Leaving employment in Germany is designed to fail me, really.

Let’s talk money.

It’s day 341 of me receiving unemployment benefits. In Germany, that’s 60% of your average previous salary – around €2,100 in my case. On top of that, since I took the leap, the state is paying me €300 extra, a subsidy that is supposedly helping me transition into full-time self-employment when revenue is typically low and unpredictable. Ca. €2,400 a month, cool.

I now pay my own health insurance. The lowest rate for I could negotiate is €480 monthly – for the first four months they charged me €780 monthly.

Rent €900, I pay for all my tools €200, other insurances €100, I try and pay people to help me navigate this… I live in Berlin, not the cheapest place, and I spend €1,000 on average for food and stuff.

Very little money left to invest in the actual biz.

So, ouch.

Don’t get me started on the mental space I am investing to figure all of this money / taxes / legal stuff out.

Over the weekend I wanted to apply for the extension of the €300 subsidy (plz, cover at least a big part of the health insurance!) and the lady on the phone said that my sustainability is highly questionable (with my absolutely great growth numbers but weird cashflow). I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt.

Now, could I still make it? I am not only here to moan.

1. Yes, I can make it! My severance from being laid off gives me extra cash to prolong my runway. So if you are being laid off – negotiate better, get more cash. Seriously, 10K netto is 3 months of runway. I wish I had gone an extra step to secure more. If you need help negotiating – I can help.
2. I can make it because I have a solid career behind me and network, so I land research gigs. I love research. I wish I’d started building up my visibility and taking better care of my professional network earlier, while I was still employed.
3. I can still make it because, despite the time I “lost” solving wrong problems and whining, I stopped planning and hiding, went forward and started sharing what I have to share. 

The numbers and signs are great, the cashflow will get normalised, I am certain of that. Even if the unemployment center lady was not convinced.

I regret nothing, I don’t owe investment money or any explanations to anybody, so I am delulu enough to keep on doing the thing. It’s turning out beautifully… If you need some of that magic dust (not the Berlin kind) – I am happy to talk to you.

P.S. The lady from the unemployment agency actually gave me another chance, saying I should please send her some more invoices when I have them, so all is good. They really never truly consulted me, but they are ok.