VidaSense: Every business is a people’s business

B usinesses are more than a collection of statistics, business cards and paperclips. It is the people behind it who give a brand its fire, uniqueness and success. An unhappy, unmotivated or unsatisfied team can, therefore, impact your accountancy tremendously. VidaSense founder Jos Frederiks helps you to reignite the fire in your team and induce a renaissance within your halls. In his book Change your words to change your life, Frederiks zooms in on the power of words, honesty and great communication.

After a successful, fast-paced career in the world of sales, Frederiks felt that it was time for a change. “I worked in businesses of all sizes for 20 years,” says the businessman-turned-coach. “I saw businesses grow from 35 to 900 people, led entire sales teams and made it until the board room. Yet, after a take-over of the company I worked for, as well as multiple reorganisations, I got fired.” Shaken by this experience and fed-up with the impersonal attitude that you find in many white-collar environments, Frederiks followed his instinct and immersed himself in psychology. “I read every book I could find, got in contact with numerous professionals and even tagged along with a psychologist for an entire year. I started going to Bandler (the founder of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)) in the United Kingdom and the United States, which I still do, to date.”

“The road to success is fully paved with obstacles well handled”

Together with a business partner, Frederiks started a practice. A few years after, this same business partner double-crossed him, after which Frederiks ended their collaboration. “This experience taught me a very valuable lesson: honesty is the most valuable thing there is, both in your professional and personal life.” With this philosophy in mind, he founded VidaSense, a multidisciplinary practice in which he and his team help companies and individuals overcome a myriad of challenges by dealing with them on an honest, human level. “I am curious, sincere and great at listening. Combined with my contagious energy, this helps people on their way to success. The road to success is fully paved with obstacles well handled.” Furthermore, Frederiks works as a business coach, team trainer and key-note speaker.

How to live a happy life

“Managers often forget that the true capital of their business is its people. It is the team as a whole who executes all your paper plans and every victory for the company should be one for the team, as well. Involving, valuing and motivating your people is, therefore, paramount.” To help companies achieve this, VidaSense approaches the issue from numerous angles. Not only do they help brands and people in need by offering them (group) psychology, business coaching, personal coaching, training, or a combination of them all; but they also use these tools to help companies to prevent these problems. “In the last decade, the duration of the average sick leave has increased drastically. We spend more time at home, which costs our companies handfuls of money. Investing in prevention programmes’ like ours is, therefore, a saving measure.”

Jos Frederiks.

Awareness

When assisting a company, Frederiks and his team start by analysing the business and pinpointing its sore points. From there on, they handcraft a personalised action plan to provoke a change. “We don’t enter your company with static road maps or vague procedures. Instead, we build solutions from scratch based on what we observe.” Working from the top down, Frederiks and his team usually start with the company’s management. As they determine the company culture and steer its people, they usually are part of the problem. “The magic word when forcing a change is ‘awareness’. The management has to acknowledge the problems, be aware of what these entail and comprehend how they can be solved. Only then, a sustainable mentality change is possible.”

Word analyst

VidaSense is there for everyone: business owners, account managers, entire teams… but also those who aim to have better personal relationships with the ones closest to them. “They come to me with a myriad of questions. How can I enjoy more? How can I be a better partner? How do I reduce my stress? How do I become better in what I do? … In my role as a coach, trainer and hypnotherapist, I have had over 16,000 talks with people. Throughout the years, I have learned that words are often the key to solving such issues. What you say to yourself and your environment allows you to grow or makes you stagnate. Using words more consciously makes you happier, both personally and professionally. People call me a word analyst.”

Change your words to change your life

Over a decade after his career change, Frederiks has now written a book about communication and the way we use our words: Change your words to change your life. “Throughout the years, many people told me that I should write a book, but I never felt the need to do so. Until, at some point, someone argued that it would allow me to affect way more people than just through one-on-one consultations and public speaking. This inspired me to, indeed, start writing.”

Change your words to change your life is a mirror to many and a reality-check to others. It approaches the topic of honest and clear communication from a most-relatable angle. “I didn’t specifically write it for managers or workers, but for people in general. Everyone faces choices and the consequences that come with them. In that sense, we are all the same. The choices you make determine the life you lead. You draw the blueprint of your life yourself. If you say you can’t, you’re right. If you say you can, then you are right too. Feel the difference? And being aware of that fact might just turn your world upside-down.”

Change your words to change your life will be published in English in April and will be distributed worldwide. For more information, check: www.josfrederiks.com

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