Thoughts

For weeks now we've been on the road, meeting travelers, farmers, gas station attendants, other overland-vehicle owners. Almost no one asks what we used to do for a living, or who we were before. More often, people here ask about our vehicle. How many horsepower. How much diesel it needs. And then, how long we've been on the road and where we're headed next. Back home, a conversation with a stranger almost always starts with the same question: And what do you do for a living?

We're currently staying overnight on a farm in Namibia. About 1,000 hectares of bushveld, roughly 160 kilometers from Etosha National Park. From the terrace, you look out over a waterhole and into the distance. The farm is run by a couple in its fifth generation. Both are now in their seventies. After checking in, we sit together for a while. They tell us about the farm. And about the fact that they want to sell. One million euros. Buildings, vehicles, and equipment included.

Many entrepreneurs and executives eventually face a question that's talked about surprisingly rarely: What should the next chapter of my life look like? Not the question of financial success. But the question of how to consciously shape the years after decades full of responsibility. In 2022, we — Matthias and Caroline — reshaped our professional lives ourselves. Not because we had to, but because we knew how we wanted to live the years ahead. Along the way, we found that man