"If I can get divorced, then I can also start my own business" - a few years later Betina Voss won Level Up

It is March 16, 2023, and confetti is raining down over the stage at StreetMekka in Esbjerg. Amid the confetti’s swirling descent to the ground, Betina Voss stands beaming. She has just won Business Esbjerg’s Level Up program, where about ten companies over the past year have worked on and developed their respective businesses.

That evening they are celebrated at the event Esbjerg’s Heroes. It all ends with Betina Voss, with her company Thermofloc DK, which sells climate-friendly, newspaper-based insulation material for the buildings of the future, winning the prize of 25,000 DKK.

We jump seven months ahead and meet Betina Voss at Business Esbjerg’s entrepreneur house, Riggen, where she begins by telling us what winning Level Up meant to her.

"First and foremost, winning Level Up gave me a larger network. I prioritized spreading the news thoroughly on social media, especially LinkedIn. And I could also feel, when I was out visiting customers and presenting my products, that it gave me a few more stars on my shoulders," says Betina Voss.

From nurse to entrepreneur

And precisely the matter of stars on her shoulders had been a challenge for Betina Voss since she started the company back in 2020. She had just come out of a divorce, and she thought:

"If I can get divorced, then I can also start my own business. And so I did," says Betina Voss, who came from a job as a nurse and later worked in a company that dealt with paper insulation. In the beginning, however, there was a particular challenge that Betina Voss encountered repeatedly.

"I often experienced that there was a big effort just to get to a point where I was allowed to present my products. It was a bit boundary-crossing to be a woman in a very male-dominated world, and I often felt that I didn’t quite have enough on my CV and stars on my shoulders to be considered," says Betina Voss.

In 2021, she therefore studied to become a certified advisor in sustainable construction while participating in Business Esbjerg’s Level Up program. Part of the program is that each company gets its own Advisory Board attached, which advises and consults throughout the entire program.

And that Advisory Board made a huge difference for Betina Voss.

"I realized that I already held the strongest card in my hand"

"For example, I had no business plan before my first meeting with my Advisory Board. They told me I needed to get one made as soon as possible. And my business plan made me see clearly what I wanted with my business. Writing down my goals made it more tangible and realistic because now I have kind of made a deal with myself that I have to reach these goals," explains Betina Voss.

But it was not only a business plan that her Advisory Board could help with. Betina was sure she knew everything about her company, and that one of the areas she was strongest in was sales. But it turned out that it was precisely there she could learn the most.

"I thought I had to sell in that tough, hard way. But my Advisory Board made me realize that I should hold on to the person Betina and bring the values I had as a nurse into the sales rooms," says Betina Voss and continues:

"I have always been good at seeing the person, so suddenly I realized that I actually already held the strongest card in my hand; namely myself and my personality," says Betina Voss and also explains that she knows when all her partners have birthdays or if they have a close anniversary.

"For me, it is not just about a customer, but an important relationship and collaboration partner. So in that way, I focus much more on quality rather than quantity."

Therefore, Betina Voss’s recommendation is also crystal clear if you are out there with a business in its early phase.

"If you have the courage to develop your business and really take a close look at it, then Level Up is a huge recommendation from me."