Company: Christian Seel Sanitary and Heating Service

Founder: Christian Seel

Date of foundation: August 1, 2023

Industry and company: Plumbing and heating (trade)

What drives you? What is your motto?

After gaining professional experience in various areas of our industry, I wanted to put the knowledge I had gained to good use.

I was able to learn a lot from the technical and commercial side through my various positions. I can now combine this experience in my company to offer my customers a fair and the best possible service.

My motto: Success does not come to those who give up, but to those who

fight on, even when everything is against them. - Rocky Balboa

What is your start-up about and what is special about it?

With my company Christian Seel Sanitär- und Heizungsservice, I always want to find the best possible solution for my customers' needs together with them.

Personal customer contact is very important to me, especially in times of the energy transition, when there is a great need for advice.

Repairing a dripping tap is just as important to us as replacing a heating system. At the end of the day, what counts for me is that if the customers are happy, so am I.

What are your first successes?

As training young people has always been important to me, and I was also able to supervise several apprenticeships in my previous companies, I am delighted to be welcoming my first apprentice from September 1.

I was also able to take an important step for the future of my company by moving to larger premises.

What is your professional background?

After completing my apprenticeship in 2010, it was important for me to gain

to gain professional experience. In 2015-2016, I obtained my master craftsman's certificate in the plumbing and heating trade at the Wiesbaden Chamber of Crafts.

From then on, I worked in various companies, each with different areas of work. Here I was able to gain experience in the commercial, planning and personnel management areas.

What prompted you to set up your own company?

By gaining an insight into many different companies and areas of work, I was able to take away many good and bad things for myself.

As it is often difficult to put personal experience into practice as an employee and many things increasingly annoyed me, I decided to become self-employed.

Now I can use the experience I have gained and learn every day what I can improve. I also now have the personal freedom to really develop.

Who advised you, who are your helpers and mentors?

When you start out, you ask yourself, where do I even begin?

The Wiesbaden Chamber of Crafts was my first port of call.

The start-up advisory service helped me to draw up guidelines on what I needed to think about and pay attention to.

The support from various industry partners - such as Geberit and Bosch - helped me a lot. Both have supported me in the start of my business

whether it was a two-day workshop for company founders or support with the purchase of the first tools.

How did you experience the first few days as a founder?

That self-employment has a lot to do with bureaucracy. And that you are often dependent on many factors that you can't influence yourself.

What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?

Since I started as a one-man business, it is often a challenge to get everything under one roof. On the one hand, there is the bureaucracy and on the other, you have to familiarize yourself with topics that you are not familiar with as an employee. This often requires patience and perseverance.

A lot of the work in my field can only be done in pairs. You often had to grit your teeth when you were alone.

Over time, I have always received support from friendly companies.

How do you draw attention to your company? What is your best marketing idea?

As a founder, I naturally thought about how I could draw attention to myself.

I had flyers printed and handed them out in various parts of Wiesbaden.

Advertising on social networks such as Instagram and Facebook is my main focus. As most people are on the Internet these days, it is very important for me to be present on Google.

But the best advertising is still personal recommendations from my customers.

How did you finance your start-up?

With the help of the Wiesbaden Chamber of Crafts, I drew up an initial cost calculation to determine the amount of loan I needed.

After many discussions with my bank, we decided to apply for a loan from KfW Startgeld.

I also brought in some equity I had saved up to keep the loan amount lower.

What dream would you still like to realize?

I would like to establish my company on the market in order to create jobs.

My personal dream would be to have my own house with a large garden.

Please complete the following sentence: If I had more time, I would...

... do everything exactly the same again, but allow myself more personal time off.

What is your special tip: What would you recommend to founders?

You have to draw up a clear plan: where do I start and where do I want to go? The

advice centers - like the Wiesbaden Chamber of Crafts in my case. They showed me a lot of things that I would never have thought of myself.

There will always be difficult phases, but you have to keep your eyes closed and keep going.