Do NOT plan 2025

Hello Helloo!

Sometimes, when I’m in the shower, I go over my week. I think about what I’ve learned, what I’ve seen, and what I’ll share here. Yesterday I realized—I barely had time to read again this week. I did make some progress with my Harari book (to be fair, it’s getting better). But what should my reading tip for this week be, I asked myself?

Stupid me—of course, duh! My reading tip is my own book! It was launched this week! It’s always such a funny feeling to see a project that felt finished in my mind for a while suddenly being shared with the outside world! 😊 ( Loving all the compliments, though!)

➡️ Life Goals: A Becoming Board

I never imagined writing the book I wrote. It just happened. (Okay, there was a bit of discipline involved, I admit.) But mostly, it happened because I gave myself the time to flow and see what would happen. That’s how my publisher, Peter, connected me with Tim Van Aelst, and the magic happened. (Again, magic happened also thanks to a lot of work, you know what I mean)

Most people will spend this month December building perfect plans for the new year:
vision boards, quarterly targets, goals that look impressive. But by February, they’ll wonder why none of it feels right.

Recently, I watched a video about something similar—it was called a Becoming Board instead of a Vision Board, and I love the concept. The idea is simple but totally makes sense: instead of planning outcomes, you focus on the kind of person you want to become and the life you want to build.

Here’s what I believe: great years aren’t built with hustle or sacrifice. They’re built with joy, obsession, and the ideas that won’t leave you alone.

Stop chasing someone else’s version of success.
Build a world you can’t wait to wake up to.
Think about what lights you up, what keeps you up at night, and where you lose track of time.
That’s not procrastination or distraction—that’s alignment.

2025 isn’t about building better habits.
It’s about building a world you actually want to live in.
And that’s why I’m not planning 2025—I’m becoming it.

➡️ Marketing on a budget

Last week, I posted on LinkedIn about a phrase I hear way too often: "Our sales are dropping, we can’t afford to spend more on marketing." (Or worse: “We are cutting marketing budgets”) Aaarghh please don’t do that!

This is a common mistake. Many see marketing as an expense rather than an investment. When sales slow down, our instinct is to cut the marketing budget, thinking it saves money.

But what about this: if customers don’t know you exist, how can they buy from you? 🤷‍♀️

Marketing is about presence, relationships, and demand. Pulling back on marketing when sales decline is like turning off the engine when you’re running low on fuel.
It 👏doesn’t 👏make 👏sense!

So Yes.
Marketing requires money. But there are sooooo many ways to market smarter and spend less.

One of my favorite hacks? Fake it till you make it.
Because what if it’s not about the size of your budget—it’s about the size of your ideas?

Example: Fake Out-of-Home Campaigns

Fake out-of-home (FOOH) campaigns exploded in 2024 and I just know they will even grow more in 2025. But what is FOOH? These are fake billboard campaigns that you share online, and you let people’s imagination do the rest. It’s the kind of hack that looks expensive but costs little. It’s clever, it looks premium, and you can let your creativity go wild!

Do you know the brand Surreal Food? (Love the name!) They describe themselves as cereal that tastes like the ones you loved as a kid, only with less sugar, more protein, and fewer carbs.
Their FOOH campaigns are super smart, funny, and perfectly made to go viral. (Seriously, check them out—you’ll see why they’re the kings of FOOH!)

There are so many great examples out there of FOOH. But personally, I love the campaigns that make you ask yourself: is this real or not? 
Like this one from Maybelline.

maybelline

View more on Instagram

In short: marketing isn’t always about big budgets. (Off course, having some money is necessary :-))
But staying visible is also possible with creative ideas.
Please don’t let finances make you invisible!

➡️ Campaign Love: Balck Firdya

Quickly, one last campaign. This OOH campaign by Kitchen Warehouse in Australia is not a fake one—it’s 100% real and fits perfectly into my favourite "show, don’t tell" category.

This blender campaign was created for 'Balck Firdya' (yes, you read that right).

It’s proof that sometimes, doing the unexpected is what makes your message unforgettable. Simple. But highly genius.

➡️ This is what I do: I “Humanize” your brand

About that creativity: “Human content generates 5x more traffic to your brand than AI.” That insight comes from digital marketing guru Neil Patel himself on the BAM Marketing Congress. Nope, I didn’t go to the congress this year, a girl needs to make choices. (Can someone tell me if I missed out on something unmissable?!) It was Alex Thore - CEO of the VAR - who posted this on his Linkedin this week.

And huh! That' is exactely what I do! I humanize brands. I make your brand unforgettable bringing out the soul of your brand—the part that connects with people on an emotional level. It’s about creating stories, moments, and experiences that make your audience feel something.

But it’s also about your positioning in the market.
Together we align your message, product, and positioning so that your audience not only understands you—they feel like you understand them.

If you need mee, you know where to find me 👋

➡️ What to Read: My Book, of Course!

Et voilà! We’ve arrived at one of my favorite parts of this newsletter: what to read. And today, my recommendation is simple—go read my book!

What’s it about, you ask? It tells the wild story of Tim van Aelst, who walked away from his multi-million-dollar television empire to… start over.

WHAT IF you only had 5 years left to live—what choices would you make?
(Just to be clear: Tim isn’t ill—this is purely a philosophical question you should ask yourself.)
Where do you think you stand on the balance of your life?
What are your dreams?

I had the honor of being the PITA (the pain in the ass) for Tim during this process - think Desperate Housewives narrator vibes. :-)

I even stepped out of my comfort zone to share a few things about my own life.
So….DON’T read that book.
I’m kidding. Here is the affiliate link, you can buy it here.
(Ow, and unfortunately only available in Dutch for those who wonder)

See you next week! 👋
x Ingrid

PS. Dear Tim, I know you are reading this newsletter. Thank you for the amazing journey we had together. 🙏 Because I’m talking about MY book here, but off course it is ours, and it is your story. Very proud of you!