People are often perplexed by how we can make a living by teaching how to cook plant-based Indian food. In this blog, we would want to answer a few questions that we are asked quite often.
A background of our journey till now
Straight out of university, I (Amit) settled for my first job at a fruit import company based in Rotterdam. Soon afterwards, I bought a house in Dordrecht (with some help from my parents) and started living there with Daniëlle, who also found work close by. We had everything a starter in Netherlands would dream for- own house, car, good work, which is associated with stability in many parts of the world. The stage was set for a grind called life, where many people get sucked into, with every passing year making it difficult to get out of the trap, as I would like to call it. A couple of years passed by just like that, and both Daniëlle and I started to get frustrated by our daily routines. Moreover, we started to dislike our work, which had become quite monotonous, and we could find little meaning in what we did. While getting to know each other, what really dominated our conversations, is to pursue things that we find meaningful, and where we can have an impact on the wellbeing of the people, and the environment. Our jobs couldn’t be further away from these dreams. However, just two years of living this life, we found ourselves stuck, and it seemed difficult to get out of the rat race. Living in Netherlands is expensive, even with the strictest of budgets, it is hard to pay the bills without work, even for a few months. So, taking a break seemed impossible, while continuing to fuel our lifestyle in the Netherlands.
We contemplated many options, and Amit even changed jobs, only to find out he found the new one even worse than the first. In the meantime, we got married, and we started sharing our interest for cooking with a wider audience through online cooking workshops during the covid lockdowns. Once the popularity of the workshops started growing, we thought it’s time to pick up on that. We still didn’t have a laid-out plan, but believed in the idea that life will find a way. So, we quit our jobs, decided to sell our house, and dive deep into the adventure that lay ahead of us.
So how do we make a living now?
When quitting our jobs, we knew that due to the high living costs in the Netherlands, we wouldn’t be able to manage our lifestyle for that long. And the money coming in with Hey Groentje wasn’t enough to support that. Moreover, we wanted to invest the money we earned through the workshops back into Hey Groentje, by for example bringing out a book. The biggest expense was our house, so we decided to sell it. It was also a nice time to sell, as the housing market in the Netherlands was really good for sellers (and continues to be) I paid my parents back the money I got from them for the house, and still had a substantial amount leftover due to the profit we made on the sale, plus the savings together of almost 3 years in the workforce. We decided to invest part of that money, and keep part of it in cash for a rainy day. One thing was for sure, we didn’t want to use up this amount, otherwise someday we will have to return to jobs that we don’t find meaningful, just to pay the bills. That’s why we educated ourselves on the topic of financial independence. The main thing we learnt from it was that the lower the costs to support your lifestyle, the more time you have to let your business and money grow. We are very conscious about the money we spend, and hence can be termed as frugal in whatever we do- ranging from backpacking around Europe with a tent, to caring about every euro we give out. We try to live a simple, minimalist lifestyle. So, coming back to the question we are asked all the time- do we make enough money to support the standard lifestyle in Netherlands? The answer is no. But it’s already more than a year and we have survived. So, are we on the right track to growing our business, and have bought ourselves enough time to come by till then? The answer is a big yes!
Some final thoughts
We have to ask ourselves, is life only about working in unhappy jobs to just pay the bills? If that’s the case, most wild animals have a much better life than what we as humans have created. Of course, for many people status is of big importance, but nothing is more valuable than freedom. The freedom to pursue what one wants, to focus on your passion, and more importantly enjoy life to its fullest! Moreover, living an environmentally conscious, sustainable, minimalist life doesn’t have to cost a dime, and following your passion in a sustainable way would mean the world would be a much happier place, where Mondays are not depressing anymore, and people look forward to each day, instead of just the weekend. As far as we are concerned, we still don’t have everything figured out (and believe me no one has to) However, we do think we are on the right track. That’s the most important.
Hopefully this article answers a lot of questions many of our followers, friends and family have about our lifestyle choices. Life is too short, so make the most of it before its over.