Founding story March 2024: Mareike Schlote

© M. Schlote

Mareike is a member of the "Improkokken" ensemble in Hanover and gives courses, seminars and workshops for adults and children, for beginners and advanced students, for trainees and managers. Everyone can take to the stage and improvise to their heart's content with lots of fun.

Mareike, improvisational theater as a startup - how does it work?

I studied pedagogy in Bamberg with a focus on adult education and worked in the theater alongside my studies. It was there that I discovered my love of improvisational theater. I realized my first projects together with the theater as early as my second semester. My first permanent job then took me to Hanover. This is where I feel at home now and this is where I want to stay. Self-employment was more of a sideline from 2016 until the coronavirus period. Now it's the other way around. I used the pandemic phase to expand my business. I now offer numerous opportunities to rediscover yourself through improvisational theater.

What is special about your improvisational theater?

My courses and workshops are about dealing with all kinds of everyday situations more easily, becoming more spontaneous, trying things out or simply slipping into different roles. There is a lot of laughter, which also has a liberating effect.

Many companies come to me to promote the creativity of their teams. And it works really well. People have fun, come out of their shells and a completely different way of working together is created. A basic rule of improvisational theater is: "Yes, and ..." You have to listen to each other and respond to the other person. Because if both parties are always doing their own thing, the story doesn't move forward. This can be applied very well to professional interaction.

So does improvisational theater contribute to a better mutual understanding?

By all means! We break up entrenched structures in teams and bring them onto the stage. Sometimes it's easier to speak your mind in a playful way. Role reversal also opens eyes when employees slip into the role of their superiors. No one is pilloried and no one is forced onto the stage. We make it fun and easy. Another example: I'm booked for trainee workshops for a company in the retail sector, where we put different types of customers on stage, from cheeky to shy. The trainees are sure to remember this for a long time. And they now know how to respond better to customers.

What tips do you have for other founders?

You have to love your work, people notice that. If you do something run-of-the-mill, then it will only be mediocre. Put your heart into it! Be brave and remember that you want to make a living from your startup. You have to jump in at the deep end sometimes. You can learn that. For example, through an improv theater workshop ;).

How did hannoverimpuls support you?

Thanks to the advice from hannoverimpuls, I now have a solid business and financial plan. We quickly worked out how high my hourly rate needs to be so that I can really make a living from my work. You are given new methods that really help you. If you want to become self-employed, this is the right place for you.

C.Lange

Mareike Schlote
Eleonorenstrasse 13
30449 Hanover

Phone: 0159-06484485
E-Mail: mail@mareikeschlote.de

www.mareikeschlote.de

Mareike on the cooperation with hannoverimpuls:

I've always had great support, also in terms of mindset. The encouragement, the affirmation paired with figures, data and facts is great support that I can only recommend.

Kristina Ebel, project manager of Gründerinnen-Consult at hannoverimpuls GmbH, on the collaboration with Mareike Schlote:

Mareike does a great job. Her enthusiasm is infectious. We have only supported her with the tools she needs to continue developing her business successfully.