Exact: Mr. Rudel, you have already. Years the Auto-Niebch GmbH took over. The company Kfz-Service Wetzlar was founded. How were your first two business years?
The past two years have gone by incredibly fast. I have gained a lot of experience. Can be very satisfied with the development of my company overall. I have succeeded in retaining my predecessor's old customers and attracting new ones. Currently, I have implemented another important step and bought the company property, which I had previously only rented. Overall, I'm pleased all around with the development over the past two years.
Exact: 1/3 of all start-ups disappear from the market again within a short period of time. They made it through the initial period just fine. What is the secret of their success?
In my opinion, it's important to keep the customer at the center of everything we do. If the customer is dissatisfied, he makes a simple decision and does not come back again. Only satisfied customers come back to me. Accordingly, I try to take every customer seriously and treat them in a friendly and courteous manner. Another aspect is the craft. The reliability. Only if I understand my craft and distinguish myself by high quality and reliability, I can exist permanently on the market. Since I took over my company as part of a business succession, another success factor is the relationship with my predecessor. I still get on well with Mr. Niebch, my predecessor, and he still drops by the company regularly. This was important to keep the longtime existing customers.
Exact: Where were specifically the entrepreneurial challenges?
Alexander Rudel:
The challenges were in the commercial as well as in the technical area. Basically, of course, the commercial tasks and duties increase enormously with self-employment. Unfortunately I can't spend the whole day in the workshop, I also have to take care of bookkeeping, invoicing, incoming and outgoing payments and many other things. Here I am very glad that my wife supports me in this area and has my back very strongly. Professionally, the biggest challenge was the responsibility that comes with being self-employed. I am personally for the success of a repair. The satisfaction of the customer responsible. This sometimes leads to the fact that I still ponder over possible error causes and repair ideas in the evening and my workday is usually not over after 8 hours.
Exact: What does self-employment mean to you on the whole and have you always been happy to have taken the step?
Independence for me means to be free. I am my own boss, can contribute my own ideas and design my workplace as I see fit. I enjoy my work very much and I am very glad that I dared to go independent two years ago. What advice would you like to give to start-ups?. Giving young entrepreneurs a hand?
Alexander Rudel:
Here I would like to give the following three recommendations: 1. Correct preparation. I spent a total of five years preparing for my self-employment and spent a long time looking for the ideal property and suitable location. I used this time to deal with the topic of self-employment and the resulting questions.
2. Do not rush. Self-employment comes with a lot of work. Also involves a high financial risk. It is important to have sufficient respect for the responsibility that awaits you as an entrepreneur and not to rush into it.
3. There is a wide range of further education. Training courses for founders. In my opinion, it is important to take advantage of these and also to seek qualified advice in the preparation and implementation of the foundation.