Well, as my dream workplace was nowhere to be found, I realised (while walking in the Abbaye de la Cambre one day) that I would have to open the place myself. In a fever of excitement, I came up with the idea of mixing hotel-style services with a workplace in order to offer unprecedented personal knowledge. Et voilà, the concept of boutique business centre, coworking, private offices and meeting rooms was born all wrapped up in one name – The Library Group.
Next up was finding the right building, which was not so easy. But one Sunday morning on my way to the market, I stumbled over a derelict building in Ixelles and found that it was love at first sight. Fast forward over months of sleepless nights doing excel sheets in my mind to the recruitment of the wondrous Yasmine and Kamal (and later on, France and Marcela) – who are my first Library employees and daily sources of amusement and happiness.
Finally, on 1 September 2013, I put up The Library sign on the first building. In 2014, we opened the doors to The Library Europe and on 1 January 2016, The Library Ambiorix opened as the third location in Brussels. In the meantime, I have met so many fantastic people, who occupy the Libraries working with everything from investment banking to jewellery design. A true community of driven, fun and inspirational individuals.
If you’d like to know more about The Library, just book a trial date to come and work with us. It’s easy, fun and friendly. We have three best located houses in Brussels, you are welcome to come visit us and discover what a day at office can also be like.
I hope your dreams will come true too. Even if you’ll suffer through sleepless nights to make it happen.
All I wanted was friends and good lightingIn 2010, I arrived in Brussels from Copenhagen. Full of optimism and adventurousness, I was certain I would make friends straight away. What followed was three years working from home with the arrival of the mailman as a social highlight and too much day-time TV.
I realized over the time that being at home all day quite alone is not the recipe for integration and happiness in a new country. So I compiled a list with everything my dream workplace would have to offer and it looked something like this:
However, that place was simply nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, I found that my personality slowly turned from extrovert to introvert. It was clear that something had to be done…little did I know that coworking in a boutique business centre, with unique offices and great meeting rooms, would be the answer. Check in in a couple of days to see how the story evolved.
Meanwhile, this little video shows pretty well, how coworking has evolved in the last couple of years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le0dfcG_jVw
The Business Breakthrough Academy at The Library
At The Library, we are passionate about entrepreneurship. Hey, it’s whats behind The Library in the first place. So when Baldwin, who has been teaching our Library Academy, and Gaëtan, Library member, mentioned that they were working on a programme for entrepreneurs, I jumped on board straight away. And a beautiful brainstorm commenced.
Here are a few of the issues that we will address with The Business Breakthrough Academy:
Do you have the potential to take your business to the next level, but need to find that ‘magic formula?
Do you want to be more confident when it comes to pricing, selling, communicating and convincing your clients?
Do you feel alone, overwhelmed and burned-out, but with no way to get off the treadmill that is your business?
Maybe you’re thinking about taking the ‘big leap’ to set up your own business but you’ve been holding it off because you’re worried about failing…
The other day, we shot a quick movie at The Library Ambiorix to put a voice to what we are trying to achieve. Check it out here:
http://www.bd-insider.com/bba-program
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