I was born and raised in a small town in northern Germany, where life was pretty average—upper middle class, nothing too wild. That said, I’ve always had a knack for pushing the boundaries. One day I was the poster child, the next, I was the problem kid. It’s kind of my thing—living between extremes. I can swing from “I don’t care” to “watch me, I’ll beat everyone at anything” without breaking a sweat. And I often do.

By the time I was 18, I was already hooked on real estate. I bought my first apartment with a private loan while I was still in school. That was just the beginning. I moved out to work in real estate as an employee, but after four years, I spent more time building my own portfolio than doing my actual job. So, I quit. By then, my job felt more like a waste of time than a source of income anyway.

Here’s a fun fact: I once bought two multifamily homes during my lunch break—literally in 35 minutes. Looking back, I probably should’ve taken an hour.

At 24, with a few million in debt and over 70 units in my portfolio, I thought I had it all figured out. I was ready to pat myself on the back for being a genius. But I quickly learned that building a real estate empire isn’t all cash flow and clever tax strategies. I ran into nearly every problem you could imagine—most of them while I was too busy scheming ways to outsmart the taxman.

Along the way, I started a few businesses and had the pleasure (or misfortune) of working with some… let’s just say, “not-so-great” business partners. You know that saying: "When a person with money meets a person with experience, the one with experience walks away with the money, and the one with the money walks away with the experience." Yeah, I lived that.

But through all the highs and lows, I learned a ton of lessons, made some smart pivots, and luckily changed direction just before the real estate market in Germany took a nosedive. It hit me—there had to be more to life than being financially okay in a town that wasn’t going anywhere.

So, I sold everything. Packed up my wife and our three kids, and we moved to Dubai. Why? Because life’s too short to play small. Now, I’m chasing new adventures in the business world, exploring what life has to offer, and, of course, picking up a few more lessons along the way.