You don't have to decide today.
Together, we'll check if self-employment makes sense for you.
Deciding to become self-employed is a life-changing step. With AVGS Startup Coaching, we offer you a safe space to build a solid professional foundation for your venture – 100% government-funded and with no financial risk to you.
The Selbstständigkeit.de team, led by Roul Radeke (MBA), will help you gain clarity. Our approach is open-ended: we don't just clarify the 'how,' but primarily examine the 'if' of starting a business.
„Selbststaendigkeit.de hatte mir empfohlen, einen Aktivierungs- und Vermittlungsgutschein (AVGS) zu beantragen! Ich hatte vorher noch nie davon gehört. Aber ich kann es nur weiterempfehlen. Die Bundesagentur für Arbeit hat meinen Antrag bewilligt und die Gebühren für das Coaching vollständig übernommen. Einfach bei der Agentur für Arbeit oder beim Jobcenter nachfragen!“
„Mein Coach war für mich mehr als nur ein Dozent mit Praxiserfahrung. Er war für mich Vorbild, Mentor und Mutmacher! Dank seiner Expertise und seines Zuspruchs bin ich heute stolze Unternehmerin.
Danke an Selbststaendigkeit.de für das klasse Coaching!“
"Ich hatte es schon mit einigen Pauschallösungen aus dem Internet versucht. Aber ein eigenes Unternehmen gründet man eben nicht mit einer Anleitung aus dem Internet. Das individuelle Coaching von Selbststaendigkeit.de hat mir gezeigt, wo echter Handlungsbedarf ist, bevor ich die nächsten Schritte einleiten kann. Wir haben einen Businessplan erstellt, damit ich den Gründerzuschuss beantragen konnte und Intensivcoachings in Buchhaltung und Steuern gemacht. Das war alles sehr empfehlenswert”
“Ich wusste gar nicht, wo ich anfangen sollte. Aber meine Sorgen waren so gut wie weg, nachdem ich gemeinsam mit meinem Coach einen stichhaltigen Businessplan erstellt hatte und Intensivcoachings in Buchhaltung und Onlinemarketing bekommen habe. Auch top: der Kontakt zu Selbststaendigkeit.de besteht weiter und hat auch im Nachgang für neue Kunden gesorgt.”
While coaches merely motivate, we provide commercial substance.
Whether in Berlin, Stuttgart, Hamburg, or another city: You can participate in our AVGS Startup Coaching nationwide. The coaching is conducted online, so your place of residence or business location doesn't matter.
A rejection of the AVGS application is not an exclusion criterion; in many cases, it's the start of an organized appeal process. After receiving the written rejection notice, you haveone monthto file a written appeal with your Agentur für Arbeit or Jobcenter (§ 84 SGG). Important: The notice must contain a specific reason – you have a legal right to this.
The most common reasons for rejection are not content-related but formal: a not convincingly presented need for coaching, a premature business registration, or a vaguely formulated business idea. This is good, as these points can be specifically improved.
You generally have three options:File an appealwith a well-founded justification that directly addresses the points of rejection;submit a new applicationafter you have revised your concept and argumentation; or, if you receive Bürgergeld, seek a discussion with a different placement officer, as the AVGS is a discretionary benefit in this case.
Important to know: If you have been receiving ALG 1 for at least six weeks, you often have a legal right to the AVGS – a blanket reference to "placement priority" is not permissible. For Bürgergeld, approval is at the discretion of your case worker, which makes careful preparation even more important.
We will support you free of charge with your appeal or in preparing a new, solid application – including argumentation assistance for your next meeting with your placement officer.
No.Registering a business after completing the AVGS startup coaching isnot mandatory. The Activation and Placement Voucher according to § 45 SGB III explicitly serves to "introduce individuals to self-employment" – meaning to review, prepare, and develop a business idea. The decision of whether you actually start a business in the end is entirely yours.
This is precisely what makes AVGS startup coaching so valuable: it is one of the few funded spaces where you canopen-endedlyexamine whether self-employment is the right path for you. Coaching that honestly concludes that you should not start a business at this time may have saved you from a financially devastating wrong decision – and is therefore a valuable outcome.
The correct order is important: Business registration mustonly occur afterthe AVGS has been approved and – if you wish to apply for it – also after the application for the startup grant has been submitted. Registering a business prematurely risks both AVGS funding and the entitlement to the startup grant, as both funding programs are exclusively for thepreparationfor self-employment.
Even after coaching, all paths remain open to you: full-time startup, part-time startup, returning to permanent employment with clearer goals, or further qualification. There is no repayment obligation and no penalties if you decide against self-employment.
No, a finished business plan is not a prerequisite– on the contrary: creating a viable business plan is one of the central components of AVGS startup coaching. If you could already present a complete business plan, you wouldn't strictly need the coaching anymore.
What you should bring for theAVGS applicationis significantly less: aconcrete business idea that can be described in two to three sentences. Your case worker wants to see that you are pursuing a concrete project (not just a "desire for self-employment"), that you are qualified to implement it, and that you still lack specific components that the coaching will cover – for example, financial planning, marketing strategy, legal form, or the business plan itself.
In the coaching, we will then work together on: your complete business plan including executive summary, market analysis, and competitor analysis; the financial plan with liquidity and profitability forecasts; the marketing and sales strategy; and – if you wish to apply for it – theexpert opinion (viability assessment), which is mandatory for the startup grant.
Even if your idea is still in an early phase, that's not an obstacle. Especially in this phase, coaching is particularly valuable because an honest viability assessment can take placebeforeinvestments, resignations, or contracts – that is, when a change of course is still possible without economic consequences.
Zertifizierungen & Auszeichnungen
