Let´s change the world!
My dear readers,
welcome to my new blog!
On this blog I will write mainly about Startups and business ideas but as well about all kinds of other stuff that I am thinking about. – About education, the society, the generation gap, lifestyle design and much more!
As the language of my blog I chose English – even if my English obviously is not perfect. But I wanted my English speaking friends from all over the world and anyone who is interested in my blog to be able to read what I write about. (Could happen that I write some articles in German as well – if I am lazy).
What happened during the last two months
Almost two months already passed since I participated in a Startup-workshop of the IDEA CAMP in Berlin. It was a great weekend! I met lots of interesting people and I learned about bootstrapping, no and low-budget marketing, about methods to test your business ideas and about networking – AND about ways to fight your fear to actually START building up your own business – or to come from just Thinking to Doing.
I came to the workshop in Berlin with some ideas in my head – and came back with even more ideas (here are just a few: create an international platform for voluntary services and world and travel all over the world, develop a whiteboard-maker you can write and erase with, create a platform for people who want to look into another non-specialist job that was always their dream job, create an agency that organizes “break-out tours” (which can be anything from a workshop about personal development to a time abroad) for people who got stuck in their job or daily routine – including personal consulting before and after the tour.))
Then it was time to structure the ideas and start realizing them – not easy! So I had all these ideas and broad concepts in my mind – but I did not really know which one to start with or what to do in concreto.
I had this idea for a vending machine that sells all kinds of small size cosmetic products. Places for this vending machine could be airports, train stations, hotels, restaurants or even night clubs and universities. Here are some products I would like to offer in these vending machines: Deodorants (m/f), make-up, shampoo, labello, hand cream, face cream, makeup remover tissues, toothbrush, toothpaste, …
My target group would be people travelling and especially women.
Well that was the idea I at first liked the most. The thing is that these vending machines are expensive.
Already before participating in the IDEA CAMP workshop I knew that I want to leave the Westerwald and move out from home again. After I came home from a year I spent volunteering and travelling in Latin America in October last yeat I moved in with my family again and got a job. It was good and in the beginning I felt like I learnt a lot – even if most of my work was physical work. But after some time I began to feel like I had already felt in many internships before – that I need to do “my own shit”.
I realized that strongly when I got instructions to to something – but would never do it that way myself. Be it because there are quicker or just easier ways to get to the same result. I want to decide what to do – and how to do it. I want to have my own “baby” – my own business.
Moving to Berlin
About one month ago now I finally moved to Berlin. During the IDEA CAMP workshop I asked the founders Katja, Thomas, Basti and Kalle whether I could do an internship. And – long story short – now I am here!
50 % of my time I work on Idea Camp projects, like our free E-Mail-Course for people interested in founding their own business.
The other 50 % I work on my own project – my own little business. At the moment I am working on a Online Independent Travel Agency – Indie Travel.de. The idea is to make cheap travel deals accessible to anyone – you save money and time. You tell us where you want to go – and we look for the best travel deals for you. That easy. Win for you, win for me. And win for the environment because for every flight we book a part goes to reforestation and environmental programs. Another win!
I am really happy here in Berlin. The guys from the Idea Camp are great to work with. I can learn so much from them. Because they already successfully founded businesses. I feel free and I feel that I found what I want to do with my life. Create cool businesses and make people´s life more enjoyable. I feel like I am learning a lot. Because I am actually doing stuff and not just learning theoretical things. Which brings us to the University question. Will I go back to university at the end of this year? And if yes, where will I go? I do not know that yet. I am going to write about that in my next article.
I leave you with two questions and a picture. You are welcome to subscribe to my blog, write me or comment on the article, anytime. 🙂
– Do we need universities?
– Is our education system still up to date?
(the) ben paul 