“I have learned to use my perfectionism positively”
Ambition is one thing that Delphine Vandeputte, the founder of project sourcing company Jockey Projects, has certainly never lacked. However, this isn’t always enough when it comes to scaling. “The Challenge Bootcamp taught me the importance of focus. I used to jump on board with every opportunity. Now I focus on my passion: sales & marketing. Since then, things have become clearer.”
About Jockey Projects
- Founded in Kortrijk in 2022
- Specialises in temporarily strengthening companies with freelance sales and marketing experts
- Pool of 40 experienced freelancers
Why did you choose the Challenge Bootcamp?
“I worked in sales & marketing for over 10 years, first as an employee and later as a freelancer. Although I found it satisfying, I also noticed a specific need at the companies I worked with. Marketing is a very broad field which is changing rapidly. This poses challenges for SMEs in particular: they can’t recruit an entire team, but it’s impossible to find all the expertise they need in a single person. This is how Jockey Projects came into being: as a way of making life easier for SMEs. They can strengthen their core team, temporarily gain specific expertise or cover absences. Clients only pay for what they need, and freelancers have the opportunity to make an impact. The name made sense, because I feel at home in the equestrian world and found the metaphor apt: even a good horse needs the right jockey to win.
I put together a group of freelancers – The Jockey Club – and got started. There was a good product-market fit right away, but after a while we found ourselves in the notorious dead zone: what was the next step? How could we scale up without losing our boutique character? I entered the Challenge Bootcamp with this question in mind. What appealed to me was the combination of solid academic foundations and practical, on-the-ground experience. The professors and experts use their own entrepreneurship as the basis of their teaching. And the closing jury pitch is a strong stimulus to put everything into practice.”
What are the main insights you gained from the training programme? Have they helped to resolve your challenges?
“At some point in the sessions, Pascal Persyn (CEO of Perpetos) said: go niche or go home. It’s better to have one clear offer for a large region than try to be everything to everyone in a small region. Confrontational, perhaps, but his words helped me tremendously.
At the time, the Jockey Club offered freelancers in three fields of business: sales, marketing and safety. I had less experience and feel for safety, but there was a demand for it, so I thought we should add it. During the training programme, it quickly became clear that this reasoning was incorrect. Pascal finally put his finger on the wound. As an entrepreneur, you have to dare to commit fully to your vision. That’s how you make a difference.
In concrete terms: the Jockey Club is a quality label. But how can I select experts in chemical agents, ex-firefighters or prevention consultants if I have little understanding of that sector? I thought about taking a course, but then I wondered: what am I actually doing here? With sales and marketing, the deep dive comes naturally to me. I go to events, listen to podcasts, read everything I come across. Thanks to the Challenge Bootcamp, I realised that focus is a prerequisite for success.
This lesson was also reflected in the closing jury pitch. “Ambition without figures is not a strategy,” said one of the experts. Although I have the drive, I tend to fall into the pitfall of wanting too much at once. The jury presented me with questions that forced me to focus my ambition. Who is the target group? What direction do you want to go in? What are your general strategies?”
How have you implemented these insights?
“I now adopt a more conscious approach to margins and profitability. Numbers aren’t just for looking back; they help guide decisions. To support me in this area, I’m looking for an external CFO. This will allow me to focus on what I’m good at: sales & marketing. I have since handed over the safety clients to a partner. Nobody in the boot camp explicitly told me to do this, but the insights that I gained made it a very logical choice.
In order to deepen our sales and marketing range further, I entered into a partnership with the consultancy company Halifax, which specialises in training courses on sales performance. If I don’t have a suitable jockey for a client in a particular situation, I can still offer them the necessary expertise through training and coaching.
I am also focusing more on community building. I’d like the Jockey Club to become even more exclusive and more of a close-knit team. I started a newsletter, plan lunches with the jockeys and invest in friendly contact on a regular basis. Sometimes that means little things, like sending birthday wishes. They’re my team and I want to take care of them.”
What impact have these steps had on your business?
“The training was only completed a few months ago, but I can already see improvements in our margins. We are also attracting more of the right clients: SMEs with commercial project needs.
By saying ‘no’ more often, I notice that I am taken more seriously as an entrepreneur. I was doing a lot of things because I felt like I had to, but I’d lost touch somewhat with why I wanted to start a business in the first place. Management is still a big part of my job – the machine has to be running smoothly if I want to scale up – but I’m working on my passion: sales & marketing. This allows me to do business more authentically.
I express much more clearly what I stand for now; it comes very naturally. I know who I am and what I’m passionate about.
With this renewed focus, things have become clearer.” Where my perfectionism used to get in the way – I wanted to be the best, but that’s impossible if you try to do everything – it has now become my greatest strength.”