← Table of contents

April 7/Pamphlet. Static. Glass.

My advisor, Herr Schmidt, looks like a man who resolved, sometime around 1997, to stop being surprised by anything.

— from the desk, with coffee ☕
text size

The Agentur für Arbeit sent a letter demanding an 'In-Person Consultation regarding my Entrepreneurial Intentions.' I spent the morning in a waiting room that smelled of despair and vending machine coffee, holding a folder of documents I'm fairly sure were wrong.

My advisor, Herr Schmidt, looks like a man who resolved, sometime around 1997, to stop being surprised by anything. He reviewed my concept. He pushed his glasses up. He said that 'process optimisation for small-to-medium enterprises' is 'oversaturated' and suggested I look into a franchise repairing smartphones instead.

I tried to explain the distinction — efficiency, not hardware. He clicked something on his monitor and said, without looking up: 'We have a pamphlet on smartphone screen replacement. It is very stable.'

On the U-Bahn home I sat across from a man reading a paperback thriller with the calm of someone who has no unresolved administrative questions. I envied him in a way that felt almost spiritual.

Today's weight

unique to himhappens to everyone

44 people have also been offered a pamphlet.

The diary5 / 34
Mar 30Jun 4

"Klaus suggested I start a newsletter. Thorsten has 4,500 subscribers. I have 203. Help me close the gap."

The race

203

The Clean Slate

4,500

Thorsten Kahl

5%4,297 behind