Back in September 2012, I moved from Brussels to San Francisco. I had no idea what was waiting for me. I was still a young dad and definitely had the will to discover the world and a strong desire to live my life fully. I was in my early thirties; my wife was expecting our second son, and I guess we were both modern adventurers. Ready to leave a comfortable life behind us to build something new halfway across the world. We bravely decided to face the unknown.

At the time, I was working in tech, and like many people around me I wanted to be very successful with the startup that I was building in Silicon Valley but what I didn’t anticipate was the journey ahead would be way more influential to my personal life than my professional life. Which is ultimately the reason why I decided to write my new book Dadpreneur.

For the last 6 years, while traveling extensively for work and with my little family, I grew more and more active as a dad. Managing my professional life was one thing, but I had always vowed that I would not sacrifice my personal and family life for it. That promise I made to myself became a reoccurring theme in my day to day life, and there was no way that I would give up on it. I was determined to be successful not just professionally but as a husband and partner, and as a dad. I believe that there is nothing more important than if you decide to build your own family that you do it successfully.

While very ambitious with my career, I didn’t see the point (and still don’t) to work crazy hours and spend so much energy if at the end of the day you are not allowed to spend quality time with your loved ones. I don’t see the point of a life like that.

I did also see the responsibility growing on my shoulders. I wasn’t just the provider for my family, but also a role model. Did I want to be the father who is never at home or who doesn’t know how to talk to his children? Moreover, those responsibilities were not vain. What is more fulfilling than teaching your little ones about life! Of course, it requires a lot of time and energy as well, but the reward is immense. Not only are you building something with your partner, but you get to pass on your knowledge, family values, heritage, and incredible life experiences to your children.

But how do you balance both? I was not ready to give up my career either. So, what to do? I had no choice, and I had to get organized. And not just organized with my Calendar app on my phone. No, my life had to be different. Every aspect of it had to change if I wanted to succeed. I had no experience, but I had to learn. And without knowing it back then, that’s exactly the journey that I started. Little by little, days after days, I took every little aspect into account to make sure that I was honoring my promise while continuing to build my professional life.

Surprisingly, there are a lot of similarities between when you build a business and when you build a family. You don’t need to run a business to be an entrepreneur. Building a family is probably the most adventurous venture you can face, where challenges are at every corner but at the end for a very good cause. I believe that becoming a dad is an entrepreneurial journey; a magnificent journey that you for sure you don’t want to miss.

There are so many books about how to succeed with your career, and I read a bunch of them, but I couldn’t find one that would teach me the ‘ins and outs’ of being a successful dad while having a successful career.

Dadpreneur is for all the dads and future dads out there. While I wish this were the book that I had the chance to read before I became a dad, I don’t regret any minute of the last couple of years raising my three boys. I learned by ‘trial and error,’ but having access to more tips and techniques would have helped me greatly. And this is precisely what I wanted to share; that whole experience to get you there, to be better prepared, and at the end to be very successful as a new dad.

This book will just help you to be prepared and be even more efficient. In it, I shared a concrete strategy and all the tips and techniques that I started applying to myself and to my life for the last 6 years. It will allow you to make it a success.

I’m really excited to bring this book to the world, and I hope you will enjoy it. Let me also know what you think and your own experience, I’d love to hear it. You can email me at hello@dadpreneur.com or on Twitter @iamadadpreneur.

I look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy the book!