About me
Hi, I'm Thomas!
"Human freedom does not mean being able to do whatever we want, but not having to do what we do not want."
My story
I've been self-employed for over 18 years, and I never really considered anything else. My motivation has always been the same: location independence, freedom and the chance to explore my many interests without having to choose just one path.
It all started with an old 286 PC when I was eight. Growing up in a tiny village, I didn't have many options, so I spent most of my time in virtual worlds. I originally wanted to make games, but then I discovered hacking. That led to a few things for which, fortunately, the statute of limitations has now expired.
I started out as an IT security consultant. I was paid to "break into" IT systems and find vulnerabilities. I loved those creative challenges. But every job has its less enjoyable parts: writing reports and repeating the same analyses. My "laziness", or let's call it a drive for efficiency, led me to develop software that automated much of this work.
Then came Germany's "hacker paragraph", a change in the law that created considerable legal uncertainty and made my solution legally complicated, because it could also be used to attack systems. I sold my idea and used the money to take my first steps in the financial markets.
Alongside that, I was already building projects in all sorts of fields. I played professional poker, built an online poker bot that beat six-max no-limit Hold'em, and automatically generated 250,000 niche websites optimized for long-tail keywords, earning money through ad arbitrage and affiliate marketing. Basically, I just followed my curiosity and tried anything I enjoyed.
In 2010, I was an early adopter of Bitcoin. With a single graphics card, I mined one bitcoin a day. I sold most of them far too early, but patience has never been my strong point.
In 2013/2014, I met the first person on Gran Canaria who called themselves a digital nomad. I adopted that lifestyle and started writing books (over 2 million sold), building online businesses and developing SaaS tools. All passive income, 95% automated, so I could stay behind the scenes while living the way I'd always imagined.
In 2021, I returned to crypto: DeFi Summer, automated trading algorithms, mining and blockchain solutions. Pretty nerdy stuff that we don't need to get into here.
Then came AI. At first, it wasn't easy: my two strongest skills, programming and writing, were among the first to be replaced by AI. After a few months, I learned to work with it, and we've become friends. I now have an entire team of AI agents and am ten times more productive in most areas. Sometimes you have to let go to move forward.
Right now, I'm focused on AI. I believe it will change everything, not just technology, but how we work, think and live.
My big vision? To help more people find freedom and independence, and to live a free, self-directed life myself, without restrictions.
What I'm working on now
My current focus is AI: I use it to develop products, automate business operations and build new ventures. My own projects give me the practical experience behind this work. I also give talks about AI.
I'm currently building apps for Google Play and iOS, starting with Maat Journal. Journaling and writing have improved every area of my life, so this felt like the right app to start with. It's a journaling app with AI support, strong privacy and security, and some interesting features to help me improve my life. I also have a number of other app ideas that I'm gradually bringing to life, all with one shared goal: helping people improve their lives.
My online business operates internationally: Germany, the UK, Australia, Canada, Spain and Mexico, with India next. Over 2 million books and digital products sold, all through existing marketplaces such as Amazon, Udemy, the Play Store, the App Store and Spotify. I often use infrastructure that's already there instead of building everything myself.
Sometimes I do build my own infrastructure, for my own business and occasionally for others. That has led to several online platforms, including hosting for online courses at https://onlinekurshosting.de/.
I also still do a few things in trading and crypto. But that's fairly complicated nerd stuff.
My philosophy
I like solving hard problems in hyperfocus mode. Sometimes I dive into a topic for weeks or months: no email, no social media, no calls. 100% single-tasking. In a world full of distractions, this is how I find depth.
Over the years, my motivation has shifted from "just making money" towards making a meaningful difference.
I live minimally, own almost nothing and have little interest in material things. You'll probably only ever see me in a black T-shirt. Not on principle, but because it works. Fewer possessions mean more freedom, and that's what matters to me.
Lasting happiness and contentment don't come from the outside. They come from within, from the places we're often afraid to look.
To become happy and content, we often need to let go rather than add more.
Random facts
Sleep: Polyphasic for 20 years, including 2 years on the Uberman schedule (2 hours a day), now usually 4–5 hours a day. For me, sleep is a system to optimize, not just a necessity.
Biohacking: A fitness and health enthusiast; I even measure my brainwaves for fun. If you're collecting data anyway, why not your own?
Work-life balance: 100-hour weeks, followed by days or weeks offline or travelling. I prefer the extremes.
Nature: I love silence, calm and peace. A small beach house, finding inner calm beside and in the water. Sometimes you need a contrast to the digital world.
Psychedelics: A strong advocate of microdosing and macrodosing for personal development. To me, expanding consciousness is a tool, not a taboo.
Curiosity: Open to any subject that offers a mental challenge.
Minimalist: At some point, I realized that happiness doesn't require adding more things, but letting go. I own almost nothing, and I like it that way.
Success: To me, it means meeting interesting people, learning something new or growing as a person.
Contact
I'm often quite hard to reach. Sometimes it takes a while when I'm in hyperfocus mode again. But try email or Instagram.
Instagram: @tda_autor