The World Gets Bigger: Joran Hofman's Story
Joran Hofman's journey from a tranquil village in the Netherlands to founding Reditus showcases a profound transformation fueled by ambition, adaptability, and the drive to bring value to the global tech industry.
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From Rural Beginnings to Global Perspectives
Raised in a small Dutch village, Joran's early life was simple and community-centered, dominated by school and local sports. This serene upbringing in a town of just 1,800 people provided him with a stable foundation and a strong sense of community but also instilled a yearning for something beyond the familiar confines. His move to Amsterdam for his bachelor's degree marked the first major expansion of his world, exposing him to diverse cultures, advanced technology, and broader educational opportunities. It was during this time that Joran recognized the limitations of his English skills and decided to challenge himself further by moving to Australia for an internship. This decision was pivotal, plunging him into an environment where he had to navigate new challenges daily, from organizing sports competitions for companies to executing direct sales strategies without prior appointments.
Entrepreneurial Shift and the Birth of Reditus
Joran’s stint in Australia was more than just an educational journey; it was a crash course in global business practices and self-reliance. Upon returning, he leveraged his experiences and observations to venture into the digital world. His goal was simple: to generate enough income to enjoy life without the confines of a traditional job. However, reality struck when the site, despite attracting significant traffic, didn’t yield the passive income he had envisioned. This setback steered him towards affiliate marketing, where he quickly identified significant gaps in the existing affiliate management solutions. Motivated by these challenges, Joran founded Reditus, aimed at simplifying and enhancing affiliate programs for SaaS companies. His commitment to creating a value-based, user-centric platform was deeply influenced by his personal ethos of mutual benefit and community support.
Living the Philosophy of Balance and Value
Even as Reditus grew, Joran maintained his life philosophy of balance and immediacy, which reflects in his personal life. He advocates for a business strategy that prioritizes long-term gains through genuine value creation over short-term profits. This approach not only defines Reditus’s operations but also Joran’s lifestyle choices. He continues to blend his entrepreneurial responsibilities with his passion for travel, often working remotely from scenic locations in his camper van. This integration of work and personal satisfaction is central to Joran’s vision of success, which he believes is about making a positive impact while enjoying the journey.
A Model for Sustainable Entrepreneurship
Joran Hofman's story is not just a tale of personal achievement but a blueprint for sustainable entrepreneurship. It illustrates how one can embrace global opportunities and still stay close to home with core values. Joran exemplifies how modern entrepreneurs can succeed professionally while living a life that aligns with their personal ideals. His journey from a small town to global tech circles emphasizes that with the right mindset, one can turn even the simplest beginnings into platforms for significant global impact.
00:00:00:01 - 00:00:28:00
Joran Hofman
So I built a website. Grew it organically to 20,000 organic visitors per month. And then my idea was, I'm going to lay on a beach somewhere and earn money via the website. It didn't really work out. I'm Joran Hofman. Born in Utrecht, in the Netherlands. I grew up in a really small town. Like if you translate it to English, it's actually called long pants.
00:00:28:02 - 00:00:48:16
Joran Hofman
Where we grew up, like, I grew in a really safe environment, I guess, like, I mean, the village was 1800 people. Like either people went to soccer or football on Saturday or they went to church on Sunday. There was kind of a diversion in the in the town. And for me, I guess I growing up was just like we were able to walk to school, like when we were really small kids.
00:00:48:16 - 00:01:06:21
Joran Hofman
And after that we just went to the football pitch and just started playing football almost all day. So I think that's that's kind of like my childhood in a really short sentence because I think that's what I did until I was 15 or something like that. And then you move on to the next village to go to the next school and then the world becomes a bit bigger.
00:01:06:21 - 00:01:27:20
Joran Hofman
But until that time it was like my village, I guess only in my early days. I didn't spend that much time on the internet. I think you still have to dial in, right where you to hear the tone as in yet today and again, we're in a small village, so whenever I use the internet, my mom couldn't get a phone call, so I got time where I just was allowed to use the Internet.
00:01:27:20 - 00:01:43:11
Joran Hofman
Basically, that was like the real childhood. And I think like after that when I was doing bachelors, things like that, then the world opens up because I did my bachelor's in Amsterdam. So I went from a small village to at least a city next to me and after that to to Amsterdam. And then you get exposed to a lot more things.
00:01:43:11 - 00:02:00:24
Joran Hofman
But also as technology advanced, we got Internet and the world just opened up a bit. My teacher basically said, or I learned also during school that my English was pretty terrible. Out of ten, I always go to five, five and a half. I just passed like barely. And I think at one point I get this feeling like I need to improve it.
00:02:00:24 - 00:02:20:02
Joran Hofman
And the only way to improve it is to actually go to a country where they speak English. And that's why I decided to do my internship in Australia. There was the first internship I did. During my bachelors and I always do a bit things last minute. So I basically, I think, booked a flight. I arranged the internship maybe two weeks, three weeks before I did not have a plan where I was going to stay.
00:02:20:02 - 00:02:39:11
Joran Hofman
So basically booked the hostel for the first three days I was there and then I thought, I will just figure out, I guess, how we're going to survive there. And that was the real experience with me, like being global, just flying the complete opposite side of the of the world. Basically. I studied sports marketing. We organized like competitions for companies during lunch.
00:02:39:11 - 00:03:07:13
Joran Hofman
That's like a big thing in Australia where you just where they go out and they're not having actually lunch, but to just play a game of soccer or touch footy or korfball as we call it, in Dutch. We organized each competitions and basically I was selling them, managing them and, and kind of growing them. And the fun part, I guess like the things I learned there, like the guy was pretty Australian where he just pushed me to do stuff I was not comfortable with.
00:03:07:14 - 00:03:25:22
Joran Hofman
Like he would just say to me, like, go walk in their office, ask basically just walk in the actual building ask for the HR director and then see if you can sell a touch footy course, for example, or a touch footy competition, just not even dialing in, just walking into the office and trying to sell like real cold called to them.
00:03:25:24 - 00:03:32:18
Director
Talk us through a little bit about your early journey with Reditus and how that came about and your your role within it.
00:03:32:20 - 00:03:53:06
Joran Hofman
Yeah, so I guess the, the journey was that I mean, we're an affiliate management platform. We help SaaS companies to set up an affiliate program, manage their affiliate, and then grow it. I worked at a different startup before this where I often got the question, This is a great tool, which tool should I use more?
00:03:53:08 - 00:04:14:04
Joran Hofman
When you’re doing like eight or ten demos a day, you kind of get sick of that question. So I built a website basically list all the best sales or marketing tools on there grew it organically to 20,000 organic visitors per month. And then my idea was I'm going to lay on a beach somewhere and earn money via the website.
00:04:14:06 - 00:04:30:16
Joran Hofman
Didn't really work out. I got into affiliate marketing, so I basically started recommending these tools with an affiliate link. So the idea is that you get a kickback fee. But I ran into so many issues with the current programs on the on the market that I just decided to build my own tool. So that's how I got started. Basically.
00:04:30:18 - 00:04:47:01
Joran Hofman
Yeah, I think one good thing to maybe explain is like we are really value based and it's I guess like me trying to help each other as well. Like we have a freemium plan and our plan is value based. So how much money are we helping the other company generate? That's where we define our pricing on. So we are building a two sided marketplace.
00:04:47:07 - 00:05:04:02
Joran Hofman
10,000 affiliates see the 70 affiliate programs in the current marketplace and SaaS companies can also soon search, contact and recruit affiliates on the other side of the marketplace. But for people to actually start paying us a lot of money. They need to get a lot of value out of our tool as well. And that's kind of again, helping others first and then things will come back.
00:05:04:02 - 00:05:22:07
Joran Hofman
And that mindset is just baked in within Reditus right now and I don't know at the moment if we have it too baked in, I guess just like where we could make more money, I guess by charging more. But I do think like the strategy we have is going to pay off like long term wise. And that's kind of how I always look at things.
00:05:22:07 - 00:05:42:22
Joran Hofman
Like long term. Yeah, what defines me, I think. I mean, I like to be seen as a as a nice guy. I guess I generally try to help other people as well where I can. I'm doing my own podcast. It's somewhat of my own benefit where I can ask the questions to industry experts where I can learn myself.
00:05:42:22 - 00:06:00:24
Joran Hofman
But while doing so, I record it so other people can enjoy it as well. I think that's a bit my, my mindset. Like it sounds a bit cliche, but I think like if you're really trying to help other people, things will come back to your self as well. And that's kind of the mindset I have and things will take longer as in you might not grow to revenue as fast.
00:06:01:03 - 00:06:17:13
Joran Hofman
And now for for us, for example, as as I would like to. But then in the end, I know things are going to work out well and we are going to grow as fast as we we should. I love to travel as well. So we get a camper van. We just went this summer to Norway. Like I still have to bring my laptop, right?
00:06:17:13 - 00:06:39:03
Joran Hofman
I still have to work. So I've been doing some calls from the camper van in Norway with a really cool background. But that's that's kind of the life I want to have like enjoy right now and not work towards this big exit which might never come. So I kind of want to work towards like a building good company and then just living the life now and then keep traveling along the way as well.
00:06:39:03 - 00:07:00:02
Joran Hofman
That's kind of what I like to do. Why go for that moment in the future where you can actually like live life as well while growing a company and it might not grow as fast, but I'm not also giving away equities. So in the end, if we are going for an exit, I might keep the exact same number on the bank account as the guy who's working really hard but giving equity along the way.
