A Chronic Entrepreneur: Achim Schlemmer

Achim Schlemmer was 29 years old when he was diagonosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Shortly after, he began working as an entrepreneur and hasn’t looked back. Now working in consultancy, project management and strategy for online projects, Achim lives his life in a small provincial town in Germany, doing what he loves. Read his story here.

What’s your chronic?
Multiple sclerosis since 1997.

Where / when were you diagnosed?
October 1999, in a Hamburg hospital, shortly after a holiday in Italy. While on vacation my hearing suddenly worsened and my right foot did not always do what I wanted it to do.

What does an entrepreneur mean to you?
Doing what I do best: Advise people and businesses how to do digital business and communicate on the Internet.

What came first, the chronic or the entrepreneurism?
Entrepreneurial thinking has always been at home in my heart, yet I started working as an employee. The decision to become self-employed was taken shortly after the diagnosis of the disease.

How did this path come to you?
I realised that I had to follow my own rhythm. I didn’t like the social hierarchy in middle management as an employee. I was born neither as a boss nor as an employee, I am more of a free spirit.

Did you go through any of 12-stages of grief with the diagnosis or take it in its stride? How did the process manifest itself? Did you immediately reassess your life?
After I received my diagnosis, my brain worked like a machine. From the civilian service that had to be done in Germany at the beginning of the 1990s when you refused to serve in the army I knew a bit about the clinical picture of multiple sclerosis. That’s why I started researching intensely. In 1999, the sources available online were still relatively difficult to find. Nevertheless, I found a mailing list whose archive was publicly available. Here I read thousands of emails from other MS patients to give me a picture of the possible disease progression. After 6 weeks I realised: I have to change my life. I left Hamburg and went back to the small provincial town near the Black Forest, Freiburg. After another six-month trial as an employee, I started my own business. In Hamburg, I was responsible for the strategic conception for a leading listed Internet agency. In the year 2000 I planned to market the know-how acquired in Hamburg here in the province. Since 2013 I’m a full-time wheeler. Even though, my small company is still running.

Did you seek out or join organisations? What would you recommend in hindsight?
Only online. Multiple Sclerosis has 1000 faces and so it is with those affected. It is very seducing to make comparisons between each other which is stupid to do. Or giving the other always well-intentioned tips. You can also pull each other deeper and deeper into depression. That’s why I avoided the real life contact. I was a member of the German MS organisation for a short time. I have the impression that multiple sclerosis is a market that is heavily influenced by the pharmaceutical lobby. I cannot give general recommendations on how to deal with such a diagnosis. Every person is different.

Since 2007 I’ve run the site http://www.ms-reporter.de. I wanted to give something back to the community. In recent years, however, I have neglected this project. One reason is that many sufferers now organise themselves via the social media. Thus, the importance of blogs has diminished.

How have you changed, if at all, in your relationships, decisions and decisions?
Three months after the diagnosis, my wife became pregnant. At about the same time, my mood was better than it had ever been in my whole life before. I still had no major limitations due to the illness and my running distance was not limited. So I enjoyed every day as if it was my last. Today I would call it an awakening. I managed to banish all bad energy from my life. People or so-called friends, who only cost me energy, and have completely eliminated emotional vampires. What’s left are a few old and some new friends and customers, some of whom I have worked for over ten years.

What is your life philosophy and has this changed?
Love is the key to everything. Self-love is a basic requirement. Then you can achieve any goal, if you only want it strong enough. You have to be ready to do anything for it. The important thing is to be humble. Honesty to oneself, self-confidence and discipline. My attitude has not changed, it only gets new facets the older I get.

What do you wish you’d know before?
Immediately start physiotherapy three times a week when you feel paralysed body parts. Unfortunately, I started too late.

Are you on any treatments? Why / why not?
From 2000-2012, I injected Copaxone daily. I tried a lot of different therapies like Cortisone (spinal) or Tecfidera. Since 2014, I have stopped all basic therapies. In parallel, the worsening of symptoms has also stopped. Today I mainly trust alternative healing methods including a completely different diet as well as regular physiotherapy and spiritual work. The stagnation of disease progression proves that I am well on the way.

What advice do you have for others starting out on this journey?
Embrace your enemy. Expect that your life will be wonderful. Expect too, that you will have to walk alone through the darkest corridors of life. Accept yourself.

What is a bad day for you?
On a bad day, I can barely get up or dress myself.

What do you do on a ‘bad day’?
Maximum relaxation, healthy food with many vital substances, enough sleep, confidence in the return of good days.

What do you struggle with the most?
Quite simple: accident prevention. I’ve had some painful crashes in the past, but now I’ve been accident free for almost twelve months.

What are you most proud of?
I have been able to keep my positive attitude to life so far. With multiple sclerosis, you quickly fall into a hole that is not easy to get out of. My fighting power is unbroken. I’m proud of that.

Who are your back up dancers?
A few professional helpers, my 18-year-old son and some good friends. Among the professional helpers I would like to highlight my physiotherapist, as well as a friend who is also my general practitioner. I did not have very good experiences with neurological specialists, although the medical care in my provincial town is excellent. Furthermore, there are a few dear people who have actively supported my diet change. In addition, I employ two helpers who help me to run my own household.

Best bits of being a Chronic Entrepreneur?
In the broadest sense, I can work whenever I want. Those who cleverly manage their appointments and deadlines have enough time to recover.

Worst bits of being a Chronic Entrepreneur?
I do not see any disadvantages.

Are you a 5-year planner or are you winging it?
I am both: for more than five years I dare not overlook, but my illness is not predictable enough. At the same time, I’ve learned that you have to give everything to yourself. It often happens very differently to what you’d thought. So plan carefully and then throw the plan over quickly if necessary.

Dream weekend plans and have these changed?
Of course, much has changed in the face of my severely limited mobility since 2010. But the dream weekend has always been beautiful nature, good food and lots of love.

Ultimate dinner party guests?
John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Hannah Arendt and C.G. Jung (German philosophers and psychologists).
Charlotte Gainsbourg and Yvan Attal (French actors and married couple).

What would you give your younger self?
Be courageous and trust yourself.

What’s next?
Life is full of surprises. So I let myself be surprised at what comes next.

How can people find you?
Professional:
https://aschlemmer.net
https://www.linkedin.com/in/achim-schlemmer-b1a01259/
https://twitter.com/achim_schlemmer

Private:
https://www.facebook.com/achim.schlemmer
https://www.instagram.com/achim_schlemmer

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