Presentation Patrick Schikowski

Foreword

In every successful business, there are people who form the backbone of the business and help keep things running smoothly through their unique energy and expertise. It's important to us to highlight and share these individual stories so that you, the faces and stories behind our creative studio can get to know WAGEMUT .

In today's employee presentation, we would like to introduce you to someone who contributes to our company with perseverance, commitment and passion: Patrick Schikowski. Find out more about Patrick's career, his experiences and what drives him every day.

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Patrick Schikowski - Fullstack Designer / Managing Partner

If you can't do it, teach yourself!

Kalimera, I am a jack of all trades and love sharp pixels. Addicted to 3D art, always ready to learn new things, I use mouse, keyboard and a pinch of creativity to conjure up visual stories that make users' hearts beat faster. Let's create something fu**ing awesome!

General questions

How did you come to found WAGEMUT and what motivates you every day to take our creative studio to the next level?

It's a very long story, but I'll try to limit myself to the essentials. In retrospect, I've always enjoyed being creative, building something from nothing, designing and optimizing. As can happen in a professional career, the appreciation diminished over time and many things were taken for granted. After all, money isn't everything and material things lost all significance with the birth of my first daughter. Somehow there was always the urge to create something sustainable myself. So there were always cycles of side projects that I was passionate about, then fell flat on my face, then got up again, until we founded an agency with four managing partners in 2016, against all advice, without clients. Yes, without clients, but with our experience, it should be a walk in the park to set up a sales-oriented agency whose clients appreciate the added value that our intrinsic aim is always to increase demand for a brand, products and services - after all, there is no substitute for sales.

Once again, the reality was somewhat different. We did not start with a handful of fat key accounts, quite the opposite. Every customer, small or large, had to be acquired first. After about a year of countless hours of sweat, blood and a few tears, it was clear that we had to change something in our mindset and setup if we really wanted to live our dream. So my brother-in-law Sebbo and I had to part with two partners, respectively buy their shares, in order to then build up not an agency but a creative studio in Düsseldorf at WAGEMUT . Yes, that's right, in Düsseldorf! I don't think there is a German city that is more competitive in this industry than our beloved media capital, but we still wanted to become part of this culture and contribute to digitization with our skills. In the meantime, seven years have passed since the company was founded, and Germany is still at the bottom of the league in terms of digitization thanks to bureaucratic and inappropriate funding programs. Nevertheless, I'm up for it. I learn something new every day from all kinds of different areas, and that's how I stay on pace. In the meantime, we've built up a customer portfolio that appreciates our unconventional approach. Do you think this has made things easier? No, quite the opposite, as the responsibility towards our team, our customers and also their customers has increased over time.
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What is your current role and what are your main responsibilities?


In short, it would be design with all its exciting facets, business development, sales and client management. As Co-Founder and Managing Partner, however, WAGEMUT is my baby and it's just getting started. So I see my main task as supporting, setting the right impulses for development and being awake, very awake. Companies in Germany need a culture of mistakes, so try & error is essential for WAGEMUT . This is the only way we learn, get better day by day and stay agile in a dynamic market environment. I try to maintain eye level with the team, i.e. to master the balancing act between a relaxed but professional working environment.
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What projects or tasks have you enjoyed the most so far?

Projects with fast communication, creative freedom and, of course, trust on the part of the client in our skill set are of course super fun. And when I don't have to pay attention to every cent of the budget, or when the extra mile or two is appreciated, you can see that in the result.
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How would you describe the corporate culture in three words?


cheeky, handsome, daring

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Work and career

What's special about your job?

Not one fucking day is like the other. Honestly, the field of design alone is so comprehensive and exciting that I could never commit to one discipline, nor did I want to. There is always something new, see currently Generative AI. That's why I've learned a lot of things on my own, either self-determined or because I needed it for a project. Ok caught that my heart beats more and more for the 3D visualization, is among other things due to the development of web3 and that I myself am more independent and crisp in content creation.
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Is there a particular challenge or project that you are especially proud of?


Every project has its special challenges and the next one is very often the much better one. I'm proud of the kind of projects we've worked on together with the client or collaboratively with external people as a team, and the individual pieces of the puzzle then gradually fit together. If it then looks sexy and gives users added value, which in turn can be measured in terms of awareness and more sales, I'm satisfied.
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How does the company support your professional development?


Since I own 50 percent of the place, I guess it's up to me. Joking aside. One of my old board members from another professional decade taught us that every day we get out of bed is a day we have the opportunity to improve. That improvement can happen at home in our family relationships, at work with our colleagues, in our studies, or on the basketball court. Improvement can come in leaps and bounds, but it usually takes the form of constant and never-ending improvement ( CANI), building on previous knowledge and skills to master. What many don't see is that it takes hours, days, months, years, even a lifetime to master something. Mastery requires dedication, perseverance, and concentration.

The Japanese have a single word for "continuous and never-ending improvement" - "Kaizen". Kaizen is made up of the Japanese words Kai, meaning change, and Zen, meaning good. Kaizen = change is good. By this I mean that if I do not invest positive energies constantly to progress, I will never get anything positive back from the company, let alone should I have any expectation in this regard.

What is the best advice you would give to someone who wants to work in your field?


Fuck no matter where or what you work as, learn to sell yourself or what skills you bring plus CANI.

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Team and collaboration

What does collaboration look like in your team?

Basically, everyone always knows pretty much exactly what everyone is working on and what's coming up next. But this also requires constant communication between project management, design and development. If we are sloppy, things don't flow, which can happen at peak times. Proactivity is then the key, hands on, thinking out of the box, relieving others in the team and not burdening them. We try to work on this constantly. My Disneyland: That one day we'll manage to get development and design working together in absolute harmony.
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What do you appreciate most about your colleagues?

Honesty and commitment.
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How does your team celebrate successes or milestones?

There is always too little celebration, we definitely have to work on that in the future.

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Corporate vision and values

Which company value do you identify with the most and why?

Courage followed by quality, sustainability, innovation, customer friendliness, reliability, integrity and openness.
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How do you see the future of the company?

We are currently working on building up our core team in Düsseldorf so that we can continue to support exciting startups, innovative SMEs and international corporations with sometimes unconventional approaches in the course of digitization. Web3 will offer completely new opportunities and we definitely want to be at the forefront. I would also be delighted to build up a team abroad. Let's see what else comes along.
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How does your work contribute to the overall vision of the company?

Whether in my role as a designer, business developer or client manager, I always try to add value, no matter how small. I am convinced that this energy will be returned to our studio in another positive way and that we will constantly grow organically and achieve our goals.

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Personal insights

Is there a book, movie or quote that has influenced your work style or philosophy?

There are a lot of books and audio books:

• The subtle art of shitting on it by Mark Manson
• The 7 Ways to Effectiveness by Stephen R. Covey
• Now! The power of the present by Eckhart Tolle
• How Elon Musk is changing the world - The biography by Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk.
• A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
• The principles of success by Ray Dalio
• Can't Hurt me by David Goggins
• Becoming Steve Jobs by Brent Schlender, Rick Tetzeli
• Laws of UX by Jon Yablonski
• The book you wish your parents had read by Philippa Perry
• Good Chefs Eat Last by Simon Sinek
• Always ask first: why by Simon Sinek
• Don't worry - live! by Dale Carnegie
• The One Thing by Gary Keller, Jay Braun

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Quote: Rest at the end not in the middle.
Mr. Fisk, Kobe Bryant's high school teacher.

The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.
Kobe Bryant
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What do you do to unwind and recharge from work?

In the best case my morning routine consists of getting my butt out of bed before my family, drinking some water, 10 min. meditation, a little workout^ with Chris Heria on YouTube, 15 min. listening to a book or reading plus a protein shake, then a cold shower (not always but often), waking up the kids, cuddling them, downing fennel anise cumin tea, preparing Kyo's food, packing my porridge, fruit and lunch, then walking the dog 2.5 km to the office. Then the stress can start again!
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What's something surprising that most people don't know about you?

I spent the first career in tailored suits as a servant of capitalism. Until, as so often happens, there was this one moment. Let's call it "the awakening." Today I'm wearing zip hoodies and pants that don't fit me, but I've been doing creative stuff for more than 10 years now that amazingly got better and better, I heard somewhere 😎

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Tips and advice

What advice would you give to someone just starting out in the industry?

Are you a designer? Learn to code and 3D. You are a coder? Learn design principles and...3D!
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How do you stay current and informed in your field?


Since I'm outside a lot with the dog, I use the time and inhale podcasts and audio books. Otherwise, selected YouTube channels, online courses, newsletters and once a month the page is on my desk. By the way, thanks Sebbo for the great bring service.
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What tool or app has changed or improved your workday the most?


After Sketch and XD (XD was never really mine), Figma. So please Adobe, I know you spent 20 billion for it, but please just leave your hands off this awesome software. The same goes for Blender 3D!

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Final thoughts

What do you want for the future of the company?

That we get more opportunities to show our skills on new projects, both nationally and internationally, and that what we tinker with also works in practice, not just looks good and offers added value. Furthermore, I wish for the location Germany that the entrepreneurs in this country finally stop to reduce creative spirit and creative craft as well as conceptual inventiveness to hourly rates or man-days, just to make offers comparable for the conscience. We're busting our asses for your company so that you generate more awareness and sales, so finally stop comparing apples and oranges and saving EUR3.50 in the wrong place.
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Is there anyone in the company you particularly admire for their work or influence?

I admire my brother-in-law and co-founder Sebbo for having had the balls in 2019 and saying to me. Digger we can also do it with two, we buy up the other shares. Let crack! Then he did not yet know that I already wanted to Düsseldorf under a new name WAGEMUT and Redesign. Even though I often have to remind him of things, I really appreciate that he's stuck with me this far and I know that it's not always a pony ride with me either. But in the end, for both of us, nothing beats the Company. It's our livelihood, and that of our employees and families. We just steer a little to the left, to the right, sometimes with more, sometimes with less pace, and everything else we shape together as a team.
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What message would you like to give to the readers of the blog?

Dare to be FUCKING Bold!
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"Some people make things happen. Some people watch things happen.
And then there are those who wonder, 'What the hell just happened?_{"Carroll Bryant}