Ideas into Motion - 2023
- Robin Ritsema
- Feb 1, 2024
- 5 min read
Matching the theme of a busy 2023, here I am in February just now writing my year-in-review blog. Since I’m a Swiftie, I’ll just write about my last 13 months (iykyk).
2023 was the year of putting ideas and plans into motion. I remember the end of 2022, after (only) three months of full-time working. I was so stressed that if I didn’t take action, this would be my life forever. Okay, maybe not forever, but that idea drained me. The thought of giving all my hours to help another business, putting money in someone else’s pocket, spending my life doing random tasks and watching the years fly by without my input… let’s just say that’s not for me. Growing up with entrepreneurial parents in the capitalistic USA may play a role in wanting to create something for myself. Of course, growing up this way also taught me that it doesn’t just happen.
In January 2023, Don and I went live with our first business: Sint Maarten Stays. Devoting every evening after a full workday to this project: learning how to make a website, writing as many articles as possible to be more easily found on Google, spamming every vacation/Caribbean/Sint Maarten Facebook page with our links, creating a Sint Maarten Stays Instagram account, keeping up with inquiries, answering customer’s questions, etc. has filled up so much of the little spare time we have. Yet, this has given us so much energy and exhilaration. We’ve enjoyed continuously building and moving forward. Check out our little pride and joy: www.sintmaartenstays.com.
An even bigger step was diving into the real estate world. We started an LLC in Alabama and bought our first single family home. It’s a charming, 3-bedroom fixer-upper in Huntsville. The last day of 2023 was spent driving 14 hours to Huntsville. Cleaning, patching, and painting took over our first 3 days of 2024. With the help of my handy and hardworking mother, we did as much as possible ourselves to make this home rental ready. Due to the distance, we enlisted a property management company to finish the flip and put it on the rental market for us. We expanded our portfolio by purchasing a second home in Huntsville a few weeks ago. These will both be rented out within the next couple of months. Taking this leap and risk and making this substantial investment has been thrilling. We look forward to how it progresses and grows in the upcoming years.
Besides starting a couple businesses, Don and I also looked at how we see our future - and more importantly, where. Long story short, he had the opportunity to take a position as manager of the team of Dutch military police in Sint Maarten and we decided, why not? Therefore, starting in July, we will head back to the island that started it all. Don will be able to further his career and I will have the freedom to focus on our ongoing businesses as well as start some new projects. The upcoming months will be packed with preparing for the move, wrapping up work, and bidding farewell to lots of family and friends here in the Netherlands.
For the rest, the past 13 months were business as usual. As a financial consultant, I have been ‘bought in’ by a software company in Nijmegen where I have now been working for almost a year. The colleagues I work with are so much fun, there’s a company gym and trainer that I make use of every time I’m at the office, and a vrijdagmiddagborrel (Friday afterwork drink, it is a fantastic part of the Dutch working culture) at their own bar every week which always end my week wonderfully. Oh yeah, and the work I do is fine too. 😉
Vacation days in the Netherlands is one of the biggest perks of working here (besides the free beer and wine every Friday). I get 30 days a year, which is equivalent to six weeks, of paid time off. You can bet I used every single one of those. In January we went skiing in Austria with Don’s family, in March I went skiing again in Austria with my company, in April Don and I went to Belgium, in May I went to Munich to meet up with PAC friends (from my master’s program), in June we went to a Dutch island for a family reunion, in July we met up with my family again in Sint Maarten, in September/October we went to the US for three weeks, and in December we went to Vienna to visit friends and Christmas markets as well as flying back to the US to hop on a cruise with my family. Five thousand miles in between my parents, sister, brother and I, yet we got to see each other five times in one year. That’s a huge win in my book (I hope they agree?). Plus, traveling to eight countries in one year isn’t too bad.
Reflecting on the past year as well as constantly writing in the “we” form makes it prevalent how much growth my relationship has gone through. We’ve built so much this past year and have such exciting plans for the upcoming years. Having a partner in my personal life that doubles as my business partner is something I admired about my parents and was hoping to find myself. Keeping up with me and my ambitious goals and extreme wanderlust takes an open mind and an adventurous soul, which I am grateful Don possesses. I’m a lucky gal.
The past 13 months have been full of blessings and prayers thanking God for the opportunities I have and this life I get to live. With so much chaos in this world – multiple wars tearing countries apart and killing families, sicknesses that can be so cruel and unfair, climate change and natural disasters destroying homes and leaving us questioning the future for our children and grandchildren; nothing can be taken for granted. I sometimes feel that I am too fortunate. My grandma survived cancer this year, any of the multiple countries I can live in are free and beautiful, I have a family that has only shown me love and support, Don – who is driven and caring, my fantastic friends who feel so close even with multiple countries in between, etc. I hope to continue putting my ideas into motion, taking risks, working hard towards my goals, and putting energy and time into the people and relationships that make me better and happier. I’m thankful I was given this life and I pray I stay in the moment and appreciate all the little things.
Cheers to the remainder of 2024, and may we all live our best lives. Take those risks, go on that adventure and count your blessings.
Much love,
Robin
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