About me
NAME: Elfriede Dirnberger
COUNTRY: Austria
CITY: Graz
NATIONALITY: Austrian
BACKGROUND: School leaving examination
ACTION/SECTOR: Finance
POSITION: Freelance Finance
My Background and Career
After graduation, I had several professional positions: a half year internship in accounting and a half year internship in administration, 11 years with the ÖGB, (the Austrian Trade Union Federation) in administration, support services / IT services / accounting. After the birth of my two children, I began to work for the BFI (an Austrian training institute) in their EU project department. My main task was the financial management of EU projects in the field of education.
My Experience
Opportunities:
The catalyst for me was some colleagues of mine becoming self-employed and knowing that I could support them with my experience and knowledge. It was also very important for me to be able to spend a lot of time with my kids. I am not bound to any fixed working hours, am very flexible, and can always be there for them. They are now almost grown up and I can enjoy my free time more.
Challenges:
Economically and financially, it is always a great challenge to become self employed. As I was able to count on the support of my family, had many years of professional experience in this field and could count on the good relationship with my former colleagues who had their own business in this area, it was not a big issue for me to take on this challenge.
