Dick Van Belzen

Driving Fearless Growth™ has been my passion for much of my life. From doing business on my father’s hobby farm in buying and selling beef cattle and horses and  growing various crops, to helping my father grow his landscaping business, I seemed to enjoy making improvements to businesses. My father had his own business to run, so at a young age I was asked to take care of most everything on the farm while going to school. When I told my father that the average farm family had 3.8 kids compared to me being an only child, he commented that if I did the work of 3.8, he’d get off my back. I felt I couldn’t win with his logic, but learned how to figure things out the best I could with what I had at my disposal.

My earlier inclination was to focus the sciences as my father had, being very accomplished in genetics in his native country, The Netherlands. While I found science interesting, the passion for it wasn’t as strong as for solving business problems. I’d be the first to tell that business wasn’t where my natural ability lay, but tackling situations that sometimes seem impossible is something I truly relish and enjoy, almost every day. I’ve been fortunate to have a solid education and a strong interest in continuous learning, which I’ve satisfied by regularly attending seminars and other courses over the past 25 years or so. The first 15 years of my career were rooted in large global company, where I started in sales and advanced into various management assignments. I worked on mission-critical task forces at the division and corporate level, plus had the good fortune of significant training through the corporation’s internal university. Afterward  I was recruited to be a CMO of another large corporation, an experience that I enjoyed very much.

I was drawn to consulting and advisory services because with a variety of client companies I could tackle and solve many more challenges. I enjoy helping others and seeing success, albeit with a fair amount of impatience. Yes, I enjoyed managing people very much and I continue to get nice feedback from relationships of years gone by, but solving problems and fixing things is more rewarding than the recognition. Seeing a co-worker, a team I’ve participated on, a client contact succeed is what I thrive on the most, not personal recognition.

For the past 15 years I’ve been active with over 200 clients as the founder and managing director of Northpoint Advisors, LLC, a firm that specializes in revenue (or “top-line”) growth.  I’m fortunate to be able to do something I truly enjoy. Along the way I’ve learned a few things that I’d like to share in this blog. My intent is to provide valuable insights to business leaders who are facing daily challenges, and I hope that you find benefit in my postings.