Björn: From foster families and debt to a self-determined life

I firmly believe that anyone can succeed here and make the best of everything. My name is Björn, and I think my story is a good example of that.

I come from a complicated family background. I never met my father. Our mother raised us until I was eight. After that she became so seriously ill that she couldn't anymore. Between the ages of eight and fourteen I was passed around foster families. My grades suffered accordingly: I had to repeat first grade and third grade.

Then there was one experience: in music class I had to sing in front of the class, 20 children, I still remember it. And who laughed the loudest? The teacher. That intimidated me so much that I never spoke in front of people again. For oral exams I went home and took the failing grades. On one half-year report I had eleven Fs.

In the end I have my oldest aunt to thank for going back to school and catching up on my qualifications. Unfortunately my final certificate had two grades that made every job application hopeless: German F, English D. I could have sent a thousand applications and wouldn't have got a single interview.

Back then, military service was still nine months. Honestly, I never wanted to go. And as life goes, those nine months turned into nine years. That job came at the right time and place for me. I learned there: the glass is half full, never half empty. There is always someone carrying a heavier backpack than you. When you walk into a school where two little girls start crying just because you're wearing a uniform, you learn to appreciate your life again and become humble about what you have.

I got to know the business in 2005 through my old job. I started back then, but didn't take off. For two years I was more or less just a customer. During that time I built up a lot of debt. I was driving an old Jaguar, British Racing Green, really cool car, unfortunately I drove it into a ditch. I couldn't even afford the repair. And when you ride a bicycle through a town like Celle, where everyone knows you: I truly hated my life and was looking for a way out.

Then I got back in touch with my sponsor Benjamin and, honestly, made fun of him: "How's it going? Powder in tins? Are you a millionaire yet?" And he asked: "Björn, are you even serious?" Back then I didn't know what that meant. Today I do. He said: "Tomorrow at 11 there's an event in Oldenburg, be there on time." Which guy in his mid-twenties wants to go to an event at 11 on a Saturday? I was thinking up excuses. He even organised a lift so I'd get there at all.

That event basically changed my life. The thread in life is often very thin. There was an entrepreneur who had gone bankrupt and talked about what he had built here. And that's where gut feeling comes in: if it's good, I find out more. If it's bad, it's usually not right for me. My gut feeling was good. I looked at more people who were successful at this and told myself: "Björn, you can do this too."

In 2007 I really got started, and since 2008 I've done this business full-time. Since then my whole life has turned around. I have financial and personal freedom. Nobody tells me anymore what to do when and who to work with. That is an extremely high quality of life. And I believe: if you do this business with trust and love and are genuinely interested in people, it's the best thing that can happen to you.