Family planning and starting a business don't go together? Many participants in our last survey expressed this fear. The fact is, however, that self-employment in particular makes it possible to flexibly arrange working hours or even to work completely from home.

Reconciling family and career is a wish that can be fulfilled, and we offer comprehensive advice on this and, for example, coaching on the subject of "self- and time management".

One clear result of our last survey: women in particular feel inhibited by worries about sufficient start-up capital. In fact, there are numerous financing and funding options that enable a carefree start to self-employment. This begins with the legal form of the business, and extends to possible scholarships or the search for investors.

Our start-up consultation provides an overview in the first meeting. Simply make an appointment by e-mail: gr¨¹ndungsservice@fh-potsdam.de.

How important is practical experience for starting a business? Opinions differ on this. For those who would like to get a taste of the day-to-day work of agencies, studios and workshops, etc., they can apply for an internship with our founders. Here, students learn first-hand what needs to be considered when founding a company after graduation. The internships that accompany your studies will be credited as part of the compulsory internship.

If you are interested, simply send an e-mail to gruendungsservice@fh-potsdam.de.

Dreaming of self-employment in the future - but the brilliant business idea is still missing? No problem: we offer various courses on all aspects of starting up and developing your own business. For example, the course "Pitch your green Idea", which focuses on sustainable business models. In the course "Innovation Management", students learn how to build knowledge-intensive companies, and the English-language course "Business Development", transforms fictional business ideas into feasible business models.

To the Flex elective modules in Moodle

How much knowledge of invoicing, bookkeeping, sales, tax and so on do you actually need to be self-employed? If you don't have the financial means to outsource these tiresome topics to professionals, you should have a certain amount of basic knowledge.

However, as there is hardly any time for self-study during a full semester timetable, the basics of business administration can be learnt in the form of webinars or short workshops with us, for example as part of the "FLEX courses" or "Gr¨¹ndungsWerkstatt" offers. And the best thing is: you even get credits for this.

If you would rather fill in the gaps in your knowledge yourself or refresh what you have already learnt, you can use the "Sharepoint" learning platform to obtain comprehensive information on all topics relating to founding a company with video lectures, case studies and more. Access is via the Campus.aAccount.

The majority of students agree on this: the risks of self-employment are too high or too difficult for them. "True!", we can only reply. But also: freelance work is an excellent way to test yourself during your studies as an additional source of income.

Experience shows that many people stay with it after graduation, have a permanent job as an employee and self-employment as a sideline. We are happy to explain whether and how this is worthwhile in individual cases in a personal discussion.

Personal experience reports and opinions of our trainers and coaches on this topic can be listened to in the Podcast "Gr¨¹ndungsgeist Berlin-Brandenburg".