Business Development Manager Mike on What Makes Entrepreneurs Successful
For our Headroom Heads series, we sat down with Mike Spruit, Business Development Manager and former EA.
We talked about his eclectic background, what makes entrepreneurs successful and where he sees Headroom going in the next ten years.
What’s your role at Headroom? What do you focus on?
I am the Business Development manager at Headroom and I am responsible for sales in the EU region and for worldwide customer satisfaction. This means I am regularly contacting our members to make sure they keep getting that “Wow” premium experience and we keep improving our service. So, next to the EA team, I should be a familiar face to every member.
When and how did you start at Headroom? And what attracted you to it?
I worked in the Hospitality industry as a manager for many years. At some point, I started to explore corporate possibilities and a career change, without putting too much pressure on it.
What I knew was that I really wanted to work for a true Amsterdam-ish start up or scale up that operates internationally. I find company culture super important and the new way of working was a core part in my decision making process. This included being able to work hybrid or remote for a company that also focuses on diversity and inclusion. And Headroom offered just that!
So, I started as an EA to fully understand our product and was promoted to my current role within a year. This shows there is plenty of room for personal growth and development within Headroom.
You’ve been working closely with different entrepreneurs and high-achieving individuals: for you, what makes an executive more successful?
To me life is all about balance and so is becoming successful. The entrepreneurs who have a clear division between work and private life seem more relaxed to me. Indeed, Headroom members often say that having routines in daily work life helps them a lot. Less stress, more focus and a calmer day is what they look for when they join Headroom.
For example, grouping all internal weekly’s in one day, creating time for tasks in your calendar, blocking some buffer time in between meetings might be small changes. In fact, these are all effective ways to organize your life better.
What’s your favorite thing about working at Headroom?
What I really enjoy is taking a look into so many different ‘kitchens’. By ‘kitchens’ I mean that all our members are very different from one another: from the values they prioritize, the industry they work in, their company culture, the size of the teams and so on. Same goes for our team: everybody comes from different walks of life and bring very interesting skill-sets and knowledge to the table.
A productivity tool or hack you can’t do without/everyone should use
Not your usual productivity tool, but Spotify will always remain the best productivity hack there is for me. I always listen to music, I have a genre for every mood and funnily enough it actually gives my days structure.
Where do you see Headroom in 10 years?
As the most exclusive remote Executive Assistance answer for a modern, trusting and progressive entrepreneur in Europe and the USA who values the balance between private and professional life.
Keep an eye on this space!
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