Before I saw the city of Culemborg, I only knew it existed because the train to Eindhoven passes by, my former STOGO Onderzoek + Advies colleague moved from Tilburg to Culemborg when we both were working at STOGO Onderzoek + Advies and from the 'nswandeling' from Houten Castellum to Culemborg I hiked. It is a hike that needs planning, because I have to take into account the water level and the ferry sailing time.
When I founded Databeet in 2012, it was a trend among entrepreneurs to meet almost every Friday morning. Not for breakfast, but to have coffee or tea and network. I started with the Open Coffee Networks in Utrecht and branched out to Culemborg to meet other entrepreneurs. The ones visiting the Open Coffee Culemborg were mainly coaches. One Friday I was the only one who was not a coach at the Open Coffee Culemborg. That's why I started using the WordPress Coach brand for a while.
In 2012 when I started Databeet I wanted to talk to entrepreneurs to gain insight on what is important to succeed as an entrepreneur. One of the entrepreneurs I spoke to was a tennis coach branching out in coaching men. She was also new at entrepreneurship and we talked about WordPress, coaching, entrepreneurship, marketing and tennis. I met her at the Open Coffee Network Culemborg. That year I met many entrepreneurs. I made a mood board of most of the business cards I received from the people I spoke to about Databeet in 2012.
My former colleague from Stogo Onderzoek + Advies became also an entrepreneur and wanted me to coach her in designing her WordPress website. She was living in Culemborg and I visited her to talk about her WordPress website, Tableau, her business plans, meet her family and see her kitchen garden (moestuin).
My former Colleague from Stogo Onderzoek + Advies invited me to work with her for a day at her new Coworking space in Culemborg and to go to a meeting at CBS. At CBS we discovered that we had previously worked with the same colleague at the municipality of Rotterdam. With this in mind I asked her to be part of the data analysis team that was working on a big project for Rotterdam Festivals. She joined the team. I accepted the invitation to work at Steers Coworking for a day and the day coincided with taking pictures for an article in the local newspaper.
I work a lot with quantitative data which is why I collaborate with IPSOS I&O to do some fieldwork at the train stations in The Netherlands. By doing this I got insight in one of the ways how quantitative data is collected. I see the beauty of data collection, but also the burden on the fieldworkers and the less pleasant things that happen during data collection. Fortunately for me and other fieldworkers, these are mostly incidents, such as people being rude when I ask them not to smoke near me while I am handing out surveys. Everyone has the right on a smoke-free workplace since January 1, 2022. Most other things happening during fieldwork are pleasant, such as people being happy to be asked for their opinion.
Besides collecting data at the train stations on behalf of IPSOS I&O, I also collected data in the 'fietsenstalling' of Culemborg station. Collecting data via surveys in the 'fietsenstalling' differs from collecting data at the station, because people at the station are waiting for their train and in the 'fietsenstalling' they are in a hurry to catch their train or to get home for dinner. Much more persuasion is needed in the 'fietsenstalling'.
When I was at Steers Coworking I took the opportunity to explore the city center on my own and I also got a tour from my former STOGO Onderzoek + Advies colleague. Culemborg is an old city with an old city wall, a church and some old buildings. History is still visible in the renovated city center through historical buildings.
The Elisabeth Weeshuis Museum is located in the city center of Culemborg. In the museum the history of the daily lives of the orphans who lived in the orphanage Elisabeth Weeshuis is exhibited. I like that the Elisabeth Weeshuis Museum shows the history of both female and male orphans. Many museums forget that women also existed in history. Elisabeth Weeshuis Museum scores well in the field of gender equality in the displayed history of the orphans dialy life. I worked at STOGO Onderzoek + Advies from 2007 - 2009. STOGO Onderzoek + Advies was bought by I&O Research in 2010 (IPSOS I&O).