The first small step is the biggest leap - part 1

I have had the opportunity to do many nice and exciting things in my professional life. But when I look back I realise... it has been itching for so long. As an architect, I was trapped in a gruelling building process, as a head of education at a college, I navigated in an unwieldy and layered system. I was looking for something that I could take hold of from start to finish. A positive pick-the-day project.

Did I know right away: 'I am going to be a granola baker'?  No, it took years. I did know that I wanted 'something' different. Preferably with my hands. My head was already full enough.  For years, the most diverse scenarios went through my head, from furniture maker to opening a bookstore with a breakfast bar. And all the time I was baking granola, brooding.

I did not choose a career because of the paralysing stress of making a choice and the thought that I would just give up years of study and experience. Just to say: even the most fearful person succeeds in taking steps.

There are three important moments that have given me a push in the back:

• I accepted that I can and may fall flat on my face. Which is an incredible liberating thought.

• I have made my perspective and my steps as small as possible (I will come back to that later).

• My two daughters are my mirror: 'You always say, if you have a dream, you have to dare to try. It can go two ways: succeed or fail. And if it doesn't work out, you have learned a lot. I am very much of the principle that you show who you are in your actions and not in your words. So yes, if I wanted to be credible to my daughters, I had to try.