Veronica Guguian
For many of us, as we grow one business, we realize the need for a second one. Am I right? This was the case for Veronica Guguian, the founder of SPIN Ideas and co-founder of BASE Conference.
Read on to learn more about both of Veronica’s businesses, top tips for aspiring entrepreneurs, and her thoughts on work-life balance as an entrepreneur.
Hustle Amsterdam (HA): Where are you from? And what brings you to Amsterdam?
Veronica Guguian (VG): Originally I am from Brasov, Romania. I moved to Amsterdam 10 years ago, because of my boyfriend's job. We fell in love with the city and now it’s our home.
HA: Tell me about your business? What is your mission?
VG: I have two businesses: SPIN Ideas, a marketing strategy agency and BASE Conference, a hub for scale-ups.
My mission is to help entrepreneurs connect the dots. By that, I mean connecting people, ideas, projects, or different pieces from a project to make it whole.
HA: How are you handling our new “normal” due to the coronavirus outbreak? What impact has it had on your business? How has the transition to working remotely been for you? Are you being strict with a routine or taking it day-by-day?
VG: Regarding working from home, I can’t say the situation impacted my business. I am used to working from home or remotely with clients that are based outside the Netherlands. However, the first month became busier because I had to work with all my clients and move their businesses online. That involved longer hours than usual and being creative in terms of solutions.
My schedule always tends to be full, so a routine is necessary to be productive and not to forget anything. However, my work experience taught me that even with the best laid out plans, something unexpected will happen, so I am trying to be flexible and leave some wiggling time in my diary.
The biggest struggle I’ve faced since the “new normal” and working only from home was to make a differentiation between work time and my time.
The commute time or going to the gym or traveling to see a client was helping me make this separation. Now it’s harder, but I am trying to be more strict with myself and stop working to have family time.
BASE was impacted harder by the situation. We had to move the conference online and rethink the program. However, this also opens the doors to new ideas. Even before the COVID-19 situation, we decided on the theme of this year: Humanizing Business Beyond Profit. Now we feel it fits even better.
HA: Why SPIN and BASE? What brought you to marketing and conference production?
VG: Why SPIN Ideas? I love marketing and I have been working in this field for a long time. I decided to focus on strategy because after working with more than 200 clients that ranged in size, location, industry, and budget, I noticed one thing: the majority of them did not have a marketing strategy.
They were wasting money, energy, and resources without a goal or a plan in place. I realized that if I want to make a difference, this is where I can make it. I help them connect the dots of different aspects of their marketing activities and business and place them into a comprehensive plan with direction.
Why BASE? Well, it has a selfish reason behind it. I am scaling my business, and I was looking for help and inspiration. So I decided to create my tribe of scale-ups and learn from each other, do business together, and grow together. I was lucky to find my business partner Lana Jelenjev, and we hosted the first edition of the BASE Conference last year in May. We are now working on the second edition and a series of free online events. Our mission is to bring together entrepreneurs, managers, and experts who want to build relationships, grow smartly and learn so you can Build, Advance, Sustain, and Elevate your businesses together. We believe in creating relationships and growing together.
HA: What is the current state of SPIN Ideas? Do you have six and 12-month goals for your business?
VG: Yes, I do. We are now working on new services and a new website. We also launched a monthly online networking event.
Also, last month we launched Meet the Spinners. The purpose of this project is to help entrepreneurs from my network during these hard times and make sure people have solid recommendations. All the entrepreneurs listed are people I’ve worked with or currently work with and I can confidently recommend their services.
HA: What kind of obstacles do you face in your company? How do you handle them?
VG: I do miss face to face meetings. You can be so productive in just one-hour working together in the same place with your clients. However, I am a person that focuses on solutions and not on the problem. So I ordered a whiteboard and flip charts for brainstorming and gathering data sessions, and I’m using a few document sharing tools like Google Drive and Airtable.
HA: What has been your most successful moment so far? And how do you celebrate your wins?
VG: The BASE Conference. I took a day to the spa. :D
HA: How have you accomplished what you have? Did you go to business school? Did you wing it? Fake it till you make it? Get really lucky?
VG: I think the secret is to not give up. Keep on trying, analyze, correct your mistakes, learn from them, and move forward. Also, I believe it’s essential to follow your instinct and to surround yourself with people smarter than you.
HA: How big is your team? And where are your team members located?
VG: If I combine the two companies, we are around 10, not including different partners I am working with regularly.
HA: Do you have a favorite motivational quote?
VG: “Creativity is just connecting things.” - Steve Jobs
HA: What 3 tips would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs? What do you wish you had known before you started?
VG:
Get a mentor. It will help you save time.
Learn to say no early in your journey. It will help you focus on what is important for your business.
Trust your gut. You are the one that started the business, so you will know best what is the direction you want to take.
And as a bonus: don't wait to have the perfect plan, solution or service. It will never happen. Just start and everything will come.
HA: How would you describe your working style?
VG: Flexible.
HA: When you’re not working on SPIN Ideas or BASE — where can we find you?
VG: It depends on my energy level. I can be either traveling, meeting with friends, or reading.
HA: How do you find work-life balance while being an entrepreneur?
VG: I don't think the proper work-life balance exists. Or at least I haven’t been able to find it. For me, there are periods when dominates my life, especially before a BASE Conference, followed by downtime. When you’re an entrepreneur, it’s impossible to have a clear separation between the two or a 9 to 5 schedule. In my opinion, this is the beauty of it as well. I think entrepreneurship is a way of living.
HA: What is your passion?
VG: Reading, walking in nature, and knitting. This is my meditation. :D
HA: What inspires you most about Amsterdam? Do you have any favorite spots to work or hangout?
VG: People inspire me the most. And the cultural diversity. I work from a co-working office, but I do like combining it with meetings in cafes or working from home to change the work environment. I find that this helps me be creative.
HA: Anything else you’d like to add?
VG: We’ve partnered with Hustle Amsterdam to offer the community discounted tickets for the BASE Conference. The code is HustleAmsterdam and offers a 10% discount. Learn more and get tickets here.
Our next SPIN Ideas online networking event is happening in September. Sign up here.
Keep in touch with SPIN on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter and connect with Veronica on LinkedIn.
