The Chocolate Angel wouldn’t exist without my years in the corporate world. My personal transformation wouldn’t have happened without my time outside of the corporate world. And now I’m in a position where I can say, corporate world and Chocolate Angel is the best combination for me, both sides of me found each other and merged, just at the right time, in the right place.
I wrote already a lot about the beginnings of the Chocolate Angel, today it is time to open up about the last three years, how they shaped me and how I ended up in the corporate world again. “Spoiler: The Chocolate Angel is still flying”! It started with what I call now an act of providence, over 3 years ago, I was already interviewed for the second time for a job when the corporation put the job opening on hold. Reading the email was the trigger, I decided to open Chocolate Angel as a business. The decision might sound from the outside like a spur of the moment, ‘stupid’ decision, but the months prior I saw first hand how my positive vibes had a huge impact on a rather negative work environment. So I came with a lot of experience and insights to that moment in time when I jumped off the corporate ‘island’.
It was a very different jump compared to the moment when I jumped out of a plane in 4.000 meter height, adrenaline was rushing through my body, couple of years prior. This time I didn’t had an experienced skydiver at my side, I just looked at my finances, took a rough estimate how long I could be the Chocolate Angel without a paying customer and off I went.
On one side I knew exactly what I did, people had seen my habit of offering chocolate already for many years, one contact even said, “I saw the beta version of the service, now it must be incredible.” And with a background in (IT) Service Management I even knew from the ‘GetGo’ the details about my service offering. At the same time, being at home, trying to establish a company with everything needed on my own, as an immigrant, trying to find my way of doing things turned my life upside down. There were days when I barely made it out of bed, I just lacked the energy. Luckily for the Chocolate Angel in a long run, during my darkest days I suddenly had to deal almost 24*7 with a Facebook group I founded years ago, you can read more about it in TechCrunch: ‘Beyond Nokia – a love story’ It happened just at the right time, preventing me from pondering about my life choices.
Many people from the past and who met me first time in those early days got so excited about my work, they wanted to help me in any possible way. Based on the reactions I know I might have offended some of you along the way, rest assured, I never intended any bad feelings whatsoever, but it slowly grew on me that what I did was not just another business, this was something deeply personal, I wasn’t willing to listen to anyone, or let’s say I heard every word spoken to me, but I had to find “my” way. This for once was my time, no manager, no other people trying to interfere.
I’m sure during the last years my naivete led me astray couple of time, I believed people (I still do). But promising me an interview – followed by 2 years silent treatment; handshake deals to book my services – followed by “uups, no thank you” ; discussing several events per year bookings – followed by sudden and total silence; agreement to meet for a coffee chat in a few months to discuss booking for a weekend event – followed by, “no thanks you aren’t even worth 10 minutes of my valuable time”. Let me stop here, I think you get the picture. I didn’t gave up, I never will give up as I have proven to myself every single day that I can change the world, with smiles and chocolate, one person at a time.
Couple of weeks ago, when I was close to the financial ‘STOP’ sign, the same corporation which triggered my ‘jump’ offered me a job which is the perfect match for all skills gained in my lifetime. This time round I came with not just my work experience, but a truly changed person. I still love to work, with a passion. But this time I fully understand and embrace me being different, being positive and with a contagious laughter.
Not to forget my box full of ‘sweet micro-moments of love’ 🙂 For people who are wondering, obviously the Chocolate Angel is alive and well, you can still book her services, just last week the AfroLynk conference in Berlin was a great example how the ‘most valued export commodity’ from Finland is sending smiles, positive energy & memories into every corner of the world.
The Chocolate Angel era found the right balance to stay on for decades to come! ???
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