One of the most beautiful feelings in the world is to see your dreams broken down into SMART goals, slowly but surely becoming reality! This is what I felt working together with Maurice aka Coach Mo to set up DEIS UK in 2021.
The Association for Development through Education, Information, and Support (DEIS, in short) is a non-profit organisation working with and for young people to empower them and help them create the opportunities they want to see in their communities. It was first created in a small town in Romania, in 2010, and I joined their story in 2016. Three years later when I moved to the UK to study and settle down here, I knew that I wanted to bring with me all the great things that I was doing back home, but I was envisioning this at least five years down the road, after I was done with my undergraduate degree and masters. So how come we’re up and running already? Well, we’ve got Coach Mo to thank!
I initially joined Maurice’s organisation – Collab Training Academy CIC – in March 2020 on their work experience programme. We have been working with him for about a year when I told him about my dream of creating DEIS UK. As soon as he heard me, he was committed to help make this dream come true in the next twelve months! I kept telling Maurice (and myself) that I wasn’t ready, I didn’t have enough time, and all sorts of excuses, but he saw right through them. This was incredibly important for my confidence, knowing that I had the power in me and his valuable support.
We started laying the foundations in April 2021 by working out a business plan, thinking about the target group that DEIS was going to work with, the mission & vision, the short, medium, and long-term goals, ways to fund the organisation, and the types of activities we would be running. Honestly, you can never know everything about your business until you lay it all down on paper and start discussing it with people. After the first meeting there were details to fine-tune, but the whole idea felt more realistic and doable. One step at a time. Over the next few meetings we discussed networking and making new connections as well as utilising the ones that were already right in front of me. Behind the scenes my co-founder – Jeanine – and I were also working on the visual identity of the organisation and creating our social media pages. Before we even knew it, we were ready to launch. In August 2021 we had our first event as DEIS UK and by October we were officially registered as a CIC.
This was definitely not an easy journey, but having the right people by my side and all of Maurice’s advice made everything a lot more manageable. When starting to set up your own business you have to be ready to improve yourself at all times. Leadership, communication, and teamwork are just a few of the key skills that I refined with Maurice’s help and these are essential in anything you do, even outside your business.
If you’re looking for a little push to get your dream up and running, Maurice is the right person to work with! He knows exactly when he needs to be patient and when to encourage you to get out of your comfort zone because that’s where growth happens. And if you’re like me and you think you have enough time, let me tell you something I learned from Coach Mo… “there are 168 hours in a week”. You will make the time to invest in your dream!
