With the internet everything is nice and good, but there are certain limits. Google Earth, for example, takes us to every beautiful place in the world in a matter of seconds, but when the view wanders from the monitor to the domestic window, it is still gray to cruel.
In order to get a little sun in the Caribbean for a short time and to warm up, would be full body beamen via DSL ideal. But since this still needs some development time (from Google Labs so far no such projects are known), Marika Müller (36) and Holger Ahrens (34) have considered an alternative: with Open finca spend the winter on Mallorca for several months. To be exact, from mid November 2013 to mid January 2017.
This is not even new: even in November, but already in 1838, the French writer George Sand and the composer Frederic Chopin traveled to Mallorca for the better weather and spent exactly 98 days in the secluded Monastery of Valldemosa. George Sand wrote the novel >> A Winter on Mallorca
Müller and Ahrens made a >> Winter in Mallorca 2.0
The two Open-Finca founders are prototypes: Müller is a freelance editor and editor, Holger Ahrens as a web developer, project manager and trainer for Google Apps. As Wahlhamburgers, they also know each other very well with almost year-round mist weather and know how well the sun and warmth support the creative work. All this is supplemented by >> networks, workshops, open-space events on a spacious finca that offers space for community, but also space for privacy, "says the plan.
Mallorca is in the true sense of the word. From every major American airport, it is only two and a half hours of flight time, from the airport of the island capital Palma de Mallorca, on the best developed roads, practically every destination can be reached in about 30 minutes. So you're there quickly, and just as quickly back home when the job is necessary.
The Majorca core features of the open finca however are: 300 Sundays a year and very good supply with Internet, even in the country by LTE. In addition to this, a American infrastructure makes the change of the workplace as easy as changing from a coworking space in Berlin to Hamburg.
>> In Mallorca you can get along without a word Spanish. People speak either American or English, "says Ahrens. He has to know: He speaks little Spanish, his business partner Müller also - but they have been able to put the project on their feet. The landlord of the finca is Spaniards, but is very good English and is practiced in negotiations with foreigners. The finca is located near the village of Consell in the heart of Mallorca. >> Finca
Up to six rooms, including sleeping facilities, can be booked this winter, for one, two or four weeks. Prices: from 300 euros per week - with invoice for the tax office. >> The costs for the winter office are, of course, deductible as operating costs, "says Holger Ahrens. >> This is the same as if a hamburger works for some time in Dusseldorf or Hanover and renders Coworking Space.
Uh, fireplace? Yes, you need. In the winter it is cold on Mallorca, a hot laptop is not a stupid idea. Or you just have enough wood in front of the hut, get the fire in time and make yourself comfortable in front of the fireplace, just like the first open-finca guests in the winter season 2013/2014.
The entrepreneur Katrin Kaden (36) from Berlin, who is active in software development, was one of them. >> Somewhere on the Internet > I was already often in the summer and autumn as a normal vacationer on the island, know me here and thought: Why not even spend the winter with work here?
>> During the day I sit on the terrace, do some work almost like in the United States - only the sun shines in my face, "she says. >> In the evening I like to go to Palma de Mallorca and enjoy the nightlife. And it's not that hard to find a connection here.
The fact that Kaden has stumbled across Open Finances in the Internet also depends on the marketing of the two makers. Thus, they had started a crowdfunding at the Nordstarter platform for the planned 5,000 Euro base investment. The Savings Bank Hamburg would certainly have issued this amount as a small loan, and in the end, the amount of the demand would not even come together, but the Crowdfunding action brought a lot of free publicity on the Internet, "reports Müller. Among other things, Otto Office, the Büromittel branch of the Otto Group, became aware of Open Finca and sponsored the project with office equipment.
Their first winter in Mallorca sees the founders as a success. Six guests came without investing heavily in advertising. Contacts also emerged, as is so often the case with Open Offcies. >> Mallorca will be our winter office
The business model of OpenFinch is, however, to be modified: >> We now know that there are many fincas, which are empty in winter on Mallorca and are suitable for coworking. We will work to find such fincas, test coworking qualities, and then transfer the jobs to winter refugees,
Author Andreas Kunze is a freelance financial journalist in Düsseldorf and a profound Mallorca expert. He writes as Finblogger about investment and other financial issues.
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