Laurent moyersoen: Entrepreneur and adventure-seeker
This is Laurent Moyersoen. An adventurous 26-years old Belgian and self-proclaimed “Intrapreneur’ . He recently stopped working at NxtPort, a data-sharing platform situated in the port of Antwerp, to focus full-time on his career as an entrepreneur. Other things that define him? Laurent is a traveller, a free bird, an adventure-seeker, and worthwhile mentioning, he’s got a lot of ambitions, both professionally as in his personal life.
Laurent started off his professional journey in quite an unusual way. No long university trajectory or an accumulation of one degree after the other. Instead, it all started with a participation in a hackathon during his last year at university. Although he was rather considered the underdog and did not make the finals, he received a lot of media attention. One thing led to the other. He started building his professional network and saw it growing exponentially over the months that followed. Eventually, he even got a job out of it. Since then, he has been working at NxtPort, a data-sharing platform in the port of Antwerp, and his professional network of high-skilled people has only been growing ever since.
His not-so-secret ingredient for being successful? Having a strong vision and doing what he feels like doing; setting long-term goals, 10 or 15 years from now, and taking small steps every day to reach these goals.
Nonetheless, his ambitions reach farther than becoming the next CEO or leader of a company. At NxtPort, he considered himself rather an ‘intrapreneur’. Being hired when the enterprise was still a start-up with 5 or 6 people, he did not receive much guidance. Hence, he started developing his own work flow and took a strong interest in taking the lead within the company. And that is exactly what defines an ‘intrapreneur’: having an entrepreneurial mindset that you put at the disposal of a company without you being the founder of said company. An intrapreneur is someone who has strong beliefs in the goals of the company, on the one side, but develops his own vision on how to modify and accomplish those goals, on the other.
Although he has a strong vision for the future and would not mind leading his own company and becoming a real, full-time entrepreneur, that is not the most important thing for him. In fact, he does not only apply this entrepreneurial mindset to his professional life. Also in his personal life he strongly attaches to the ‘stepping into the unknown mindset’. In his spare time, Laurent wants just one thing: traveling & going on adventures - preferably with his campervan - in combination with practicing outdoor sports. Mountain-biking in the Belgian Ardennes, surfing along the Atlantic, or even free ride skiing in the Alps… no challenge is too big. The bigger the adventure, the better.
“The outdoors gives me energy.
It’s what makes me feel free.”
- Laurent Moyersoen
Besides the thrill of new discoveries, Laurent admitted that traveling is also contributing a lot both to his personal and professional growth. During his travels he always takes the time to reflect on his professional life by seeking answers to questions such as ‘How to deal with issues?’, ‘How to manage other people?’, ‘What are my visions?’, ‘How to deal with stress?’, and so on. “I believe it is very important to take time for myself frequently. In this society, many people don’t do so enough. Finding a good balance between work - adventure - joy, day in, day out. When I feel I’m losing sharpness, I see this as a signal that I need to recharge my batteries and change certain habits.” “Work to be able to have a better life”, is a concept he lives by every day.
Another things his numerous travels have taught him, is to always take it one step further, instead of only taking the necessary steps. Professionally, he translates this into doing things for others, without necessarily benefiting from it himself. Laurent is convinced that this is valuable in order to grow a lasting network. In his personal life, he tries to follow that same line of reasoning: “I never do only what I planned. I keep looking for new energies, and I try to do things for other people while traveling. This gives me a satisfied feeling.”
“My motto: work to be able to have a better life.”
- Laurent Moyersoen
Related to these aspirations to be of service to others, also sustainability and social responsibility play an important role in everything he does. Respect for nature, local communities, the campsites he stays at, etc. He believes that this forms the basis within a working culture, too: having respect for everyone in and around the company.
When asked about his most amazing experience, the adventurous Belgian could not just name one. Each trip he undertakes is incomparable to the other. To name his most recent one, he talked about his trip he and a friend did along the North Coast 500 in the most northern part of Scotland. Far away from everyone and everything, surrounded by scenic nature, they took their van on a trip. “We stopped and camped wherever we wanted. That gave an enormous sense of liberty.”
To end, we asked Laurent whether he had some advice he’d like to share with other (future) entrepreneurs and adventurepreneurs. “My advice is simple: don’t rush it. You cannot do everything perfectly from the start. Everyone can become an entrepreneur. Let ideas grow, take time for yourself. It’s important to set goals, but even if you don’t reach those goals, don’t consider it a failure. You worked hard and you tried. You took the shot. Just that can already be considered a success. That is what successful entrepreneurship is about.”