Put your money to work: New Kid Madelon Vos

25-year-old Madelon Vos started freelancing in 2018 as a way to detach herself from a 9-to-5 job, this culminated in a successful media company. Like bitcoin's red numbers this week, Madelon's phone was red hot due to the price crash. Still, this New Kid found the time to talk to MASTERS about her successful venture.Text: Fleur de JongThemission of this young entrepreneur is to make the Netherlands financially smarter, stronger and independent, demonstrating the power of putting your money to work. To achieve this goal, she focuses on creating quality content in the form of videos, podcasts, columns and educational materials on investing, macroeconomics, bitcoin and trading. On the YouTube channel Madelon Vos, the young entrepreneur shares weekly current videos on the goings-on when it comes to the above topics, making her the largest in the Netherlands when it comes to educational financial content with nearly 60,000 subscribers. Madelon accomplishes this together with a team of 14 freelancers who work location independent. As we speak, Madelon herself is now working from Mexico.

What is your personal USP?

"In my view, we - my friend and I - as a team, possess the ideal combination. Where I can put out great content on the front end, going deep into macro-economic material and actually explaining it in a simple way, my friend handles the business operations on the back end. He manages the team, does the marketing and sales, and makes adjustments to our client's needs. This allows me to do what I'm good at: coming up with formats, creating content and tailoring it to the viewer." 

What can the older generation of entrepreneurs learn from you?

"We know exactly where to find our target audience and have put a lot of effort into building organic reach. In this day and age, being findable online is incredibly important, and by that I don't just mean having a website. My target audience is mostly on InstagramYouTube and Twitter. That's why we do everything we can to offer content there that is tailored to the users of that platform. This allows us to build a nice, organic base of followers who are more likely to get in touch with your brand and your services/products through funnels, mailings and updates. Using different social media platforms, strengthens your brand, your status as an authority, increases your value and therefore your sales."

Who is your teacher or inspiration in the entrepreneurial field?

"On the entrepreneurial front, I like to take a cue from Michael Pilarczyk and Cindy Koeman. They, like my friend and I, are an incredibly strong team business-wise. Michael builds the brand from the front, through his knowledge, helping people and sharing his passion, where Cindy is the business mind behind the company, who never sits still and sees opportunities everywhere. Within our company it is the same but the other way around. Apart from the business side, I also learn a lot from Michael. Staying close to yourself and following your heart is what he stands for and that is what we look at every day. Are we happy within our company, is it still in line with what we enjoy? With the focus on living your best life.

What is your motto or quote?

 "If you do what you love, the rest will come naturally. I'm a firm believer in that. When I started doing business I did everything without making money, from writing columns, making podcasts and explaining on the radio. This gave me the opportunity to learn a lot as well as create an outreach, without any immediate financial gain. Through this approach, I learned what I like, what I am good at and where my added value lies. This allows you to better appreciate yourself and you have already built up presence. I firmly believe that if you do what you like and you want to become the best at it, you have to give a lot first, so that it will eventually come back to you."

What is the biggest entrepreneurial risk you have taken so far?

"The biggest risk regarding our company is that it is linked to my face. I have explicitly chosen to set up a personal brand rather than a brand, which means that if I make a misstep privately, my business could suffer as well, with all the consequences. However, I do believe that if the brand was not linked to me, but to a general company, we would not have grown as much. Therefore, we did hedge against the aforementioned risk with 6 different revenue models."

Where will you be in 3 years?

"In the three years we have been creating content on YouTube, there has been a lot of demand internationally for the content we create in Dutch. This is why we have started rolling out formats internationally , focusing on making international viewers financially smarter, stronger and independent, so that they too can put their money to work."Do you know or are you a successful, young entrepreneur who also deserves a spot in the spotlight? Then email Fleur de Jong(fleur@mastershq.nl) for the possibilities.Click here for new kid Lyla Kok of the company Nanny Nina.