Everything is possible,

Listen to this story and you will understand how it is possible

I studied Graphic design and became a graphic designer. By the age of 21 I started my freelance business in graphic design without knowing what I was doing, besides the knowledge of design. For sure did I not know how to run a business. I also got hired at the company I started freelancing at. Fast forward to 4 years later,

Now I am living and travelling the world as a tattoo artist.

I hear you think: Wait, what happened in the mean time?

After 4 years of working in Graphic design I didn’t find joy in it anymore. I started slacking and it eventually leaded to me getting fired. I was a little lost and depressed, luckily for me I hated the company I worked for, so the only thing I lost was an income. 200+ CV’s were send in finding a new job as designer. No one gave a f*ck. shit. So I started to not give a f*ck back. I decided to travel with the savings I had. No point in waiting back home and getting rejection after rejection.

After 3 months of travelling through South America I got invited by my friends to come work as a tour guide in Greece. That sounded so cool, also because I had gone completely in debt and still had no future job to work at. And I was good at travelling so why not give it a go. After arriving to Kos, Greece I got the news ‘ ahh the tour guide positions have been taken, we do have a spot for kids entertainment left’.

For a minute I doubted, but I gave it a go, even though I had no freaking clue how to do that. I was nervous because I was the only one who was running the kids club, with no experience and now I needed to plan and organise. I didn’t know anything about kids.. or even liked them (sorry not sorry )

You know what happened? I actually loved it. I had taken a leap of faith and really just said YES to the current situation. I had so much fun hanging out 3 hours a day with kids from the age 4 to 12. I tried to teach them about self love while making them have fun.

Becoming teacher Sunny was one of the best things I have ever done.

I learned a lot too like: how to teach paddle boarding, how to calm crying kids, how to facepaint and how to make kids out of their comfort zone. Which mostly meant I needed to get out of my comfort zone by showing them how. Some kids wanted to karaoke, but were scared. So teacher Sunny would grab the mic, and showed them (fml)

Face painting became my favourite part, because all the kids (yes 4 to 14) wanted to have temporary tattoos, like teacher Sunny (sorry parents, for my influence). The parents would often joke and say “ ahh your next job should be a tattoo artist” I smiled and in the back of my head I thought that would be so awesome.

Unfortunately after 2 months the Greece adventure came to an end and I had to go home again, no job in the near future and also still no money.

So I did what every responsible person would do: I got a tattoo to remind me of this amazing adventure I had

One of my closest friends came to visit my last week in Greece and I designed her tattoo (Remember, I use to make designs for a living). She told the owner of the studio we were at about me designing her tattoo and he offered me a job as a tattoo designer.

It took me about 5 seconds to say yes. So after arriving home, 4 days later I got flown in to another Greek island: Zakynthos. Where I got to be part of opening a new studio and sit with the tattoo artists 12 hours a day (yes ceo was lacking). But I loved it. I was hanging around artists all day and started to learn what they do. After 25 days of doing this day in day out I had to end the adventure because of health reasons. But I was set in becoming a tattoo artist now, because it had started this fire inside of me.

I spend all the money I had left on the supplies I needed. And instead of paying my rent I bought a tattoo gun so I could start practising. After months of practising on fake skin, myself and friends for free, I started asking tiny bits of money for it. Growing my skills fast in the course of a few months. And now this is my new way of living.

After 6 months of practising I got a call from the Greece tattoo studio owner saying he wanted to open a tattoo studio in Rotterdam ( my home town) and he wanted me to run it, as he knew my skillset. So 8 months into my tattoo journey I ran a tattoo studio.

Now I am live in Bali, Ubud. and run a tattoo studio here.

Funny how life can change this fast when you just say YES to opportunities and trust on yourself.

You can do the same

The keywords you need to take from this story are:

• Not knowing my next step
• Not being ready
• Trying
• Practising
• Say YES to opportunities

I want to really address these words, because this was not luck. It was hard work and learning everyday. Start doing new things that have your interest. You know you have some spare time if you change your mindless scrolling time into putting this time into yourself.