Early this summer, I moved to Haarlem Noord. I decided I wanted to work within cycling distance from home. I also wanted to continue my ‘KLAAR voor Talent’ company, which aims to connect people and their talents. Felix LePoutre of Amsterdam’s Meet Berlage told me about the remarkable vision behind Seats2Meet and convinced me to set up a Seats2Meet location in Haarlem.
On Facebook and LinkedIn, I gauged local interest in a flex work location in Haarlem. This proved to be substantial. With the support of my network, I approached more than ten Haarlem locations. One of these was the Badhuis (‘bath house’), a gorgeous monumental building, centrally situated and surrounded by greenery: a hidden treasure that is run by volunteers from the Leidsebuurt quarter itself. During my second tour around the locations that had shown an interest, the Badhuis also turned out to be on the lookout for a paid employee, a connector! I could start mid-August. I gleaned tips from other operators, learnt about the Peer Academy and worked at Meet Berlage for two days. During the Permanent Beta festival I practised my fifteen minutes of ‘Share Your Plenty’ in order to connect the flex workers at my new S2M location and to create a valuable Mesh.
We kicked off on Monday, August 28. We had 10 people the first day and very positive reactions! On the third day two flexworkers offered to host, so that we can open three days instead of two! On Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, ten spots are available to freelancers in the Badhuis. If you you wish to contribute to this Haarlem adventure, please register as host, barista or entrepreneur so that we’ll be able to play host on more days and at other locations in Haarlem! For more information, mail (klaartjevreeken@gmail.com) or call (0031-652451913) Klaartje Vreeken.
