Here's how to do it
Coaching voucher (AVGS voucher)
The AVGS voucher for business founders in Spe
The so-called AVGS voucher (employment and placement voucher) for the introduction to self-employment (regulated by law under Section 45 (1) sentence 1 no. 4 SGB III – MAT) in ALG 1 receipt
As part of an individual (no group coaching) business start-up coaching session, you then have the opportunity to work with an experienced start-up consultant and coach on all the topics that are important for your business start-up.
Be it questions and knowledge transfer on the subject of taxes, financing, online marketing or others – here you can learn the basics of self-employment and fine-tune your business idea with professional help. You will need the AVGS voucher for this.
Bruno Schäfer
Do you have a strong desire to start your own business, but feel overwhelmed by all the processes, details, and paperwork?
AVGS voucher and start-up grant
Another major advantage of the voucher is that you can dedicate time with your coach to applying for the start-up grant and preparing all the necessary documents.
Together you could, for example, draw up the business plan and the financial planning required for the start-up grant, which is the core part of the business plan. Getting help in this area in particular from someone who already has a lot of experience with start-up grants and knows what is important can be worth its weight in gold at the end of the day when it comes to getting your application approved.
Experience also shows that the start-up grant is more likely to be approved if start-up coaching has taken place in advance. The employment agency then has a better feeling that the founder is perfectly trained and prepared to start their own business.
Applying for the voucher - requirements
These are:
- Receipt of ALG 1 (at least 1 day)
- professional suitability must be present
Please note: The challenge lies in convincing your case officer that the path to self-employment is more promising than placing you in an employment relationship or having you placed again.
This is based on the law and thus also on the employment office’s mandate, which ALWAYS gives priority to reintegration into the primary labor market, i.e. taking up an employment relationship subject to social insurance contributions.
(Edit 01.01.23: The Federal Government has decided to abolish the placement priority for the start-up subsidy in accordance with Section 4 SGB III. This will make it easier for start-ups to apply for a grant to open their own business in future).
This is mainly due to the fact that we live in a social and welfare state in Germany and this is financed by employer and employee contributions (especially the public pension), which are de facto not (yet) provided by the self-employed in the same amount and breadth. (A law on this will probably be passed in the next few years).
Accordingly, there is no legal entitlement to an AVGS voucher (but rather an optional benefit) and the enthusiasm of the employment agency is usually limited when you, as a customer of the employment office, come up with the idea of self-employment and funding.
However, in order to get what you want in the end (the appropriate AVGS voucher), it is important to think about the right arguments in advance to convince the person at the office of your intention to become self-employed.
Here's an example
You are a software developer or a healthcare worker, which makes you highly employable in the primary labor market, as workers with these qualifications are currently in high demand everywhere.
That’s why, before your first meeting with the case worker, it’s extremely important to come up with a solid case explaining why it’s better for you to be self-employed than to return to salaried employment. Here, you could try to convince the other party of your plan by using arguments such as more flexible working hours, higher pay, a better work-life balance, or even more job opportunities as a freelancer.
As for the structure of the conversation, you can proceed as follows:
- First, describe your business idea—the one you’re 100% convinced of.
- You now understand the “what,” but for the “how”—that is, developing a clear concept, a strategy, a roadmap, and addressing other important topics related to starting a business—you still need professional help.
- That’s why you would like to take part in individual coaching for business start-ups. And for this coaching you need the appropriate AVGS voucher (employment and placement voucher).
- Be polite but persistent, and don’t let them brush you off with lines like, “We don’t support that!”
- You’ve already proactively found a suitable training provider and coach for the coaching program, and an initial meeting has already taken place, during which the content and objectives of the coaching were discussed.
- After the conversation, you can email the written application for an AVGS, along with other documents (which we’ll provide), to your case worker.
- Then it’s just a matter of waiting and hoping that the coaching will be subsidized and that you’ll receive a voucher.
