From employment to starting your own business
Since 2019, I have been fully engaged in and dedicated to Xandra’s Keto Kitchen, which is a wonderful job! But, of course, I had other jobs before that time. Today, I’ll tell you more about my favorite previous job, where I worked until I decided not to work for an employer anymore and fully focus on my own business.
My fantastic job was as a civilian at the police department. I started there as a employee at the Reporting Center 144, which is a hotline for reporting animal cruelty. You could turn to it for anything related to animal welfare. As a call handler, I assessed what actions could potentially be taken regarding situations involving animal welfare. This included:
– Creating reports for the inspectors from the animal police, NVWA (Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority), and the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals.
– Connecting callers to the animal ambulance.
– Connecting callers to the emergency services of the police or the fire department.
– Connecting callers to the regional police.
– Providing advice to concerned bystanders or pet owners who were unsure how to handle certain situations.
It was a job that gave me a lot of satisfaction, and I had a genuine passion for it. I’ve been an animal lover since I was a child. It was also very diverse, requiring a good understanding of animal welfare laws and regulations, basic knowledge of the most common animal species, the ability to assess situations accurately, gauge their severity, and effectively communicate with callers and emergency services.
For the first three years, I worked exclusively at Reporting Center 144. After that, I also became a call handler at the 112 emergency center (within the same department) and later served as a confidential counselor for colleagues across the police force. Those three roles together provided me with incredible experiences and responsibilities!
I had already started my own business on the side, but initially, it was more of a hobby. However, when I unfortunately developed a herniated neck disc, things changed. I spent about a year on sick leave, part of which was on a reintegration basis. But because my work required me to use a minimum of 3 monitors, 2 keyboards, and 2 mice and sit at a desk for 8 hours a day, my body couldn’t handle it anymore. Instead of the neck pain improving, it got worse. It was time to face reality. The job I was so passionate about was no longer an option for me. I reached a turning point. I could try a different job within the police force with less physically demanding tasks, or I could choose a completely different path.
Thanks to a conversation with my brother Louis, I decided to say goodbye to my job and take the plunge into entrepreneurship. I decided to fully focus on Xandra’s Keto Kitchen. It was incredibly nerve-wracking because my business wasn’t well-known or established at that point. However, I had enough savings to support myself for a year. So, I decided to give it a year to see what I could make of the business. Working with ketogenic food was a true passion of mine, and I wanted to devote more time to it to help other people experience the wonders of this lifestyle. If I hadn’t succeeded in growing the business during that year, I could always look for another job in the future.
As the year was coming to an end, the business had already shown significant growth. However, it was still far from generating a full-time income. So, I started looking for another job in employment while trying to continue my work for Xandra’s Keto Kitchen because I loved it so much and didn’t want to give it up. That’s when my brother Louis came up with a proposal that I’m still incredibly grateful for, and it still moves me emotionally to this day. He had experienced the benefits of ketogenic eating himself, so he believed that I shouldn’t scale back my work on it. He suggested taking on additional projects within his job so that he could financially support me, and I wouldn’t have to go back to employment. WOW!
Now, three years later (at the time of writing), it’s truly amazing to see how the business has grown and what we’ve built. I’ve received tremendous help from the fantastic individuals in the Xandra’s Keto Kitchen team because without them, the business wouldn’t be what it is today!
With all the expenses that come with running your own business, I’m still not financially independent (just think about the high costs of printing cookbooks), but I’m confident that we’ll get there in the future. And I’m incredibly grateful to Louis, the best big brother anyone could wish for and my closest companion, for making all of this possible! ❤️
I’m also incredibly grateful to everyone in my life who supported me from the beginning and to the loyal fans who motivate me to give my all to the business and share their enthusiasm with others. Without them (and, thus, you), my life would be so different. Thank you so much!