The intention

Evert-Jan Zwarts wanted to set up a funeral care company where personal attention was paramount; this way he could make his profession from what had become his passion as a nurse.

The approach

He is following a national training to become a funeral director, does courses next to it, and manages to do an internship at larger companies – exceptional, in the funeral industry. The junk room becomes an office; furniture, a new computer and a huge ticket printer are purchased. Boxes can be ordered from a colleague; he can also rent a hearse there. There will be advertisements in neighborhood magazines and the regional newspaper, he is being interviewed by local newspapers, and on the back of the regular car there will be a link to the website. And then, with registration at the Chamber of Commerce, is Zwarts Funeral Care a fact.

The result

After seven funerals it starts to falter. "It took almost a year after the last funeral before I got a call again - and if you want to survive", you should actually have a funeral every month…' The death rate was very low: three warm winters in a row interrupted the 'supply': the sole proprietorship, that it mainly had to come from people from the neighborhood and from the circle of acquaintances, had too few funerals to survive.