My story began one Monday evening in an Italian restaurant in Prague, where I was travelling regularly each week for business. After spending 7 years in a financial outsourcing and advisory company, I was already a shareholder and managing director of the 2 biggest countries of the group. Managing operations in 2 countries with around 120 employees was not easy – in combination with my two sons aged 4 and 3, it was quite the opposite. During the normal working week, I basically did not see my family. Additionally, after the takeover of Prague operations a few months ago, I found out that some areas were not managed properly and we had to invest a great deal  of energy to reorganize and restructure the office. I would not be able to handle the situation without the huge support of my wife and from my management team in both countries.

It was Monday evening and I had just arrived in Prague after all-day meetings in one country and a 4-hour trip to the other one. I had just finished my one-man dinner and had a head full of thoughts... Does my work actually make sense? Is this really what I was made for? Is this really what I should be doing now? Shouldn’t I be doing something else?
 
I grabbed a piece of paper and tried to focus. Imagine, just for one moment, you are completely free. Imagine, you can choose without restrictions whatever you wish to do in your next career. What would it be? What are you good at? And what would you really enjoy doing?
 
And there it was: I took out my pencil, grabbed the piece of paper lying next to me and wrote down following:

• What are you good at? …managing a company and composing music
• What would you really enjoy doing? …performing music and helping other people
• And what would you like to achieve in your life? …change the World!

Suddenly, I was feeling overwhelmed. This is it! This is what I would really choose to do if I was completely free and somebody asked me to make my choice right now.
 
Over the next few days, I could not stop thinking of my sudden “wake-up” call and especially of the intense tingling in my stomach I was feeling that evening in the restaurant. As a coincidence, I was listening to Raul Midon´s “All in Your Mind” , and I realized I really have to do something about this!
 
So – this is it!  My name is Michael Hopes and I want to change the world. And I need your help.