The last 15 months in Germany were pretty good. I’ve landed a cool job in YT Industries headquarters as a bike mechanic. I was tearing enduro and downhill machines apart all day long, inspecting carbon fractures, learning new tricks, tuning my service procedures and having fun with my colleagues. YT is an awesome company, with young, inspiring colleagues. If you are looking for a stable job with predictable income, advantages from German health and social insurance system, it is a company to stay with.
However, things are not that simple in my brain. I’ve got bored of that.
When I looked back to my past years, I’ve got bored of every job I did. Also, I’ve got bored of the surrounding terrain after a while too. However, the job or the terrain were never the problem.
I understood that there is a repeating phenomenon in my head: Finding a new amazingly exciting job in a different country, committing to take it and move there. Work there for a while with enthusiasm [time ranges from 6 weeks to 15 months], finding out that enthusiasm somehow dropped, getting bored, quitting the job, finding another amazingly exiting job, hoping that this one is different…
I guess it is a time to “reset the thermostat”.
The new era begins
on 1st January 2021, I’ve officially threw in the towel of being an employee, and turn to self-employed. No matter the “Covid hard times”. I’ve rented a mountain house in Slovakia and moved in with my girlfriend.
I’ve carefully crafted the plan of how am I going to do my business [I don’t want to stay self-employed forever]. I think that having a clear plan is important because without it, one can end up owning a job, that pushes him to work harder than before. This is beautifully described in a book by Michael E. Gerber, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It.
Workshop behind the corner
I’ve built ski & bike workshop right in my living room. Why? To decrease costs of renting another building, to set me free of any opening hours, to give me freedom and my save time. I’m doing large, customised bike repairs here, my doors are closed for public. The customer can place an order only trough my website or email, then I call him back and arrange the time to pick up the bike. This gives me plenty of time to climb ice, ski or bike, whenever the conditions are favourable.
Think about it. I’ve already had some bike tools, I have the knowledge and friends know me as a good bike tech. So replacing my employment income was not hard. Also my living costs are far lower now, therefore I have way more free time, to spend on business development or sports.
The bigger picture
I’ve always dreamed of having a guiding company. So I’ve started one, with my girlfriend Zuza, my sister Lenka and my sister’s boyfriend Vlado. Each of us has a set of different skills, which are highly useful for this partnership.
The company is called Allmountain Institute, and you can find our website here. I will tell you more about Allmountain Institute later, as soon as the season picks up to full speed.
So far so good.
But mate I can tell you, I’m loving this lifestyle. I’m skiing, climbing, biking way more than ever before. My training is finally organized. I need to work approx. 20 hours a week to fully cover my financial needs. But in those 20 hours a week, I’m giving my full attention to repairing those bikes, boards and skis. I’m also greeting every customer with a smile and respect as never before, and they can see it.
I see a huge potential for small workshops like this because many customers are tired of big bike and ski shops. They rather bring their bikes to small, local workshops. They know, there is a good mechanic wrenching on it, owning it, and giving his name as a stamp of quality, signed under every piece of serviced sports gear.
Can you do it too?
Just think about it for a while. What technical skill you are good at, you are known about it and you love doing it? If you have something that checks all 3 boxes, you will be probably successful with it. But before you jump with both legs into the action, please do me a favour. Read this book first: Michael E. Gerber, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It.
