Online Marketing Masters

BY MARC RODAN

Every week, we feature one collaboration between KREW Members and/or Partners to inspire new meaningful connections and to show off our awesome work of course. This week it’s the Collab of Robin Prinsen and Bas Sanderink.

Full name: Robin Prinsen
Collaborated with: Bas Sanderink
For: Several months (still ongoing)
In: The Hague (NL)

What did you collaborate on? I hired Bas as a freelancer for one day per week to support us with the online marketing that we do for our clients at Nakoa. Most of our clients are based in Germany. Because of Bas’s knowledge about the German market and the language, he was able to support us with his knowledge immediately by setting up some campaigns and structure. He was even able to assist with training a new colleague that we just hired here in The Hague.

Bas has a good view on the operational side of things (actually doing the work), but I can also use him to think more strategically. There are some organizational challenges that we have. Like finding ways to work better, quicker, smarter… I did have some ideas, but I couldn’t execute on those because of a lack of time. Bas also had some great ideas, so we started to improve our company’s way of working together. He’s been a very good help for me. 

What was most fun or surprising about this Collab? We have a similar kind of humor, which makes working together very good. Of course, competence and knowledge should be there, but understanding each other and having fun at work is also very important. So I think with Bas that’s a golden combination.

“It was a big coincidence that we both happened to grow up in the same place in The Netherlands, that we moved to Munich around the same time and then also moved back to The Hague around the same time! That just creates a bond.”

What did you learn from this Collab? This was the first time we actually hired a freelancer to work directly on our accounts without me really checking something. So it was based a little bit on trust. I found that if there’s a good connection, you can easily trust someone from the outside to work as a freelancer in your company. If you pick the right person, you can just keep your hands off the things this person knows to work with. The reason that I have this trust with Bas is probably a combination of that he came recommended via KREW, but also because of our similar backgrounds. We’re both from Twente (in the east of The Netherlands) and we have both lived in Munich, Germany for three years around the same time. And… we both moved to The Hague around the same time as well, without even knowing that the other person existed! That just creates a bond. 

How did you (or are you going to) celebrate success? Every week we end the week by having beers with the whole team through Microsoft Teams and discuss our challenges and achievements. But Bas is not there (#oops). With Bas, I just make jokes, go for coffee, beers… we basically celebrate every day we’re working together.

Anything else you’d like to add? I think it’s good that we met in person before we started collaborating or even discussed that possibility. Having this in-person talk over a beer first and not necessarily having to talk about business — it just came up — was actually very good. 

But I also think that without KREW, we wouldn’t have met. So I think it’s very good to keep getting connections from Marc, from KREW, and to stay involved, even though I’m probably one of the least involved Members. As an entrepreneur, your network is the most important thing. This is a very good example of that. And maybe this was just a coincidence with perfect timing, but nonetheless it’s a very fruitful relationship. And it only happened because of KREW and because Marc introduced us. So that just shows me the value of such a community and being able to get to know likeminded people in this way.

Thanks for reading the weekly KREW Collab! Don’t hesitate to reach out to Bas or Robin to explore new collaborations and opportunities yourself.

Marc Rodan is the Founder of KREW and Chief Editor of KREW Stories. In 2015 he started his first business as the tallest (mini) pancake baker in Sweden. Since then, he has travelled the world to start businesses in both branding and online education. Marc loves penguins, UFOs and anything blue and orange, always makes up songs while doing the dishes and dreams of one day living in a tree house as big as Jake and Finn’s. Connect with him on LinkedIn.