New Business Models – Working Together on Value Creation

Current situation Lifemaps.NL:

• The products: lifemaps and building blocks for lifemaps have been developed by me, in a creative process, without any other consideration than to bring experiential knowledge in personal life and business to the surface and to mold it into an accessible form for others. Real-life learning from each other through generations is an important theme for me. The choice of the form - posters, stickers - was not deliberately chosen, but came out as the one form that I could create and that appeared to work.

• The lifemaps program for intuitive self-discovery and self-development is what came out of this process. Until shortly, it was just a hobby. Everything else that is there, now: co-creation partners, experiences with/references for lifemaps, site & shop, etc. has been added afterwards.

• Recently, I have set the objective to develop a viable business around lifemaps and to make the journey from the current status to a NBM.

The communities which I am making my NBM for/with:

• The core community consists of multi-talented people: highly intelligent, sensitive and creative (in different combinations of all three). I already knew, that I have been inspired by my sons and daughters in law - they are multitalented. Only recently others made me aware, that I had developed the lifemaps for people like myself - motivated by the idea of how wonderful I would have found it, to have had instruments like lifemaps available to me, when I needed them.

• The second community - for co-development, collaboration and co-creation - is that of selected coaches and trainers with whom there is a good match AND who also strive to live second tier values (Spiral Dynamics integral) and offer innovative and WEconomy inspired services. Note: they are often self-employed.

• The third community is not really a community: the WEconomy inspired, WE-oriented and 'whole systems' people in HR, Innovation, CSP and Talent Development of the top 500 businesses and in universities - as an entry point to reach all multi-talented individuals in those organizations.

• In a collective ideation process with family members, closest friends and colleagues the first image of my business model came into life. Showing the circle around the lifemaps.nl core as being 'multi-talented people like me' - be it as users of the lifemaps or as partners for co-creation. What also came forward is that for the broader community more and more connections will be developed between the second and third community. Since I am a new business developer this will include brining in my experience in this area as contribution to value creation.

Other elements of a NBM

• Value exchange in addition to selling/buying. No rules are preset, here, the 'deal' will be custom-made each time.

• Co-creation, using a 'house-keeping book' to evaluate the value exchange and do value accounting. Besides money we are working with 'love coins'. 10 Love coins are equivalent to 111 euro, VAT included, for 1,5 hours of co-creation. The evaluation takes place after each session and is consensus based.

• A compensation strategy for the non-sustainable characteristics of the current business (only the webhosting aspect of the current Lifemaps.NL business has a 'green label'): I have taken a couple of measures to diminish my personal footprint: became a vegetarian, sold my car (now using public transport and car sharing) and bought solar panels.

• A start-at-the-other-end strategy for the lack of community/sharing: since there is no real community linked to Lifemaps.NL yet, I have decided to be part of other people's communities and to proactively invest (money, advice, time) in their work.