Mariuan Mhedin, self-employed photographer
- Nationality: German
- Origin: Kerkuk, Kurdistan/Iraq
- In Germany since 1985
- Self-employed since 2009
33 years old
In December 2009, the official starting shot was fired for Mariuan, who was 33 years old at the time. After just one day of unemployment, he registered his business and found himself in the midst a mission to become self-employed. And since the business event photography sector was already running quite well, he put all of his energy into developing his own first photography studio. "It felt good, because it was clear to me from then on that everything you do, you are doing for your family and for yourself." In order to further secure the entire project, Mariuan also went about applying for the start-up subsidy. "Not so easy," as he admits in hindsight. "But I was lucky here, in that my sister is a trained bank clerk and helped me perfectly with the preparation of a business plan."
35 years old - today
The biggest hurdles Mariuan faced in the first two years of self-employment have been overcome. He has built up a customer base, takes booking for video and photography jobs at events and is at the same time working on new projects. "As a self-employed person, one is is oneyou are hallenged fone hundred percent - every day. One should always keep finding new things and wanting change, otherwise one remains at a standstill and that can only go downhill. For me, the next projects on the list are web design, graphics and layout. An ideal complement to what I already do today." Mariuan certainly has enough energy and ideas. "What I am still lacking today however is patience", as he himself admits. "The family sometimes suffers because of this. But I am also going to work on this and I will find a solution for this too."
On the subject of cultural hurdles that he has had to overcome as a self-employed person, he says: "My customer base was mainly Kurds, Turks and Arabs, especially at the beginning. For some time, more and more are also the former CIS states. Even customers called Schmitz or Meier are slowly daring to come to my studio. I think you need to have a lot of staying power and, based on their culture, Germans simply need a little longer to decide or to approach something new." Regarding the start-up process, Mariuan added, "You should approach the matter with confidence but at the same time you should not overestimate yourself. It is important that you use the support and advisory services that are available. Even if these seem like new obstacles at first glance - it is worth it. Whether it is advisory services from chambers and start-up centres or funding possibilities from the employment agency and KfW, because you do not have to overcome all of the obstacles alone."
