1-Year Anniversary Digital Green

Today we celebrate our 1-year anniversary! We are beyond proud of what we’ve achieved so far and can’t wait for what’s to come. Below we share the 5 most important lessons we’ve learned this year.

24/7 business

Kereshma (founder of Digital Green) explains: “After 6 years of being a recruiter, I felt ready to start my own business. Although I stayed in the same industry, a lot changed. Suddenly I was my own boss. There is so much involved in having your own business. One of the biggest changes was that when you have your own business, work never really stops. Everywhere I go, I get inspired, which can be overwhelming at times.”

Janien, who has a legal background, had a different transition: “The legal and recruitment sectors are two different worlds, but there are actually quite a few similarities. Client contact, for example, is very important in both worlds. Another thing that overlaps is process management. Clear communication, confirmation of agreements and regular check-ins with candidates are essential to make processes run smoothly.”

Connections are everything?

After years of working in a big corporate environment, Janien says, you are suddenly on your own. You are the one responsible, so you have to make sure nothing gets overlooked. Fortunately, when we run into problems, I can always ask my network within the legal industry for advice. And as I realised, that is very valuable.?

Kereshma adds: “Thanks to my previous experience in recruitment, I already had an extensive network of candidates. This is a network of candidates who already knew me and were happy to work with me again. This is the result of years of investing in lasting relationships through open and honest communication and above all patience and dedication.?I am very happy with our long-term clientele.”?

Better together?

Kereshma says: “In August, Janien officially joined Digital Green as my partner. This was one of the best decisions we made the past year. At that moment in time, I was still working from home. All I had was a laptop with a few Excel sheets. The fact that Janien decided to quit her job and dive into the deep with me, gave me confidence and confirmation that we were going to be a great team. We share a similar background. We were taught to work hard from an early age and to think in solutions, not in difficulties. I really feel that there is no challenge that we are not up to.”?

Janien: “Besides our similarities, we are also very different. So far, this balance resulted in great cooperation. We know we can learn a lot from each other, we are able to talk about our differences and complement each other. Of course, it can be quite intense and is not always easy, but we can put things in perspective and move on. Everyone works differently and as long as you work together towards the same goal, everything will work out. Just keep your eyes on the bigger picture.”

An infinite learning circle

Janien: “When I joined Digital Green in August, we came up with a strategy and a number of goals for the next period. But soon we had to adjust our strategy, because those goals were reached much earlier than expected. Running your own business brings challenges that we never had to face before, but that’s what I enjoy about it too. I’m convinced that we will overcome everything with the right mindset.”?

Kereshma: “As an entrepreneur, you are never done learning. I put a lot of pressure on myself because I don’t want to disappoint anyone. I am committed to both my clients and candidates and want to help them in the best possible way. However, you have to be careful that you don’t lose yourself in the process. When I feel overwhelmed, I always remind myself of the reason why I started. And that is mainly to have a lot of fun! The numbers don't matter. What matters is the durable relationships we build with each other.”??

Stay true to your core business

From the start, we wanted to become a small agency where personal attention is key and every employee is involved. If we grow to have 20 employees in the future, we'll be doing great, but we have no ambition thus far to become much bigger than that. Most important is that we stay true to our core values and continue to build and maintain valuable relationships with candidates and clients.

A small company has the advantage of being very flexible. For now, we are not tied to different management layers or high monthly costs to keep the company running. We can still adjust and finetune everything ourselves. We spend a lot of time upholding our relationships and this is something we want to keep doing as we continue to grow. This may be less commercial, but it is something we stand for and are proud of at Digital "Green".?