{"id":2774,"date":"2022-02-07T17:58:40","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T16:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/?p=2774"},"modified":"2023-04-27T10:29:26","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T08:29:26","slug":"how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/","title":{"rendered":"How to settle in Berlin, Bastien Allibert?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bastien Allibert is the founder of the Blog\u00a0settle-in-berlin.com<\/a>, which helps anybody coming to Germany tackle all practical aspects of moving here. Being a freelancer himself who moved to Berlin in 2011, he knows a thing or two about\u00a0<\/b>registration, tax returns, unemployment, insurance, visa applications and much more.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Hi Bastien, would you tell us a bit about yourself? Where are you from, why did you move to Germany and what was this transition like?<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m 32, french, father of 3. I moved to Berlin in 2011, after studying abroad.\u00a0<\/span>I had just graduated and it was time for me to decide where to go next. I looked at a map and thought: where can I move to have a decent quality of life, good professional opportunities and improve my German skills?<\/span><\/p>\n

At the time, the start-up scene was already up & coming in Berlin, so the choice was fairly natural. I never regretted that decision. I remember an intense feeling of freedom & discovery, on both a professional and personal level. That transition was helped by a few connections I already had in Berlin and some basic German skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are a freelancer yourself – was this a natural decision?
\nWhat were your fears and hopes in becoming self-employed?<\/h3>\n

I never really planned to become a freelancer as my parents were always employees in their work life. I also never believed that being a freelancer makes you \u201cfree-er\u201d. There is some freedom to be gained in a stable employment too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Becoming a freelancer was the shortest path for me to start my own business. It was purely practical until I could form a proper company.<\/span><\/p>\n

My main fear was that freelancers spent a lot more time doing anything but their actual job. It takes a lot of time to find clients, generate visibility, handle sales & marketing, and accounting. That can be a bit soul-crushing, especially at the start when you have 0 network & 0 clients. Freelancers often start something out of passion, and it can be incredibly frustrating to fully \u201crealize\u201d that.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of that turned out to be true, but it gets better.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did you manage to become a freelancer in Germany?
\nWhere did you take the needed info from?<\/h3>\n

I had been in Germany for a few years already at that point. I had already deciphered official letters. I even started to help others in their bureaucratic journey with my blog, too. I was not afraid to dive into the documentation and figure things out on my own.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apart from my own research, I also took a workshop through the Arbeitsagentur<\/em>. That was part of the Gr\u00fcnderzuchuss-benefits I applied for. This workshop took place over a few days and covered the basics of self-employment in Germany. That was really beneficial, even though it was fully held in German.<\/span><\/p>\n

What challenges did you face in the beginning?<\/h3>\n

Accounting was actually my biggest challenge at the time. I wanted to do everything on my own and I thought \u201cI don\u2019t have a lot going on, I can do it manually\u201d. It was only partly true.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The other big challenge is constantly working on your own. That\u2019s still my #1 struggle today. It\u2019s really beneficial to have a sparring partner to exchange ideas with, to be challenged by. It\u2019s so easy to stay in your own bubble. Joining the right coworking space can help with that.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did you manage to deal with your taxes as a freelancer?
\nDid you use resources to understand how it works in Germany?<\/h3>\n

My Excel-based system was good enough but it did take some time and I had some mistakes sometimes. It actually took me a year or two to get an accounting software going on. The German system made sense to me but everything was slow to understand. And as a freelancer, you don\u2019t want so much of your available brain time to go towards accounting. You want to focus on your actual job.<\/span><\/p>\n

I now use an accounting app which I am very happy with. It saves me so much time at all steps of the process. It\u2019s faster making invoices, declaring VAT, deducting expenses, yearly tax returns. Your Steuerberater<\/em> will also love you for it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell us a bit about your blog – When and why did you start blogging?<\/h3>\n

Back when I moved to Berlin in 2011, I kept explaining to friends and colleagues how to do all the bureaucratic stuff I also went through. I was repeating the same stuff over and over. That\u2019s when I decided to put it online for everybody to read.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It started with 0 visitors and I kept adding stuff as I was going through them (e.g: <\/span>how to get health insurance<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>how to get started as a freelancer in Germany<\/span><\/a>). The blog grew over time and soon enough, people were asking questions in the comments. Today there are about 2500 visitors coming to find answers to their questions every day.<\/span><\/p>\n

How is the future looking for your blog? Do you have specific plans or goals for it?<\/h3>\n

The main challenge I have at the moment is to have enough time to maintain it while having my kids at home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the future, I\u2019d like to move towards video a little. I also want to do more web apps, like the one I did to <\/span>fill in the Anmeldung form in English<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cfinal form\u201d of the blog would be a knowledge base integrated within a relocation app. An interactive to-do list that takes you through each of the steps to move to Germany.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the most important thing to know before becoming self-employed in Germany in your opinion?<\/h3>\n

If you can, try to move to Germany and establish yourself here as an employee first. It will save you a lot of stress & transition headaches. It\u2019s much easier in the health insurance, accommodation & residence permit department.<\/span><\/p>\n

Otherwise, remember that the system is hard to understand, even for German people. It\u2019s normal to be confused and to ask questions.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bastien Allibert is the founder of the Blog\u00a0settle-in-berlin.com, which helps anybody coming to Germany tackle all practical aspects of moving here. Being a freelancer himself who moved to Berlin in 2011, he knows a thing or two about\u00a0registration, tax returns, unemployment, insurance, visa applications and much more.\u00a0 Hi Bastien, would you tell us a bit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[203,322],"class_list":["post-2774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights","tag-accountable-en","tag-tax-tips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to settle in Berlin, Bastien Allibert? | Accountable<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We talk to Bastien, founder of the Blog\u00a0settle-in-berlin.com, which helps anybody coming to Germany tackle all aspects of moving here, like taxes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to settle in Berlin, Bastien Allibert? | Accountable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We talk to Bastien, founder of the Blog\u00a0settle-in-berlin.com, which helps anybody coming to Germany tackle all aspects of moving here, like taxes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Accountable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-07T16:58:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-27T08:29:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Export-me-pleeeeaaase-2-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1029\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sophia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sophia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sophia\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6a27420c29bf8a37e911407f6f1b4ca5\"},\"headline\":\"How to settle in Berlin, Bastien Allibert?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-07T16:58:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-27T08:29:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/\"},\"wordCount\":1022,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Export-me-pleeeeaaase-2-1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Accountable\",\"tax tips\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Insights\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/\",\"name\":\"How to settle in Berlin, Bastien Allibert? | Accountable\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Export-me-pleeeeaaase-2-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-07T16:58:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-27T08:29:26+00:00\",\"description\":\"We talk to Bastien, founder of the Blog\u00a0settle-in-berlin.com, which helps anybody coming to Germany tackle all aspects of moving here, like taxes.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Export-me-pleeeeaaase-2-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Export-me-pleeeeaaase-2-1.png\",\"width\":1029,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to settle in Berlin, Bastien Allibert?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Accountable\",\"description\":\"Your accountant and tax advisor on your smartphone\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Accountable\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/App_dark_big.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/App_dark_big.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Accountable\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6a27420c29bf8a37e911407f6f1b4ca5\",\"name\":\"Sophia\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to settle in Berlin, Bastien Allibert? | Accountable","description":"We talk to Bastien, founder of the Blog\u00a0settle-in-berlin.com, which helps anybody coming to Germany tackle all aspects of moving here, like taxes.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to settle in Berlin, Bastien Allibert? | Accountable","og_description":"We talk to Bastien, founder of the Blog\u00a0settle-in-berlin.com, which helps anybody coming to Germany tackle all aspects of moving here, like taxes.","og_url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/","og_site_name":"Accountable","article_published_time":"2022-02-07T16:58:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-27T08:29:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1029,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Export-me-pleeeeaaase-2-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sophia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sophia","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/"},"author":{"name":"Sophia","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6a27420c29bf8a37e911407f6f1b4ca5"},"headline":"How to settle in Berlin, Bastien Allibert?","datePublished":"2022-02-07T16:58:40+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-27T08:29:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/"},"wordCount":1022,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Export-me-pleeeeaaase-2-1.png","keywords":["Accountable","tax tips"],"articleSection":["Insights"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/","url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/","name":"How to settle in Berlin, Bastien Allibert? | Accountable","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Export-me-pleeeeaaase-2-1.png","datePublished":"2022-02-07T16:58:40+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-27T08:29:26+00:00","description":"We talk to Bastien, founder of the Blog\u00a0settle-in-berlin.com, which helps anybody coming to Germany tackle all aspects of moving here, like taxes.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Export-me-pleeeeaaase-2-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Export-me-pleeeeaaase-2-1.png","width":1029,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/blog\/how-to-settle-in-berlin-bastien-allibert\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to settle in Berlin, Bastien Allibert?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/","name":"Accountable","description":"Your accountant and tax advisor on your smartphone","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#organization","name":"Accountable","url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/App_dark_big.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/App_dark_big.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Accountable"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6a27420c29bf8a37e911407f6f1b4ca5","name":"Sophia"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interstellar.accountable.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}