Quit the job, travel to Sri Lanka, help. Become your own boss. The short version of my story sounds like a wonderful guide on how to change your life. Maybe I should hold presentations, barefoot in a suit with a headset on and motivate people. Talk about lists. 10 things every founder has in his bathroom. 5 mistakes you need to avoid before waking up in the morning. 7 words to begin a small talk where everybody is thrilled…
But I’m not a great speaker and I don’t really like lists and instructions. Every life is so unique and wonderful crazy, there is no masterplan. And even if the short version sounds quite clear and determined, the whole story behind my idea was not planned at all. There was only one thing I was completely sure of: that I quit my job and want to do something different. After that I started some projects at the same time, it became a big mess, some changes of direction, doubts… just to find out at the end that everything happened for a reason. I do not know what the future holds, but I finally found something of which I am completely convinced. That alone makes me so happy!
Freedom…right?
Let’s go back to the summer of 2015. I just wanted to get out. Away from the big corporations. Where the profits rise and at the same time the pressure on the staff. Where suppliers are squeezed out because every year there have to be more savings. For the constant growth that is above all. Where they sit in meetings pushing responsibility to each other because everyone just wants to save his own ass. And where in addition to the many consumer goods also so much waste is produced. Especially in food companies it is difficult to watch. As a packaging engineer I was connected to all the other departments and learnt a lot. But I’ve also seen a lot of things that weren’t right. I still had the hope that I can change something by developing packaging with sustainable materials, but that’s very difficult when decisions are only made by numbers.
So I’ve saved some money from the beginning to be able to make my own decisions. I wasn’t that much into material things, instead of a large TV or a new car, I preferred to save my money for the next backpacking trip. This has helped me in the everyday office life. The idea of freedom, that I do not need this job to survive and also can leave, walking backwards and giving the finger with rotating hands. The backpack was always ready for the next adventure. Therefore it wasn’t too hard for me to give up the apartment and sell all my furniture. I wanted to be free again and all these things were holding me back.
But I wanted to take it slow, decelerate first. To use the time to get clear what I really want to do. And then start something without much pressure, maybe even an own little business. That was the plan, it was a nice plan. But a smart guy like me has already built up so many things to make this impossible. So much time at once…it must be used! Immediately! So come here all my ideas! And the best would be all at once …
Dive Instructor
The first idea was quickly found, because a few months before I quit my job I was traveling in Central America and have fallen in love with diving on the island of Utila in Honduras. I thought I prefer becoming a dive instructor rather than keeping my job. A typical beer-plus-sunset-decision but I wanted to take it seriously. Why not? When I think about how happy I came out of the water after each dive… I could have this joy many more times and help others get it too! Win win! And I wouldn’t destroy the planet too much. Maybe I leave a few bubbles and make some noise. Since it’s not easy being a dive instructor with a regular income, I have already looked for extra earnings. Perhaps freelance jobs as a media designer (my training before my studies) or work in fields like web design and programming. A big HTML/CSS book was immediately bought and I even got half way through it. At least I know now how a website is structured …
Granola bars and a book
At the same time there was the idea with making granola bars. With a friend I wanted to develop healthy bars without sugar and with a sustainable supply chain. It didn’t last very long. Exactly this art of concept already existed and we would have needed some decent seed funding to compete. At least one bar was baked and there are logo designs with different names and squirrels. And a drawn cow that says “Moozli”, but it wasn’t sporty enough for this kind of food…
There is not so much to tell about the book I wanted to write. Only the realization that you do not automatically become a world class writer, even after getting an incredibly good idea while running and afterwards sitting down at a cafe with a notebook…
But that was not all. Next time I’ll tell you about other ideas, how I almost found myself back in a job and why Sri Lanka was suddenly at the top of the list…