I’ve just got back from guiding six American tourists through what I believe is one of the most beautiful nature reserves out there: La Pedriza. They loved it. I loved it. I’m loving the life in Spain I live now that the pieces are all falling together. It’s taken me some time, it’s taken me more effort and a whole lot of standing back up after falling down in my career by making mistakes has been needed. But now, more than a decade after having moved here from Holland, I can wholeheartedly say that I’m where I wanted to be. And I’ve only just begun...
After having given my career as a freelance journalist a serious and satisfying try, I decided to give my other “me” a chance as well. It happened when I came across a small article in one of the the magazines I wrote for, about “Sightrunning Tours” in Amsterdam. Combining running with tourism… I loved the idea, saw that nobody was doing it in Madrid and started a website.
Long story short: I launched the running tours in Madrid. First part-time, of course, together with my writing and translating work. After about a year, it became clear that - in order for the concept to work - it needed full-time dedication. I was in the position where I could afford to take that step so I took it. From there, there was no way back.
A year later, I decided to include trail running in Madrid’s National Park. I started offering simple day trips and then also included trips to the races held in the nearby mountains, focusing on the Dutch public at first. A year after that, I took the third step by founding Madrid Outdoor Sports.
For me, it was like turning my own personality into a business concept; everything I loved and practice(d) became a potential business idea. Madrid Outdoor Sports offers all the outdoor sports thinkable, basically. All focused on Madrid and central Spain. The idea took off pretty well, however, it’s proven difficult to turn this good idea in a good business that gives me the possibility to make a decent living, for a number of reasons…
The idea of offering outdoor sports in a city like Madrid, where millions of tourists com each year, with a National Park at less than an hour away, in a growing niche (sports/active tourism) is a solid idea. On the other hand: having to train 2-3 hours per day, having 2 small kids, going through a divorce is not a great help.
Still, I managed to slowly keep taking the project to the necessary next levels. Two years after having started with Madrid Outdoor Sports, I decided to stop competing in the trail running race because it just demanded too much of my time. I also decided to move into an office space in La Latina in order to stop working at home (the office also helped to take myself and the project more seriously. With the office, I could also start working with interns in order to release myself of an important workload that didn’t let me advance at the pace I needed.
The office was a very important step in the good direction. The potential of the business concept became clearer and I decided to propose a partnership to various contacts. And now, two years after a failed first attempt (there always has to be a failed first attempt) this has become a reality and Madrid Outdoor Sports has merged with DreamPeaks and EspírituNature to form ¡Olé! Outdoor, S.L..
¡Olé! Outdoor, S.L. is the realisation of the vision I had 6 six years ago and the dream I’ve had since I was a kid (without even knowing it back then). A professionalized outdoor sports business offering all the services and activities you can possibly imagine. We’ve combined the experience and specializations of three partners to form a unique company in Spain, with practically no competition.
As a company - born in January 2018 - but the genes come from years of experience and are already proving to turn into a strong project; since we’re operating as the S.L., we’ve already generated more sales in two months than any of our three companies were doing in half a year. A lot of work lies ahead, but a dream is becoming reality and a bright future awaits us.