KLD - Working as free lancer

The red thread
Work during unemployment
Setting up the infrastructure
The office in June 2006
Office since mid 2010

The red thread

Having worked as an employee for over 30 years in various companies (not mentioning my starting time in Austria) I needed to develop my own business due to unemployment after loosing my last job.

My career clearly shows a red thread: documentation

Starting as a mechanical engineer I wrote my own support manuals to ease and speed my work. This was at Oerlikon Bührle Machine Tool Works. From the drawing board I moved to a development group, where computing became very important. One of the first documents there was a manual for the first table top computer HP 9100B in German. HP requested 150 copies…

From there I was promoted to the newly set up computing centre for the concern - Oerlikon Bührle RZ AG or short OBRZ. This company was closed by a very big boss who first closed those companies which did not produce revenue. However - to avoid revenue was one of the goals set by the concern… So I needed to find a new job.

With only 6 letters of application I got a new job even in the time of beginning recession - at Delta Software Technology. I became responsible for the documentation department. This, however, did not last for long - just until mid 1994.

Work during unemployment demonstrated

• There is plenty of documentation work, even interesting one
• Customers are satisfied with my service, and hence
• Customers pay for the work, and hence
• I should be able to earn enough money for the family.

Hence I decided to become self-employed and created my own company: Docu + Design Daube 

Setting up the infrastructure

To start a company à la Münchhausen (that is, pull oneself out of the swamp on ones hairs) is not that easy. My main principles were:

• Do not take money form the banks. Fortunately I could use the money from a second pension fund.
• Do not establish the business in your appartment to stay clearly separate from the family affairs.
• Set up an efficient, but not expensive infrastructure. Giving up most space in my hobby room and establish an office with about 25m² turned out to be a reasonable solution.
• Develop a sound business plan (well, you know, that's said easily…).

The office in June 2006

Even after 10 years of working I'm still at the same location (KISS). The panorama was done with Panorama Studio 3.

To work with large drawings in limited space table presenters are great devices - here demonstrated only with two drawings. Working on a spare parts catalogue once I had 14 A1 drawings in easy access.

Office since mid 2010

Having overstepped the age of retirement I decided to reduce my work and the expenses. Hence I moved the necessary equipment into one of our rooms in the apartement. Albeit storing many items (documentation of closed projects etc.) in the basement and in a storage room I needed to throw away many things or donate some equipment to interested parties (beautifully illustrated books about the art treasures of Italy, new 4-ring binders etc). The great challenge however was to reduce the number of books from 13m of shelvespace to 11m to be able to merge it with the books in the living rooms. I could bring the removed books to a second hand book store.

I also had to reduce the contents of my hobby room to about 2/3, because I wanted to share the rented room with two other persons (an architect and a watchmaker). I was able to donate the more useful things to schools and interested people (e.g. heavy sewing machine, badge making press and material). Re-arranging the work bench of 3.5m with 3 drawer blocks full of tools, a wooden plan cupboard A1 and a 2m rack with various materials was quite a sudoriferous job.

Thanks to an already existing LAN and WLAN in our apartment (and not to forget the IT expertise of our youngest son Mathias) the computer equipment was up and running within a day – including the colour laser printer in the basement connected by powerline equipment.

Unfortuantely the window opens to the north-east to an area with dense bushes, hence I need nearly all day artificial light…

The new office	Son Mathias setting up the network
Bookcase in one living room