I received this e-mail:
Hello Andreas:
The company I work for soon announces entry into the German market via a webshop.
We need to make sure we have control over the legal aspects of selling to German customers. Therefore, we need a freelancer to complete our impressum, data management description as well as trading terms. Furthermore, the person must go through various pages such as customer service, check-out flow, disclaimer in relation to German law.
Uff, that’s a lot of work.
The requirement for the freelancer is that the person is a native German educated lawyer and has experience with e-commerce laws.
Check.
We need your skills as soon as possible so that we can reach our tight deadline.
Oh no, that’s a red flag right there!
I replied:
I am not quite sure what you mean with “tight deadline”.
Surely, it’s up to you to decide when you launch your webshop in Germany.
I can’t imagine that you just had this idea yesterday or that it only appeared to you today that Germany might have different laws than other countries.
And even if that was the case, let’s take things step by step. Requirements and readiness will dictate the timeline, not the other way round. Let’s not rush ourselves with arbitrary dates.
I usually don’t hear again from potential clients. People really think that work is urgent, just because they haven’t taken the time to pause and reflect about all the other beautiful things they could do instead.
Links:
Anyway, I think my time is put to better use if I write stories for you. Because many lawyers can give legal advice, but not many can write the way I write. Sure, I won’t earn a lot, but many things are more important than that. And maybe you want to keep this project alive by supporting this blog.
The Happy Hermit 
“Because many lawyers can give legal advice, but not many can write the way I write.”
NO-ONE can write the way you write!
x
Although I am grateful to both of my lawyers for helping me navigate difficult situations, I’d rather spend my time talking about history or watching the sky or moving water.
If I can’t travel and see beautiful places, and meet interesting people myself, I can do it vicariously through your writing. Thank you for giving up on law😉😂
I should warn you that I have only given up on the practice of law. But my articles are still full of legal insight. (I am still working on the series of articles about the Bavarian royal castles, and even there, a little bit of law sneaks into the text.)
I’m sure that you’ll make it an interesting read. And who knows, it might be information I need someday.🤷🏼♀️ I didn’t anticipate needing the services of the two lawyers I hired. Life is an incredibly twisty, turny journey.
The information will definitely be useful if you ever need to negotiate the aftermath of a revolution or to write a state constitution. :-)
You have to be happy doing what you love and following your passion which you are obviously doing and I think that’s amazing. I can’t wait until I can do the same! Keep on writing!
Thank you, Colleen!
I still have to take on some work from time to time, but then, I prefer translations over legal advice because they don’t occupy my brain as much. I’ve been thinking if it wouldn’t be best to take on some very mundane job while writing, like stacking shelves or so, because then the mind could still focus on stories while working.
But the main trick has been to reduce expenses: no car, no rent (I moved back to my parents and I house-sit), no fancy phones.
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