I am thrilled to introduce Gerard Koolen’s story as he is one of the professionals I admire the most.
Gerard was born in Amsterdam where he embarked upon his first entrepreneurial endeavors and attended business school. Today, he runs Lugera, a staffing and recruitment company, located in 12 countries, mostly developing markets with a total of 700 employees, placing permanent staff between 3,000 to 5,000 people per year and 12,000 temporary staff members.
Becoming an entrepreneur was always the only option for Gerard. Not only because his parents and grandparents were entrepreneurs, but also because this was the path his father had always suggested to him. “Gerard, you are never gonna work for someone else, you need to make sure you have your own company,”are the words he heard from early childhood.
He was 14 years old when he made his first significant amount of money by identifying an opportunity to deliver 15,000 letters in Amsterdam during a postal strike. His uncle was running a postal office and had to send several letters to different areas of the city. Gerard asked him for 12 cents per letter and completed the job by bringing together a group of friends from the school. Satisfied with the result, his uncle asked him how much he had paid his friends for this job. When Gerard answered six cents, his uncle was furious and never talked to him again. The lesson Gerard took out of this experience was not to communicate costs and earnings with clients.
Before starting Lugera in 1996, Gerard followed other ventures producing and selling lamps and clocks as well as starting up a chain of shoe stores in Eastern Europe. He experienced partnerships that both worked and failed. He had to find resources to make his operations work well, such as carrying the raw material by bike or borrowing his father’s car. He learned how to build client relationships and trust. While it was not initially complicated to obtain lamp orders, the real challenge was to produce and deliver orders on time. He also learned that managing money is an art and sometimes too much money in a start-up can ruin its potential of survival. Gerard believes that some must haves for a good start of a business are: how you organize yourself, knowing what you want, the clients, the market and its secret sauce.
He smiles when he remembers the beginnings of Lugera, a company he began with two other friends. The three of them, Lubos, Gerard, and Rasto (which created the full name: LU-GE-RA) started in a tiny office where they took turns using only one phone and one computer. Their first year, the turnover was 45,000 euros and in 2022 it reached 230 million euros.
Looking back, Gerard believes that the best lessons were in the mistakes. The best thing entrepreneurs can do is to fail, learn from it, and use the teachings they gained to improve. All the crises Lugera endured brought lessons to help them become their best. Gerard also strongly appreciated working with reliable partners. In 2011 he had a serious ski accident and could not work for one year. Then he realized that despite the setback, he still earned dividends and the business continued successfully.
Gerard considers that one important aspect in life is to have a healthy relationship with money. He noticed people set their intentions only related to money and, in turn, were easily disappointed as they were unable to meet their lofty goals. He noticed that the more he loves and appreciates money, not seeing it as scarce, the more money comes to him. The more generous he is in spending it, the more he profits. His inclination is never to look at something as expensive or cheap, but to look at how much it costs and how much value he gets in return. If you can do something yourself, it might not bring you the best return. A healthy relationship with money is a balance between not being focused too much on it, but loving it.
Besides being very generous to others, Gerard is a naturally curious person, always enthusiastic to learn. Although having grown up in a part of Amsterdam prone to cocaine and heroin overdosing, he made a promise to himself that he will always have a great life he enjoys. Gerard loves life and he loves people. What brings him the most joy is the excitement of experiencing new things, exploring, meeting new people, feeling loved and loving back, trying new restaurants, and ultimately, the overall beauty of life. In order to lead a longer, healthier lifestyle where he could fully appreciate the beauty of life, Gerard stopped smoking and drinking and took up regular exercise. On top of these habits, Gerard practices Reiki daily for his own healing or sometimes for healing others.
Another aspect that makes Gerard inspiring is that he always sees himself as a “kiddo.” He always learns from people he meets. The latest example of this is his partnership with a British fund investing in recruiting start-ups. He is always willing to go to the next level. This happens by learning from people and reading a lot. Building a big company requires being healthy and agile both mentally and physically. Training and learning are paths to get there, as is the same for a good quality of life. Gerard sees life and work as one.
The biggest insight I had during my conversation with Gerard was related to time. According to him, time is the most abundant resource we have. Time is our entire life. The duration of our lives is the most consistent element of life we will ever experience. People overestimate what they can do in three years, but they underestimate what they can do in ten years. He also mentioned his favorite quote from A Course in Miracles: “Infinite patience delivers immediate results.”