Dear all,
all online marketers and bloggers have a rags-to-riches story that they love to tell. The prototype of this story goes like this:
“I was X years old and completely broke, living in a pickup truck and barely knew how to pay my bills. In order to make money, I applied for a job as a garbage man. The city council hired 57 people – but I was the only one they turned down because they said I was too stupid for the job. When I didn’t know what to do, my grandmother gave me her last 50 bucks and I invested it in online marketing. That changed my life completely and now I am a zillionaire and have my own servant who only takes care of my Lamborghinis. If you want to be as successful as me, buy my product now at a super special price.”
I’ve never worked as a dishwasher, and I’ve never been a garbage man. As a student I didn’t have much money either, but thanks to my parents I never had to sleep in my car. But here comes a true story of my life:
When I was almost finished with my PhD thesis, I thought about what I could do afterwards. Among other things I applied for a job at Linde. Maybe you know Linde. One of the world’s largest gas companies and market leader in hydrogen. I thought that they could perhaps use a multilingual process engineer like me, who had also completed his PhD in the field of hydrogen – at the chair that Carl von Linde had founded. Four days later I had a rejection in my mailbox. Four days! That must have been an extensive process that Linde used to check my documents… that’s how it is with professionals…
For a short moment I was frustrated, and then I decided to make the best of it.
Today, Wenger Engineering works closely with Linde, and I rub this story in the faces of every Linde employee. Some are still shocked today, and some probably thank God in secret for having such a sharp HR department in Munich and rejecting people like me across the board… anyway.
About two years ago, a Linde employee whom I hold in high esteem gave a presentation showing what would happen to the approx. 13,000 filling stations in Germany if the majority of cars were converted to batteries. In short: they’re all heading south, as this is not a business model for them.
His proposal is naturally called gas station. Water Stuff. And he’s very good at it and has world-leading solutions for his customers. And if you want to know why that’s better than electricity, which comes out of the socket anyway, just ask him. This Wednesday: May 27, at 5 pm CET: https://event.webinarjam.com/channel/mission-hydrogen-lin.
See you on Wednesday.
Best regards,
David