Privacy

How we handle your data.

Short and plain: what this website collects, why, and what you can ask us to do with it.

This website is run by Stepping Aside, Youri Hermes, Keizersgracht 127, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Chamber of Commerce (KvK) number 80078230. Questions about your data: youri@steppingaside.com. Last updated: 30 October 2026.

What we collect, and why

  • Free guides and the monthly letter. When you ask for a guide or sign up for the letter, we receive your first name and email address. We use them to send you what you asked for and, if you signed up for it, the monthly letter. You can unsubscribe with one click in every email.
  • Booking a call. When you plan a call, Zoom Scheduler receives the details you enter there, so we can meet. We use them only for that conversation and its follow-up.
  • Email. When you write to us, we keep your message for as long as needed to help you.

We don’t sell your data, and we don’t use it for anything other than the above.

Services we use

  • Mailchimp (Intuit, USA) stores the names and email addresses of guide requests and letter subscribers, and sends those emails. Mailchimp takes part in the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.
  • Zoom Scheduler (Zoom, USA) handles bookings for calls.
  • YouTube (Google) shows the videos on this site in privacy-enhanced mode. A video only loads, and only then can YouTube set cookies, after you press play. The preview images of the videos are loaded from YouTube’s servers.
  • Google Fonts provides the typefaces. Your browser loads them from Google’s servers, which means your IP address reaches Google.
  • fromDialogue shows the example book page, only after you choose to open it.
  • Chatbase runs the Unwriting Companion chat on its own page. What you type there is processed by Chatbase to answer you.
  • Amazon and bol.com: links to the books take you to those shops, where their own privacy terms apply.

Cookies

This website itself sets no tracking or advertising cookies and uses no analytics. It only remembers your choice between light and dark mode, in your own browser. The services above may set their own cookies when you use them, such as when you play a video.

How long we keep your data

Guide requests and letter subscribers stay on the mailing list until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you. Booking details and emails are kept as long as needed for the conversation and our administration, and no longer than the law requires.

Your rights

You can ask to see, correct or delete your data, to receive a copy, or to stop us using it. Email youri@steppingaside.com and we’ll reply within a month. If you feel we handle your data wrongly, you can also file a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens).