If you're a profession issue, it's very difficult for you to
let go. And then you would immediately
say, OK, perhaps that is less quality, but it could also be
that you're because of your perfection is you don't see that
it's being delivered in a different way.
And you say, and then if we just now segue this into how people
look at diversity, this is also a way how people need to look at
that. There are different talents and
different approaches to things, but it doesn't mean that it's
not perfect, because it's not your level of perfection.
Welcome to women disrupting tech my name is dear Keanukas, and on
this podcast I give the women who work in tech the platform
they need to inspire and empower each other Join me on your
journey into the world of entrepreneurship, funding biases
and role models to discover the. Strategies for success in the
tech industry, in other words. How Women can disrupt tech.
Are you ready to listen? Hey, welcome back to Women
Disrupting Tech and thank you for tuning into episode 115.
Would you start a business in the middle of a crisis?
That's exactly what Marlene Somohartchow did during the
financial crash of 2008. While many companies were
scaling back, laying off people, she stepped forward.
And by doing so, she discovered that resilience is not something
you switch on when times get tough.
It's daily discipline. Today, Marlene is the founder of
M2 Advisory. She helped companies prepare for
uncertainty and build stable foundations for growth.
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, Marlene
explains why profit without purpose is fragile, how
financial preparedness creates freedom, and why you should
design a business that lets you enjoy life now, not just when
you retire. In the end, this episode is not
just about numbers. It's about strategy, about risk
management, and about personal choices that shape lasting
success. So when you're ready to listen
and learn how to build a resilient and purpose driven
business, please welcome. To Women Disrupting Tech Marlene
Somohacho Marlene Somohacho welcome to women Disrupting
tech. Good to have you.
A question I always ask at the start is how you got into your
current job at M2 Advisory. Oh, thank you, dear Keon.
Thank you for having me. Well, yeah, I started my career
at KPMG when I graduated from the adult university in
Rotterdam as a business economic and I started my career as a
business advisor. But I always had my idea that I
wanted to start my own business, my own management consultancy.
However, it was a very good idea to start within a big corporate
delivering big programs and just also working in in a certain
framework. That was very attractive to me
and it really honed in into my skills, management consultancy
skills, working for big companies and just say this is a
very good starting point within my career.
But then at some point I just wanted to start it and do it by
myself. So I left KPMG in 2008 during
the financial crisis within the financial sector, but started my
first assignment in that during that period.
So I embarked that entrepreneurial journey.
Just see how much it was. It was like a extension of my
personality, see how resilient I could be, how I could build my
and launch my own company in this.
But we were with a very clear focus in the sense that I wanted
to deliver a more end to end value proposition and that I
missed a little bit working during working at KPG.
It was a perfect environment. We just had the structures and
the frameworks and also the type of advising was very exciting,
was amazing to be part of it. However, I missed the element
that was just very much focused because it was very isolated
within an environment and not taking the entire business
dynamics into consideration. And that was something that I
really wanted to bring to the table to my clients.
So that is the reason why I just totally focused on saying, OK, I
want to build this for myself. So I started that and after that
I started on to advise you because until advisory is it's
more focused on delivering the same mission that I have.
But then from a different perspective, it's more that now
it's a movement to bring people and helping them in financial
stability with frameworks that we can help them hampering
clarity and much more clarity in a complex, complex environment.
So it's not more that the very consultancy one-on-one, but it's
more in a broader few or helping people to train their people or
and bring them them to a next level.
Not being dependent on like a hiring external resources, but
just being able to totally focus on their own capabilities and
working with a framework that helps them bring them to a next
level and sustain in financial stability.
So this is what that is my current role within the
advisory. Cool.
And how was it to start? Because she started M2 or you
started working for yourself as a solar consultant in the
financial crisis. How was that?
Because there was a lot of. Yeah, it was a pretty turbulent
time, let's say. And that was exactly the point.
I was just like, and the macroeconomics were definitely
not favorable, but then the chaos or, or just saying it
wasn't even chaos. It was, it was more like what is
the preparedness or the, the readiness to deal with such big
events? That was definitely something
that was very apparent in within the within the settings that I
was working. So what happened?
And that was also the reason that I was felt comfort,
comfortable and confident to start my business because I was
working for a big insurance insurance company and they
wanted to have their central unit taken to a more decentral
program management office. And from that perspective, they
requested me to do this for them.
It was a very strategical move saying have taking everything
more from a central to a more decentral perspective.
And that for me gave me the opportunity to build on my
health, starting building on my network and continue working on
working on delivering and launching my own business.
So it was, it was like simultaneously it happened.
But yeah, the macroeconomic defense, as I mentioned in the
beginning was really impacting in that in every level just
cascaded it in, in businesses, but also in personal lives.
So it felt a bit comfortable in the sense that you were seeing
that people were being laid off. And on the other hand, I was
being hired to had to help bringing the business back to a
level that it was for them, for them having the feeling to be in
control and, and, and just maintaining whatever they were
doing in the within their, their sector and helping people
working alongside. But there was also a downside
and that was the people who are just getting fired or or being
put in position that they needed to pay for their lives.
How was that for you to to make that pivot?
What impact did it have, positive or negative?
Every element has this negative side, but for me personally,
like I said, it just was my post.
I have my opportunity to show my personality in a different way
and helping really helping a company bringing their, their,
their very essential question, how can we reduce costs and how
can we bring a more efficient way of working within our
business unit? So that was a very good side,
but just has been talking to people that you will have been
seen or even on the program that were taken off the program
because of there was no they need to be replaced or there was
this from a cost containment perspective.
There were not available or needed were not needed anymore.
That was hard to see that was does that's definitely not
something that is nice or hey, it impacts you especially when
you're impact. I just really feel, and I want
to see everyone thrive in a certain way.
But yeah, it was also part of their journey.
So yeah, that was not, that was not a very nice way.
But yeah, at the end of the day, we just focused on delivering
and we focused on creating something that was manageable
and working for everyone. So that was that was that was
the better side. Did you feel that company that
you work for was prepared for what they were doing or that
they were just taking measures because they felt like, OK, we
now have to act because we need to cut cost?
That's a very good question. At high sight, I think they were
not very much prepared. So, and this is what you
unfortunately see with, with every big business is that they
are just had, they, they have the volume, they they're in the
life in the business life cycle that they just, they're not very
much affected by macroeconomic defense.
But there was just such a big skill and especially to the
extent in the financial sector that they also needed to be more
compliant in a in a different way.
And also having their reserves and their financial stability
being challenged, that put them in a position to say, but then
this is what you see. But then it puts people in a
position that they think, OK, we need to reduce costs and we need
to have different cost structures.
Well, I'm now preaching and saying, OK, if you already have
seen this before have like a very clear strategy and
financial and very clear financial objective.
You would have already been prepared to an extent that if
the and if the markets change that you're prepared to to
respond to that in a more adequately or a more appropriate
manner than just like only working with headcounts or head
taking out core essentials out of our core competence out of
your business. Because that is also what you
see is that people are just like in stress taking out core
elements that they could easily have redesigned to a better
level. But now they totally took to
have taken it out of the business.
And then they need to redesign or reinvent it like in a new
manner that just gives them an up ahead that just that that it
just creates more distance to the market.
Yeah, how how can companies prepare for that?
Is is that because shell for instance, is is known that they
do a lot of strategy and or sorry scenario testing?
Is is that part of of being prepared?
It's, it's definitely a good way of testing and being prepared.
It also has to do with how do you do you want to position
yourself with, within the market.
So, yeah, if you see, you know, financial institution work with
stress testing, they work with, with opportunities or but
there's always a. Level the stress testing only
came up as especially in on the insurance side because I've been
in the implementation of solvency to in the aftermath of
of the financial crisis, the stress testing only started.
After. After the financial crisis,
because regulators have said, well, maybe we need to do some
stress testing on the insurance side too, because banks were
sort of subjected to it, not really, but to the level that
they should have, but at least they, we are subjected to it.
But the insurance for the insurance companies, it was
totally new. So it had just being part of
also I've also been part of solvency programs.
Yeah, it was, it was like a requirement having all your
pillars in place. And if you would compare that
for example, how you mention saying forks a shell, shell is
much more prepared in the sense that they have risk management
or working from an operational risk managed point of view more
embedded within their businesses.
So why you've seen that financial institution have risk
management working and using it more to be more profitable
within other sectors. Risk management is more from an
operational point of view, but giving them the opportunity to
understand their business much better and be prepared and
mitigate risk in a much better way or a much effective way then
you would see if it would. Yeah, if it.
Yeah. Is that also the key to the
shift that especially financial institutions need to make, like
shifting from looking at it from a profit and loss perspective to
really embedding it in the operation?
I think that will be a much better way to understand that
they're, they're not becoming obsolete because, hey, if you
look at it from a life cycle business perspective, there is
no urgency being the biggest, having already your market
position. But now coming to in a situation
that and the market is requesting other elements and
the, and the events are much broader.
And let's say the geopolitical issues, for example, or the
trade war that we have right now is just those are elements or it
started, for example, with corona, just COVID, of course,
we had mortality risk indicators, but did we have
pandemics? Not to that extent.
So have we're, we're learning, we're evolving, but it also
means that we need to change our way of thinking and our way of
doing and approaching markets not from the from the
perspective of that, however, we're the biggest and we're the
best. But just now being more
integrated within the community or within the, within the market
and seeing that it helps that you're having much more
effective strategy and a much more market fit.
When you're take into consideration that you need to
prepare for certain elements and you need to build your, your
core competence around that and not being like a secondary
opportunity or secretary competence.
And that facilitates, but it needs to be built and be like
your core competence. And from there on it should be
the most, hey, you bring the most value and and the most
efficient and effective process from your perspective, but also
from the client perspective. I was wondering, you have this
M2 framework at M2 Advisory. Can you describe the core
components of it and how it helps company be more prepared
and financially resilient? The framework has a mythology
and the mythology is around assessing and improving and
measuring. So those are the reports that it
will bring you. But if you just look at the
core, competence is built on certain pillars.
So to my end, and it works on the intersection of finance,
leadership and technology. So when you look at your core
competence and you have to framework in have such a way
that it just measures you to what extent are your your
maturity level. And then it helps you provide a
certain insight in how you need to create or project your
financial goals, how you need to improve or or at least be more
responsive, intake responsive leadership.
And also how is your technology facilitating in this aspect?
And technology in a sense from being very innovative, but it
could also be like technology how it facilitates your business
to a better level or even going back to the financial
institutions having their legacies and working in, in that
way in a much more flexible and agile way.
So it just, it gives opportunity, it gives business
the opportunity to understand from their own perspective.
So I find that that is the key. It should be from their own
perspective and not just like, of course, the framework gives
you a challenge and a push, but it needs to be embedded within
the business. Understanding that there's a
very clear correlation between what you have as your final
strategy. What then your leadership
approaches toward that and how it's impacted within your
technology saying how your total environment from your processes
to operations, for example? OK.
So these are the core competence.
OK. So there's leadership, there's
technology and their strategy, finance, finance strategy.
OK. So maybe also good to to go a
bit more deep into the finance strategy part, because you
talked a bit about the technology side of it and that
it's not, let's say, being the newest and the most innovative
of everyone, but to to make sure that you manage your tech stack
in a way that it's actually enables you to execute.
So maybe also good to then shift a bit to the financial part of
it. How, how does your framework
help companies? Yeah, be financially resilient.
That's a good question. So like I said in the beginning,
it's my mission that business understand that in a certain way
your finance strategy helps you to create an infrastructure that
builds on financial structures, that builds on stability and
builds on a certain financial wealth of freedom.
And that gives you when you understand that your financial
objectives are much, very much related to what you want to
bring into the into the world and into the market.
So I call it, how do you convert your assets?
For example, if you're building podcasts, for example, what is
your assets and how do you convert that in into something
that is financial viable? Yeah, it starts with you
defining saying, OK, these are my objectives for a longer
period over time. And then I break it down and
just bring it to a strategy that helps me deliver these elements
or have been presented. So for me it is all about having
your metrics that you can measure whether you're on track
or whether your your financial strategy is effective or not,
but not from a backward looking. So people would say for example,
OK, but you have your year end result, how about that?
Yeah, that's true. You need to be compliant, you
need to have your reporting. But what happens within with
hand during that period that is always backward looking
environment. What you want to have is that
you want to have a strategy that's very much focused on what
you want to bring to the market and very much connected with
everything that is financially entangled within your business.
So that you have the right data to have make make the right
decisions. And being very confident in the
decisions that you make from having the from the opportunity
being financial stable. Because obviously you can take
risk, but the core competence needs to be that your balance
sheet is very stable. And from there on you can build
on your, whatever your strategy is, either a growth strategy or
an innovative strategy or, or just maintaining the business.
Finance is your, yeah, it's your basic, your fundamentals to
start with. And what you quite often see is
that people are very passionate about what they want to do in
their business. And then we just, and then we
just talk about the entrepreneurials, not the
financial institutions so far such.
But when we look at entrepreneurs, they are very
passionate about what they're doing, but they just have no
clue how they can use and work with finance.
To help them take their business to the next level.
Yeah. And I think that's also where
the that's hated this podcast and sort of meets them too, in
the sense that it's actually also enabling entrepreneurs to,
to be their best selves and to utilize also the financial part.
Because to your point, I do recognize a bit that I am very
passionate about the podcast as a product.
The financial side is still underdeveloped.
Yes, there is of course, the your basic reporting on metrics
with regards to your products, IE the podcast.
But on the the financial level, there's nothing really big there
yet. Sorry to interrupt.
I think it's very important for you to understand that your
passion needs to be monetized in such a way that you understand
what is the value of bringing to the market.
And from there on you start building on your financial.
So your financial strategy would obviously be not as extended as
it would be for a financial institution.
But the main focus here should be I'm delivering something and
how can I make this more sustainable and what is the
business model behind this that caters to my personal need but
also bring value to the customers in this?
So it starts with that just really understanding that
there's a level of and from down the opportunities rises in the
sense of, for example, would you want to work with investors or
do you want to have build partnerships or do you want to
just gives you the opportunities to work with, I call them
financial instruments to build on the solid balance sheet.
OK. We talked a bit about where we
talked quite lengthy already about why it's necessary to be
prepared, why it's also good to be financially prepared, to have
good sound business model and also to keep track of how
technology is playing into that for you personally.
So are there any systems and habits and preparations that you
use personally as an entrepreneur to be prepared for
your own company? Yeah.
So when you're growing your business or when you're working
in within your business, it's just there's this, like I said,
you're just you're drive by your passion, but it just also means
that you need to develop yourself in certain and
different areas. So it's for me very important
that I use automated systems for my marketing and sales because
it's something that is just being the CEO, being the CFO,
being the CMO, what being the CEO, whatever it just, it just
it helps, it just it facilitates, it's doing a much
better job than I am doing. So I really almost rely on from
that point of view from automated system and there were
very good even free programs that you can enroll and they
just just facilitate and helps you be more effective or work
more efficient is. That also is that also a matter
of of knowing your own strengths and weaknesses.
That's a very good question. Yeah.
As exactly what I think what we want to go through is that I
understand that not everything is my strength and I can just at
certain point I just want to know and understand why things
are happening. But it's also about about
letting go and understanding that other people can do a much
better job in, in every area than I can do, for example, and
how I actually work within when I'm, I'm asked for a program to
deliver a compliance program or whatever program I work and take
out that ability from the people that their, their talent, their
best, I had their best capabilities to work together
and bring that in a cohesive perspective that we can deliver
our end results. So it also means that I have to
apply that to myself. Otherwise, I'm just like very
deluded with my energy and you have me at my best one.
I'm just like very centered and focused and just working on
whatever I promise to deliver because I'm very passionate and
doing so. So I'm just giving it my all and
that's why I cannot give my all to everything.
Yeah. But is it then also for, for
let's say smaller sized companies important I guess to
to focus on the things that they're good at and not and then
accepting or so that they are going to have to, yeah, rely on
automated systems for other jobs and maybe with bit less quality,
but not being really perfectionist?
So I hear your two things and I can definitely relate to that.
If you're a profession issue, it's very difficult for you to
let go and then you would immediately say, OK, perhaps
that is less quality, but it could also be that you're
because of your perfector is is you don't see that it's being
delivered in a different way. If we just now segue this into
how people look at diversity, this is also a way how people
need to look at that there are different talents and different
approaches to things, but it doesn't mean that it's not
perfect because it's not your level of perfect perfection.
So it all has to do with acknowledging that there are
differences. And yeah, when you're starting
business, of course you don't have the financial means to to
pick, to have to have the big expenditures to go for the most
expensive program or whatsoever. But still it brings value to the
extent that it you can focus and deliver on what is your core
competence. And I find that very, very
important that you understand that you need to work from your,
your talent, your best capability and, and, and working
with others around you alongside you to build that had that
skills up that that brings momentum.
And that's, that helps. So it is like I said, there are
free programs that are very helpful, but it just already
takes a takes a lot of pressure out of things that you think
that you need to deliver in a certain way or, or it should be
perfect or, and especially during this era, technology is
your best friend right now. Yeah.
To what extent do you rely on AI, by the way?
Or do you to what extent do you use it?
I think I use it to amplify things in the sense that it just
sometimes if I needed to have a very structured and if I would
brainstorm it with others, it just gives me a very structured
way of thinking. I, I, I, I I definitely see the
value of AI and when I created my framework, I was in this
bubble by creating it with from an AI point of view, saying, OK,
if I would add, just simplify or just to, to help to choose to
better focus on what is needed working with AI, but also
perhaps working with virtual reality, taking people to the
journey from if you will do this within your business, this will
be the end result. So yeah, I'm just from that
perspective. I'm, I'm, I'm totally embracing
this technology within our, within our, you know, working
ways or, or doing so in life. Yeah.
So I want to go back a bit to what you just said about
diversity because you segue into to the diversity and inclusion
domain. To what extent do you think
that's a good inclusion strategy helps you being prepared as a
company? It's a beautiful question
because you see so many companies like strolling with
diversity and I think it is it is just name it as search tag
being saying, OK, we have help. Perhaps the approach is is is
not is not the way of doing saying, oh, we have a problem.
I don't think it's a problem. I just need seed.
You need to understand that you need to embrace different ways
of working, different ways of it's of course you have your
values, of course you have your, your, your company values.
That should be something that we have.
For example, if I would apply with you for a business, that's
just something that we we should have as the common nominator.
However, it doesn't mean that how you deliver it would be the
same way that I deliver it, but it could be complementary to
each other. And that is the very different
way of the difficult way of how people think that they need to
work with either being a diverse country or having inclusion.
It's just it is too much labeling I would say.
And the strategy should be more, if we need to be prepared within
the business with all the things that are happening, we need to
have people or systems or, or, or mindsets from all kinds of
walks of lives of all kinds of cultures.
Or in what how would actually every label that we have that we
have put on it, we should take all the labels out of it and
just see everyone from their perspective and what their
willingness is to bring to the table.
I would say that would be your best strategy to be prepared.
Also what everything that is happening with all the different
suggestions or opinions and and then yeah, being this one.
Yeah, because that's exactly where I thought it would go.
Your answer would go is that it's also because you have much
more different types of opinions and lived experiences and then
therefore discussions. Your end results get better and
your level of preparedness goes up.
Yes, I would definitely say that.
It just, that is so beautifully and perfectly articulated.
This is what happens. So if if you look at the
current, you're still in the in the financial and tech
landscape, what kind of leadership mindset do modern
leaders need to have other than what we just discussed being
prepared and and also looking at it at talent and people know
from a diversity, from a quota point of view, but from OK, what
am I getting out of it point of view?
Yeah, I think it should be a little bit more intuitive.
I I, I don't want to say in this in to an extent, it should be
more feminine and I have from a feminine perspective, but it
should be more focused on building ecosystem.
It should be focused on more building communities and, and,
and and and and and building A level on collaborations.
Yeah, partnerships. Exactly it's it is not that the
short focus is only on on on creating profits or getting
generating profits. It should be more purpose driven
and what is our contribute? What do we contribute to the
society from our environment? That should be a more, yeah,
that should be more embedded within leadership, mindset,
thinking, approaching, behaving. I would say that will benefit
the future better. OK, so so let's say I'm I'm of
course a man. So let's say I have this
perspective. I only care about profit.
What am I getting wrong? What am I missing?
Well, I think if they have don't get.
Me wrong finance. Finance is about profit and
loss. True, true, of course.
So that's why I would say yes, that is a perfect mindset.
But combine that with what is your long term vision about?
Do you want to contribute to the environment or what is all the
collaboration or the partnership to society?
What is what is your how do you want to build your ecosystem is
independency on how do you work alongside.
So if your focus is only on profit, it will be very single
minded. And yeah, if there of course
there is a market for that. But to my opinion, it would be
quite shorter than it would be if you would take all the other
elements into consideration saying, OK, then I'm going to
build on partnerships and I'm going to see how my value is
being had, contribute to others with within collaborations.
So that will be, it will be an added value to your mindset
being profitable. So because don't get me wrong,
I've written an e-book about being profitable.
So I want everyone to be profitable because it helps you
build on your financial stability, on your financial
independence and perhaps even your financial freedom and
wealth. So yeah, that is definitely
something that I advocate. How do we marry the two?
How do how do we translate, let's say, profit and loss into
impact? That's a good question.
I I think it really has to do with your personal mission and
and even apart from your essential your, your how you
contribute contributing to the society.
If your personal mission is that I want to see everyone in a
certain way, thinking and, and being have the capabilities and
have the accessibilities to be healthy and wealthy and, and,
and and and living their best lives, then that could that is
that is intertwined with your if that's your business, that is
intertwined with a very profitable business, because you
will have your community, you will have your customers, you
will have your, your sales. So it's, it's together, it works
alongside. There's no distinction in that.
I think what happens when I said, if your mission is, is, is
so much solely focused on, I want to have I, I only focus on
profit. I think it will take you out of
the opportunity to to to be a successful entrepreneur over a
longer period in time. So it's much just focusing on
profit is also much more short lived.
I would say, yeah, I would say if you would only be focused on
profits, it will be very short minded or short live life.
It will have a very short lifetime trajectory because it's
also about how is this being perceived within the market.
If you, for example, only focus on profit, do you, if you would,
you would dive deeper from a financial perspective in this
issue, profit margins of is that allowing you to be profitable
over a longer period of time because when you have very
little private margins, it will not sustain you for a long
period over time. So that's why I say you need to
take everything into consideration.
Otherwise it will be very only one sided instead of that being
comprehensive. Yeah, interaction with
everything that's happened within the market within you,
being positioned with your with serving your client.
So let's do a little thought experiment.
You're a female founder. A female founder wants to start
building this from the start, marrying let's say of impact and
on the one hand, profitability. On the other hand, which I think
is needed to be or to have the impact, how do What are the
first three steps or more if you have to get started?
Yes. So we can approach this from a
very business, business plan perspective Then you should have
of course, however right business plan.
What is your audience, what is your product, What is your
price? How is your business model react
and generate your profits or at least generate your income and
then at the end it will be profit.
What is your willingness to take risk?
Because I think that's perhaps, perhaps that should be your
first step. You should take into
consideration whether you're willing to take a risk to put
yourself out there, to be vulnerable and to build on
something that you believe that is just something that you only
know that will be successful because you have seen the line.
So yeah, is there a willingness to take a risk and then drill it
down into is it a financial risk that I'm able to take?
Is it an operational risk that I can take, a strategic risk that
I'm taking right now. And from there on you can build
on your finance saying, OK, that my business plan would be the
follow them. This is my product, this is the
price, this is how I will bring it to the market.
This is my audience and this is the marketing that we're going
to perform to drive our traffic and to have fun, to have our
customers. And we will have our third step.
And that is really, I would say really building on your
personality and not to the extent that your personality is
not well, don't get me wrong, but just being resilient, being
perseverant, being understanding that entrepreneurship can be a
very lonely journey at some point.
And just working on that, really believing on in yourself and
just focusing on what what you want to bring to the world.
So have the The third step should be investing in your
personal development. Yeah.
And also in your personal resilience that you're able to
sustain, how do you do that? How do you do that as a person?
So as a person, I, I've been practicing yoga for many, many,
many years. So that means that I, if there's
any trauma or whatsoever around me, I just try to stay centered,
focused on myself. I work with my breathing that
brings me, I can prepare for tough meetings or even a pitch
deck, but it just, it gives me the opportunity to understand
and observe the room and the audience, the people that I have
that we have interactions with. So I'm I'm working with that.
I read a lot. I tend to find it in, in yoga,
in walking, in swimming. I I haven't played golf in quite
a while, but that is just something that I love because
obviously it's outside. But yeah, so, but those are the
just just, it is not all, it's just coming back to yourself
that helps you being very resilient because we as human
beings are much stronger that we think we are.
We can endure quite a lot, but it really has to do with
understanding why our things are happening and then stay calm and
stay and stay focused on what is that you want to build.
You're going to encounter setbacks.
That is unfortunately what is happening.
Not everything. Of course, there are people that
are being successful overnight, but it doesn't 99% of the 100
times it doesn't work like that. So you need to prepare.
Yourself for that, yeah, straight lines to success.
No, it's definitely not. And especially also and when you
for example work with investors, they perhaps will have like
different mindset with regards to revenues and profits.
So yeah, you need to understand are you willing and capable of
taking that risk and understanding why they come from
their point of view and what it requires from you to bring that
to the table. So it should be very much always
focused. And coming back to your
question, it should be very much much focus on do you understand
yourself, do you vote yourself? And from there on, take your
appropriate steps and work with bringing and focusing on what
you want to bring on to the table.
Does that also help you? Let's say take the right risks
knowing yourself. Personally, it does.
However, how of course you have you have theoretical theoretical
risk, but at the end of the day, if mitigating risk is
understanding your willingness towards risk and it gives you a
much clearer view on how what, what what is like a high risk or
what is a low risk. So but then of course you can
still approach it from a most theoretical point of view for
what example if this and this happens, yeah, then it really
has to do what is your risk at first in this just for a normal
example, I would always say your normal risk management would be
if you would drive your car to work and you will get in your
car and your car is not fueled, you could have mitigated that
risk by fueling your car and being time on your work.
So that is already mitigating your risk.
But as it's very practical, but businesses are not doing
behaving differently in in the sense that they just look at the
market and see what can happen and how I am not financially
prepared to encounter this risk and impacts my profitability at
the end of the day. Yeah, so staying fueled
appropriately is also part of the recipe for success.
Yes, but it is true. But it had still a difference
per person. But it has to be, it has to see
what is your, your, your future focus.
We always need to have your future focus and your vision in
mind. What is your, why actually, why
are you doing this? What is?
And from there on, you will categorize your risk from a
personal perspective, but then also looking to your business
what is needed because it could also be a very high risk, not
taking risk, especially during a volatile market because your
competitors will do so. At the end of the day, what is
the risk of risking that not taking a certain or not making a
certain investment? So I was wondering, let's say
it's 2032, seven and a half ish years from now and you have
helped many companies be successful.
What has been your impact and why is that important to you?
So going back to my mission is it would be my impact to help
people understand their financial or maintain their
financial stability and working towards financial freedom.
Working towards financial well which have wealth and freedom
are not for everyone to find the same.
So I would just stay by being financial stable.
Like I said, your business is an extension of you.
So it will be very much appreciated if that is
profitable, if that is, that gives you the opportunity and
level in life to be, to feel free, to feel independent, to
have to have a very quality qualitative life.
So that will be something that I find very important for my
clients to to feel and understand that with the
framework that I designed that it helps them to be very
confident in life because they understand that they're how they
understand their business. They understand why things work
as how they work and how they communicate elements to be more
profitable and to stay profitable over a longer period
of time. And why is that important to me
think, no, I know for sure that I find it very important that
people can live their lives in a very qualitative manner.
Personally, unfortunately, see in the very direct environment
that people were really working and living towards their
retirement. And after their retirement, they
became ill or even unfortunately died.
So that is something that I just want to bring back in the sense
it's not when you're, I'm not even sure what the retirement
age is right now. It's a sixties 6770. 686768
something like that in the Netherlands.
In the Netherlands, for example, and then for our Dutch audience
working towards that, no, I want to bring it back.
You're hey, you're, you're now the center.
You're, you're, you're in your, you're thriving.
Period. Let's work with that and help
you live your most qualitative life from there on.
Sounds like a great place to move to my last question.
So I'm on a mission to make inclusion in Tecton new normal
by the end of 2032. How can I best prepare for that?
Well, understanding that this is, is such a beautiful movement
that you're, that you're building, but it's a difficult
one because it has to do with personal beliefs, it has to do
with essential beliefs, it has to do with everything in
between. Apart from accepting that we
have differences in life. At the end of the day, if we all
put our mindset to it, we, it will happen.
So I think it's all about gathering the right person and
the right environment to be seen to be acknowledged.
And from there on build on small steps.
I don't think we need to take the big step as of what I now
see is that people are trying to try to miss or just to oversee
or overlook a certain certain steps by just only focusing on
the entrance. All I think we just need to
focus on what are the small steps that we can make.
And from there on it, we'll rainbow out within the within
the community or within the within the society.
It are not the big steps because then we're still approaching it
from a collective point of view. And yeah, I think it has been
shown that that doesn't work over like almost a decade right
now. So the approach needs to be
different. So the recommendation is to
design A path with small steps that ultimately of course do
lead to the to the desired end result.
Yeah, because then it will true, then it will take everyone to.
It's all about education. It's all also about.
So yeah, you need to take, you have to do the top of the
iceberg. And how do you take people with
change management? It all has theories around
there, but it starts with a small group really being
effective, showing the results and then you're taking people
along with you and then people feel comfortable.
And it will not be like the and like I said, the common
nominator would be, yeah, we're going to deliver the elements
that are needed for the business.
But it's not that the selection process will be Yeah, but then
that person need to look like this, need to behave like this,
need to know. We need to think out of outside
of the box and then accept that there are differences.
But if the end for solved it is the same, the different doesn't
matter. The difference will be and we'll
just vaporize within the whole process.
And then we just will we're able to bring all these talents and
gifts together to bring a much better and create a much better
and more inclusive environment. Sounds like a great place to
close, Marlene. So Mojo, thank you very much for
an amazing conversation. If people want to learn more
about you and M2 Advisory, where can they go?
So your listeners are very welcome to follow me on Inked In
or approach me on LinkedIn. You can find me on Marlene.
So Mario, obviously, we also have a company page and
advisory, but then we are also on YouTube where you can find
content. And we're going to start soon
again, our discussion tables where you can just find the
contents around finance and discussing with all disciplines
how we can bring and see, find us more as a business partner
than we only see it as reporting or has something that is needed
within the business. And so, yeah, coming back,
LinkedIn, you can send me Adm or just follow me and we have a
newsletter where you can sign up or YouTube where you can find us
and to advise you. Also cool.
And we'll include those links in the show notes.
So once again, Marlene, so Marge, thank you very much for
great conversation. Listeners, thank you very much
for listening and until the next episode, keep being awesome.
Well, that's it for episode 115 of Women Disrupting Tech with
Marlene Somoharsho on how to build a resilient and purpose
driven business Marlane. And I hope that you found our
conversation as purposeful and as empowering as we intended it
to be. And if you have any questions
for Marlane, please leave them in the comments on Spotify,
Apple or YouTube and I'll make sure you get an answer.
When you want to connect with Marlane and or learn more about
M2 Advisory, please check out the links in the show notes.
As usual, you can find the show notes at Women Disrupting Techno
Block and that link is also in the description.
If you've enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a rating
or a review on Apple or Spotify. Leaving a rating or a review
helps listeners find podcasts and supports my guests by giving
them a bigger platform. If you're a regular listener,
please make sure to follow Women Disrupting Tech on Spotify,
Apple, Amazon, or YouTube. Following is a simple 0 cost way
to support Marlene and my older guests in making inclusion in
tech the new normal by the end of 2032.
If you want to learn more about Women Disrupting Tech, you can
follow the podcast on social media where Everywhere as at
Women Disrupting Tech, we're also on Subtech.
On Subtech you'll find in depth stories and behind the scenes
insights from each episode, plus the trends that I've.
Spotted. Across 100 plus conversations so
far, so don't forget to subscribe to subtech for more
women disrupting tech. Finally, if you want to connect
with me directly, you can reach me via e-mail.
Dear Kyon at women disrupting tech dot blog or you can connect
with me on LinkedIn. Simply search for my name
dearcom Ubkus and you'll find me.
With that, I wish you a wonderful day.
I hope to see you in the next episode and until then, as
always, Kee being awesome.