgen, zullen ze binnenkort ook enkele nieuwe meisjes kunnen verwelkomen. Na enkele maanden hard labeur zijn Father Chinnappan en Sister Mary met hun ganse team erin geslaagd van de tweede verdieping op het tehuis af te werken. Het biedt ons de kans in de toekomst tot 100 meisjes te helpen. Dus mochten jullie nog mensen kennen die graag een meisje willen steunen, geef ons gerust een seintje.
Voor jullie allen, die het nog niet mochten weten, hebben wij bovendien ook goed nieuws. Vanaf dit jaar zijn wij definitief erkend door de overheid als instantie voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking en mogen wij bijgevolg fiscale attesten uitschrijven! Jullie mogen dus in januari 2011 een fiscaal attest in de bus verwachten.

Wij en onze kinderen van Saint-Paul's Home for Children danken jullie nogmaals voor jullie blijvende steun!

ps. binnenkort nieuwe foto's op de website van de werken (www.vanakam.be)!

Met vriendelijke groeten,

Christophe en Sam
Vanakam vzw

Carly Fiorina: the dynamics of change and fear

Respect

Momentum

The No Mountain Too High project is getting real momentum.

With friends and experts we are writing a book on "mindful professional coaching".

The book will be sold according to the Tipping Point Principle, not through the classic distribution channels. Through different communities on the web we are spreading the word about the NMTH-project.

Indeed, it is not a book but a project, since all profit of the book will go to the VANAKAM charity fund for India.

Feel free to join our LinkedIn Group "No Mountain Too High" and help spreading the word!

Wim & Co

Coaching at TriFinance - getting ready for the next generation

A snapshot from the TriFinance testimonial:

" ... Within our teams we see more and more the type of professionals who want to be their own master but at the same time are looking for a certain level of safety and comfort by belonging to an organization. They want to self-start, self-steer and constantly evolve. They like to work with a different feeling, feeling good about their work and their work environment. They love and look for a work environment that is meaningful for them and that gives them recognition from colleagues. Monetary rewards remain important, but on top of that social recognition and intellectual fulfillment are important add-ons. Their drive and satisfaction comes from their own personal growth and fulfillment. They want to be treated as respected individuals, unique and independent persons pursuing opportunities that attract them the most, aware of the fact that they still have to learn while contributing. They are looking for a kind of self-service organization almost like the pick-and-pay. These professionals are often not attached to one specific environment, but make journeys and move from one experience to the next one when their personal objectives are achieved. Think of the video below 10 to 14 jobs by the age of 38 …..

Looking to the new generations we will have to understand them and be aware and adapt our organizations accordingly . Will this create new type of leaderships? New organizations…..? What’s the ideal culture? What is the role of the coach?..."

the fisherman and the industrialist

I received the chapter on professional coaching written by Catherine (*).

In one of the sections, Catherine is making the point that if you want to change something in your life - being it in your private life or at work - you first have to know exactly what you want. This seems basic but if you think it through it is not that basic at all.

Knowing exactly what you want or what you are aiming for is half of the job.

Catherine makes her case with a beautiful story of the fisherman and the industrialist that I already want to share with you as a teaser for the book.

Do you know the story of the fisherman and the industrialist?

A fisherman was fishing for relaxation at the water’s edge when a rich industrialist walked by and spoke to him. “You’ve caught a lot! You must be a good fisherman.”

“Yes,” replied the fisherman. “It’s going well today.”

“Do you know you could earn a lot of money doing that?” replied the industrialist. “If you buy a boat and some large nets, you can catch even more fish and sell them. Then you can be rich, like me.”

“And what do I do then?” asked the fisherman.

“You can enjoy life,” said the industrialist.

The fisherman replied: “What do you think I’m doing now?”

Enjoying life does not have to be difficult. The key is to find a balance in all that you do. If you want to change something in your life, you first have to know exactly what you want. This is why you need to set yourself some well defined goals.

It's not about being a fisherman or being an industrialist, it is about knowing what you really want to be: the fisherman or the industrialist or maybe both, industrialist during the day and fisherman in the evening ...

Lance, a man with a well defined goal even a mission ...

(*) Catherine Poissonnier has contributed a chapter of about 20 pages on executive/life coaching to the NMTH-book. I know Catherine for a while and I know how good she is in her field of coaching; when I read her chapter for the first time, I was really impressed by the content; knowing Catherine I would not have expected anything else. It’s a chapter with lots of examples written with the purpose to demystify coaching. You can find Catherine's coordinates on LinkedIn.

Shanghai

I'm just back from Shanghai and was wondering on the plane when we, Belgians/Europeans, lost that drive that you see over there and started taking our standard of living for granted?

Message from VANAKAM

Een goeie maand terug lanceerde VANAKAM hun nieuwste project:

het bouwsteenproject ten voordele van het tehuis voor de meisjes van Saint-Paul’s Home in Uthani.

Sam & Christophe zijn verheugd jullie te kunnen meedelen dat, dankzij jullie enthousiasme, VANAKAM reeds 40 standaardstenen en 17 hoekstenen aan de man hebben gebracht!

Uit naam van onze meisjes, Father Chinnappan en Sister Mary, dankt VANAKAM jullie voor deze enorme steun! Op dit moment hebben zij de werken reeds gestart, hoofdzakelijk het aankopen van materialen zoals staal en stenen en het bestellen van benodigdheden voor de schrijnwerkerij. Het is nog wachten tot de rivier helemaal droog staat zodat we zand kunnen laten aanrukken en dan kunnen we effectief beginnen bouwen!

Als we erin slagen de komende maanden om ook nog de resterende stenen te verkopen, dan maken we ons sterk dat tegen het begin van het nieuwe schooljaar in juni, de tweede verdieping een feit zal zijn! Dan kunnen onze meisjes, die bijna aan de grote vakantie toe zijn, een 30tal nieuwe vriendinnetjes verwelkomen…

Met vriendelijke groeten,

Christophe en Sam
Vanakam vzw

Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

Last week, I read some chapters in "outliers". A book written by Malcolm Gladwell. He also wrote the tipping point.


One of the key messages is that there are no free lunches even for the most talented people: difference is made through focus, hard work and perseverance. That's a relief ...


In reaction to this post I received a quote on talent:


"le talent ça n'existe pas. le talent, c'est d'avoir envie de faire quelque chose" (Jacques Brel)

Mont Ventoux

There is a tradition in our family to climb the Ventoux at least once a year. It started about 8 or 9 years ago when my father retired.

We usually leave for a long weekend in September and bike the Ventoux from the three sides. During those three days we talk Ventoux, eat Ventoux and drink Ventoux.

For people who have no clue what I'm talking about, the Mont Ventoux is a mountain in the Provence region of southern France, located some 20 km north-east of Carpentras, Vaucluse. It is the largest mountain in the region and has been nicknamed the "The Bald Mountain". It has gained notoriety through its use in the Tour de France cycling race. As the name might suggest, it can get windy at the summit, especially with the mistral; wind speeds as high as 320 km/h have been recorded. The wind blows at 90+ km/h 240 days a year. The road over the mountain is often closed due to high winds. Especially the "col de tempêtes" ("storm pass") just before the summit is known for its strong winds.

For road bicycle racing enthusiasts, the mountain can be climbed by three routes.

South from Bédoin: 1617 m over 21,8 km. This is the most famous and difficult ascent.

North-west from Malaucène: 1570 m over 21,5 km. About equal in difficulty as the Bédoin ascent, better sheltered against the wind.

East from Sault: 1210 m over 26 km. The easiest route. After Chalet Reynard (where the "lunar landscape" of the summit starts), the climb is the same as the Bédoin ascent. Average gradient of 4.4%. (*)

If you take the South or East side, the top of the mountain is a treeless lunar landscape that provides no relief from the weather. The last six kilometres to the top are brutal. In summer it can feel like you are pedalling in a solarium. But when the famous mistral gets going, it can blow a cyclist off his bike. The last kilometres to the top people often consider turning back: too cold (once we had snow), too hot, too windy, ... but then at about 1,3 km from the top you pass the memorial of Simpson where you read:

"there is NO MOUNTAIN TOO HIGH"

and one keeps on biking without thinking

with a (little) help from my friends

Someone asked me whether I’m really in a position to write a book on coaching, resilience and mindfulness. Of course, I’m not.


“Should this type of book not be written by a CEO or an executive ?”, she asked me, “or by a certified coach?”. Sure that would help and certainly add credibility.

“Aren't you an "unresilient" guy from time to time who tries to keep the pieces together on all different fronts?” she went on. Yes, definitely I am.

The questions made me doubt. Should I really continue with this book?

So I started making the list of the “pro’s” and the “cons” and quickly realized that I needed first start thanking a lot of friends, which I did.

But then again should I really doubt?

I don't think so because the content of the book is delivered by real experts in the respective fields:

Catherine has written a chapter of about 20 pages on executive/life coaching. I know Catherine for a while and I know how good she is in her field of coaching; when I read her chapter for the first time, I was really impressed by the content; knowing Catherine I would not have expected anything else. It’s a chapter with lots of examples written with the purpose to demystify coaching.

Jeroen has written a chapter of about 20 pages on performance coaching. Jeroen is a strategy “guru” who is a friend since a long time; we both studied at the Sorbonne in Paris . He just finished his book “Strategy Execution Heroes”, a book which reached after two weeks the bestseller list in several categories on amazon.com.

Björn sent me his chapter last week. Björn is a leading professional in the field of Mindfulness. His chapter is a master piece, here again it’s a chapter written to demystify mindfulness.

Christophe and Sam, our two VANAKAM friends will contribute a chapter on their Indian project. You should take a look at their website to see what they have realized over the last couple of years. Quite impressive! In the book they are telling a bit more about the Mensch Trust, the orphanage and the field hospital. They are currently looking for funds to build the second floor of the orphanage and for the solar panels for the field hospital.

I'm in the process of finishing my chapter which is basically nothing more than the key learnings in my career, no rocket science.

Katie has written an interesting testimonial on the training and development approach at E&Y, one of the big 4 consulting firms.

Maddy is finishing a chapter on the coaching philosophy at Trifinance.

Colleagues of Evelyne will help with the translation and with the editing.

Cathy from Magelaan volunteered to help with the lay out.

Jeroen will share his knowledge on all practicalities and logistics related to bringing a book on the market.

On LinkedIn, we reached the threshold of 100 connectors which are people who have already interest in the book and might help selling it when it’s finished. If the principle of the Tipping Point is right, one only needs 150 motivated connectors to start spreading the news over the entire globe. Out of those 100 connectors, we already have a couple of die hard fans: Alex, Christophe, Karla, René, Katti, Ann, Geert, Piet, Ward, Sven, Kristel, Luc, Kris and several others.

So am I really in a position to write a book on coaching, resilience and mindfulness?

Definitely not, but with a (little) help from my friends I am!

We are getting there!

Strategy Execution Heroes

"Strategy Execution Heroes" a book written by Jeroen De Flander reached the bestseller list on Amazon.com.

Jeroen is already a friend from the time we were both "studying" at the Sorbonne in Paris. He will be contributing a chapter on performance coaching to the NMTH book.

From the flap of his book:

Strategy Execution Heroes will help you get the execution job done. Don't expect complex theories or fancy words. This book gets right to the point and won't waste your time. It will: - Boost your learning with 250+ practical tips revealed by senior executives from BT, Coca-Cola, Lockheed Martin, eBay and many others. - Inspire your thinking with useful insights from top experts such as Sir John Whitmore, Dr Peter Scott-Morgan and Prof. Vincent Lion. - Put your action plan on the right track with 27 valuable downloads.

So whether you are a future manager preparing for the challenge or an experienced senior executive, get ready to boost your execution skills. Become a Strategy Execution hero and turn your great strategy into great performance.

GET IT ON AMAZON.COM!

Seth Godin's version of the tipping point

Viral growth trumps lots of faux followers
Many brands and idea promoters are in a hurry to rack up as many Facebook fans and Twitter followers as they possibly can. Hundreds of thousands if possible.
A lot of these fans and followers are faux. Sunny day friends. In one experiment I did, 200,000 followers led to 25 clickthroughs. Ouch.
Check out the graph on the left. The curves represent different ideas and different starting points. If you start with 10,000 fans and have an idea that on average nets .8 new people per generation, that means that 10,000 people will pass it on to 8000 people, and then 6400 people, etc. That's yellow on the graph. Pretty soon, it dies out.
On the other hand, if you start with 100 people (99% less!) and the idea is twice as good (1.5 net passalong) it doesn't take long before you overtake the other plan. (the green). That's not even including the compounding of new people getting you people.
But wait! If your idea is just a little more viral, a 1.7 passalong, wow, huge results. Infinity, here we come. That's the purple (of course.)
A slightly better idea defeats a much bigger but disconnected user base every time.
The lesson: spend your time coming up with better ideas, not with more (faux) followers.

With the entire NMTH-team we commit to deliver on the green-curve! Keep on spreading the word ...

KOOP EEN STEEN EN BOUW MEE AAN VERDIEPING TWEE VAN HET WEESHUIS !

Het weeshuis in Uthani is dringend aan een tweede verdieping toe. Dit was de gedachte die wij hadden toen we in Januari met onze meter Dominique Monami onze kinderen in Tamil Nadu bezochten.

Sinds de opening (mei 2005) van het tehuis is er heel wat veranderd. Het aantal kinderen nam aan het begin van ieder schooljaar stelselmatig toe. Eerst waren er een tiental meisjes, maar heel snel ging het crescendo. Tot we, begin 2009, het cijfer van 55 kinderen haalden en beseften dat dit, in de huidige omstandigheden, meteen ook het hoogst haalbare was. Enkel, heel sporadisch, maken wij hier een uitzondering op, wanneer ons een meisje wordt voorgedragen, wiens toekomst accuut in gevaar is.

Deze politiek kan echter niet blijvend verdedigd worden. Wij zijn er bij Vanakam vzw immers altijd prat op gegaan dat ons “tehuis” voor de kinderen een echte “thuis” kon zijn. Waar ze, in alle rust en omringd door familiale waarden, zorgeloos konden opgroeien. In een omgeving die hen ook de nodige vrijheid en privacy schonk.

Niet alleen is het zo dat het aantal kinderen is gestegen. Bovendien is het zo dat de kleine meisjes van toen ook jonge pubers zijn geworden, die dan ook meer plaats innemen. Niet dat wij blind waren voor de dit probleem van plaatsgebrek, maar in de euforie om eerst ons ziekenhuis af te werken, hebben wij de uitbreidingsplannen uitgesteld.

Nu kan dit dossier niet verder op de lange baan geschoven worden. Voor het begin van het volgend schooljaar, begin juni 2010, willen we dan ook het tweede verdiep af hebben. De uitbreiding zal ons dan meteen ook toelaten nog een aantal nieuwe meisjes bij ons te verwelkomen.

De budgettering van deze nieuwe bouwplannen bedraagt 60.000 euro. Vanakam vzw wil deze gelden verzamelen door de verkoop van echte bouwstenen. Zo zullen er 60 stenen verkocht worden aan de som van 500 euro per stuk en 30 stenen aan 1000 euro per stuk. Al deze stenen zullen genummerd worden en gesigneerd door onze meter Dominique Monami. Elke koper zal ook hierbij een certificaat ontvangen en zijn/haar naam zal ook in de muur van het weeshuis gegrift staan.

Een extra reden misschien om individueel of in groep een steen aan te kopen. Vanakam vzw dankt u voor het vertrouwen en hoopt op 3 juni 2010 al de stenen te mogen overhandigen tijdens een receptie waarop alle kopers uitgenodigd zijn.

Christophe & Sam

Diner in San Francisco

In the beginning of my career, I have been working for Levi's and had the privilege to be invited a couple of times a year to the Levi's headquarters. It was on one of my trips to San Francisco that I had diner with Vince, my boss. Vince migrated with his family from China to the Bay Area when he was a kid. He was an executive at Levi's with an impressive track record. He retired a couple of years ago.

Vince had a pretty interesting view on career development. While having diner with a view on the Golden Gate Bridge he told me:

the first 10 years of your career, you have to become an expert in your domain: work hard, study hard, look for opportunities, take opportunities, take some risk, don't worry about money but don't forget to live your life.

the next 15 years of your career, you should consolidate: apply what you learned the first ten years, give it your personal touch but also get a broader view on the world, on business, on art. Get to understand the big picture but again don't forget to live your life.

the last 15 years of your career, you have to start giving back to society: teach, write, mentor and live your life.

We had this conversation about 12 years ago but I still consider it as one of my key "milestone-mentoring-moments".

Willem Vermandere

Een zeer mooie quote van Willem Vermandere in De Morgen van dit weekend:

"ik besef dat er veel werelden zijn naast de mijne, dus ik weet zeer goed waar mijn beperkingen zijn. Maar binnen die beperkingen heb ik - in alle bescheidenheid - toch een soort meesterschap verworven".

Meesterschap kom je dagelijks tegen als je er op let.

Deze week kwam ik er zo een paar tegen o.a. een e-communicator, een advocaat, de bakker om de hoek, een consolidation manager, een voetbaltrainer, een vriend zelfstandige, ...

Apple, Apple, iPAD, Apple, Apple, iPAD Apple, Apple, iPAD, Apple, Apple, iPAD

Apple, Apple, iPAD, Apple, Apple, iPAD Apple, Apple, iPAD, Apple, Apple, iPAD

Did you read anything else on the web today?

Why is Apple so successful? Do you know?

I think Steve Jobs and his organinzation master the absolute art of focus: focus on innovation.

No comment

o'captain my captain

since this morning I'm really convinced this project will be a real success since a couple of captains are rolling up their sleeves

Room to Read

"Leaving Microsoft to change the world" by James Woods is one of the books that inspired me to start the NMTH-project.

In 1998, John Wood was a rising executive at Microsoft (VP business development Asia), when he took a vacation that changed his life. What started as a trekking holiday in Nepal became a mission of life: to change the world one book and one child at a time by setting up libraries in the developing world. He was soon driven to leave his career with only a loose vision of the change he wanted to bring to the world.

Over the next five years John Woods would make the unlikely marriage between Microsoft business practices and the world of non-profits to create Room to Read, an organization that has created a network of over 5,500 schools and libraries throughout rural and poor communities in Asia and Africa.

The organization is now one of the fastest growing, most effective, and award-winning non-profits of the last decade. John Woods has been recognized in the worldwide media as a "21st century Andrew Carnegie," building a public library infrastructure to help the developing world break the cycle of poverty through the lifelong gift of education.

Today I learned that Seth Goding wrote a book of which the entire profit goes to the Room to Read foundation (www.roomtoread.com).

The book is also for free available on his blog but he hopes that people will buy a hard copy as well. That's a business model that I will consider.

Attached is the book (consider buying it!).

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/files/what-matters-now-2.pdf

Don't worry I'm NOT leaving Bekaert to change the world, I will try to do it with Bekaert ...

Wensen van de bezielers van VANAKAM (Christophe & Sam)

Wim Helsen in de Tijd

Helsen: ‘Ik maak me geen illusies. De ziekte van de economie is dezelfde als de ziekte van de mens: hebzucht. Het is zeer moeilijk om dat uit te roeien. Meer, meer, meer. Dat is de motor van ons denken en handelen. Dat levert misstanden en foute structuren op.’

‘Ik wil niet gezegd hebben dat we niet meer vooruit moeten, dat we beter allemaal op onze stoel blijven zitten wachten tot een appel van de boom valt om die vervolgens op te eten. Er is een verschil tussen ‘de dingen willen verbeteren en veranderen’ en ‘nooit genoeg’. Wij maken dat onderscheid te weinig. Wie almaar meer wil, zal uiteindelijk teleurgesteld achterblijven. Want het stopt nooit. Het is een waanbeeld dat je gelukkig wordt als je gearriveerd bent, want er is geen punt van aankomst.’

Zijn er nog veel gaten in de markt?

Helsen: ‘Oneindig veel. Er staat geen limiet op wat mensen kunnen bedenken en uitvinden. Ik herinner me nog hoe iemand op de VRT me zei: ik heb een nieuwe zoekmachine ontdekt die je eens moet uittesten. G-O-O-G-L-E, spelde hij. Dat is nog maar tien jaar geleden. Vandaag kunnen we niet meer zonder.’

‘Alles wat economisch gezien opbrengt, begint met iemand die vol toewijding en plezier zijn aandacht geeft aan iets. Zoals ik die graag op een podium sta en graag plezier maak. Daaruit is een eenmanszaak geboren.’