Freelancer in Germany

Hello Yara, hello Team! Thanks for the welcome and for this site, looks quite promising and helpful! I have a question regarding becoming a freelancer in Germany (Bavaria, München/Freising area). I am from an EU country, and would like to work as a specialist freelancer, that covers several areas.
What do I have to call myself to be able to do all these tasks:
- Translating
- Content creation
- Website design and maintenance
- Consultancy on specific topics
- Coaching, educating and mentoring individuals
- Creating online courses for education purposes (for myself and clients)
I would combine all of these, it is sort of a portfolio… Virtual Assistant, Life Coach, Business Consultant, Educator, Content Creator?
I would work online, so my clients would come from anywhere around the world. Do I need to differentiate between countries when providing the invoice? Who could I talk to about the details, what do you think? In English, as my German knowledge is still under development… Many thanks!

6 Comments

Reply (6)

Yara__Community_Manager

Updated:

Hello @evat , thank you for your question and for your patience.   Great that you have already thought of a business idea. There are quite a few organizations that you can talk to and make your business idea more concrete and receive support for your questions, such as the invoice. You can receive advice by the institute for liberal professions. You can fill in the form and then contact them via phone or mail: http://ifb.uni-erlangen.de/en/kontakt/  You can read more about their start up counseling here: http://ifb.uni-erlangen.de/en/gruendungsberatung/    You can also receive advice from the organization Jumpp in English, just write them a mail or give them a phone call: https://www.jumpp.de/english . Additionally, you can also read more on the website of migrant economy and contact them if you have further questions: https://www.wir-gruenden-in-deutschland.de/en/starting-a-business-in-ge… . It is also a good idea to read up on the regulations for self employment beforehand.  The Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action provides an information page on starting your own business in English: https://www.existenzgruender.de/EN/Home/inhalt.html  On handbook Germany you can also find more information on starting a business and freelancing. https://handbookgermany.de/en/self-employment  and  https://handbookgermany.de/en/entrepreneurship    . I am always happy to help if you have any further questions. Please let me know if the institute for liberal professions was able to help you.    Best wishes for your and your business idea.  

evat

Danke, Yara! ?

Yara__Community_Manager

Sehr gerne @evat :)

Ebram

Hello Evat , First Please allow me to express my admiration for your diverse practical skills . I work as an Oracle Application Developer " Apex " and Data analysis . I'm tiring to immigrate to germane to live and work there as l freelance or full time maybe , So I though that I can assign for the Selbständigkeit Visa . I Wonder if you can shear with me your experience on this topic " Work as I freelance in Germany "

Yara__Community_Manager

Hi @evat do you have some experiences you would like to share? Your experiences would be a sure added value for the community.

AnnaGapa_volunteer

Hi there! From my own experience, it’s a bit more complex than just choosing one title. In Germany, the difference between Freiberufler and Gewerbe is important, and it depends on how the Finanzamt classifies your work. Some activities (like translation or teaching) can be freelance, while others (like web design or content creation) may require a business registration.

The best step is to talk to the Finanzamt directly or ask a Steuerberater to review your exact portfolio of services. That way, you’ll know the correct status and how to invoice clients properly.

Hope everything works out well for you!

Anna

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