As far as I am aware, 23 May 2012 has not gone down in history – at least not in world history. For us, this date marked the entry of Halbersbacher Privathotels GmbH into the commercial register in Rostock and signalled the start of a company story that we hadn’t anticipated in this way…
“He had no chance and seized it”, “the light at the end of the tunnel… is an oncoming train” or even: “Halbers… who?” – these were just a few of the comments and sayings that dogged us for a long time, and no, they didn’t motivate us; they simply annoyed us – at least me (my wife Anke is much cooler about these things).
I’ll never understand why ‘going it alone’ – that is, setting up a business which, in the best-case scenario, creates new jobs – is still so often viewed negatively in Germany.
Whether it’s courage, madness, sheer desperation or simply the desire to make a difference – every single reason deserves to be respected, and I admire every single person who – despite everything – dares to do their own thing, to act of their own free will (well, you’re welcome to believe that at the start… ;-)) or even just to save the world – Hats off to you, you wonderful people!
The climate for start-ups has improved somewhat, particularly over the last two or three years – but we still have a very long way to go.
The halbersbacher Hospitality Group has now managed to survive its first 10 years, growing and learning along the way; our – mainly my – countless mistakes have been part of that journey. Some of them were important and necessary, but most were unnecessary – and yet, taken together, they were necessary to shape us, help us grow and make us stronger; otherwise, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
To every single person who is thinking of making a change, setting up a business, or even saving the world, I wish you, from the bottom of my heart, courage, strength, confidence and people around you who are there for you and believe in you – we, too, have had, and still have, such people, but more on that later, in a separate post.
