Hi there! My name is Fleur. Welcome to my blog: From Penny to Many. I am a Dutch entrepreneur, investor and travel enthusiast who has created the flexibility to combine business, investing and travel. Through years of entrepreneurship and investing, I have built a lifestyle with greater freedom and choice. I blog about the adventure of financial freedom. I am happy to share a little bit more about myself on this page.
I was born in 1980 in the Netherlands. Growing up, I always knew I wanted to travel the world. When I was younger, I wanted to be a jet fighter pilot and one of my first school projects was about the explorer Marco Polo who traveled to Asia. I always liked adventure, change, and new experiences so it was obvious that I wouldn’t spend my whole life in one place. The world was out there and I wanted to discover it!
The world was out there, and I wanted to discover it!”
But first, there was school, then university, then my first job, a career move, and before I knew it, work was my main activity taking up the most amount of hours. In 2011, I started my own company (Ynnovate) when I discovered the need for more innovation in the public sector. At that same moment, I also started saving money, because as a starting entrepreneur, I wanted to have a financial buffer.
The dream of a travel junkie
My dream of exploring the world didn’t vanish, but it did get pushed to the background a little bit. Work was important to me and I was ambitious and loved growing my company. But, after a while, I began to dream more about the future. A lifestyle that consisted of travel, discovering the world, and getting as many experiences as possible. Being in my thirties, I felt like time was running out. That life was going so fast and there was still so much I wanted to do.
I felt like time was running out. Life was going so fast and there was still so much I wanted to do…”
With my travel junkie dream in mind, I set off on a journey to create a sustainable financial situation in the long term. I can still remember the holiday in Italy where I and my former boyfriend sketched the whole master plan on a little piece of paper while sitting at the beach.
The masterplan
The master plan was simple: create enough financial stability and flexibility to make travel a bigger part of our lives. We started saving consistently, investing for the long term and making deliberate choices about how we spent our money. It wasn’t always easy and it required plenty of sacrifices, but it allowed us to build a lifestyle that gave us more freedom over our time and location. Eventually, we bought a beautiful catamaran to be able to explore Europe by sailboat, combining travel with entrepreneurship, personal projects and new adventures.
Boat life slowed me down and allowed me to focus on simple things. People, nature, writing, and sharing experiences. Because of that, I learned to understand myself more and discover what is important to me in life. I grew more as a person and I am beyond grateful that I took the steps in life that allowed me to experience that.
Freedom travel lifestyle
Today, I have built a lifestyle that gives me greater freedom and flexibility in how I spend my time. It is a weird experience at my age, but it is also very rewarding to get to this point. I am not a millionaire. And believe me, to lead a freedom lifestyle, you don’t need to be. You dó need to learn how to manage your personal finances successfully. Setting a goal, cutting expenses, saving money, and most importantly: investing. In other words, all the hard work.
Building financial independence has given me more freedom to make choices based on what matters most to me, rather than purely financial considerations. With this blog, I want to enable as many people as possible to achieve that as well. It isn’t impossible, you just need to know how to do it. That’s why I created the Financial Freedom Toolkit to help you set the right steps towards financial freedom. Hopefully, it is a source of knowledge and inspiration.
I am not a millionaire. And believe me, to lead a freedom lifestyle, you don’t need to be.”
FINANCIAL FREEDOM COACHING PROGRAM
With the unique Financial Freedom Coaching Program I help people to build a lifestyle that fits their goals and values. Find out more here:
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The information on From Penny to Many is shared for educational and inspirational purposes only. While I share my knowledge and experiences about money and personal growth, I do not provide financial advice. Providing financial advice requires a license from the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM), which I do not hold. Please consult a licensed financial advisor before making any personal financial decisions.