Skip to main content
Source JournalDispatchesArticlesRSS
← Back to Source Journal

A Garden of Compounding Efforts

18 August 2025 · Updated 16 June 2026 · Ben Visser · 2 min read

At a glance - TL;DR

A summer week full of unexpected moments crystallised something important: the work from earlier years is not gone, it is still here, composting into fertile ground. A chance conversation about a CTO meeting and a YouTube recording session both triggered the same wave of pride and recognition that two years of freelancing, vlogging, and building have quietly merged into something much bigger.

Key takeaways

  • Past effort never disappears; it enriches the conditions for everything that comes next.
  • Compounding works across skills too, not just finances; years of vlogging comfort became a business asset almost without noticing.
  • A warm, unplanned conversation with a client's team led to sharing real company news, a reminder that authentic momentum spreads through people.
  • Landing a meeting with a CTO at a Dutch energy company because a teammate pitched it to a friend at exactly the right moment shows how network threads pay off unpredictably.
  • Transformation feels like shedding a skin; going bigger is easier when you have a team you are proud to call your own.

This past week was a wonderful summer week, and it really felt like living the theme of blossoming. We’re in that season of enjoying the greenery and flowers of the seeds we’ve planted in the garden we’re tending to.

Tending the Soil

What stood out to me was the realisation that this garden doesn’t have to be recreated from scratch with every new project. All the effort, all the nurturing that went into earlier projects, is still here. It’s building the fertile grounds that new projects grow out of. And because things have blossomed here before, the conditions are excellent for what comes next to grow faster and stronger. That’s the metaphor that captures the feeling of this week perfectly.

Blossoms of the Week

One small but beautiful moment happened at the office. I was chatting with some employees of a client I’m working for — a fun group of people who almost feel like colleagues by now. It was a calm summer day, and since they weren’t too busy, I couldn’t help but share some Askara Solutions news I was excited about. Reinier, one of our teammates, managed to get us a meeting with the CTO of Vandebron — a Dutch energy company with a strong appeal to younger generations. He pulled it off by pitching Askara Solutions to a friend, who then passed it on at exactly the right time, just when the CTO was deciding how they wanted to move forward with their ISO compliance strategy. Even just having the chance to talk with people on this level feels huge. I couldn’t keep it to myself. We ended up talking more about Askara Solutions, and I also showed them a bit of what we’re working on. That naturally led into updates about the Y2S YouTube channel and the book. By the time the conversation wrapped up, everyone in the room (including me) seemed a bit flabbergasted with how much was shared in such a short time. Driving home afterwards, I felt this deep pride about the growth of the past two years.

Later in the week, the same theme showed up again while recording a new video for the company YouTube channel — something between a vlog and a podcast. Again I noticed how even the skill of being comfortable with vlogging, built up steadily over the past two years, is now becoming incredibly valuable. During the conversation we naturally drifted towards the backstory of Askara Solutions’s inception. Once more I was hit with this strong wave of pride, realising how the threads of freelancing and vlogging are merging into this new shape. It feels like shedding an old skin and transforming into something bigger, and this time with an incredible team around me who I’m lucky to call mine. (If you want the backstory itself, you’ll have to watch the pod — I won’t be repeating it here.)

New Growth Emerging

The takeaway this week is simple but powerful: the compounding effect of work. Every effort, every project, every skill picked up along the way enriches the soil. Nothing is wasted. Each blossoming before makes it easier for the next one to bloom stronger and faster. Going forward, it's great to remind ourselves that nothing disappears, that the work keeps building, and that the next harvest always grows out of the last.

With care, Ben