It has been five months since I last wrote a blog post here. To my defence, I’ve been pretty busy with a few other stuff backstage. One of them is being asked to become a (technical) partner at a relatively new IT company, which I immediately said “yes” to.

A bit of flashback. Back in January 2016 I found myself looking for a job, because my 1-year contract (though a permanent position) as a Project Manager was not extended. Since I had always wanted to have “my own thing” I decided to be a freelance consultant. For a year, it was great. I took several projects, some were simultaneously. Back when a remote work was almost unheard of (at least in Germany), I traveled a lot in this time span. Düsseldorf, Munich, Cologne, Bonn, Hanover, week in and week out just so my clients could be sure that I was working.

Only after a year and a half, I was already burned out. The fact that I had missed a few events in my private life such as my daughters’ concerts, my friends’ birthday parties and so on, it just made it worse. So I was back to accept a full-time position as a permanent employee in Hamburg, where I live. I guess, I was not cut to be a traveling consultant.

I love where I am now and I can imagine to continue doing this for several years to come. But a part of me is still screaming to find a second and even perhaps a third “activity”. Maybe one of the reasons is to have an extra income, a safety net just in case my main source of income stops. The other reason is to challenge myself taking on new projects, where I can learn and be an expert in new fields. Another reason is my passion in entrepreneurship so I can help other people build great IT solutions in efficient ways.

Therefore, when an acquaintance of mine came and offered me to become one of his partners in his newly founded company, this is an opportunity I could not pass up. He already took care all the legality of founding a new company. All I have to do is “just” do the work. Of course, there is still a lot of work to do to make this company successful. And, like other startups, we are bootstrapping. Other than that, the foundation is there. Sales, knowledge and skills, network are all there. The best part is, I don’t have to give up my current job, which I love. As a partner, this is not a full-time obligation, aka. I can work on this project wherever and whenever I want to. So do the other partners.

It is now up to us to make these work for us, not against us.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash