If you're bored during the summer holidays

10. July 2012 · Martin Thorborg

Interviews with Danish entrepreneurs were my suggestion for a little inspiration during the summer holidays in 2012. On our family’s journey home towards Denmark, I’d met Danes building businesses and new lives in other countries.

Interviews with Danish entrepreneurs with time for their stories

I let the conversations continue for as long as I found them interesting. Some were long. This wasn’t a fast-paced format with music and lots of cuts, but a chance to hear someone’s whole journey.

I asked about both the business and the life around it: why they had left, how they got started, and what it was like living far from Denmark.

Many different routes to building a business

In the video, I mention a magician, a photographer, a restaurateur, and people whose businesses involved workshops, furniture and jewellery, among others.

Some had started again after major losses. Others had turned a trade or an interest into their own business. I found it exciting to hear how they had done it.

I also talked to people about family, friends and everyday life in a new country. I wanted to bring out more than just the business figures.

What can you learn from someone else’s experience?

My idea was that people could take inspiration from their determination and the way they tackled specific problems. You didn’t need to run the same kind of business to get something out of the story.

In the video, I explain how the interviews were shown on Amino at the time, including the prices and free access available then. This information is from 2012; it doesn’t describe current access or today’s visa and residency rules.

Interviews with Danish entrepreneurs on the way home

The summer holidays had begun, and it occurred to me that not everyone knew about the interviews with Danish entrepreneurs I had recorded around the world. If you already knew them, you could watch them again. If you hadn’t really been following along, I wanted to explain what they were about.

We had lived in the US for three and a half years. On the way home with my family, we spent four and a half months visiting interesting entrepreneurs and hearing their stories. I recalled recording around 31 interviews. They hadn’t all been published yet, but many had, and around twelve were available to watch free at the time.

The arrangement in July 2012 was that new interviews were initially available to Amino Plus members for a month or a month and a half. Then I made them available free. At the time, I quoted a price of DKK 99 a month for Plus. That was how I described access then.

It was P1 meets entrepreneurship

If you wanted music, quick cuts and a format where everything moved fast, it might not have been for you. I let the conversation run for as long as I found it interesting. Some interviews lasted around fifty minutes, and one was two hours and twenty or thirty minutes long.

I called it a bit of P1 meets entrepreneurship. There was time for the story. Why had they left Denmark? How had they got a visa? How had they built and marketed the business? What was it like living in another country and keeping in touch with friends back home?

It offered both business tips and a glimpse of the life around the business. I wanted to hear where each person came from, why they had left, and what they had gained from it.

Magic, racing cars and a fresh start

I mentioned Anders in Miami, who flew out to cruise ships and performed magic for three or four thousand people. If you were curious about a career as a magician and living in Miami, I thought his story was fascinating.

Martin, near San Diego, had a workshop and raced cars. I explained that he had won the Baja race twice. It was another very different route to building a business.

Carsten Sommerskov had lost his money in Denmark following the collapse of Roskilde Bank. He was now making motivational material for children, focusing on self-esteem. I described his new life in Blackhawk, north of San Francisco, and mentioned earnings of around DKK 7,000 a day. That was the story and the figures I reported at the time.

Furniture, photography and jewellery

In Hawaii, I had met Thomas, who had a design centre, sold furniture and had previously manufactured his own furniture. In my view, he had come a long way and had plenty to share.

Lotte was a freelance photographer in Palm Beach. She had started with almost nothing, taken a photography course, and had a thriving business the following year. I talked about her work with famous people, including Olivia Newton-John, and with weddings and christenings.

She had built a good career despite the many other photographers in the area. I thought her approach could inspire freelancers in Denmark, even those working in something completely unrelated to photography.

I also mentioned the man behind Nialaya, who had lost everything in Denmark and started again in the US. In my introduction, he was now selling jewellery in Hollywood to people including Madonna and P. Diddy. How had he built that after losing everything? That was the kind of story I wanted to explore.

From washing dishes to running a restaurant, and a hotel among crocodiles

Jan in Tasmania had started as a dishwasher, gone on to manage eighteen restaurants in Australia, and now had his own restaurant. I thought he was one of the most interesting people I had met when it came to managing staff. There was something to learn there.

Kai had a four-room hotel on an island in the Northern Territory. I talked about flooding and crocodile-infested water, and how he might go out to repair the boat’s engine while crocodiles swam around him. To me, it was an extraordinary story.

There was also a plumbing contractor in Surfers Paradise. I couldn’t remember his name, but I described his life with motorbikes, water and surfing. His story could inspire a tradesperson dreaming of swapping everyday life in Denmark for something different.

An insurance broker in Sydney had also left Denmark and built a business with six or seven employees. I described his business as very successful. And there were many more people and stories than I managed to mention in the video.

Determination is interesting even if you aren’t an entrepreneur

You didn’t need to have a business yourself to get something out of it. Perhaps you had a job and were thinking about spending a few years abroad. How did you make friends, find things to do and make everyday life work? How did you keep in touch with people back home? What was it like with children, nurseries and kindergartens, or being single and alone in a new country?

The determination these people had was a big part of what I wanted to share. In the video, I pointed to Amino TV and the tab containing my interviews, where you could choose the free conversations at the time. If you enjoyed them, you could consider Plus and watch the rest. My summer suggestion was simply to give the stories a chance and let them inspire you. I share my own experiences of life as an entrepreneur in Iværksætter til jeg dør.

Best wishes, Martin