I started my training as an office administrator here in the company on 1 September 2000. At that time, our field of activity was still the sale of garden tools. After completing my training, I stayed with the company and gradually got to know all the other areas more intensively, e.g. sales in the specialist shop, repairs or trade fair organisation.

I realised early on that I wanted to join my parents' company. Even as a teenager, I was always helping out, whether it was my mother Christine Paulitschek in the accounts department or my father Wilhelm Paulitschek in the workshop and sales. I enjoyed all these activities so much that I decided to complete my training in the family business. When the sale of machines and tools for metal and woodworking was added in 2004, I had the opportunity to develop these product groups together with my father. It was my job to select the products that we wanted to include in our range and to organise the distribution of these products via various online channels. I also did all the order processing, picking and packing of the goods myself in the early days of online retail. As I was even more interested in these products than in garden technology, I quickly realised that I wanted to stay with the company and help it to grow further. From my point of view, it's also great that my husband Frank Schlögel joined me in 2011 and my brother Patrick Paulitschek in 2015. This has brought many new ideas and growth impulses to the company. In 2015, my brother and I joined the management team and in December 2018 we also took over the shares from our parents, meaning that we are now the second generation of our family to run paulimot.

Not too much, actually. As our parents continue to support us in the business, we can fortunately draw on their many years of experience at any time. The change was much bigger for me from 2015 after I was appointed Managing Director. Since then, our team has grown from seven to over 40 people, which means that the operational activities have become less and less for me and the organisational and management tasks have become more and more. Nevertheless, I still like to lend a hand in logistics or maintain contact with our customers in our specialist shop or at trade fairs when things get tough. Because we mainly sell online, direct customer contact is very important to me. This gives me a lot of feedback on how our products are received by our customers and what they want from us in terms of products and services in the future.

There are quite a few! For me, the creation of our own brand "paulimot" in 2004 was a real milestone. While we had previously represented well-known specialist brands in the garden technology sector, from this point onwards we had the opportunity to develop and manufacture our products according to our own ideas. In addition to our own ideas, we were also able to incorporate feedback from our customers. I think this is a key part of our success. We try to offer what our customers want and what they need for their daily work or hobby. Another important step was the construction of our extension in 2012. Our product range had been growing steadily since 2004 and the existing space quickly became too small. As a first step, we made do with an external warehouse for a few years. Then, in 2011, we were fortunate enough to acquire a disused farm at the rear of our premises and were able to build on the land. This created space for new products and further growth.

As the industrial estate where our company headquarters is located has since been built on all around, I didn't actually believe that such a fortunate circumstance as in 2011 would happen again. In 2018, however, it became apparent that one of our direct neighbours wanted to sell his business premises and building, as his company had also grown considerably and he was able to build a much larger new building at the other end of the street. We quickly agreed on the purchase of his previous company property and we sat together at the notary's office at the beginning of 2019. In recent months, we have carried out various minor conversion and renovation measures on this acquired building. In September 2020, construction began on a new building, which now connects our two existing buildings. In July 2020, we were also able to acquire a second plot of land with two other buildings from the same neighbour. The buildings on this plot will also be connected to our building complex over the next few months. When the new building is completed and all the buildings are connected, we will have more than doubled our usable space to around 4,000 m². All departments, from the specialist shop to the warehouse, logistics, workshop and administration, will then have significantly more space available so that we can continue our growth trajectory in the coming years.

Your job as Managing Director must be quite stressful at times. In which hobbies or leisure activities do you find some peace and relaxation?

Yes, of course there are also very stressful days. I often find my balance in the fresh air when I take our dogs Ebby and Junior for a walk or spend time with my two horses. US cars are another great passion of mine. In the summer months, there are a few events that my husband and I attend together with our friends. Once the animals and cars are taken care of, we treat ourselves to some real relaxation on the beach on our favourite island, Mallorca.