… , building my own thing. That’s 330 days out of my 365 days entitlement. I am on a clock now! Let the countdown begin.
Let me be as open as I can.
Day -90: months before my end date, I already knew I was being let go. I started building a tech startup.
Day 158: I started posting about my own journey with cultural fit and layoffs in Germany. That became Pollo Digital.
Day 196: I officially became unemployed and self-employed at the same time.
Day 224: I received the startup grant from the unemployment agency.
Day 280: I stopped pursuing the startup. Only Pollo Digital now.
The moment I focused on that one thing, things started falling into place.
First money. First partnerships. Revenue from conversations. People from old jobs appearing with unexpected gigs. List growing to 160 in a month. Opportunities I did not even think of.
It started in May 2026, as I approached the end of my support. And I was … panicking, a bit.
In the centre of all of it – people. Some ridiculed me. Some surprised me with real care. Some came with jobs. All of them changed me forever.
Day 330. July is my last month getting paid by the unemployment agency. I am already paying my own health insurance and looking at taxes. Being scared of growth, that’s gonna cost me much, but that’s just the cost of working in Germany.
Money wise? I’m scared. But I was scared every single day from the beginning. And I did it anyway.
Why am I telling you this? I’m not even sure. I am tired of LinkedIn being all about how successful and thrilled we are. I have good days and some real bad days. Good things took effort, focus, and doing hard things even when my lunatic-like self-belief left me for weeks. Some of it made no sense until it did.
People sell you shortcuts. Just like AI tools – no real deal, just a shortcut. A shortcut rarely works.
Maybe this helps someone keep going. If things aren’t working for you right now, they just might start falling into place. If you stick with it.
I can tell you for sure, that I wouldn’t have done it differently and I have so much to share. And now as a countdown running, I’ll be sharing the things I have learned and still learning.
Your Anna, laid off & fabulous, on a clock now
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