Owning a business comes with trial and error. It takes a lot of creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. That the ladies of StudioFluo have proven that they are flexible and resilient is beyond doubt. In this article on day 11 of the Belgian Top 21 you can read their entrepreneurial stories.
Creativity is in Lies’s blood. A job without creativity doesn’t give her the energy she needs. Even when she worked as a flight attendant and was traveling around the world to combine two passions: travelling and photography (her other passion. But there was still an itch that needed to be scratched. An earlier attempt to make photography her fulltime profession was abruptly cut short during the banking crisis in 2008. There was no money by companies to invest in photography or events.
I didn’t know I had so much entrepreneurial drive.
While searching for the perfect ideal job, Lies found herself. She had never realised before that she had a strong entrepreneurial drive. That sense of entrepreneurship led her to invest in a building in Antwerp, where she established her new company, StudioFluo. With StudioFluo, she would welcome creatives or people who like to be creative and teach them the tricks of the trade through workshops and trainings. Then came covid, so there was a need for yet another plan.
Evi is co-operating with Lies on that new plan. They already knew each other through flying and only later they got in touch again after Evi came to participate in a workshop at StudioFluo. It is not Evi’s first entrepreneurial attempt, because just before the financial crisis she had her own events agency and a Bed & Breakfast in Leuven. Like many other entrepreneurs, she had to put those plans aside. After that “failure” she really didn’t feel ok. Just like this is the case with other entrepreneurs who have gone through bankruptcy, she felt like someone who had failed. And it felt like the people around her were constantly pointing fingers.
“Even emptying the mailbox, I no longer dared.
Out of fear that it would be bad news again.”
Being an enterpreneur was something Evi would never do again. Every time she would dare to come up with an idea, something would block. Until the moment when both women met again and Evi hears that Lies could use some help.
Failing and getting up
Today Evi carries her failure story with her like a badge. She is proud of her course and even more proud of the fact that with Lies she has now reclaimed her enterpreneurial spirit. Their new adventure together is only just beginning.
“There is a tremendous urge in people to create.
Everybody is creative we just forgot about it!”
With StudioFluo they want to let people be creative (again)! Evi & Lies believe that everybody needs a creative outlet . According to them people start learning skills just to do something, only later discovering they have an enormous passion for it. Then they want to be able to perfect it.
“Being creative is not tinkering. Or not just something for children or women only.
Creating is above all making something you are proud of afterwards.“
The current corona crisis has been putting them to the test right from the start, because they were unable to give any workshops. Brilliant and quick-thinking as both ladies are, they came up with the idea of offering creative DIY packages.
Even more novelties
Behind the scenes they continued to build on their business and a new idea started to take shape: the StudioFluo Academy. As far as they are concerned, this will be the digital platform where creators can find each other. The platform offers a chance to those who want to improve their creative skills to learn from others. And at the same time it offers professional creatives the opportunity to share their knowledge and earn money with it. A win-win!
We have really big plans for StudioFluo. It is not just a small project!
For their big plans with the StudioFluo Academy and the digital training platform, they have started a crowdfunding campaign through WinWinner. With one week left before the end of their campaign, they only need a small portion of their funding.
Being in business is done by falling down and getting up. It’s not the number of times you fall that counts, but the number of times you get back up and keep going. We wish the ladies of StudioFluo a successful launch with the StudioFluo Academy. Want to read more entrepreneurial stories? Then keep following the Belgian Top 21.
