Main topics:
Story: Podcast from entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs
Main topic: Entry into entrepreneurship
Dream: initiate positive change
Highlight: international stories from Berlin
International Kiez Talk with Daniel and Olaf
Lucia Peraza Rios #Persönlich
Idea
Berliner Zinner featuring Mehlhose
It is fascinating how different everyone’s life journey can be – and how several different life choices can still all lead to happiness and success. From our guests we find out the influences they had and the decisions they made that have significantly impacted their professional careers. The Berlin Zinner symbolises a place of exchange – with its many doors, trusting atmosphere and open minded people. It is our hope that in this environment interesting and stimulating discussions will take place that will inspire our listeners and, ideally, provide them with guidance for their own ventures or careers.
Background
Our podcast is the result of a range of conversations with entrepreneurs and creative people from our community. Our primary goal is to understand what a successful strategy looks like for our guests – and what factors, skills and processes have contributed to their success in business. This is why we decided to regularly invite and speak with entrepreneurs from Berlin in order to find out the hows and the whys of their success.
Berlin is on the move. The city is known throughout the world for its creative spirit, entrepreneurial courage and a strong hands-on mentality. Beyond that, Berlin stands for values such as internationality, sharing ideas and cooperation. We have combined these unique features in a single model.
Berliner Zimmer
The Berliner Zimmer (Berlin Room) is a unique characteristic of a Berlin apartment from the 19th and 20th centuries. It connects either the front or the rear of the building with its wings. Although it is a large room, there is only one corner window to the courtyard.
Traditionally, this room was used as a lounge or reception area. Noble families used it as a library, or a dining or music room. If the flat was small, it would sometimes serve as both the living room and the study in one. It is said that the idea for this room in Berlin came from Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
To this day the Berliner Zimmer has remained a part of Berlin’s housing culture. In most cases it is a quiet living room with a view of the backyard garden. For this reason it is often used as a bedroom or living room. If the apartment is small, sometimes there is also a kitchen or a bathroom built into this room.
Because of its unusually large size, many entrances and the unique lighting effects, creativity in design and utilisation is sometimes required. Combined with the height of the room, the stucco ceiling, the parquet flooring and personal style, every one of these rooms in Berlin is unique. Its unique charm makes it the centrepiece of sought-after flats in old buildings.
Daniel Zinner #BerlinerZinner
Born in Saxony in 1979, means that I have intensively experienced the post-reunification transformation in Eastern Germany. I was raised in a period of time marked by a euphoria of change, hope for freedom, experimentation with a different economic system, fear of relegation and eternal comparison to others. These experiences still drive me today to tackle and improve everything that comes my way. I am an entrepreneur, a consultant and a passionate networker and have been involved in projects in corporate and medium-sized businesses for over 20 years. In my 7 years in Berlin I have learned to turn internationalisation and speed into business success. How do other entrepreneurs from Berlin define success? Is there any way we can use their experiences in our work? The podcast series Berliner Zinner featuring friends is something I am truely excited about.
Olaf Mehlhose #Freestyle
I was born in Bochum in 1976. Somehow, I have made my passion for writing and for stories my profession: first as a journalist – now as a copywriter and content creator. I live with my wife and two children in Berlin. Previously, I have lived in Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Amsterdam and Valencia, but Berlin has always been where my heart is. The city fascinates me with its generosity, openness and creative spirit.
Kristina Kolumbus #BeSocial
I was born in 1981 in Baden-Württemberg on the edge of the Black Forest. During my studies in Social Economics I discovered that working with other people is very fulfilling. I lived in Stuttgart for ten years and helped people discover new career opportunities. Afterwards, I helped myself the way I had been doing for others for years. I moved to Berlin to break out of my comfort zone. While taking an extended professional break, I achieved my dream of travelling and total freedom. I’ve lived here for three years now. Berlin is open-minded, diverse and tolerant – trying things out, falling down and getting up again are all part of the experience. I like it like that.
Guests
Podcasts
Main topics:
History: Work experience in Big4; Self-employed tax consultant in Switzerland
Main topic: Tax consultancy/Self-employment
Dream: Continue to build the business to achieve their goals together with customers; invest time in the family.
Special: Tips for a good start as a self-employed person
Tabea Nyfeler #EmpoweringMobility
Main topics:
History: Moved from the USA and developed various ventures with passion
Topic Focus: International opera singer, vocal teacher, author
Dream: Discovering people with prodigious talent worldwide and raising them
Special: Teacher of Beyoncé: Recognising extraordinary talents and supporting them properly
David Lee Brewer #TheVoiceDoctor
Main topics:
Story: Multi-talented founder
Main focus: Adaptive and inclusive children’s clothing
Dream: Doing new things to “stay awake”
Special: Mastering the balancing act between family and self-actualization and why her camera experience helped her as a female founder
Lina Phyllis Falkner #FashionWithPurpose
Videos
Nomination
Who would you like to visit the blue couch on the Berlin Zinner podcast?
We have experienced many aha-moments with creative people and entrepreneurs through numerous conversations and interviews and gained insights into their work. These insights and the influence of the Berlin metropolis have strongly impacted our personal training and consulting approach.Together with our neighborhood friend Lucia Peraza Rios, we developed the Berlin Model. This enables us to share our knowledge in a structured way. For us, consulting means supporting and developing organisations and training means developing people. Each consulting project runs through our five-step model involving analysis, strategy, implementation, follow-up and development.
The five consulting levels of the Berlin Model:#ahamoment
Before we can decide where to go, we need to know where we are. Through interviews, workshops and brainstorming sessions we find out together where our clients are at the moment.
#nextstop
Where are we going? How do we get there? Drawing on the results of the analysis, we develop an initial concept. Then we check whether this concept suits our clients and is feasible in practice. Next, we develop a concrete strategy, taking into account the specific characteristics of the Berlin Model.
#gettingitright
Implementation is our ultimate responsibility. It is based on two assumptions: 1 poor execution prevents an idea from reaching its full potential. 2: success is at its highest when the momentum from planning is transferred directly to implementation. This is why we ensure that the idea is at the centre of all implementation phases and that, once a strategy has been developed, its implementation begins IMMEDIATELY.
#allright?
It is important to us to provide our clients with competent advice and a smart strategy. However, it is even more important to us that this strategy works in practice and that the client receives the added value they expect. This is why we remain available to our clients for additional consultation and fine-tuning after a concept has been implemented.
#nextlevel
Goals are milestones – not end points. We believe that the exchange of knowledge regarding needs and competencies plays a decisive role in the client-consultant relationship. That is why we strive for a long-term cooperation with all our business partners. The first successful project is ideally only the starting point for a successful partnership.
