At Jewells Plaza — one of those neighbourhood shopping centres — there’s a peculiar shop right by the entrance. This place has EVERYTHING. I’m not exaggerating: garden supplies, gifts, electronics, Thanksgiving masks, fishing gear, stationery, toilet paper. Products stacked ceiling-high in narrow aisles run by an energetic Asian couple. Step inside and you’re transported to a corner store in Beijing or Laos. Smells like dust, incense, and the owner’s sweet perfume.
We shop there regularly. Last time I bought cheap Post-it notes that fall off the wall after thirty minutes. Fair enough — I didn’t have high expectations.
Which brings me to today’s point.
Until recently, I owned exactly that kind of shop. At least it felt that way. Instead of offering one product (say, social media coaching), I had this massive range. Rather than focusing on one thing, I tried to seduce every possible customer. I can write, plan, coach, consult, produce — you name it. Staying current across everything meant constantly rushing around the stockroom, labelling new inventory before it expired. Never at the front counter, always somewhere in the back.
Here in Australia I’ve discovered many of my German imports — experiences and skills, good as they are — aren’t particularly in demand. But I stubbornly kept them on the shelves anyway.
That’s over now. I’ve had a clear-out.
You can see it in my LinkedIn profile and across my various blogs. I’m now separating not just by language, but by topic:
reinergaertner.de stays as is. This site is my creative outlet. I simply write up my notes, zero SEO considerations. You probably learn most about me here — I use it as “slow social media.” No commercial goals, deliberately stubborn, an old-school weblog in the truest sense. An experimental writing playground. I don’t want to lose my German, so I write daily (though I only publish what I’m willing to share).
reinergaertner.com.au is where I write about “everything agile” in English. The goal is showing potential employers and clients I can articulate agile concepts, positioning myself professionally (no, I don’t do this on LinkedIn). More importantly for me, it’s where I capture what I’ve just learned to understand it better.
thisaustralianlife.de previously targeted our friends and family back home. That’s changing now — I want to tackle this topic more broadly. More on that separately. I also have an English version where I mainly feature my emerging podcast.
That’s how it looks. I enjoy learning and writing. Maybe you’ll get something from it too.
Originally auf Deutsch at reinergaertner.de, running since 1997. The translation had AI help. The typos are all mine.