It’s April here in Switzerland, which means flowers and trees start to bloom, pollen abound and a few freak snow storms have those of you, who just had the summer tyres put on their cars erupt in bouts of cursing the weather in a variety of Hueresiechs and Gopfertori.

In other words: business as usual.

Meanwhile, on one of the most prominent squares in Zurich, a lone snowman sits atop a 32-foot or 10-meter metre tall pyre today, waiting to meet his inevitable fate of being burned to a crisp, or rather, having his head blown up.

It is Sechseläuten, a grand traditional spring festival celebrating the end of winter and the arrival of spring. At six o clock sharp, the pyre will be lit, sending hungry flames upwards to ignite the Boegg, an eleven foot, 3.40 m tall and 80kg heavy bogeyman, stuffed to the brim with pyrotechnics with the biggest explosive lodged in its head. The faster the head explodes, the sooner spring will arrive and winter be driven away.

Incidentally, this year the date coincides with the launch the Swiss Small Biz Bootcamp site and workshops.

After helping friends and family launching projects and small businesses over the last couple of decades and carrying the idea at the back of my head to package my expertise into some sort of teachable format for an equal length of time, this year I decided to do something about it.

With many intimidating developments in the world, the smaller, positive changes are often and easily drowned out. But they are there nonetheless, and the key to turning things around IMHO.

I believe that the power shift must start at the bottom. With education. And going back to making and valuing quality things.

Buying from mom and pop shops. Eating more local. Making and repairing instead of consuming and throwing away.

A little bit at a time.

Quality instead of quantity.

Throwing a wrench into the machine.

Business as unusual.

And so the SSBB is not about pushing six-figure launches. In fact, should I ever use that terminology in any of my communications, it is safe to assume that my account has been hacked and taken over by Big Brother. Not the TV show. #JustToBeClear

What the Swiss Small Biz Bootcamp IS about, is helping people understand and work the tools they have to get their own thing going here in Switzerland.

Simple, really.

And, unlike Swiss folklore, you don’t even have to blow off someone’s head to start your own personal spring time.

There is no time like the present.

Permission to blast off: granted.

Death to the inner snowman!

5 Steps to Freelance in Switzerland

Prep:    Work permit requirements
Step 1: Name your business
Step 2: Plan your business
Step 3: Incorporate and register
Step 4: Kick off
Step 5: Keep rocking

About Susan