In our interview series with productivity professionals today Elke Fleing the beginning. She is an expert in communication, positioning and digital transformation.
Good Morning. Yes, I’d love to: You’ve already mentioned in the introductory sentence which thematic areas I’m active in.
Hello Elke, would you like to briefly introduce yourself and your company?
I support companies as a copywriter and in an advisory and/or operational capacity with the strategy and implementation of their social web activities. I am also happy to build their websites for them - with a clear focus on communicative aspects - and am available to them as a workshop leader and business coach.
For all other corporate communication needs, I work closely with various excellent network partners, so that in principle everything a company expects from a modern full-service agency can be booked with me. And like with a good agency, the customer has one contact person, namely me.
I have also been writing regular articles for since 2011 www.deutsche-startups.de , one of the largest German-language blogs for and about the startup economy in German-speaking countries.
And also the D-Hive is currently being created 🙂
D-Hive? So what is that?
Together with three network partners, we are currently launching a blog that is dedicated to the digital transformation of the economy. Our job is just to be a volunteer host. The content will come from all the experts and hidden champions from business who have already brought exciting digitalization projects to the streets.
D-Hive is intended to become THE online resource for practical content on the topic of digital change.
And because not all digitization experts are gifted editors, in addition to the reach of the platform, which we will promote vigorously, we also offer them our voluntary editing service: If necessary, we help to structure, formulate and edit the content of course before publication.
We expect to do so in June or July D-Hive and the first exciting contributions can go live.
How did you come up with the idea of becoming self-employed? What was the engine there?
Haha, I think the ’engine’ is in my genes - I think I’m just so passionate about being an entrepreneur that nothing else was ever really an option for me.
I ‘discovered’ this ‘gene’ at the latest when I was studying to become a teacher after studying law, when it suddenly became clear to me at a teachers’ conference that my entire professional life would run in a completely straight, predictable line with clear boundaries I actually become a teacher. That was a really terrible moment and I felt like I was trapped. Locked in a predetermined career path.
From that moment on, it was clear to me that the civil service career and I were not made for each other. And so, immediately after the 2nd state examination, I started my own music agency, which I then ran for 15 years.
How does this independence gene define itself for you?
For me, being self-employed is an incredible luxury because of the freedom it gives you. Of course you also have constraints, but they are significantly fewer than with employees - and I can even influence the type of constraints myself.
For example, I can choose my working hours freely, and since I’m an early bird, I usually start working at five or half past five and then take longer breaks during the day.
I am free to choose which customers I have, which network partners, and if necessary which team members. I can change my own job and the direction of my company whenever and however I want and think is right.
Of course, as an entrepreneur, I don’t have any paid vacation and bear the entire financial risk, but let’s be honest: jobs as an employee aren’t that much safer these days.
Except for officials…
Yes, but I’ve always felt that was more of a threat than security. I already knew back then: I’m 22 now and when I’m 64 I’ll be earning something. This seemed to me to be a one-way street - everything is mapped out. It didn’t feel like a warm nest to me, but like a prison.
What were the biggest obstacles and the most important challenges at the beginning of your self-employment?
Challenges don’t just exist at the beginning, but always - the challenges don’t get bigger or smaller over time, just different. And you have the opportunity to make mistakes throughout your life. Anyone who does something makes mistakes. That’s a good thing, because you learn and grow from them.
But if I were to start over today, I would do a lot of things differently. I would - like I do today - get more advice and tips from experienced people.
Back then with my music agency I just started and made every beginner’s mistake myself. Today I would add a few internships or get advisors on my side right from the start. That would definitely have saved me a lot of money, including psychological costs.
What was or is your biggest challenge as a self-employed person?
For me there are not one, but two big challenges:
- Not to work too much. Because the company is your ‘own baby’, work often feels like a hobby - and you imperceptibly spend more and more time on it. But that’s not healthy, neither for myself - burnout is enough for me - nor for the company. Because if you only focus on job topics, only experience people in business contexts and have no balance, your horizons become narrower and narrower, ideas stop coming, your actions become less productive and everything feels somehow ‘dull’ . And that brings us to the second big challenge as an entrepreneur:
- It’s important to stay awake, curious and - to paraphrase Steve Jobs - hungry. What is important is the willingness to constantly go out of your comfort zone, to always stay on the ball, to remain open to changes and to actually look for them. That’s not always easy in everyday business and when everything is going smoothly - even though I’m naturally very curious and always like to change something because otherwise I get bored.
What experience from your professional life really amazed you?
Hmm, I can’t think of anything from my own professional life that really surprised me.
What generally baffles me is that even today, and even here in Germany, women in salaried jobs are still paid less than men - even if they do the same job.
As an entrepreneur, this doesn’t affect me that much, I can control my own income. And I personally have never had the feeling that I was taken less seriously than a man because of my gender. Although professionally I spend a lot of time hanging around in so-called ‘men’s domains’. But that might just be a question of mindset.
Is there a job alternative for you? What would you do professionally if you weren’t a copywriter and business coach? Would you be a gardener then?
Haha, you asked because I said I love gardening, right? It could well be that I would then be a gardener. Or a doctor, like I wanted to be as a child. Or….
I don’t know it. There are 1,002 options, all of which have their own charm. But the theme of ‘advising, supporting others’ runs through my life with some consistency; that seems to be my calling. So it can be assumed that it would be something like that.
But: This subjunctive doesn’t exist in my life. If I want to do something else, I just do it. In addition or gradually instead of the current one. For example, I currently have 2 to 3 topics on my professional bucket list that I will devote myself to in the near future…
You are also involved in digital transformation. In this context, automation is becoming increasingly important. Which areas should companies automate and which should they not?
I can’t say that specifically. I think anything that can be usefully automated should be automated.
If jobs are lost as a result and there are no longer enough jobs for everyone, you have to find other solutions, such as an unconditional basic income for everyone, so that we have enough money to live on.
And then we can volunteer in the areas that we like and in which we can help others - this way we have tasks that nourish us psychologically and everyone feels better because they get the support they need.
I don’t think it’s helpful to not automate things just to keep people working.
What tips do you have for founders and startups on the subject of accounting?
It is very important to choose the software together with your tax advisor. It’s no use if you have a great program but the tax advisor can’t work with it. So you should agree and create a catalog: which functions do I need, which don’t, where can I save time… - basically a kind of specifications, that’s what it used to be called.
What I like about GetMyInvoices is that you automatically collect recurring receipts, for example for software subscriptions - I have never seen that with any other program. Since I don’t like shopping - except for hardware stores or garden centers - I order almost everything online and the constant manual downloading of receipts from Amazon, for example, annoys me.
That’s why a tip for your readers would be: look out for every opportunity that saves you from dull Dully work. Use the time you gain to do something more creative or simply more enjoyable.
Speaking of saving work… How do you feel about outsourcing?
I outsource everything where others are significantly better, faster or cheaper than myself: accounting, sound recordings to be transcribed, proofreading of English texts - English is simply not my native language -, complex graphic work, complex video work…
Or I pass on entire jobs and projects to colleagues if they are so far removed from my - albeit quite broad - range of topics that it would no longer make sense for me to delve into the topic for this one project.
Which areas should you outsource? Which areas should not be outsourced?
Everything where others are significantly better, faster or cheaper than you. Although I always stick to this consistently, because sometimes I just enjoy learning something new and I do it ‘on the job’ - of course I don’t charge my clients for the time I need to spend longer practicing.
