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Behind The Story - Career Change, Life Change

by Jane Pollard

Behind The Story is a weekly podcast about transitions in life and taking ownership and action on your career. Jane Pollard talks to inspiring entrepreneurs and guests who have made radical choices to lead a more fulfilling career and path in life. Each guest has his or her own unique and inspiring stories to share. They all have in common their drive to find purpose and meaning. They decided on their own path and now help others to find theirs. Their journey wil help you (and Jane) learn and grow. Behind The Story wants to provide an additional layer in your life for encouragement and inspiration. To go out, explore and thrive!

Episodes

Briana Stuart - Manifesting Her Vision, Goals And Dreams Through Creative Living - 013

37m · Published 16 Jun 19:54

Here is what is shared and discussed in this episode:

Links and Resources:

  • Briana's company: STU Arts - https://www.stuartsdance.com/
    • Upcoming Workshops
    • Weekly "Everyone Can Dance" classes, every Wednesday and Friday in Brussels.
    • Stepping Academy
  • Her Blog
  • Her Facebook page
  • Briana's favorite books
    • The Big Magic by Elisabeth Gilbert. Creative Living as a concept and ways to make your life work and not be discouraged by fear
    • The Alchemist, by Paul Coelho. One of Briana's favorite books that she re-reads every year. A modern classic and international bestseller
    • The Idea in You: How to Find It, Build It, and Change Your Life, by Martin Amor and Alex Pellew. This book encourages you that if you have an idea, to take the steps and make things happen.
    • How to Make Friends Anywhere: A guide to attracting and influencing people in any situation by Anna Everitt

For more:

  • Right-click here and save as to download this episode to your computer
  • You can find the shownotes to this episode on: http://behindthestory.be/podcast/episode13
  • Subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts
  • Subscribe on Android
  •  Facebook

The interview:

Briana Stuart moved from the US to Brussels almost a year ago. She felt so much at home and connected when she visited the country while traveling across Europe and Asia months prior, she decided to move and live here. She established an arts consultancy organization called STU Arts, that provides broad high quality arts-related services and consultancy. STU Arts focuses on performance, teaching, choreography and arts administration for independent dance artists, dance companies, and cultural arts organizations.

She grew up in Detroit, Michigan and studied Dance and Sociology. After her studies, she didn't feel like moving to New York like many dancers do, but rather try out opportunities in Washington DC. She worked as a performer and teacher at a dance company for two years.

However, she felt a calling to travel the world. As she explains, something told her: "Briana go travel". She wanted to discover dance and arts in different places, discover God's art abroad. She decided to finish her season with the dance company in Washington DC, and sell all her belongings, that included a car and small apartment. Everything moved very quickly from there. She bought a plane ticket and was on a her way to Ireland only weeks after. She traveled to 12 countries and 14 cities in Europe and Asia over a span of 6 months. In that period, she discovered Belgium as well.

When she returned to the US, she initially continued doing independent dance work, choreography, teaching and performing, but she missed traveling the world! She asked herself, "where was the one place you felt the happiest, and where did you find yourself the most connected?" Crazy enough, that was Belgium!

Why Belgium, I asked. She tells me that she met so many amazing people during her world trip and when she visited Brussels, she loved the energy of the city. From the melting pot of cultures and languages, to the eclectic cuisine and amazing arts scene. The people were so welcoming, open and interested.

She applied for a work visa called Professional Card in Belgium. It was granted because of her professionalism and artistic value. She was allowed to establish herself as a self-employed dance artist. In a short period, she developed a network, which is growing and growing.

Briana enjoys learning how different cultures have so many different ways to do things. Brussels has a productivity vibe, but is still very laid back. In Brussels, on a beautiful day, everyone is outside and enjoying themselves.  She also feels that in the states, you have a more 'go go go' mentality.

When she came to Brussels, she noticed that dancing here is more performative. More focused on what you want your audience to feel. In Brussels you never know what to expect when you go to a dance show. And she likes that element of surprise. In the states, there is more focus on technique and how far you can stretch your body, and you more or less know what you can expect.

She was trained in Ballet and Contemporary, and she added on Jazz and hiphop to her repertoire. Stepping Arts is her specialty, an African-American form of body percussion. Stepping is more strict. Contemporary modern is freer. She loves teaching both of them.

She creates opportunities for herself and she sees that options are endless. There is space to join other companies and contribute to other people's work. And there is space to create her own. She participates in workshops, classes and festivals, across Europe, in various art forms.

One of her collaborations is with a children's art company where she sings, dances and acts in Ghent, Belgium. She enjoys the combination. Singing reminds her of the years she sang with her father while growing up. She also likes that in this show, she can sing and perform in Hawaiian. She plans to join a project based company to do more contemporary modern performances.

One of her initiatives at STU arts, was starting her own dance classes and workshops in Brussels called Everyone Can Dance. It's a combination of Stepping Workshops as well as general moving classes. She gives Social Dance Class on Wednesdays (people figuring out how to move their body at parties, specifically targeted at adult beginners) and on Fridays, she teaches a rotating themed class, such as 'Everyone can dance like Beyonce or Bruno Mars, 'It's the sixties! Let's dance', etc.

Her goal is to make movement digestible. Create moving classes, curricula or activities that take the fear out of moving your body. We loose that sense of moving when we get older. She has a strong interest in continuously connecting with organizations and people that she meets and trying to give them options in how they can engage in movement: from team building for small businesses, Everyone Can Dance classes to kids classes, and much more! She likes sharing her art form with others. Teaching is her passion.

I think Briana encourages all of us with her view on Creative Living. A concept she learned from a book "The Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert.

The book talks about ways to make your life work. It taught her to stay focused on her goals and not be discouraged by fear and dissapointments. Every decision that you make involves creativity. You force yourself to think about who you are as a person, and what you are willing to do and compromise in order to make things work for you. When Briana returned to the US after her 6-months travel, she was determined to go back to Europe.  She had to become creative to safe money. And by living creatively, she discovered new pieces of herself. It made her realize what was really important to her. She now nourishes the different parts of herself. She stays active, she reads a lot, and she is always connected to someone. She makes her life continuously flow, always trying to find new ways to make things happen.

And that means overcoming challenges. The first stepping classes she organized in Brussels didn't go so smoothly. Many people seemed interested. But on the evening of her first class nobody showed up. She could have easily thought 'what did I do wrong?'. But instead she said to herself: "Briana you just arrived, and you are introducing a new art form. You have to continue to get it out there, and eventually it will come." Timing was not right at that moment. And th

Marleen Maras - Why This Scientist Is Taking The Development Of Natural Cosmetic Products Into Her Own Hands And Why Entrepreneurship Is Not About Age! - 012

49m · Published 17 Mar 18:02

This podcast episode is part of a new series, "Talking To Jane", in partnership with Start it @KBC, (Facebook) a Startup Incubator with the largest Startup Community in Belgium.

In this series, Jane interviews entrepreneurs of Tech Startups, put forward by Start it@KBC. You will hear their inspiring journey's and the role of incubators to start and grow their business.

Here is what is shared and discussed in this episode:

Links and Resources:

  • Marleen's company and Social Media Links:
    • http://www.enfleur.be/en/home -  Her blog is on her website
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook (closed)-Enfleurtjes
    • Facebook (public)-Enfleur
  • Marleen can be contacted through:
  • VIB - VIB is a life sciences research institute, based in Flanders, Belgium. Marleen worked at VIB for 11 years doing Research
  • Marleen get's business coaching from Stefan Schippers at Startit @KBC
  • Marleen get's further business coaching from team at http://www.thinkwithpeople.be/
  • http://www.gova-benelux.be/ - Marleen got a lot of advice on ingredients from this company in Antwerp/Belgium, and she get's mentorship from the owner, who is a Formulator himself.
  • Organizations and dermatologist that provide detailed consumer information on ingredients in skin care products. Marleen uses these sites often for consultatation:
    • http://www.cosmeticanalysis.com/
    • https://www.ewg.org/
    • https://www.cir-safety.org/
    • Dermatologist Jetske Ultee - https://www.dr-jetskeultee.com/blog/
    • Dermatologist Perry Romanowski: http://chemistscorner.com

For more:

  • Right-click here and save as to download this episode to your computer
  • You can find the shownotes to this episode on: http://behindthestory.be/podcast/episode12
  • Subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts
  • Subscribe on Android
  • If you would like to be part of my storytelling community, please join my Facebook group here

The interview:

Marleen is owner of Enfleur Pure Natural. She started her company using her experience as a scientist, her passion for nature, and concerns about ingredients in cosmetics, to develop and produce her own brand of natural skin care products.

She has a Ph.D. in Biotechnology and she was (and still is) a scientist and an account manager in the Life Science field for years, before she ventured into entrepreneurship and started her own business.

As a child, Marleen was always interested in plants and animals. Around the age of twelve, she knew she wanted to be a biologist. After finishing her Bachelors in Biology, she did a Masters in Biotechnology and to obtain her Ph.D, she worked at the research institute, Vlaams Instituut door Biotechnologie (VIB), doing research projects in different domains. One of the projects she did was about ecotoxicology and she saw the impact some chemical components of consumer products had on our environment, causing pollution and affecting wildlife. These compounds can even end up in the fats of Polar Bears on the North pole. She believes with good efforts and good will we can help our environment and the generations to come.

Over the years, she got more and more inspired to develop her own skin care products. She experienced some skin problems from creams, other creams lost their effect, and she got concerned about the fact that we don't always get the correct information about all ingredients in commercial products. She then started developing creams with natural ingredients in her lab. Marleen would do research on the ingredients to determine which ones would work and be safe and which ones were toxic and even cancerous. Even though it was more a hobby doing it on a small scale, she decided to start the process of commercializing her products.

Education is key to Marleen, as cosmetic labels are not easy to understand and we are often not familiar with the ingredients. She consults specific databases on websites she trusts. But even information on good websites can be conflicting and contradictory. Also, a negative review or two is not enough to have assumptions about a product. She therefore always verifies specific information and doesn't rely on one source. She sees a role for herself to give her audience simple guidance and clear information.

One of her favourite sites is cosmeticanalysis.com, a quite reliable source. The site provides detailed information on ingredients, as well as scientific references of cosmetic products. To take advantage of some of their detailed information, you do need to become a member. Other cosmetic database websites to check out are EWG and CIR (links at the top). She also reads comments and blogs from e.g.  Jetske Ultee and Perry Romanovski. These dermatologist provide good information as well.

Marleen collects needed information from all different sources, before she draws conclusions. She also relies on her own tests and feedback from clients.

It took Marleen three years before she mastered making and testing her first cosmetic products. It took a while because she was new to the industry, and there were many challenges to overcome, like doing tests, providing safety reports and finding good providers. She also mostly invested her own money. It was a long and at times, dissapointing process, and she felt like giving up sometimes. But now, she can proudly say that after 3 years of development and getting through the paperwork, her creams are not only safe and well tested, she gets very positive feedback from clients on its use.

She offers about 15 skin care products, from day creams to night creams to body creams. As mentioned, many compounds end up in the environment and stay there permanently. Her products are 100% biodegradable, easily broken down in nature rather than adding to the number of used products polluting it more.

While ingredients for cosmetic products are easy the find, good providers are not. As time went on, she learned which ingredients were good, and which providers were reliable. Also she is thankful for expert formulators and scientists she met who helped her on this journey.

She applied to become part of the Start it @KBC startup community and get proper guidance on her business, so that she could grow with her products. She first heared about Start it@KBC during an interview on the radio with new business owners who had had good experience with them. Marleen was hesitant at first, not confident she had a good business idea. But she did apply at the last minute and to her surprise she got selected. She now works closely with Stefan Schippers, who is her mentor.

Marleen was also invited by THINK with People, and was offered mentoring and advice from them as well. She says that these start up incubators helped understanding the business side of things.

One of the first advices she got was to take a good look at her costs and revenue, know the exact numbers, make her calculations in much more details. Even th

Sarah Archer - The Art Of Public Speaking, Using Humour and Storytelling - 011

58m · Published 02 Mar 13:43

For more on the podcast:

  • Right-click here and save as to download this episode to your computer
  • You can find the shownotes to this episode on: http://behindthestory.be/podcast/episode011/
  • Subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts
  • Subscribe on Android
  • If you would like to be part of my storytelling community, please join my Facebook group here

Links and Resources:

  • Sarah's company and Social Media Links:
    • http://saraharcher.co.uk
    • http://www.lemon-squeeze.co.uk
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter Lemon Squeeze
    • Twitter Sarah Archer
  • Sarah can be contacted through:
  • Listen to her podcast around public speaking: The Speaking Club Podcast - a weekly speaking, humour, pitching and mindset podcast.
    • I especially would like to recommend podcast episode 019, Humour 101 for Public Speaking: on how to integrate humour in your speeches.
  • Dollar Shave Club. Dollar Shave Club was founded by Michael Dubin 5 years ago, in business in online razors. They got so succesful, because of the humor and storytelling in the video's used for their branding. The engaging and entertaining content over the next 4 years resulted in Unilever buying the company for 1 Billion dollars!
  • Squatty Potty used video with storytelling humor. Resulted in 400% in retail sales and 600% in online sales.
  • Russell Brunson's epiphany bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKML2GyjuRQ
  • Neuro Linguistic Programming
  • Sarah recommends these books to aspiring entrepreneurs that she currently reads:
    • Will it Fly by Pat Flynn. Sarah and I share the same podcast mentor: Pat Flynn. Sarah will launch an online course this year, and she wants to get it right! It should meet the needs of her clients! This Pat Flynn book is great for anyone who wants to make a business idea come to life!
    • The Amours of Lillie Langtry, play written by Joan Greening and produced by Lemon Squeeze Productions, this summer 2018 in Edinbrugh, The Fringe. Sarah plays Lillie Langtry, who she describes as the Victorian version of Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey and Madonna, all in one.
    • The Days I knew, by Lillie Langtry - Her memoirs
    • Never split the difference, by Chris Voss. Chris, a former FBI hostage negotiator, talks all about negotiations and influence.

The interview:

Sarah is the founder of Lemon Squeeze Productions, in the UK, and all-round in her speaking business: comedian, actress, play writer, copy writer, author, keynote speaker, speaking coach and employee engagement specialist. She helps leaders and professionals on their quest to becoming high impact communicators, especially during change and transformation, combining her business and coaching background with her comedy experience.

Sarah is a qualified Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioner, integrating a specific communication approach with personal development and psychotherapy.

She hosts the podcast: The Speaking Club Podcast, in which she brings hacks, tips and inspiring interviews and stories on public speaking. I recommend it as a great source, and it is very entertaining.

Sarah has been performing stand up comedy since 2003 all over the UK and in 2015 she took her first play 'Dearly Beloved' on tour. In 2016, her performance and business background led to writing her first book Cracking Speech Mate! - 'How to use humour to make you an amazing speaker'. Followed by her book Straight to the Top - 'How to create and deliver a killer elevator pitch'.

This year, 2018, she plans to come out with an online course.

She loves being in front of a large audience and being in control of their attention. She's actually more comfortable in front of a large crowd than doing networking. But whatever the audience size and difference in energy, she treats her speeches like a conversation.

She has always been interested in entertaining people, since a little child. There was a reward for her in making people smile. People give you their attention. Even in job interviews she tried to be cheeky. Not overstepping the line, knowing how far to go. Using humour, as well as self deprecation! Making fun of yourself. Nelson Mandela was a master at that, she says, and made people feel at ease.

She wanted to go to drama school, but didn’t get in at the time. She then took a job in the corporate world in IT, starting off in the UK and then Germany.

In Germany, she started to see the power of speaking, when she got elected at the age of 22 as a Works Council chair. Could she do the job at her age? She was asked to give a speech at the annual company event in front of the whole company. One of the things that worked was humour and stories. It was a powerful tool. Her speech removed any doubt whether she was fit for the job or not.
When she moved back to UK, she switched to HR and Consulting in the corporate

Tim Buckinx - On Absence Epilepsy: Inventing Technology That Turns On A Light, When The Brain Switches Off! - 010

54m · Published 11 Feb 23:42

Episode SHOWNOTES and interview summary on: http://behindthestory.be/podcast/episode10

This podcast episode is part of a new series, "Talking To Jane", in partnership with Start it @KBC, a Startup Incubator with the largest Startup Community in Belgium.

In this series, Jane interviews entrepreneurs of Tech Startups, put forward by Start it@KBC. You will hear their inspiring journey's and the role of incubators to start and grow their business.

Here is what is shared and discussed in this episode:

Links and Resources:

  • Tim’s company and Social Media Links:
    • https://www.epihunter.com/
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
  • Tim can be contacted through:
  • International Day of Epilepsy, 12 February 2018 – https://epilepsy.org/ This day Epihunter starts it’s crowdfunding campaign
  • About Absence seizure
  • About Convulsive seizure
  • Imec.istart – Business Accelerator Program set up to support tech start-ups with coaching, facilities and funding
  • International League Against Epilepsy

For more:

  • Right-click here and save as to download this episode to your computer
  • You can find the shownotes to this episode on: http://behindthestory.be/podcast/episode10
  • Subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts
  • Subscribe on Android
  • If you would like to be part of my storytelling community, please join my Facebook group here

The interview:

Tim Buckinx is Founder and CEO Epihunter.

He previously was Product Manager with Joyn and Digital Technology Marketing Manager with BOSE.

At 44 years old, he has just started his own company, Epihunter, to pursue his life’s goal: Developing technology that will improve the lives of patients with epilepsy. And he has a big vision.

He doesn’t come from an entrepreneurial family. His parents were in education. But during his career he was fortunate to do very interesting activities and he had some big opportunities. It all prepared him for his current big entrepreneurial journey.

Tim himself has a chronic blood disease, and needed to be very resourceful with his work schedule and job choices, often needing to find time for medical appointments. But he always had a mindset that everything is achievable, privately and professionally.

While every year, hundreds of students go into the job market in Belgium, he wanted to stand out in the crowd early on. So he was attentive and alert, always looking for opportunities, observing the needs of his environment. His goal has always been to make an impact.

Marketing is an enabler for impact, he believes, because you can see results from it immediately. And Tim is interested in bringing the message.

He started in B2B Marketing, selling cardboard boxes through catalog. He learned that things didn’t have to be beautiful to sell. Don’t look for perfection, look for what is needed.

Then the internet came, which really triggered him. He got to work for a clothing manufacturer. It was inspiring, because it was an old fashioned brand that used internet to bring clothes to all parts of the world. Then he moved on to other companies. Until he got a job at BOSE. He was the 4th member of BOSE at that time, and in no-time, he helped grow that team to 60 people.

Sales and Marketing, making the bridge between the technical side of things and the needs of the organization, became his specialty. With his team, he also noticed they needed to change the structure of the team, when more countries were added. So he started to adopt Agile working, before people even had heard of Agile. Because of their successful work, they were invited by corporate to roll-out the concept company-wide, for a new platform for BOSE globally. Tim was in his element. During the 3 years that followed, working with new cultures, his career sky-rocketed. He made it to management positions.

Then suddenly his life changed. His son got epilepsy at the age of six (his son today is 13). His wife immediately saw it was serious when their son started to tremble one morning at the kitchen table.

Various neurological tests were done. It was a roller-coaster period to find the right medication. Tim started to do all kinds of researches himself and looked for solutions with experts and specialists, because not all epilepsies are the same.

There are convulsive seizures (gros mals) and non-convulsive seizures (petit mals or absence seizures).

His son, Daan, started with convulsive seizures, but thanks to medication, they stopped. But his seizures themselves didn’t go away. Daan now suffers from absence seizures. It looks like he is absent. It’s silent.

An estimated 65 million people in the world are living with epilepsy today. 30% can’t even be helped through medication. And 15% suffer from absence seizures.

His son goes to a Special Needs school. And there isn’t a system or service to bring your kid to that school. He and his wife had to arrange all that themselves with supportive friends.

Therefore it is not easy having his own business, because you don’t have access to affordable health insurance, e.g. And getting paid while he is starting his company is not easy. Especially with a special needs child, this is a big worry. And there is his own disease. Tim has a Blood disease and needs to really work around hospital appointments and rest periods after some hours of work. Often he’s spending half a day  on his laptop working for his company, in the hospital’s waiting room.

It is difficult to find peers who have the same experiences. But there are Social Media groups that are very supportive, like some closed Facebook groups. Tim joins those groups.

It’s an added value, because you get supportive advice when you have a real question or situation. Secondly, you can openly talk about medication, and how parents support themselves. And thirdly, you share the same difficult situation and challenges. People in your environment often don’t believe you. Schools face many challenges, because of more and more neurological issues, like ADHD and autism.

The main issue with absence seizures is that it’s difficult to notice. Teachers have many children in the classroom with their own specific ‘issues’. But when his son, Daan, noticed that his teachers got irritated because they hadn’t noticed his seizures, and were tired of re-explaining things, he often felt misunderstood.

One evening his son asked him: “Daddy, you work in digital. Can’t you invent a light that turns on when my brain switches off?”

It was painful for Tim to his son struggle like that. A couple of weeks later, he saw a YouTube video on EEG headsets.

That was a turning point and moment of epiphany. He saw it could be possible to realize what his son had asked him!

Since then, Tim doesn’t believe in coinciden

Mark Flood - eSports Industry As A Game Changer And Assuming Extreme Accountability As Entrepreneur - 009

1h 10m · Published 01 Feb 23:27

Read the full shownotes for this episode on my website: http://behindthestory.be/podcast/episode9/

For more:

  • Right-click here and save as to download this episode to your computer
  • You can find the shownotes to this episode on: http://behindthestory.be/podcast/episode9
  • Subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts
  • Subscribe on Android
  • If you would like to be part of my storytelling community, please join my Facebook group here

 

  • Mark's companies and Social Media Links:
    • Origin.GG - Company website
    • Origin.GG YouTube Channel - You can follow his VLOG here and follow what he is doing
    • LinkedIn @Cashflo, which is his gaming handle
    • Twitter - @Thumbtalkin, this was also the twitter handle of one of his first mobile apps he developed a while ago
    • Instagram - @Cashflo, which is his gaming handle
  • Mark can be contacted through:
    • His Social Media accounts - Contact him any time. Mark is happy to answer any questions
    • Email: [email protected]
  • Electronics Arts owns FIFA and the Madden franchise
  • Activision Blizzard owns some of the massive games like Overwatch, HeartStone, Heroes of the Storm, Destiny.
  • Twitch.TV - a very popular live game streaming service
  • Gary Vaynerchuk

The interview:

Mark Flood is Founder and CTO of Origin.GG, a new eSports platform that takes the pain out of the hands of eSports organizations and -teams. Taking care of all technical and functional things building and running these businesses, so that they can focus on their core activities like practicing and competitions.

Origin.GG provides the platform as a SAAS model, offers Consulting, Software tools, and is a marketplace. Mark would like this to become the eSports version of Salesforce.

Before Origin.GG, Mark owned Gamerwall, a tournaments hosting platform, that he sold after two years. Mark is a Brand Strategist and Software Developer. He loves the early stages of product fit to market and working in an extreme agile mode to adapt his offer to client needs.

Jane met Mark on Twitter. Mark is an absolute fan of Twitter. He filters through the negativity, and he says that out of 1000 people he interacts with, he will meet one person he continues to have good (business) relations with. Twitter is also the medium that is used a lot in the gaming industry.

Mark has always been an entrepreneur. He always found something to do to earn money, like doing business as a child, watering his neighbours' plants or selling t-shirts in High School. He got his entrepreneurial spirit partly from his father, a real-estate agent. That in itself is entrepreneurial, because you do not have a set salary.

Mark moved towards extreme accountability early on, in whatever he does. He believes that “every human being needs to own its destiny!” “You cannot control your situation, but you can control how you handle it.”

He loves owning his own thing, working on his own dreams. A piece of his soul is taken away when working for somebody else, he feels.

He has been involved as an active business participant in the competitive gaming scene for about two years now, with his former company, Gamerwall, an event hosting platform. He was drawn to the eSports Industry. He loved gaming as a child. His brother used to beat him at gaming, but it has always been a fantastic creative outlet. He was also always interested in internet technology startup. Then he noticed how this could intersect and from his passion and hobby, he could make a business.

eSports is competitive gaming. It is not yet as big as traditional sports, but very fast growing and trending in the right direction. Mark thinks eSports itself is more indicative of things that are more than competitive gaming. Many games are involved in eSports, but only a few have large enough competitive scenes to justify large prize pools.

Team games like Dota 2, League of legends, Overwatch are some of the top tier games where the prize money is very high and where you find the elite players who can live from competitive gaming. Behind these, you have 10-15 competitive games with much lower prize pools. However, eSports is all about professionalism and prize pools.

The current growth of eSports is due to the fact that more people start watching the games as audience and become fans of teams. That’s why the industry is becoming so massive. Mark explains, a huge audience means lots of sponsors and media rights, just like traditional sports. 10-15 years ago, the only revenue source came from people buying and playing the game.

eSports demographics are young people between 18-24 yrs, and relatively high income earners. It’s a fantastic demographic. Whether you are in eSports or not, anyone would like to target this demographic, and hence the enormous business around it. And for that reason, Marks loves this space especially, because he sees a lot of value in this demographic.

In 2017, the total audience audience for eSports reached 194 million people and this is expected to reach 303 million people by 2020.

When it comes to revenue, in 2017, $696 million was earned, including media rights, advertising, game publisher fees, tickets, and merchandising. This was already up 41% compared to 2016. It is expected that the revenue for eSports will reach around $1.5 billion by 2020. Extremely fast growing industry!

eSports audiences are currently mostly in Asia Pacific-51%, then Europe-18%, followed by North America- 13%, and the rest spread over the rest of the world. Mark’s sees opportunities for Origin.GG in South America, because of the fact that eSports has not yet come off the ground in that region. He is currently building his foundation and proving value, but he believes Origin.GG is ready to start scaling up in the next 6 weeks to 2 months. So by spring time he might be trying to focus on markets like South America, as well.

Big gaming companies to consider are Electronics Arts that owns FIFA and the Madden franchise, and a company that is more involved in the eSports field specifically, Activision Blizzard that owns some o

Cheryl D. Miller (Part2) - #I Bootstrap! One Simple Action To Lift Each Other Up - 007 (Part 2)

1h 3m · Published 25 Jan 20:36

This interview is published in two parts. This is part 2.

For more:
  • Right-click here and save as to download this episode to your computer
  • SHOWNOTES: http://behindthestory.be/podcast/episode7-2/
  • Subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts
  • Subscribe on Android
  • If you would like to be part of my storytelling community, please join my Facebook group here

If you like my podcast and our stories, please subscribe on iTunes or Android. That would help get more people find the podcast and benefit from the stories. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

  • Cheryl’s company link:
    • Digital Leadership Institute International (DLI)
  • DLI Initiatives:
    • AdaAwards.com – Global awards recognising outstanding girls and women in digital studies and careers and the people and organisations supporting them, with the Ada Award Ceremony annual flagship event held in a different country every year.
    • inQube – Global network promoting women-led startups in digitally-driven and digitally-enabled enterprises with flagship “Move It Forward” female digital starter weekends carried out in different cities around the world on topics disproportionately impacting girls and women.
    • DigitalMuse.org – Global network promoting ESTEAM skills to girls through creative endeavor, in order to increase the quantity and quality of stories by, for and about girls and women in digital media, with flagship initiative “Girl Tech Fest.”
    • CYPRO – Cyber professional training and career placement program for women with work experience, focused on increasing participation of women in strategic IT professional careers such as cyber-security, data sciences, artificial intelligence, etc.
  • Watch Cheryl’s Tedx Speech: Girls Are Going To Save The World
  • Digital Belgium Skills Fund (DBSF): In collaboration with the King Boudewijn Foundation and through support of the European Commission, DBSF aims to increase social inclusion through digital skills, especially for young people.  Launched in 2016 by Mr. Alexander De Croo, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and Minister for the Digital Agenda, investing in initiatives that teach key digital skills, including basic coding and cyber security.
  • Cheryl can be contacted through:
 

 

Cheryl D. Miller - Paving The Way For Girls and Women to Become LEADERS in This Digital Age! - 007 (Part 1)

59m · Published 22 Jan 00:08

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If you like my podcast and our stories, please subscribe on iTunes or Android. That would help get more people find the podcast and benefit from the stories. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Cheryl D. Miller is Founder and Executive Director of Digital Leadership Institute, located in Brussels, Belgium.

DLI has the unique mission to promote inclusive digital transformation by increasing participation of girls and women in ESTEAM studies, careers and leadership around the world. ESTEAM stands for Entrepreneurship, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.

DLI is a dynamic and growing organization. They reach girls in elementary schools, students, and women in the workforce, from all ranges. Truly inclusive. Their work is recognized by the United Nations, European Parliament and private organizations.

A few of the activities are: recognizing outstanding girls and women in digital studies and careers, promoting women-led digitally-driven startups, organizing learning events for school girls, and providing training and career placement for women with work experience.

It is a fact that there is a severe underrepresentation of girls and women in STEM area's!

If she would not be out there doing this, there would be so much lack of awareness and unconscious bias. It's part of her job to be out there beating the drum, to hopefully, eventually, impact people, make them aware, get them advocating, changing behavior, and bring about a social change.

ENJOY THE INTERVIEW!

Gama Putra - Inspiring Locals To LOVE Their City! - 006

1h 1m · Published 12 Jan 15:45

Can one man with a smile and a passion bring together nations? Gama Putra is a gem! Arrived in Belgium 8 years ago, he combined his LOVE for people with his skills to set our cities on fire with his I LOVE Network 'By Locals For Locals'. A great Business Model too! True inspiration!

For more:

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IF YOU LIKE MY PODCAST AND OUR STORIES, PLEASE SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES OR ANDROID. THAT WOULD HELP GET MORE PEOPLE FIND THIS PODCAST. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Ief Winckelmans - Unbreakable Mindset to Thrive and Live Your Dreams - 005

1h 2m · Published 22 Dec 11:11

Ief Winckelmans is Founder and President of Ocean Impact Alliance, since November 2014, an alliance of experts, entrepreneurs and investors that actively contribute to ocean-friendly entrepreneurship and sustainable investing. This month, December 2017, he launched a new initiative, 3Q Impact, to help more people with sustainable ideas.

He has a big admiration of China and its culture. His story with China started more or less when he got an opportunity at Huawei (big global Telecoms company) and was invited to set up their European Sales Organization in 2004. A very interesting period learning how Chinese do business, and it allowed him to build a strong network in China. In 2008, he went on to found his own company in China.

He has been extremely successful. But he also lost it all. We get a glimpse into his unbreakable mindset and how what he learned from doing business in China and spending time with the most successful people in the world, made him see his failures as a lesson, to become better and thrive. Now focusing on his passion for eco-friendly entrepreneurship, helping to make a transition from the parasitic species that humanity is today to a more symbiotic species, where we live in harmony with the eco-system around us and keep it sustainable. A big and purposeful goal!

Ief Winckelmans takes us on his exceptional business journey!

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Ingrid Nouwens - Connecting People Through Powerful Illustrations - 004

1h 0m · Published 14 Dec 04:02

Ingrid Nouwens is a Creative Connector. She was a very successful Manager in HR within a big multinational, doing what she liked for years. But she could not be her true self, which led her to search for her own path and direction. She found her direction combining her passions, talent and skills at a perfect intersection! And taking the opportunities presented to her. You don't wanna miss this episode. Inspiring journey!

  • Right-click here and save as to download this episode to your computer.
  • You can find the shownotes to this episode on: http://www.behindthestory.be/podcast/episode4
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Behind The Story - Career Change, Life Change has 13 episodes in total of non- explicit content. Total playtime is 11:53:11. The language of the podcast is English. This podcast has been added on August 20th 2022. It might contain more episodes than the ones shown here. It was last updated on March 27th, 2024 10:11.

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