WHAT OTHERS SAY

After leaving the corporate world I somehow got hold of the idea of becoming a coach. Took a lot of training and I was doing a certain amount of coaching, but I didn't really feel I had found the thing that was right for me.   

I wasn't fulfilled, and I didn't feel I was giving it my all.  
Coaching felt like a chore to me. Since I am retired, I do want to do something that’s enjoyable and I also want to give back, but not like this.

So, when learning about Natural Advantage, I thought that might help me to figure out what I need to do to actually feel fulfilled in my work.
But then I also thought; I've done a million things already.
Why would I get anything new out of this?

Well, the pretty amazing thing I got out of it right away was that I realized that I had been searching everywhere but not in the obvious.
When you identified my natural advantage, I wondered ‘how did I not see that?
This is how I've enjoyed being my whole life!’

If I look at the things where I was just completely buzzing, and on fire, you pinpointed exactly the conditions.
How you both drew my natural advantage all together out of that first interview that kind of astounded me. You saw the crux of the thing immediately.

Without your help, I would never, ever, ever have seen that.
That was spectacular.

And the outcome was actually something that is so easy for me!
In some ways, it almost seemed like ‘this can't be right, that's too easy’.
Then I realized I had learned things have to be hard to be valuable.
Now I know, it's actually the easy thing, that is your actual gift to the world.

It makes everything so easy when you realize that what comes naturally to you is perfect. That was a massive relief.

I got so much more from it than I expected to get from it.
What I bring to people is much more alive, I'm trusting myself more and I connect with people in a different way.
I finally realized that where my heart lies, is in teaching and working with groups.

 
And as a result of that, I'm getting opportunities I wouldn't have gotten before, because I'm not holding myself back.

Natural Advantage is so completely different than anything out there.
There are no techniques and none of the usual. It's just unraveling of what I do naturally.
And the feeling that that's okay and that that's perfect.
As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I should be doing, if I want to succeed and give value.
Just spectacular.

 

It’s just so very freeing, very enjoyable, and very light.
I wish I had known this 20 years ago.

Mary Howick

Leadership Consultant
Former VP Human Resources in multinational organization 

At a time when I was searching for the best way to take the next step in my business, I came across Natural Advantage.
I wanted to be able to make good choices for the coming years. That’s why I was looking for how I could best help my clients with who I am and where my unique strength lies.

Marloes and Lianne seemed to have a special process for this that I wasn’t familiar with, and that intrigued me.

I had also done some exploring using personality tests. But they put you in standard categories and characterizations. That didn't always work for me.

This was clearly different.

The process of discovering my Natural Advantage was not only fun to do, it also gave me a more complete picture of myself. New things really came to light for me.

Personality tests also give you an actionable perspective, but much more generic. In this Natural Advantage program, I was literally told how I can deliver the greatest value in a way that is also easy and relaxed. I know exactly what it takes to reproduce flow.
I hadn't been able to do that with anything else.
Truly epic!

During the program I quickly learned to see when I am and when I am not in my Natural Advantage, which allows me to approach things slightly differently so that it becomes less 'hard work' and yet delivers much more value.

With the description of my Natural Advantage that Marloes and Lianne worked out for me, it is now concrete on paper for me what my “zone of genius” looks like, so that I can bring myself into it more often and also in more areas in my work and my life.

This is already noticeable in the energy in my sessions with clients. 
They get more of the very best I can give.
I've found that now, not just in general terms but in all details. And success for my clients is success for me. I also have to think less about choices in my business; I get to the point faster where I just know.

While I had some doubts beforehand whether Natural Advantage would not be too vague or woolly. Would it be concrete and understandable enough to be of practical use?
I didn't have to have any doubts about that, because I now apply it continuously.

Surprising to me: I also discovered how I can use my Natural Advantage privately. I expected it to only be about work. I have many hobbies and like to go down all kinds of rabbit holes because I am curious, but after this process I suddenly know which new activities are really enriching for me and which ones will probably die out quickly.
Saves a lot of time, really great!

If you want to make it easy for yourself to deliver as much value as possible, it is worth having your Natural Advantage taken apart by Marloes and Lianne. They are extremely good at that. And it's just wonderful to be able to talk about yourself for hours ;-) To two very smart people, who listen well and ask smart questions.
These were special conversations, and afterwards I received the document with my Natural Advantage described in it. With a live explanation of course, and a few super illuminating coaching conversations afterwards.

Poof, mind blown!
Truly insane.

So liberating to understand myself better: one of the hardest things in life!

 

Aartjan van Erkel
Internet Copywriter, Trainer, Professional Speaker, and Bestselling Author.

When I first heard about Natural Advantage, I immediately felt a deep desire to let go of everything I was doing to keep my life and work afloat.

It really felt heavy, and with the health challenges I face, efficient energy use is crucial.
It made me curious—how could I be more myself and do things with greater ease?

Natural Advantage has given me so much. Frustration has almost completely disappeared from my life. I now make healthier choices for myself, and no energy or attention leaks into things that are not meant for me.

I am more present and work from a foundation of presence, gentleness and alignment with my natural rhythm. And because I now know exactly when something is meaningful for me or not, I can do my work in much less time.

The collaboration with my team and clients has reached a completely different level.
I am more accepted in my leadership, and there is greater trust in me.

Working with Marloes and Lianne felt like a huge privilege; two people who themselves are in their Natural Advantage and complement each other perfectly is a rich experience. And what they capture on paper in the first session as your Natural Advantage is spot-on.
Not a single word changes! Truly magical.

They understood my Natural Advantage way before I did, and that immediately gave me a sense of recognition and trust. They see who you truly are.
They were also able to illustrate how it looks like in my daily life and work, so I could quickly make it my own. And no matter what challenge I brought up, they could instantly point out why it was a challenge for me and how it no longer needed to be a challenge.

After Natuurlijke Voorsprong, there’s no way back because you feel so deeply that it’s right. It no longer makes sense to force myself to do things that don’t suit me at all.

I experience more surrender to life and recognize the intelligence of life as something that also lives within me and is aligned. More and more, I feel that my work, the people around me, and the places I visit, are in tune with my nature. This allows me to not only work more efficiently but also feel more valuable and able to offer more value to others.

This is not only a gift to myself but to everyone I live and work with.

Ninke van der Leck
High-Value Business Coach

From the outside looking in, I was doing great things in my company.

However, I had lost all fun in my work, and I felt unhappy. Everything felt heavy and too much. The desire to take up new things had completely disappeared. I didn't like it at all.

 

If I had continued this way, I would have ended up in burnout.
Actually, I was already on the edge.

 

I got stuck in a quest to make things better for myself, both professionally and privately. But hey… how do you find your joy again?
I really needed solutions to do things differently.

 

During a presentation by Marloes and Lianne, I saw a new way to think about yourself and your work that I had never thought about before. I lived from old ideas that seemed self-evident, such as 'that you just have to do your job'.

 

By discovering my Natural Advantage, I learned to recognize in which situations I am in my element. And I really realized that 'knowing-what-is-appropriate-and-pleasant-to-do' really creates new possibilities.

 

There is a lot of peace and inspiration in knowing exactly where your energy-givers and energy-drainers are, so I can have more direction on the energy-givers.

 

I also have words now to indicate my boundaries and to express where my strengths lie. This allows me to clearly define my role and manage expectations towards my environment. 

 

Everything then becomes easier.

And then you can move mountains and get things done.

 

To anyone who feels as tired as I did at the time, I would like to say; as soon as you realize and experience that you can indeed have situations in which you feel powerful, then you just know that there are opportunities to feel better and better.

 

Knowing every day where your 'on'-switch resides, is key.
That is precisely where Natural Advantage is very helpful.

I am super satisfied with how things are going right now.
I have energy and want to do new things again.

Lenneke van Ingen
Entrepreneur

Initially, I felt uncomfortable with being an introvert as a consultant. Especially in a work environment where extroverted behavior like ‘getting your point across quickly’ seemed to be the norm.
I got snowed under and started to doubt:
"Can I be a good consultant just by being who I am?"

The development conversations I regularly had there also cost me a lot of energy because I had no insight into where my strengths actually lay, and I was preoccupied with what was not going well.
It affected my self-confidence.

Somehow, I knew that I did not have to follow the image of 'how a consultant should be', but making the step to who you really are isn’t easy.

However, after gaining my first insights about my Natural Advantage, I was immediately impressed. Once you understand through that concept what your power is, see how you can use it, and what it means for your work but also for your private life, then it's so cool to explore this further and deeper for yourself.

To regularly reflect together with you both on what is going well and what is not, was super pleasant! You both immediately see exactly what is going on.

The growing insight into what is happening within myself allows me to make better choices and see my next steps. It's just very powerful when you know what suits you and what doesn't, so that you can make your choices more independently. Otherwise, you will continue to compare and follow the advice of others.
Now I just know what the best choice is for me.

Previously, I also experienced times when I felt less motivated in my work and lethargic. Then I also felt disappointed in myself and couldn't get out of it well on my own. Now I can switch much better to get back into my flow and feel motivated again. And that usually involves small or simple adjustments.

Beforehand, I did have doubts about this course since Natural Advantage is still relatively unknown. I wondered if it would be concrete enough and applicable for me. But the translation to application is not difficult at all once you understand how it works for you and once you notice how your problem-solving abilities emerge naturally.

Your Natural Advantage is so immensely helpful to grasp for everyone.
There is so much in the field of training where you get tips and suggestions that don't stick. That is such a waste of time and money.
This is different: it fits exactly with who you are and contains no advice that you will ultimately do nothing with.

You simply have deeper insight into yourself that makes it easier to make choices and to stop doubting yourself.

It’s so liberating to learn how to trust and rely on yourself and your hunches!

 

Iris Snuverink
Data Strategist

During a private entrepreneurs’ meeting on the theme 'Flow', Marloes and Lianne gave a presentation about 'Your Natural Advantage'.

I have been involved in the world of job satisfaction, positive psychology, engagement and flow for over 12 years and have come across most of it, mainly in the scientific realm.
I also thought I knew myself very well.

However, during a demonstration with one of the participants during that presentation, I saw something that seemed new and triggered my interest. I wanted to know what that would mean for me and went through the Discovery Process.

The approach to uncovering my Natural Advantage through an in-depth interview was refreshing and very enjoyable. It was also surprising how quickly you extracted the essentials, which were immediate eye-openers for me. I could never have come up with that myself!

The innovative and powerful aspect of Natural Advantage is that it is truly personalized and clarifies the conditions under which I can get into flow. It serves as a personal and concrete guideline on how to organize and shape my daily life so that I can enter and stay in my Natural Advantage as often as possible.

That makes it truly different. Previously, I relied on general guidelines to get into flow, like my enthusiasm, for example, but now I have a personal and concrete recipe to climb out of a slump and back into my flow.

This was the missing piece of the puzzle for me. Even after all my years of experience with this topic, this was still not in my toolbox!

Knowing my Natural Advantage has also led to a more natural balance between my ambition as an entrepreneur and staying true to myself. As an entrepreneur who wants to grow, you run the risk of following ideas and advice from others that do not suit you. Then you put yourself outside your Natural Advantage and no longer act from your own core or strengths.

It was also nice to work with Marloes and Lianne. It even felt like a luxury to receive all the attention during the sessions and to be positively dissected and seen. The conversations were above all very enlightening. It's impressive how you are analytical in a pleasant way and kept checking until it matched for me.

I can genuinely recommend it to everyone. Not only fellow entrepreneurs would I grant it, but also my mother, father, sister, my wife....
I think it would be best if everyone could live this way.

Once, I learned a Chinese wisdom about ‘being connected to your Chi, the life energy.’ I didn't really understand what that was back then, but I see now that you have made exactly that insightful for me; how you connect so that it flows again naturally and effortlessly.

Thank you!

 

Erwin Klappe
Specialist in Absence and Turnover Reduction for Healthcare Executives

For a long time, I have been experiencing periods of stress, accompanied by feelings of restlessness.
Deep down, I knew that it wasn’t good for me and that it was counterproductive.

And I also thought; this is how I am apparently.
I truly believed I had no other choice.
Now I know from experience; if you do this for a prolonged period, it will cost you dearly, it will break you.

 Moreover, that stress was also physically noticeable, and I presented others with a powerless image of myself; that I wasn't up to a certain task. It was so frustrating to know that I could do things really well, but that I couldn't show it to others sufficiently.

That took away opportunities and possibilities, and I just couldn't figure out what it was all about. I had to fight and struggle quite a bit to find my way.

Growing insight into my Natural Advantage makes it easier for me to change this. The biggest difference is that now I can make choices that are helpful for me to be in my element and thrive. Because I know what my natural conditions are and what is important to me, I can see and, above all feel what my better options are.

 

This makes me feel in charge of my life again. Insights that I now use in my work and personal life and the scope seems endless.
Whereas before, I thought I had no choice at all!

 

Insight into all this provides me energy-givers. And I learn to recognize energy-guzzlers and stay away from them.
This insight?! Worth its weight in gold!

Furthermore, I see myself making better and better conscious choices, feeling content with myself regardless of the outcome of that choice. Now I am better able to see the right opportunities and seize them.

It so clear to me that this is how and when I thrive and that I am allowed to be this way. This starting point is so different from before, where I followed ideas of how I should function or how things should be.
This gives so much more peace of mind.

I also see now that without knowing about my Natural Advantage, I could have been left with lingering feelings of 'not being good enough' or had to live with the notion that I could never keep up.

A Natural Advantage program is therefore a very worthwhile investment.
It should actually be a part of everyone's education.

If you feel  'lost in the desert' like I have or if you keep hitting the same wall over and over again; then explore your Natural Advantage. It is the door in that wall that becomes visible and also opens. 
Go through that door and embrace the difference you feel.

In all fairness. I did have my doubts beforehand; is this then the magic solution?
Will this get me out of those feelings of stress??

It also seemed too good to be true somehow.
I can now say: it is definitely true! It is a truth that you want to know about yourself and which, by the way, applies to all areas of life.
It does take courage from you, sure. But you get so much in return!

A 'must have to know' for your own personal development.
Thank you both so much for this incredible journey!

 

Jeanny Boot

Co-owner and Financial Interim Manager Boot+Boot

Early on in my career, I had several high-level functions in philanthropy, working with celebrities and diplomatic missions for royal families.
There I felt completely in my element, yet I always wanted my own business in the field of human rights.
This led me into an unexpected impact startup founder journey.

Things went south when I started to do my startup 'by the book'.

The flow was gone with a wind, things just didn’t work despite a classical 24/7 startup push. It resulted in overwork, low self-esteem, complete lack of energy and wondering what was wrong with me.

Looking back I can now see how strongly I was navigating with my intellect, following ‘start-up blueprints’ and the ideas of what success in that area had to look like.
So, there I was …workaholic, exhausted, anxious and full of doubts.

My expectations were that it would take some time to recover from this complete exhaustion. Yet, when I allowed myself to follow my Natural Advantage, my recovery speed impressed even my psychologist.

As soon as I actively started following the clues from my Natural Advantage, it all turned around rapidly. As if I had jumped on a magic carpet!

Although my next (career)steps were not logical to the outside world (such as, for example embarking on education way below my academic level) I knew it was mine to pick up.

From there, the journey unfolded by itself. It feels like a very suitable and satisfying way forward, including an unexpected startup restart. This time without blueprints from others, navigated only by my Natural Advantage, allowing the magic of all things to unfold by itself.

I now trust my natural way of being and working and I cannot stress enough how powerful that is. It becomes easier and easier to distance myself from old ideas and attachment of how things should go. And that is a huge relief.

What also tremendously improved is my sense of inner security. From a financial standpoint not a lot has changed (yet). Despite that I know I am OK and that my financial fortune lies in following my natural direction.

Knowing and really embracing your Natural Advantage can improve your life on all aspects of it. I wish for every-one to jump on their own unique magic carpet or whatever way it will manifest for you: a snail, spaceship or a Ferrari: trust it’s your unique way and that it’s perfectly right for you!

The rest is of no importance for your path to overall happiness and success.

 

Marina Malmberg
Owner Expatriate Heart - Consultant & CEO Advisor in CSDDD compliant & Sustainable Expatriation

Before discovering my Natural Advantage, I had done a lot of seeking. But all those modalities I tried, like Myers-Briggs and even Human Design which I love, have not given me what Natural Advantage has given me.

All those years I collected a lot of clues, but still experienced quite a lot of self-doubt and overwhelm. I felt overwhelmed in the sense of trying too hard, having too many options, or not knowing how to orient myself in a project or a situation.

My self-doubt was about thinking that other people somehow do it better, wanting what other people have, and admiring other people's ways of doing things. 

I felt less happy with who I was compared to other people I liked and appreciated. Somehow, I didn't see that my native capacity and my ways of being are as worthwhile. 

Uncovering my Natural Advantage as an 'Ally' was eye-opening.
Being an Ally means for me that I naturally focus on partnership, win-win solutions, and supporting others while ensuring my own needs are met. It was so obvious and familiar, that - by myself - it was hard to notice as something distinct and worthwhile. Seeing it through somebody else's eyes helped me to realize there is that substance there and to appreciate it too.

Now, I am consciously aware of when I'm using my Natural Advantage. Rather than doubting myself, I feel more at peace, in gratitude, and presence.
I achieve more with less effort by simply being in alignment with my essence. This inside-out approach brings greater fulfillment and ease compared to chasing external markers of success or validation.

In my work with clients, I now find myself confidently stepping into my beloved role of an ally, focusing on partnership and finding win-win solutions.
People have started referring to me as an ally without me even mentioning it, which feels like a beautiful confirmation that I'm living in alignment with my Natural Advantage.

While I still have my low days, returning to my Natural Advantage space feels inevitable now.
The self-doubt and overwhelm that used to consume me have been replaced by a deep trust and appreciation for who I am and what I bring to the world.

I am so grateful to have claimed my Natural Advantage and to now feel as much appreciation for my own way of being as I used to only feel for those I admired. 
I wish more people knew this is deeply fulfilling and life-altering work is available. 

If you're tired of trying to fit into someone else's mold and are ready to really appreciate your own potential, your individual substance, I wholeheartedly recommend exploring your Natural Advantage.

It's a truly transformative journey that will change how you see yourself and navigate life.

 

Dorota Godby – Coach and Decluttering Doula for Naturally Sensitive People at Gentle Power 

I have been following Marloes for a while and have seen what it can do for people when they discover their Natural Advantage.
So, I was very curious about my own results.

My Natural Advantage appears to be ‘creating spaces where people are heard, seen and fully appreciated’. It is important to me that people are given the space - both literally and figuratively - to zoom out and see new options. To achieve this, I use myself as an instrument.

I recognized it instantly; this has always been my main driving force, but I've never had it so clear before.

Suddenly I understood why, for example, I always made such a fuss about training spaces in my work. In various organizations where I've worked as a coach and trainer, the training spaces or rooms were often substandard. This hindered my ability to do my job well. But when the space is good, I'm completely in my element and I deliver the best contribution I can.


In the past, I took it personally when I had to work in a space that wasn't suitable for coaching or training. I felt like a failure because I had less impact than usual. If I said something about the space, I often felt like a complainer because I had high standards. People didn't always understand, so I often kept my wishes to myself and adapted.

Through insight into my Natural Advantage, I realize how important it is for people to feel the space to simply be and participate in coaching and training. I take it much more seriously now. This makes me feel better, doubt myself less, and enjoy coaching and training even more. Through my Natural Advantage, I know what I need to create the most value for clients and participants in the trainings I provide.

Insight into my Natural Advantage has given me so much understanding and satisfaction that I've also recommended it to my son. It helps him make choices in his work that suit him.

What I find so wonderful about the Natural Advantage is that, unlike other methods, you don't have to change. On the contrary! You learn what you need to be in your element and make your best contribution.
This aligns perfectly with my goal of enabling people to fulfill their potential.

 

Anjo van der Wal - systemic trainer, consultant and choice facilitator
at Consultancy firm Van der Wal