How LinkedIn Changed My Life: From a Burst Career Bubble to a Successful Podcast

About this episode

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When LinkedIn called me asking if I'd like to be part of a campaign, there was never any question about whether to do it. LinkedIn is the networking tool par excellence for me – it creates contacts and connects people in a completely different way than other social networks.

From Career Bubble to Personal Motivation

Three years ago, I dropped out of my business mathematics studies. With this step, my bubble as a career-determined success climber also burst – or rather, I consciously let it burst. Without knowing much about personal values at the time, I quickly sensed that something inside me was resisting. The path I had chosen simply didn't feel productive.

I decided to skip university theory and follow my hands-on mentality instead. It quickly became clear: to become successful, you must learn from successful people. Just as quickly, I realized: in the German-speaking world, there was hardly anyone sharing their success story, problems, and solutions.

The Birth of the Jungunternehmer Podcast

Nothing easier than that, I thought – then I'll take this into my own hands. So at the tender age of 19, I started the Jungunternehmer Podcast. It was never my stated goal to create the most successful podcast for young entrepreneurs in the German-speaking world. It was simply my motivation to provide young people like me with access to knowledge, solutions, and experience.

Coupled with unbridled curiosity, tremendous fun, and my unconquerable will to learn, I published one podcast episode after another. My drive was my own thirst for knowledge and the freely accessible scaling of one of the world's most important resources. Because knowledge is famously power – but applied knowledge is the realization of that power.

LinkedIn as a Door Opener

Many problems can simply be solved by finding people who have already solved them. I'm a naive 21-year-old, but I know people who can help others. And if I don't know them yet, then I'll get to know them. Creating sustainable and forward-thinking value for people is the greatest gift I could give myself.

It was actually LinkedIn that made all these contacts possible for me. I owe the foundations of my current business and personal existence to this tool. LinkedIn is the reason why I am who I am today and where I am today.

Money Was Never the Drive

I'm constantly asked whether I actually make money with the podcast. The more often these questions were asked, the more I started thinking about it. Money was never my incentive at any point. As an investment banker, my financial future would certainly look rosy – but I consciously decided against it to follow my own curiosity and inner motivation. Money was always secondary to irrelevant.

When my expertise in podcasting became established after two years and requests for workshops, talks, and similar opportunities increased, I recognized the possibilities that emerged from this. But the original drive – sharing knowledge and helping others – always remained in the foreground.