I have this overwhelming feeling that the next several months and what we all do during this time on the personal and professional level and the choices we make, will be super important, not just for the immediate future, but for years to come.

What happens now, reminds me of how I entered the crisis of 2009-2010 and how I came out of it… In early 2009, I was working at the corporate finance department for a steel company named ArcelorMittal, and my employer was heavily impacted not just by being in the steel business, but also because it was a highly leveraged enterprise due to its recent M&A spree. I was pregnant at the time with our 3rd child, and just committed to investing 42,000 EUR into my executive MBA program in Rotterdam, and … with our growing family, we just bought the house in Luxembourg. I’m sure, you get the picture. 😉

There was a very compelling reason, why I decided to invest in EMBA education – I already knew I was not professionally happy and I did not really feel fulfilled. I was fascinated by the world of Google, Amazon and other Big Tech: they did not require suits, their corporate culture emphasized talent and getting things done over tradition and discipline, they assembled an amazing pool of extremely talented people and they were literally changing the world in terms of how people shop, pay, learn, work and spend their time. So, it felt “soon or never”, the time to double-down, work extra hard to catch up and learn what I had to learn to get in.

It worked for me and I’m really proud and thankful to myself for how I spent 2009-2010: I finished the EMBA, wrote and published a book, accepted the job with Amazon (which to me is still hands-down the best company in terms of accelerating your growth and skills) and embraced the world of e-commerce, digital transactions, tech, and FinTech compliance.

This crisis brought a lot of flash-backs in terms of people realizing that it’s not so much about the virus, but about societal shifts that are inevitable. Consulting, advisory, B2B sales, conferencing, outsourcing, hiring, job security, long-term employment arrangements as we know them will be transformed HARD and FAST.

Yes, people are worrying about jobs and income security and rightfully so: not because there will be fewer jobs or fewer opportunities, but because there will be different opportunities, different ways of hiring and paying contractors, new ways of organizing office work without physical offices, more individualized principles of assigning responsibilities, keeping teams accountable, or making investment and funding decisions. There are risks of being left behind or being taken advantage of if you don’t master the new skills and new playbook.

Do you feel it too? I mean – that big shifts are just around the corner?

I’m so glad I started building my digital business and set up my clients’ arrangements in a way that’s completely location independent and time-zone agnostic, it’s a great foundation, but it’s not enough. When I look back at these next weeks, I’d like to remember this time and tell myself that I’m very proud of myself for not being scared, not indulging in feeling uncertain or helpless.

Earlier this week, I announced a FREE FinTech compliance challenge and I’d like to add something important to the agenda as a result of this recent déjà vu moments.

So, in addition to covering the basics of annual compliance, risk and internal controls reporting, that need to happen anyway, I’d like to add an important point to the agenda of the Day 1 of the Challenge experience: who is successful right now in getting hired as a compliance employee or consultant by FinTechs, are they able to meet expectations and why?

As a reminder – here is the previously communicated Challenge experience plan:

• What do I need to include in this report? How long it should be? 
• What are the AML-relevant customer metrics, stats, and disclosures?
• What is the difference between a compliance report and internal control report and risk assessment?
• Which events do I need to describe? For example, do I need to describe the new products we launched? New laws that came into force? Incidents? Funding status?
• What else to include? How much do I need to talk about fraud, complaints, past audits? How do I know, my information is good enough?

So, if you are sitting at home and refuse to consume depressing news and irrelevant social media chatter – join my highly personalized and heart-felt FREE 5 Day Challenge experience that starts on Monday, April 6th and will run through Friday, April 10th, 2020:

• In just 5 days, using short daily assignments and simple templates I will guide the participants through most common friction points of Annual Compliance, Internal Controls and Risk Reporting.
• You will not need to spend more than 15 min a day, because you’ll get templates and case studies!
• We will have quick Zoom Q&As calls for 5 days to answer any questions you may have or get feedback!
• Additionally, we will make time to talk about how our profession is changing and what will it take to get hired and rehired and be successful in FinTech compliance.
• …and it’s TOTALLY FREE!!!

I already know – it’s going to be a lot of fun 😉

Intrigued? – click on the link to register!

Now, I totally don’t want you to keep this challenge a secret, because those are unusual times, many of us don’t have access to the same level of networking or external meetings and it’s not that easy to reach out to people and ask for help if you don’t know them that well – so feel free to pass it along and share the registration link at ANYTIME (which I REALLY appreciate). I personally learn better from peers and oftentimes I don’t even know which questions to ask, because I don’t know what I don’t know… Feels familiar? – Then let’s get together and create some wisdom of the crowd – why not?

How to share? – forward a link to our Challenge Registration Page or share it on social media!

See you inside of the challenge and let’s make it happen!