Before I got laid off in 2014 I already made my decision to look for something else; although I got fired before I could find another job. I never could have imagined being unemployed for over 2 and a half years, with 25 years experience as baggage…
At the same time Danielle got suckered into a contract renewal that she didn’t want to serve out, but with a mortgage, family of 4 with 2 teenagers, me being without a job and all, she stuck with it… For a couple of months.
Then her manager threatened to kick her out, if she didn’t accept another new contract for a 40 hrs. this time.
That, my unemployment and a seriously ill family member was enough to tip our scale: we were stressed out, sleeping bad and a load of other stuff going on.
Our friend Corrine wanted to help us and told Danielle to get the Premium Starter Kit from Young Living, an essential oils company to help with life’s issues.
Danielle ordered the kit, without telling me, because she already knew I would be OK with it: we had been choosing healthy alternatives for several things in and around our home & life and this was another step in that direction! We got rid off the chemical options like Aspirin and so on. We instead are using Stress Away oil to let go of stuff, Peppermint to mellow our stomach, Joy to lift our mood, Lavender to ease into a good night’s rest.
Danielle has always shared her favorite products and shops with the rest of the world and so did she with Young Living oils. She shared so much that she would eventually get paid* for referring people to buy Young Living products. With the referring also came the education of people on alternatives for issues in their lives. And with those two came the decision to go “all the way”: she quited her full-time job, even though I was still unemployed, to network market the products of Young Living as independent distributors; we became our own little company called Oiled by Nature. The day she was saying goodbye to her job, was the same day I found my new full-time corporate job.
Danielle worked her butt off to earn a decent income*, and I helped her out from the sideline. I made a website, did loads of marketing materials in Photoshop, took care off the kids, went along to workshops, meetings and conventions, told anyone that wanted to hear about our alternative for big pharma’s solutions, but also did a big part of the choirs about the house.
Last year we came to a crossroad in our lives: we made enough income* to support our family, too much work to be done in the time we had and me being in a job that didn’t give me the satisfaction it was supposed to. Sometimes you need to follow through on your plans. Plans I made years ago.
In February 2017 I decided it was time to make a change. A change in my professional life. I informed my manager that I wanted to take a sabbatical for entire 2018, a year off to dedicate supporting Danielle in pursuing our independence from corporate life! That year was not allowed, so i handed in my notice…
December 15th., 2017 I took my leap of faith and started to work alongside Danielle, 24/7 from home, on making our venture a major success. It’s been a challenge: opinions clash, but always hearing each other, and even financially. All of a sudden we had to live of what we were making with Young Living, but guess what? We manage*! And that was what it was all about: FREEDOM. Freedom from corporate life, freedom from schedules, financial freedom*, freedom to travel the world to see things we could never imaging.
*As I am talking about income and finance, I must show you the income disclosure of Young Living™.
What started out with just an oil to reduce the pressure we felt in our lives (I was unemployed, Daniëlle was pressured by an d**k of a boss because I was at home unemployed and she really could not say no to more work , a house that without the financial help of family never could be saved and a relative who was seriously ill), has now become a network marketing business where we help almost 2000 people in their personal growth and support them with 100% natural products.
What started for me as “just the man of”, I have since been able to quit my job to do the Young Living business FULLTIME; last March during the Global Leadership Convention in Croatia it got me on stage in front of about 1,000 people telling them my vision on working together as a couple. I spent a big part of my time trying to involve more men in this business. Because to be honest, Young Living is still a business in which more than 85% women and only 15% men work. And then we are not even talking about Europe, where the percentage of men is even lower!
I occasionally buy a cap that has that “something completely different” feeling to it, something I have a great feeling about. Like this one!
Melissa is a mother of 8, wife to Nick, and still finds the time to volunteer to fly (at her own costs) to Uganda and help the locals with hanging hundreds of mosquito nets so the people of Uganda can sleep safe without getting infected with Malaria. Or help the locals with building shelter or housing, so they have a roof over their heads to get through the nights. What about buying large amounts of chickens to support the locals not only with food, but also an income from either selling eggs, chicken or chicken-meat. But what I admire about her most of all: she helps the people of Uganda with dealing with 
The cap I want to tell you about is the 
We were going to spent a long summer vacation in Florida in 2011, traveling the state, see all the Disney & Universal parks & of course a couple of baseball games; so I also scheduled a stop in Fort Meyers to go see Swen in his hometown… But Swen was doing so good, he was promoted to the next level: Short Season A. He was to pack his bags and move to Lowell, home of the Spinners, just a short hour from 
We run in to each other every now and then, we live in the same town, we both coach Little League (Swen coaches the Littles, I coach the Seniors, both for the same team – Kennemerland), he organizes the BAC, I was one of the coaches of the BAC-team. I have a soft spot for this tall guy with his big heart, I still wear my Lowell Spinners cap often… WITH GREAT PRIDE!
I have been planning to visit a secondhand record store for a long time, but other commitments always got in the way… I visited them today! 
A BIG shout-out to the umpires: Edwin Louisa (Left) & Michael Toet (Right) for umping. We all had a change to interact with these umpires on a different level, as nice guys, almost human… hahaha! Thanks guys for being with us and for making this a success!!!
As you might know, I am a bit of a baseball nut… And I am a sucker for charity. So when you have a charity AND Baseball, COUNT ME IN! Not just donating, but also attending as 1 of the coaches of the hosting team.