Quit office job, now full-time barista – The career plan of Alex Kouba in Vienna
A lot of young people dream of starting their own company and being self-employed. Next to a sound business model and experience, it takes courage to invest capital in your own future. How do people muster the courage? What drives them and what could they be afraid of?
Alexander Kouba can deliver some of these answers. He is 26 years old from Vienna, who studied and gave up his job in the field of facility management, to become self-employed with Coffee-Bike. So what made a young scientist decide to give up a secure job and go after independence? “I did not have the feeling I was achieving anything anymore, day in and day out I just did my work and did have a concrete goal anymore,” says Kouba. His motivation shrunk and eventually disappeared. Kouba sought a new goal and found it in self-employment. “There was motivation again for me to work, to achieve and build something. I cannot explain it rationally, it just is, that I can motivate myself for certain things and perform at peak form.”
Kouba is excited about going to work since becoming independent. He works for his own business, gains valuable experience and more than anything, enjoys the direct interactions with happy customers at his bike. He loves that he created something of his own, but he is far from reaching his goal. Alexander Kouba has big plans for the future of his business: “My vision is to have multiple locations in Vienna, run by employees. It should be a mix of fixed locations and catering events.” He already has one of the more exclusive locations in Vienna at the Mariahilferstraße, which is known for its coffee culture.
Things are going really well for Kouba and everything is running according to plan. But did he ever worry during as he was planning, especially being so young? “Of course. During planning you never know if what you plan is going to work or not,” he says. Ideas often sound good in theory, and experience tests if it will truly work or not. This sense of security is not present during the planning phase. “The biggest sense of security for me is that there are over 250 Coffee-Bikes, and that I was starting self-employment with a well-functioning business concept.” The young engineer and passionate barista was able to profit from this, and now he wants to really get started.
