Health&keeping it, Life & stuff, PR - Philosophical Rambling

Spring is here and the new normal is slowly sinking in

It´s been two weeks since my last post. What has changed? For me… not much really. I have spent the last 14 days working the standard 14-16 hour day, mostly in the office (where I was alone, receptionists not included) and 2 days from home because I was a bit sick. Since I am totally isolated with little human contact, if not counting the occasional visit to the store, greeting the delivery guy who brough lunch or exchanging 2-3 sentences with the two receptionists at the front desk, who are basically the only people on the floor.

To me it seems as if the sense of urgency (although on Friday I was worn out, I would say because of adrenaline pumping throughout the week and managing – or trying to – 7 different teams; also barely slept a few days because of my brain running in cycles) is slowly letting down, store shelves are full, nobody is panicking and stocking up for war.

And … since I mentioned it – war. What we have right now is light years away from a state of war – and it is already considered a crisis of epic proportions, but we have access to drinkable water, electricity, food and are safe, save for an occasional passerby sneezing. And even so, hospitals are far from full in Germany, which is good. Today my friend send me an interview in a Slovenian newspaper- it is with a psychiatrist who was there during the wartime years in Croatia – his views on stages of trauma and panic applied to this pandemic are very interesting and I must say I agree that we will still only start to see the social impacts of current provisions. (for all non-Slovenian readers – feel free to translate the interview via the google webpage translator, it makes for a good read). I got a taste of war when I was a kid in 1991, but in Slovenia we only had it for 10 days and it was far from having the feeling our lives would be threatened. However, we experienced war through the stories of our classmates, family members, refugees from other countries in the Balkans. I heard stories of neighbors killing neighbors, the same kids I used to play with then I was a kid visiting my grandparents in Vukovar were shooting at each other in the mid-1990s. Horrible stories, horrible experiences. Today we worry about the economy. The economy will set-up again, if always does, the question is how and how will it impact the people.

But it is the first time generations here in the EU are feeling what it means to not be able to cross borders without problems. We should keep that in mind for the future, that is how most countries in the world have it even today, or rather, had it before the COVID-19 pandemic as well. It is not a right, it is still a privilege, we should hold it dear and work on making it something available to everyone when this pandemic is over.

Jan van Grevenbroeck (1731-1807), Venetian doctor during the time of the plague. Pen, ink and watercolor on paper.

I haven’t had much contact with people in person lately, but I can say that I have established good ties with new business partners in China, from China in Germany and here in Germany and Slovenia. It is interesting how you are forced to establish trust and how much your name is worth in a referral from a trusted associate or friend. Crazy, only now the meaning and importance of good standing comes into play. It is difficult to build trust and in the mask business – there are huge challenges. There are regulatory problems, customs issues, quality issues and even understanding the market requirements and rules (i.e. what does a mask need to be when sold on the EU market). There were many hours invested in that and I am launching yet another product on the market. I have also seen everything so far in the mask business and I guess I will write a separate blog post about it in the near future. But quite honestly, there are not enough to go around world wide and not nearly enough are being produced. There is a lot of government play involved and here you can see the focus and views of many politicians. So much for a free market for all countries. The topic is so complex and long that it does require a separate blog post, one could write a novel. My involvement in this matter is one of personal satisfaction in knowing I helped provide to people and medical facilities in need. In addition to delivering and organizing I also partnered up with some smaller investors (mostly friends), rejected some bigger (because they were in it only for the money and the responsibility would be far greater with more exposure to risk) and started delivering more. My teams and I are still trying to find a way to help Slovenia and the largest (and smaller) medical facilities procure the equipment fast. But as I said, long stories, will be shared another time.

Furthermore our legal services for companies and employees are starting to position themselves on the market. We were faced with some issues, as how to provide adequate turnovers to make it economically viable, but we all agree, making it viable can wait, more important is that they are available as new laws are accepted and coordinated on the go, have many flaws, no legal practice exists and even between law practitioners – be it law makers or those in PA or private sector interpret them in various ways. The little people and small companies are often left out and have no way to clarify what it means and how it should be applied.

Based on these models we are launching the same with law firms here in Germany, here things are moving slower, but will be viable much sooner, as in Germany mindset is geared more toward trusting experts to consult you before making important decisions, whereas the belief in Slovenia is still that everyone can do everything. That is mostly why small firms and employees are losing, since they have no idea what they are doing and how they could mitigate risks and use government aid where available to soothe the impact of the economic standstill in some areas, and see the consultancy only as a cost, not as an investment into making a well informed choice.

On the business front, as I was worried we might have issues with salaries, having to abandon the idea of employing 2 more colleagues for the time being, this week has been very good, we won 5 new projects with many prospects coming to us per week, I think this number will increase more. Our clients in healthcare have disappeared for a while now, as they have more important things to do, to set up for the influx of new patients and procurement of equipment and personnel to manage it. On the other hand our legal and financial clients are knocking on our doors, first ones being overwhelmed by clientele due to new regulation, second ones because they need systems to manage financial documents with relevant parties through home office working tools. I had always expected that we are crisis resillient and this week has been my confirmation. Even though we have been able to work via home office within our company group from day 1 as we had the tools, know how and procedures it has still proven to be quite a challenge and productivity is still lower by about 15%, which is substantial, but it could have been much worse. The biggest challenge is working with clients, since they are not as familiar with remote work, but they catch on fast.

Keeping this blog post today as short as possible (because every topic I would like to delve deeper into, would need its own article, and I will certainly try to find the time to do it, also I will be able to disclose a bit more information some of which is still more or less confidential in nature regarding the progress and estimations on the outcome of events in 2020).

  • Due to lack of established channels its whatsapp
  • Due to lack of established channels its whatsapp
  • Due to lack of established channels its whatsapp
  • When online payments are blocked, some transactions need to be done via WU for small orders to be time efficient
  • What its all about, protecting (mostly) medical personnel, so that hospitals and other facilities stay at full headcount
A small taste of the mask daily business (Takes me about 4-6 hours per day with the main goal of supplying a quality product to those who need it (and fast) which is quite honestly an almost impossible task with a lot of required trust in all involved parties.

I can only share this for the moment – the stockpiling and preparations – we are only at the beginning, so we should not be lax with respecting the instructions even though bright sunny days await us this week. From some of my sources I have it on good authority, that the spikes are expected only in the 2nd half of May and the measures (although hopefully not as extreme, as capacity is built up and protocols are further develop to go on from there) will stay in place until 2021 if not longer. The same speculation runs about in the mask business, many of us see this as long term business venture, as the market in EU and US has only yet opened up. Thankfully the prices will reduce, so will the margins and availability shall become more. Once other large regions like South America, Africa, Asia will start to battle the spread I am confident there will be ways to assist different regions on a global level and that humanity will be prepared.

To finish on a wonderful and happy note, here are few suggested reads/views which I personally enjoyed today:

Mumbai – the streets of Mumbai, amazing. I would never ever in my life have expected to see the streets of Mumbai empty. It is an amazing city and I have it in good memory from my visit there, hoping to visit it soon in the coming years.

And the NY Times Article on what makes Germany an exception compared to some other countries – relevant points, but that state we should reach in all countries, so hopefully that state is only weeks, not months away for all.

And some awesome gear from the plague in 17th Century, interesting, it was all European made back then. It´s not the first time humanity is dealing with pandemic.

Health&keeping it, Life & stuff, PR - Philosophical Rambling

Another week gone by

It has been a week since my last post and much has happened. In Germany as well as worldwide. The pandemic continues and countries are beginning to undertake strict and painful countermeasures in order to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Germany started to take the outbreak more seriously and since yesterday, Bavaria is urging everyone to follow the strict rules of isolation going out only on most urgent needs. Today Berlin prohibited gathering of more than 2 people, families and households excluded, but the real numbers are only starting to flow in. In Slovenia prototype respirators have been made in cooperation of engineers, biologists, medical doctors and many companies in order to jump start local production due to 2-4 month delivery times on the global markets. Myself, I have used my contacts and resources to start purchasing face masks from the Chinese Factories and deliver to Austria and Slovenia since the shortage is extreme and everyone needs reliable supply routes. Buyers are – states, retirement homes, pharma companies, distributors, pharmacies, industrial and other companies that want to better protect their employees. European Union is ramping up production capacity as well, but it is difficult to do in such a short time.

My workdays have been 12-16 hours workdays mostly from the office (we have the whole office building floor to ourself) with my colleague, the rest of our employees are in home office or on sick leave. We try to keep up with work and productivity, although it is proving difficult, as home office and also taking care of children, family members is proving to be difficult. We are also monitoring the measures Germany is going to be providing for companies. At the moment it does not seem that we will need them as our Software and services are in demand, but it never hurts to be informed and ready. All my employment plans are put on hold, even though we have some good candidates we would like to employ. I guess we are not the only company right now that has put a stop to it.

A very good article on the Corona outbreak, mostly confirming my thoughts was brought to my attention. I do recommend you to take the time and read it, there is more and more confirmation that the world will never be the same after this as well as nobody really knowing how long the pandemic will last and how it will impact our lives. And the unknown is where fear lives. Recently I have a tab open constantly on the coronavirus reported cases globally with statistics, even though not because of the sheer numbers but because I want to have a feeling if panic might start.

My neighbor in Munich was able to come back to Germany on the weekend, they left their suitcase outside on the hallway due to concerns their family might get infected from the luggage.

The Legal services division (currently for employers and employees) is performing well, we have good visibility in Slovenia. The cases we get are horrible. Employees are being let off overnight, forced or bullied to sign resignations (which means they are not eligible to get unemployment benefits) – mostly because the employers have no idea what to do, they only know the companies stopped so they have to cut costs. Hopefully we will be able to help as many companies and people in need as of course countries are setting up countermeasures to prevent the economic collapse. Many keep working, there is no provision of personal protective equipment because of the shortages on the market. The worst thing is we often get questions what to do if they have someone who might be at risk at home (i.e. with asthma, cancer or breathing disorders) and worry they will get infected at work and bring it home. If they explain their concerns, they are often threatened by employers they will lose their jobs. Mostly people with minimum wage income, even though we are now getting cases in from other service industries as well. We are launching same products and services in Germany now, where the same is occurring, but people have more money and it is more conventional to seek legal advice before taking action. Also Germany is moving much faster in accepting legislation and countermeasures to protect its economy, even though everyone knows the fallout from this will be enormous. 150 Billion EUR have been planned to help mitigate the economic damages. Right now, not much is new, but I do see light at the end of the tunnel, the measures will work and next week I am fairly certain Slovenia will have it under control, in about 3 Weeks Germany should as well.

Recently I thought a lot about things we don’t hear about anymore – what is happening with millions of refugees at the European borders, how are poorer countries coping and do they even know how widely spread the outbreaks there are?

What will change after the crisis? I think we are all getting a lesson that global supply lines are not the best and it will make sense to look towards self-sustainable supply at least for EU and shorten the supply routes. We have become too dependent on other continents which is showing to be a huge weakness right now. How will the economies change after this has been done, will we impact the developing countries in a bad way by doing that? Most probably yes.

What is happening with the elderly, how are people coping with isolation? Will the internet infrastructure here be able to manage all the data flows (mostly from streaming in homes) – I think not, since Germany has infrastructure from beginning of 2000s, fibre optic is not really spread out here and about 5G we can only dream. How will that impact people being at home? From my friends and family in Slovenia I get a lot of information on how tough it is to be isolated and it has only been 1 week… several more to go. How will Germany’s over 80 million handle that? Will we start running out of supplies due to supply lines disruptions, will we start seeing shortages of certain products? Who is taking care of the homeless now? Very few people are walking the streets, even less of them will give a coin to a beggar. And so on… so many things that are changing and so many wrongs as well. But I think this pandemic will show us where we can improve as a global society, also how we can work together. The effort to manage the COVID-19 pandemic is a global one and researchers and countries are working together on fighting it, so a lot of good will happen as well.

This weekend Germany had a hackathon organised by the government to build solutions to help in these times. Over 43.000 people attended and build several tools that are critical in these times, that is amazing. Many people who usually wouldn’t lift a finger for less than 2.000€ per day participated for free, that is extremely positive. Estonia had an international hackathon to combat Corona as well about a week ago it was also a big success, people from over 20 countries participated. The times we live in are amazing in how we can collaborate and work together, also achieve higher goals and I can only hope that our future is not one of wearing a mask and gloves when we go about our daily business – be it because of infections or pollution. I am also very much looking to seeing the results of the world stopping for a bit on the environment. If anything the COVID-19 pandemic is showing us that the whole planet CAN and WILL take action if the motivation is powerful enough. The only issue is that global warming is slow, COVID-19 is extremely fast, that’s why its on our radar. Hopefully we learn and remember, I am looking positively towards the future and hoping that we all learn as a global society and improve. Thank you for your attention and all your feedbacks and discussions are much appreciated.

Health&keeping it, Life & stuff, PR - Philosophical Rambling

Corona – and the world stood still

1 Comment

Since the COVID-19 or Corona virus infection is becoming a global risk and more and more voices are being heard in the light of current global events, I have decided to share my 2 cents on the topic. This post is written from the following personal perspective of my situation: business owner and managing director – involved in 3 companies and several businesses (a few of them newly also corona related – 1 & 2, 3 and 4 coming this week), investor & trader on the global (currency & stock) markets, someone living in Germany and Slovenia and frequently travelling the world and a person with many acquaintances in the pharma and healthcare businesses. But most of all, someone who likes to think in a broader sense about what kind of impact a global pandemic will bring to the modern global society.

Dow Jones Stock Index - downfall
The 5 year chart of the Dow Jones Stock Index and the massive fall in the last days.

Those of you who know me well, know that I have been saying for some time now that the state of peace and well-being that we have been experiencing (especially in Europe) in the last years is something without precedent. In European history this is the first time we have peace and economic well-being for such a long period of time and it was in my opinion closely related to the economic stagnation of European economy. As a consumer you can only buy that many TV´s, couches, cars, computers and phones, after that it starts to get old. Because of that I was sceptical of the possibility of further economic growth, as all new developments are focused on the digital and services with a very low (my personal view) probability of finding or developing enough demand to be sold en masse to the average European consumer (who also is pretty worn out due to the high costs of living and slow growth of wages). But this article is not about what I have just written so far, however, it is closely related to the positions on the global markets and economies and, as I will try to explain in this post, that is extremely connected with what we will be experiencing in the following months, most probably years.

My final point was always saying that today globalization is either going to bring all nations closer together or push us farther apart. On one side we have the unprecedented ability to travel the world, meet and experience other countries, mix with other ethnicities and maybe even fall in love and start a family half a world apart. Through social media and internet people on the other side of the planet have faces, we can talk with them, interact and by taking a flight even meet them the next day. Amazing, right? The other side of the coin – the more you stir, the more entropy that will cause – I like looking at that as making a bowl of cereal. If you just pour yoghurt on it, it will take time to soak in, if you mix it however, you create a special little chaos, but after that the soaking will happen much faster and more consistent. I think we are in that chaos phase right now – we in Europe are faced with the impact of refugees from destabilized countries, hoping to find a human-worthy opportunity for a normal life. Everyone wants the best for themselves, we all want to go to sleep with a roof over our head, drinkable water, access to food, electricity, internet and so forth. But what is good for someone else is not necessarily good for us, if you step on my toes I will react. That I have been noticing in Germany as well as in Slovenia – we are selective. We don’t just accept and integrate, we push back, even though we would probably do the same in a similar situation. Today we are faced with a new situation – full isolation (for most people), because we fear for our lives. Or do we?

Global database of flights – cancellations and delays (https://www.flightstats.com/v2/global-cancellations-and-delays)

The coronavirus, I agree, is a serious matter. Mostly because flattening the curve is critical to enabling the people who need medical attention access to proper medical care (for European standards, of course). Most of us are not at a high risk even if (and when) we contract the virus. We have had the flu for an extremely long time and we are used to it. AIDS was new to humans in the 1980s, today people infected live normal lives and can also have interactions with others without infecting them, pharmaceuticals are an amazing thing and progress in the healthcare sector is amazing. The more important battle may come when known bacteria becomes resistant to publicly accessible antibiotics as there is yet substantial progress to be made in that field. However, things that are being done in gene therapy treatments, biological medications, etc. are amazing. I am certain that once it becomes economically viable our technical capabilities to combat the symptoms and causes will be accessible throughout the western world. So yes, stopping the aggressive spread caused through interaction with others is good for managing the panic and I do agree for the next few weeks reducing or cancelling events and mass gatherings makes sense and we should do it. The sooner we do it, the less it will impact the economy long term. And the economy is what worries me, each week of scare and irrational behaviour means months of economic downturn. The worst, however, what we may get out of this pandemic, is a change in the consumer mindset. That will most probably happen if the countermeasures will continue and tighten, then more people will be scared, believe in fake information and false claims which may lead to a change in the general mindset of people. This may mean many industrial & services businesses will die out, which will cause the turning of the massive economic recession wheel, turning that will not be easy to stop.

Our company in Slovenia implemented home office work for all employees. The company here in Germany – half of our employees are in home office. Not because of their so choosing, but because of circumstances – kindergartens are closed, so will be schools, there is no availability of help – parents are older, so there is a substantial risk for them if they would contract the coronavirus, child care services are not available, they are either overbooked, or completely cancelled. So parents have to stay at home. We all know that productivity will fall, as children, especially really young ones, need active attention. How this will reflect on the business is a good question. In some industries everything stopped. If you know people in event organization, gastronomy, travel, tourism, hotels and related industries (i.e. machine suppliers for bars, etc.) – ask around, you will see for them the business stopped. And it does not seem to be looking bright in the coming months. There are large numbers of people dependent on these industries and that is only the beginning. The impact will be felt throughout the market. The stock market knows that and even though we have experienced the worst crashes since the 1987 crash, I believe there is more of it to come. This downturn will not be fixed in months, it will take years.

As mentioned, the longer this lasts, the higher the chance of a new mindset being established. Although I see many positive points, as for example reduction in pollution and human impact (less transportation, less manufacturing, less energy expenditures), more social interaction in extended families and close environment, stronger bonds between people, there are also strong negative points as well.

Posted by Lignano Journal on Wednesday, March 11, 2020
The canals in Venice – because there are no boats, you will find crystal clear water. (Source FB)
In Triest sind die Delphie zurück ?

✅ Die Delphine ? sind zurück ? Sie kommen so nah weil keine Schiffe fahren ? #italia #andratuttobeneEs sind unglaubliche Phänomene, die uns durchaus den einen oder anderen Anstoß zum Nachdenken geben können ?

Posted by Lignano Journal on Friday, March 13, 2020

Dolphins are once again seen at the pier in Trieste due to the absence of ship traffic.

A change in the mindset might bring us closer together in our tight social groups, but it will push us further apart globally again. Countries will have grown apart once more and the global society will take a step back again, which I find is a relevant setback in pursuing what we might be able to achieve as a global society with common goals. Impact to economy will bring more unemployment and the requirement to implement new social systems to keep the peace – as long as people have food, safety, water and a roof over their head – they will remain placid, once that is gone it can be days if not hours when everything goes crazy. In the last few days stories were shared with me of events where people threatened people in supermarkets with guns for bottled water (!) – such events transpire due to panic short term (even without an actual resource shortage present), long term – look at Europe’s borders – failed states or rather failed economies cause massive movements. And as said before, the more you stir, the more entropy you create. This may create more economical migrations, create more hate for different nations, religions, cultures or races. So many negatives which will most probably outweigh the positives.

All in all – hopefully the preventive measures will not be required much longer for the general population and they will be over soon enough that we may start with “business as usual”. If the spread would continue too fast we will be faced with mass panic, if the time to stabilize the spread will be too long, the economy will break down even more. There is no win-win, there is just a milder lose-lose situation waiting. As in any aftermath some industries will thrive, but the general population will have it worse off. In the closing words I turn to you with the following appeal – follow the official guidelines, you will at some point in your life most probably come in contact with the corona virus, the same as you did with the flu. You will most probably survive and your immune system will defeat it on its own, the chance is extremely high, even too high to really worry about it. Do not fall for the panic, do not trust panicked news or what you read online from tabloids, unvalidated sources with no expertise. I am noticing more and more of that online, and as we all know, repeat something long enough, it will become the truth.

Do not, again, fall for that. It is difficult, even as a very well informed person, with information from the “front-line” with corona, first hand insight into economical situation (from my businesses), first hand experience from 2 countries simultaneously, am starting to get worried, which is not good. That is a natural response, nobody wants to be at risk, but it is the wrong response and it will cost us dearly. What will happen if our supermarkets will be closed for longer periods of time, do we even know how to go by with the basics anymore? The calmer we behave, the lower the chance of such a situation will be.

The better we follow the rules and guidelines, the sooner this will be under control, then we will need to worry about fixing the economy once again. Hopefully for the better, but quite honestly, probably for the worse. More people will be impacted by automation, which will probably thrive and we will need to find ways to mitigate that, maybe universal income will be a sensible solution. We shall see and only time will tell, but what I do know for certain, things will never be quite the same again.

Looking forward to your comments below (please keep a proper respectable level of communication).

Life & stuff, PR - Philosophical Rambling

Back?

Well, a couple of years have gone by since my last post, which I wrote after a few months of not posting anything. A lot has changed in that time, I have grown as a person, got my heart broken again, started a few other business ventures and made plenty of new friends and experiences world wide.

Something quite important has happened today – so as a proper 2020 genX workaholic, I have finished a working meeting with my colleague and business partner for another new business venture in legal services in Germany. My expertise in various online topics such as SEO, Google Advertising, SERP positioning, etc. has grown vastly and today I was annoyed again that I do not have my own blog even connected to the google search console, so I have no way of knowing what people find interesting about my blog and how my content plays out online.

Due to that fact (I am still in the office, one of 2 locations we now have in Munich), and I cleared everything with the hosting provider so that I can again work on this page. I will try to make it a habit, as I just quit one again (smoking).

Oh, and we have a nice new product page in the works since about a year and a half ago, it´s a work in progress but crucial to improving our global visibility with our clientele. At the moment available in German and English, but more languages for our other markets coming soon. Take a look, I would love to have your feedback in the comments if it clearly represents the DMS/BPM Workflow automation Technology with a pinch of Data capture and OCR. After all it is all about ShakeSpeare® Software Technology in this new decade.

Hoping to bring you a few good reads soon. Thanks for sticking at it and visiting this page. Now I will finally be able to see it in google tools as well 🙂 All the best, Jan

Cute totally unrelated photo from my trip to South America in November 2018 :)
Cute totally unrelated photo from my trip to South America in November 2018 🙂
Health&keeping it, Life & stuff, Living in Munich, Germany, My travels, PR - Philosophical Rambling, Uncategorized

Back from the dead and a new Category I will add to my blog

Blogging is a hobby. That is fact, and if one likes his hobby, the person takes the time to do it.

I have neglected the blogging part for quite a long period of time and will really try to not let it happen again. That I will try to solve either by preparing content in advance and posting at least every 10-15 days, I have more than enough material. So what has happened from February 2018 until today… well let’s start:

  • I turned 36 in October so I am officially middle aged in accordance with EU Commission guidelines,
  • I visited Silverthorne, Colorado, USA for a Rotary visit and a ski-trip (it was awesome and will get it’s own blog post),
  • Did a Porsche trip for CarVia Friends and Family over the Alpine passes from Germany to Italy and back through Switzerland, it was… amazing.
  • I visited Moscow, Russia – also great.
  • I cut up my hand in Croatia, learned a lot about the medical system in Croatia and luckily got my finger stitched back together by a surgeon.
  • Business started to really take off in Germany so my typical working day is 12-14 hours and I am looking to finally expand the German team to make our working hours normal again.
  • Had about 30 other experiences from Octoberfest, Conferences, Love, Disappointment, Smiles, Cries and WTF moments, all noted down and ready to be blogged about, coming soon.
  • Going on a 3 week trekking vacation in Argentina in November in the hopes to recharge the batteries for the next round.
  • Quit smoking (a few times this year).
  • Got worried about my health, possibly through stress and work combined with low levels of exercise and junk food eating regime, something I am changing actively for the last 2 months.

I have a lot of notes written down, so there will be stuff to blog about, but a special category I am adding is:

  • Taxi stories

Why? Well, about a month ago I had the coolest taxi ride of my life – it involved a random young blonde, a blind gentleman in his 50s and one of the coolest taxi drivers. I hope I will be able to describe the story, but it was amazing and inspiring. Joy of live in its purest form. And Taxi stories should be it’s own category, since, even though I never mentioned that, I ride taxis wherever in the world I am and sometimes the stories are amazing, either just the stories the taxi drivers have, why and how they to it, where they are from or what they want to do. So these I have plenty of – the crazy drugged up rickshaw driver in Udaipur in India where we needed to catch the train and it was like a Need for Speed game and extremely dangerous, but we did it to the fight with the Cuban taxi drivers, to the cool driver in Kraljevo in Serbia… plenty to tell and plenty to write about. Coming soon to the blog page near you 🙂

What I do kindly ask of you, drop me a comment below this post, having active readers makes me more active in taking the time, to write a story or two of mine, I would love a confirmation that you enjoy reading my blog. Take care, Jan

Life & stuff, PR - Philosophical Rambling

When you turn to hyper-active as pressure comes & thoughts on life

An interesting topic and stuff for thought for me is how different people react to stress and pressure in different ways. Some break down, others outperform themselves again others freeze or just wait for things to pass.

There are different ways on how we approach stressful situations and deadline pressure. I am still unable to reach a conclusion on my side, is it based on life-time experience or just how we tick inside our heads with personality traits taking the lead. Often, I am amazed by older people, who are much calmer and usually say “it will pass” shrugging all the drama of a pressing deadline or a mistake that was made. Noticing that age and experience change the way how I perceive and handle some situations I am positive that it has an impact, but can you really handle all situations differently? I remember the hype and drama when we were graduating from gymnasium, it was all about scores, how you will perform meant which faculty you could apply (and get in) to, etc. In the end… it was not a make it or break it life event for most. Nowadays when I see people dramatizing over unimportant or life-threatening events, I remember how small my world used to be when I was younger, and I struggle to understand how these people must feel that everything is falling apart. But that gets me wondering – how do people who struggle through life feel? Not people who are mortally ill – even though the end game for all of us is passing away no matter what we do, and it looms over us at any point in our lives. But when you get to meet people who were terminally ill but somehow, they managed to survive against all odds, or having survived two pretty spectacular car crashes, you think to yourself – does a mistake at work or a failed relationship really mean I will not be able to live my life as comfortably or peacefully as I would expect? Most probably not, it is another experience that broadens our horizons, takes time to digest, survive, start breathing again, but you move on eventually. Or not, I sometimes meet people who are just stuck in a tiny little circle of events doing the same mistake all over again. Someone once said – being stupid is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.  A thought I agree with completely, with my heart and soul.

But sometimes people just feel stuck, stuck in the life that leads to nothing important. But what really is important? All that hype about being unique, important, born to change the world. Sorry guys, that´s bullshit. If all of us were unique, one of a kind and that special… then mediocrity would not exist and … again we would all be similar, everyone special in his or her own way. When I was younger my drive was for money, since that was the only way I could really value myself with a number, that meant to me how successful I was in life. Then came my 30s, and at one point it just clicked. Money means just a means of not worrying about next month’s bills and how to get food and it got me thinking – what is it all about? Family, life experiences, stories to tell, a clear answer still does not exist in my head, however, I know I want to live and experience for myself. Not for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, sit silent and enjoy moments. Wake up with a smile on my face and enjoy the sunny days, stay cosy on the rainy and cold ones. Good enough for me.

Still the pressure comes, it always comes and then I tend to push to hyper speed, sort everything out in my head and how and what I´ll do, and pressure keeps me going and reaching new goals. Not always, sometimes I fail, but I learn the lesson (or at least try to), but if I learned anything about pressure in life – most of the things will go away by themselves I you don´t push up the drama too much. Work tasks which are not crucial will fade away, the important ones will keep knocking on your door, worry not. Relationships will happen, some people will stay, some will go, these few special ones will make life glow.

I wonder however, how other people cope, I always admired the really calm ones, how they tend to handle everything with such grace and frowned upon the drama queens, but I guess we all just have our way of handling things. I am really interested in knowing how you manage? Do you feel trapped in the everyday life hoping for something more but never really trying? Or did you try and failed so many times that it just does not make sense anymore? What is keeping you from starting training, eating healthy, quitting the so much hated job, taking that trip to some remote country, packing up and saying fuck you to your partner with whom you know you don´t belong? Why is it so difficult for us to change some things even though we know we should and could do better?

Life & stuff, Living in Munich, Germany

Doing business in Germany and trust issues (which I get)

I knew that being a foreigner, obviously not being a native German speaker and running a company with the HO in Slovenia might be an issue in the DACH market to some of our would-be clients even in today´s international environment.

I was not wrong, personally I experienced mixed or negative responses to my origin, but it did not leave me feeling too negative about it, as I tend to be sceptical of foreigners providing services or products, which is a trait I am not proud of, but I guess it comes with being human and having a certain perception or stereotype of a nation. Since I caught myself behaving in such a way on several occasions, I do not really blame people having the same initial response, and you can never really keep everyone happy, right.

So recently I had an experience where we were offering a solution to a client that really can benefit from it, so business case wise it is not an issue, however, we did the initial introductions (after the product was already presented to them by their IT consultant) via telephone. After the phone call, the CEO of the company said she will investigate our competitors and let us know. We knew there are no competitors that would offer this solution, at least not for that market price and outputs, but still, a month went by. Indirectly we found out that an issue was with my German on the phone call, so this resulted in scepticism. It is not a big deal that would be of strategic importance, however it is a very nice showcase how a client may benefit from our solutions and really save time, effort and operational costs when doing business. My colleague and I decided to meet the CEO in person and proposed a meeting.

We met, and I believe we left a good impression, that may potentially result in a bit broader scope of our services as initially anticipated, but we will see how the decision on the client side will go. Whichever way it turns out it is a clear indication that business is based on trust, which must be part of the package, no matter if your solution is really the best or the most competitive on the market. And I understand that, I cannot take it personally, even though I would very much rather have it the other way around, without prejudice as a global environment should be. This is part of doing business and if meeting people in person to try and get rid of that issue, I have no problem with that. We are here for the long term and building trust and reputation is something that one cannot achieve overnight.

My expectations for the future lie clear – there will be several more cases where our HO or my origins will lead to a trust issue with clients, surprisingly with larger clients this tends to not really be an issue since they are used to working with foreign companies and foreigners. For smaller companies I do believe they might be more conservative and that doubts will always be there. On my part I take it as a mission to prove ourselves and every such attempt will make us better, able to learn more and improve our communication and presentation for even the most sceptical clients. So, a friendly advice on my part – expect everything and if you are confident about your products or service, keep on persisting, it will show on the results and over the years you will manage to build up a brand and awareness of your company and these doubts will fade away through recommendations, good practices and happy clients.

The only thing that keeps bugging me in my mind is – would it have been different if I was from England, Switzerland, France, Austria? Who knows, I think probably yes, but possibly not. In the end it does not really make a difference to me, I know who I am, who we are and that we deliver quality in an efficient way. Therefore, persisting is the only way for me.

I will end this post with a quote attributed (but disputed) to Winston Churchill: “Success is all about going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”

Life & stuff

Ski trip gone bad

Being born in Slovenia, this brings with it some expectations. One of them for example – that I should know how to ski from age 3… ideally even before that. Skiing is an integral part of Slovene culture and free time activities and also in sports, Slovenian skiers are very good on a global level and tend to occasionally snatch even the highest medals and awards.

Well my family was never big on skiing, so I did not get my first set of skis with the age of 3, I did not reach pro level by the age of 10, my story is a bit different. It all started with a big emotional scar in relation to skiing. I guess it was about 11 years old, when we had a ski-trip in our school (as all elementary schools tend to have in Slovenia). I remember getting a set of skis waxed and sharpened the day before and I did feel a bit unsettled, since I knew I had no idea on how to ski. The ski trips before were a bit of a torment for me in watching out not to kill myself or possibly anybody else. Basically, as far as my skiing ability went, was to crouch on the skis, ride downhill in a straight line and hope for the terrain to flatten that I would stop. Period. That was it, plow was something I could to on a relatively flat surface I guess, and I never felt secure on the skis.

So basically, this ski trip was the day when we drove to Pohorje, north-eastern Slovenia and the teachers divided us in age and experience groups. Somehow, I did not end up in the 11 year/beginner group, but they put me together with the 14year old experienced skiers. Me being me, of course followed and did not complain. So, they said – ok, follow us, and went to another ski slope. To get there my “downhill” capacity was good enough, and then the trauma began to carve into my mind. First – the challenge was to get to the top, there was a surface lift (anchor formed) from which I always fell, mostly because of my paranoia. So, we tried about 10 times and by the time I finally got up, the group formed back and said – ok, now we will go to the next ski slope. Follow us… Sure, I can do that I thought, so I was the last one in line, everybody went, and I once again followed with my downhill skill I kept up well, until the moment, when everybody turned right, and I ended up hitting a tree. After laying in the snow in pain with all my stuff scattered around the tree for 15 minutes, the professor came back since he noticed I was missing. Basically, the day ended in a collar bone injury and me waiting in the medical facility for the ski-trip to end. That was the day I promised to myself I will never ski again.

Well as we all know, never say never. My next ski experience was when I was about 20 something, I was taking part on an international Mensa meeting in Slovenia on a smaller ski-resort called Kobla. I took part since I knew not everyone will ski and I will get to meet a whole bunch of interesting people. How I was wrong… of course even those of us who did not ski, did go to the “ski-cup” competition to cheer the competitors. There I was basically with no ski pants or jacket, being persuaded, that I should try since it´s not that hard. So … a part of me knew – try it, otherwise you will never know. And I tried. I still had no idea how to ski, but by that time you got the half-carving skis, which were much easier to maneuver as the ones I had as a kid. And I managed to ski, take some curves, and do a few rides down. And there it was, I was ready to compete… Of course, I competed, crashed spectacularly when trying to make the door, but still, completely unhurt, I found it still scary but not death-threatening as before from my childhood years, when I was terrified by just the thought of skiing.

On that day I did learn another lesion about skiing though – sunscreen. I got completely sunburned to my face and spend the next few days turning from red to violet and slowly back to white. Lesson learned.

A few years passed, with me avoiding any invitation for ski-trips since I really did not understand the fun about skiing and spending a few days of my life on vast ski-slopes. Until a few years ago another Mensa international event was happening on another ski slope in Slovenia, Krvavec. It was again a three-day event and I attended. This time I decided I will finally learned how to ski. On the first day I took an instructor and we stared from basics. After two hours I kind of had an idea about how to turn, how to stop, etc. On the third day I was still skiing scared, but I was skiing. Again, the competition happened and again I crashed. But it did not stop me in accepting invitations for ski trips from that point on.

After that I did a few few-day trips in Kronplatz, Schladming and a few one-day trips to Slovenian ski slopes. The last time was in 2016, when I skied on Krvavec in a fog where I could not see more 2 meters ahead. But I was skiing, didn´t matter that I did not know where I was, I felt good and I enjoyed skiing even before that. Once you get the feeling and understand that you can basically stop anywhere, skiing becomes real fun. Even black ski tracks were doable. So since I moved to Munich there was a lot of talk that we should use the opportunity to visit the ski slopes in Austria, which are usually an hour and a half away if traffic is light and I do plan a visit to Colorado in March where I definitely want to try out the slopes.

Understanding that still I was never really into skiing and after 2 years from my last ski day, I should brush up on my skills again, we decided to visit a local ski slope in the vicinity of Tegernsee, about an hour’s drive from Munich. This time I was sure everything will go well. Oh, how I was wrong…

My skiing was basic, but we hit the slopes immediately as you swim best when you get thrown into water. We did a few rides, so the couple I was with spent some time working on the ski-skills I took a ride by myself. And then it happened, a little girl in ski school somehow ended directly in front of me when I was taking a curve, it all happened so fast that I only remembering to yell out “Watch out” (in German, which surprised me), trying to avoid, but hit her full force. The girl was about 10 years old, and we crashed hard and you can imagine a 110+kg guy hitting a tiny 10-year-old is not cool. I fell as well and when I came to, she was lying on the ground whining, luckily people came around, protected the side and a group of doctors training were 100 meters away, so she immediately got attention. With 4 doctors present I sat down and observed, hoping that she did not break anything. They first checked if the remembered who she is, which day it was, etc. to establish that there is no brain trauma, then the upper part of her leg was hurt. She was very brave and stopped crying quite fast, but still mentioning that her leg hurts. This never happened to me, and I had no idea what to do but to feel bad. They put her in a stretcher and I went down with one of the doctors. She was taking part in a ski-school, with the ski instructor not being present, which surprised me a bit, but still, did not have time to think about any of that. After the ambulance took her to the hospital for x-ray, and after the police arrived to take statements, I started to understand that this may also have legal implications. However, my worries were with the girl if the will be ok, or does she have a broken leg. The speed was not great, but I gave my telephone number to the police officer to give to her parents so that if they wanted they would let me know if she is ok. I did not get any calls, so I really hope that it was just a bruise and that she will be fine and not traumatized by this ski accident as I was when I was a kid. She was one of the bravest girls I ever saw, surrounded by people she did not know, she did not cry and waited patiently.

It also ruined my day, even though the doctors and police assured me that accidents happen all the time and that probably everything should be fine. What I was surprised to learn was that in Bavaria there is a special attorney general just for ski accidents. 99% of the time they do not result in state prosecution, but sometimes if there is suspicion that it was intentional or due to reckless skiing with resulting injuries, then it may go to court.

Since speed was not high, I am convinced that she will be fine and that she will keep skiing. With the way she handled the accident I have no doubt that she will not let fear control her decisions about skiing. As I did not let mine control me. I went skiing again on the same slope the next weekend and it was great, no accidents, a wonderful day spent on the slopes.

The moral of the story? I guess you get it, but in the end for me – even if an experience is bad, it should not mean that you should let something go completely and miss out on the positive side.

Life & stuff, Living in Munich, Germany, PR - Philosophical Rambling

Do you speak Balkan?

So after a really intense few weeks of work (and working or sleeping most of the weekends as well), I finally got a chance to spend the first weekend in February on a more social note. This meaning taking a ski trip to Spitzingsee – Tegernsee to finally brush up on my skiing before I go to the states, which was an experience deserving it´s own blog post, visiting a home party of my coworker, which ended up in myself, my friend and his friend going to a Balkan Party in Munich.

I was certain for quite a while that Balkan parties exist in Munich as it has a strong presence of people from former Yugoslav nations, so the question was only – where and when do they actually happen. Luckily on that day someone wrote in the FB group Slovenians in Munich if someone else will go to that concert/party in one of Munich clubs, I immediately checked it out and of course knew exactly that I need to try and end up there if the social evening would result in going out to party. And what an experience it was, I loved every moment of it with a smile.

So what exactly is a balkan party anyway? Basically it´s a lot of music, of course from the Balkan area and if you understand the lyrics it´s quite heart warming if you combine it with some alcohol for the soul. What I love about that is also that so many nations have this common point through which we can connect, no matter where we are. A big part of that is also dancing, something I love to do, but missed in Germany for the most part, as people tend to hang out in bars rather than going to dance clubs and just hitting the dancefloor (but it does happen, of course). Also with balkan you get high intensity, the moment we came to the entrance of the club, we heard a glass break and a woman shouthing that no, it wasn´t her that smashed the glass. Once we entered, I went to the bar to order drinks, did my best in german, but the bartender looked at me and she asked: Sprichst du Balkan? Which basically means – do you speak Balkan? Balkan of course is not a language, but the languages are so similar that any will do to order a drink. Once we established that, I could wave from the biggest crowd and drinks were on the way, thats´s how balkan parties work, with a small tip included of course. At the moment the first drink was served, a fight happened right next to me, it was basically a woman beating the hell out of a guy that was twice her size, not really sure what he did, but it was surely something really out of bounds. I carefully protected the drinks, she broke his tooth, after that security pulled them apart and the party could go on.

It was amazing fun, the whole club knowing the words to the songs and the dancefloor was crowded, I stayed until the end with a big smile on my face. A great experience, reminded me of home, even though that in Slovenia it is not often that you find a club with “balkan” music, there are a few, but the main ones frown upon such music. Well truth be told, we always end up in such clubs in the end.

What is interesting is that every weekend this club attracts well known performers from Serbia, Croatia, so it is on the map and also on my go-to list if I go and party it out again in Munich. Which might not be so soon, as the hangover from the vodka-redbulls on sunday was really, really bad and once again (as every 1-2 years) I swore I will not drink that mix again. Ever. Until next time.

Of course without a photo gallery, any such party would make no sense for women to put on their hottest dresses and make-up, so to get a feeling on how it looked, you can click that link and check our the photos. But photos alone will never give you the experience of the vibe you feel at such a party, so visiting is your best bet, I promise you will not be disappointed if you are just looking to celebrate life.

This club is one of the bigger ones I saw in Munich so far, it has a lounge bar, a dance floor, an upper floor and a smoking area, so something for everyone. You can check out future events and concerts here. Also remember that respect is key, respect the ladies and the guys and everyone will be happy and you will have a great time. Even if you spill drinks on the really biggest and baddest guy in the club, he will understand, but being annoying may get you hurt, especially with the ladies, that´s the balkan way.

PR - Philosophical Rambling

Keeping up a blog is harder than one might think

It has been a long while since I posted anything on my blog, even though I planned I should create at least one post per week. It is not the lack of ideas on what to write about, I have a lot of them and I write them down every time I have an experience I deem fit to share with others.

However, finding the time to actually sit down and write a post and publish it is harder than I anticipated when I started. I still stand firm and know that with taking the time it will become part of my habit, hopefully to keep the people who read it entertained and maintain a regular readership.

To overcome this whining, I decided to share with you a page, or a blog, as we call it today, that left a mark on me. This page was started before “blogging” as we know it became a popular thing, I believe it stared in the late 1990´s by a guy from the USA and has attracted more than quarter billion visitors so far. Not bad for a one-man show. His posts ranged from rants, comical posts about current events or sometimes even philosophical stuff. I enjoy the opportunity to share it with you. There was no rule on how often he posted, but his posts guaranteed that you had fun reading them if you understood the underlying sarcasm of his writings.

With no further ado, I present to you – the best page in the universe, created by Maddox the pirate: http://maddox.xmission.com/. Take the time, browse through it and although you did not follow it from the early beginnings (as I was lucky to have done), I do hope you will enjoy his content. If nothing else to fill the time, when you visit my blog and find that I published no new content, 20 years of history on his page should keep you occupied for a while.

Do not forget to check in every now and then and see if I finally found the time to publish something new. It´s the readership that keeps me creating and prioritising my time.