Red Hat

Helping companies find the correct partners to ease their IT pains with open source solutions across Nordics.

Partner Sales Executive

Ari Kaine

Helping corporate burnouts embark on a mindfulness journey to rediscover inner peace & find a beautiful path.

On the side, I help heart-centred founders & leaders to write their LinkedIn content to stand out and make them popular online.

Founder | Poet | Mindful Writer & Coach

Huawei Suomi Finland 

Responsible for Huawei server, Cloud, and AI portfolio sales for the Finnish market.

Senior Sales Manager

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Helping public sector customers to find the right data center solutions.

Account Manager

C2W Group

Creating an online marketing strategy for an English Course in the Chinese market.

An internship position.

Online Marketer

Teleperformance Nordic

Customer Service Agent

Sales Representative

Homemap Oy

Sales Representative / Office Manager

Oy Rahmqvist Ab

Enia Oy

→ Easing your IT pain by opening the source ☁️ | DM & connect | Red Hatter

A few achievements: 

I went from 1 to 70 trillion cells.

I went from 0 pull-ups at 19 to 15 pull-ups at 39.

I went from "I'll never meditate" to daily meditation.

I went from a student to a 100,000€+ earner in two years.

I went from having to stop running after 1km to finishing a half-marathon in 1 hour and 52 minutes.

I went from trusting the establishment to challenge everything (including my own thoughts and ideas).

I went from "I'm so lucky/unlucky this health condition happened" to owning responsibility for my wellbeing.

🔆

Life is an adventure, and I'll do my best to ensure my curiosity remains on high alert.

My goal is to abandon all social media by the time I'm 45. 

Until then, I need to win this game called business. And social media is a necessary evil (with my skill set, feel free to sell your services to find another way).

When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you with:

1. Mindfulness/meditation coaching for corporate slaves

- Send me a DM to share what you struggle with (stress, deadlines, horrible managers...), and I'll tell you if I have tools to overcome them:

if the answer is NO, I'll point you in the right direction
if the answer is YES, you can book a call with me, and I will teach you how

2. I'll write your LinkedIn content, you'll reap the benefits
- You don't have time to write and post on this platform, but you feel like you're missing out. That's where I step in.
- We sit down once per month to discuss your expertise, passions, worldviews, goals, and content strategy
- I'll craft 15-20 posts designed for an online audience with your tone. Watch your analytics skyrocket.

3. You're dying to read poems, buy my 52 Poems of Beauty ebook
- This one is simple. Send me a DM and I'll share a link to buy my poetry collection.

connect. follow. learn. share. love.

/ Ari

Your top performers are quietly burning out.

The reps who consistently hit 120-150% of quota often feel it first.

The energy is slowly draining, even while the numbers look great.

Recent studies show that high performers experience burnout faster than average performers, yet they rarely raise their hands.

One conscious daily pause can completely change that trajectory.

Leaders: check in with your stars this week.

Managers: forget the ego, become a leader.

Reps: give yourself permission to recharge. The pipeline (and your health) will thank you.

When's the last time you've seen the hollow look in a top performer's eyes?

Ari Kärkkäinen

Coaching tech sales teams to calm and creativity through mindfulness practices 🔆 sharing what I learn, love & observe | writer, poet | mindfulness coach

I haven't eaten for 39 hours.

Just water and black coffee. Why?

I love to challenge myself, and this time it's fasting.

I feel lighter. (obviously)
I don't feel hungry. (not so obvious)

A 25-year-old me would've laughed at me doing this.

"Go and eat a good kebab", he would've said.

Now I can look back at him, smiling, "Now I know better."

Fasting can give you significant benefits:

- Reduce inflammation
- Better bowel function
- Growth hormone production increases
- Increased cellular repair (autophagy)

I've got 45 more hours to go.

What's the longest time you've fasted?

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
– The Buddha (Dhammapada)

“This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”
– Alan Watts

“You are the unchanging witness of all that appears. Leave everything aside and simply be here, now, as pure presence.”
– Mooji

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.”
– Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

“If you are depressed, you are living in the past.
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, you are living in the present.”
– Lao Tzu

“Be here now.”
– Ram Dass 

“The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh

“When we come fully into the present moment, we drop out of the story of separation and remember we are nature itself. There is no healing that happens outside of the now.”
– Zach Bush 

“Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be.”
– Osho

“The real does not die, the unreal never lived. Once you know that death happens to the body and not to you, you just watch your body falling off like a discarded garment. The real you is timeless and beyond birth and death. The body will survive as long as it is needed; it is not important that it should live long. Be here now.”
– Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj 

°°°°

Enjoy your weekend together with the latest 2-minute read (forever thought) edition of my newsletter.

What's your way of coming to the present moment?

There is only one moment for you to be alive, and that is the present moment. - Thich Nhat Hanh Welcome to the 4th edition of the Look Inword newslett

Open article: Presence closes more deals than hustle ever did by Ari Kärkkäinen • 2 min read

Presence closes more deals than hustle ever did

More videos? Less videos?

Sharing 2 tips for a healthier life. And they’re as simple as the 2 brain cells I have.

——-

I’d love to connect with you, reach out for a chat.

☀️

My 2-year-old: Dad, what the f**k?

Me: Yes, son?

Son: You're writing a book for me? I can't even read.

Me: It's for you, yes. As much as it's for me. You don't have to read it now; you'll have it for life.

Son: What's it called?

Me: "For those who will miss me"

Son: Sounds sad. Why would you write that?

Me: Try and see it as beautiful, instead of sad. I might die today. I might die next year. I might die when I'm 93. I want my heart to be written in words for you before that. And I want you to know that I lived a great life, and will continue to live in you. And you'll be ok.

Son: Daddy, look! Blocks, let's build a tower together.

---

Use the power of words to empower your family.

Imagine living in a culture where there's no word for "I", only "we".

Or a culture where there's no past or future tense in verbs, only present. 

You'd grow up less egoistic.
You'd grow up without anxiety.
You'd grow up without depression.

That's the power of words.

In the English language, I love words like "emerge", "beauty", "divinity",

What are your favourite words?

Look how I look when I think I'm smiling.

Can't take a Finn out of a Finn.

I'm calm, peaceful, happy, and grateful, but it mostly shows on the inside.

Don't be fooled by the big smiles and "I'm fine" comments from your friends and colleagues. There might always be a darker reality.

If you're "fine", but you're not, my DMs and heart are open.

In the meantime, read this week's edition of my newsletter. 

Cheers & light to your weekend

I thought I had a gentle and approachable smile on my face when taking a passport photo. Turns out, A Finn can't leave a Finn's body that easily. The 

Open article: I'm asking questions you should be asking by Ari Kärkkäinen • 2 min read

I'm asking questions you should be asking

I've used 100s of guided meditations, so you won't have to.

You can cut through the noise by choosing one of the 2 options I propose.

Have a meditative moment reading this week's newsletter.

And do yourself a favour:

Choose a 10-minute meditation over 10-minute doom-scrolling this weekend.

You won't regret it. And if you will, let me know why.

Love and light 🧘🏼

"Meditation is the way in which we come to feel our basic inseparability from the whole universe, and what that requires is that we shut up" - Alan Wa

Open article: The day you became a daily meditator by Ari Kärkkäinen • 2 min read

The public has spoken.

No surprises, people love sleezy door-to-door sales stories.

My network consists mainly of corporate employees, which explains why no one wants to share the secrets.

I'll share one anyway: a trained monkey can do what a six-figure salary sales guy does.

Moving on to vacuum cleaners...

I had the privilege of knocking on strangers' doors back in 2010-2011.

I sold 200,000€ worth of cleaning devices during that time. 

Yes, just me.
Knocking on doors.
Ringing the doorbells.

It's a skill worth having: selling a €2,000 vacuum cleaner in one hour to a stranger who didn't wake up thinking he would buy one that day.

Here's a story of a nasty day that went unsuccessful.

I must've had over 40 rejections at the door. This would mean I'd rang a bell of over 200 doors, spent 4 hours walking and driving around just to get a demonstration.

Let me tell you, when you're rejected so hard, you stop caring about a sale, you just want to get in, have a chat, and demo your product for peace of mind.

Then I got in.
A recently retired couple welcomed me.
I checked their vacuum cleaner as I normally would. They kept it in the bathroom.

(The apartment was crazy dirty)

I went inside the bathroom, and the device was covered with dust and dead skin. LAYERS of it.

I had to hold my disgust. Probably it was evident anyway.

My mind asked if I should do the demo. I don't know what I said yes.

As soon as I got back in with the demo device, I regretted it.

I ended up staying there for a maximum of 10 minutes; I just couldn't stand it. And it was never going to be a sale.

However, I was able to mark it as 'demo completed' for my employer.

Ridiculous, I know. 

I was young. 
I was frustrated. 
I was tired.
I had perseverance.

This is a soft story from those times. I need to think carefully about what to share.

Maybe Saara Vehoniemi could share a juicy story below.

I work with open source,

with an open heart. How does that help me?

° Enhances emotional intelligence: I'm more tuned into colleagues, partners, and customers.

° Boosts creativity: I operate from intuition. Ego & fear step aside.

° Improves decision-making: I become strategic over long-term, heart-centred awareness aligns choices with deeper values.

Remember,

The longest journey you'll take is from head to heart.

I'm on that journey but heading heartward.

The journey began with learning and taking the first meditation.

What's stopping your team from adopting mindfulness practices?

Thousands of kids: "Daddy, you've had enough of vodka for today"

Daddy: "No, son. It's daddy's time to get wasted and destroy everyone's Christmas."

The holiday season is here.

For many it's a period of true joy.

For others it's a period of hell.

What is it for you?

°°°°°

Join 270 subscribers and read the latest article. Share your thoughts, and click your likes.

It means the world to me.

Thanks for reading my newsletter. I'm grateful that you do. I hope you love what you read, and leave a comment and like. Here we go. The holiday seaso

Open article: What's stopping you from boozing in front of your kids on Christmas? by Ari Kärkkäinen • 2 min read

What's stopping you from boozing in front of your kids on Christmas?

Water is all I've had this month.

What's on your plate today?

Check my Substack for some thoughts on fasting.

PS. If you're an entrepreneur in Sant Cugat, I'd love to connect. The first cup of coffee is on me

Me and my new pee-stained glasses.

And airtube headphones (surprisingly good).

I don’t like staring at a screen all day.

Blue light blocking glasses takes away some of that pain.

Want to be a mindful company?

Someone who truly cares about their employees?

Here’s what you’re going to do:

- Change all the LED lights to incandescent (quite impossible nowadays)
- Give everyone yellow blue light blocking glasses (easy to execute)
- Make sure they have access to direct sunlight outdoors during breaks

PS. Share a picture with your favourite glasses below 👇🏻 

PPS. Have I gone nuts?

No alternative text description for this image

Help me entertain and educate others.

I’d love to know what my network is interested in?

Tell me what you’d like me to post about.

PS. If you’re answer is “nothing”, comment 🤐 below 

Love you.

This morning I put on my “regular” boots for the first time in a while.

It made me think about simple and affordable hacks I've used to improve my health.

Here are 10 you can implement straight away:

1. Switch to barefoot shoes
2. Tape your mouth at night
3. Watch sunrise
4. Avoid artificial light (consider blue light blocking glasses)
5. Buy a pull-up bar
6. Maximise organic local whole foods in your diet
7. Cold shower (I can’t get it cold enough in Spain, though)
8. Meditate 
9. Be grateful
10. Read

Bonus:

This is a 3M rule: pay attention to… 

Mitochondria 
Microbiome
Melatonin

Share your simple hack below to help others ☀️

Remember, even the smartest person you know doesn’t understand the importance of breathing through your nose.

We need to get back to basics

90% of 9-5 work is pretending.

That's the reality.

I'm glad I came across this post by Tim. He shares insights into the minds of people who quit their jobs.

If you're dissatisfied with your work (the vast majority is), go and read the post, and reflect.

Aren't you tired of pretending?

Aussie writer with 1B+ content views in 10 years | I teach people to use writing online to create career opportunities | Let's connect: tim@timdenning.com

I interviewed 50 people who quit their jobs in 2024.

Here's what nobody tells you.

━━━━━

They didn't quit for more money

38 of them took pay cuts. Some massive ones

The software engineer who went from $180K to doing one-off writing gigs. The CMO who became a pottery teacher. The investment banker selling surfboards

Everyone said the same thing: "I'd do it again tomorrow"

━━━━━

The pattern that shocked me:

**The 3-month mark**
Everyone hits it. Pure terror. Bank account screaming. Partner questioning. Parents "concerned."

There's a twist: The ones who made it past month 3? They never looked back.

The ones who returned to corporate? All quit before day 90.

━━━━━

What they actually quit:

• Sunday night anxiety (47/50 mentioned this)
• Asking permission to live their lives
• Meetings about meetings about nothing
• Pretending to care about Q3 targets
• The soul-crushing commute
• Being "on" from 9-5 regardless of actual work

Not jobs. They quit the entire system.

━━━━━

The money truth nobody admits:

Month 1-3: Hemorrhaging cash
Month 4-6: Ramen profitable
Month 7-9: Matching old salary
Month 10-12: "Why didn't I do this sooner?"

But 23 of them said something that stopped me cold:

"Even if I never matched my salary, the freedom is worth more."

━━━━━

The unexpected side effects they reported:

• Marriage improved (32/50)
• Lost weight without trying (28/50)
• Stopped needing anxiety meds (19/50)
• Kids said they're "different" (better) (41/50)
• Sunday became just another day (50/50)

One guy: "I didn't quit my job. I quit dying slowly."

━━━━━

Their biggest regret?

Not the money lost
Not the security abandoned
Not the benefits forfeited

49 out of 50 said the same thing:

"I wish I'd done it sooner."

The 50th? She wished she'd been bolder

━━━━━

What made them pull the trigger:

• Health scare (12)
• Kid asking "why are you always tired?" (8)
• Passed over for promotion (7)
• Random Tuesday breakdown (11)
• Watching someone die with regrets (6)
• Just... done (6)

Not grand epiphanies. Just moments of clarity.

━━━━━

The skill they all developed:

Comfort with uncertainty.

Corporate trains you to fear the unknown. Quarterly forecasts. 5-year plans. Predictable misery.

These 50 learned something better: How to surf chaos.

━━━━━

The advice they'd give their past selves:

"Your backup plan is a prison"
"Start the side thing NOW"
"The fear never goes away, jump anyway"
"Corporate security is an illusion"
"Your kids need you present, not rich"

My favorite: "Stop asking for permission to live your own life"

━━━━━

None of them had it figured out
None of them were "ready."

All of them are more alive than when they had "secure" jobs.

━━━━━

To anyone reading this from a cubicle:

That feeling in your chest? It's not anxiety.

It's your life asking for permission to begin.

What's stopping you from escaping the rat race? 👇
♻️ Repost if you know someone who needs to read this

Join my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gMkRFmj9

Let everything be ordinary.

Just witness that.

Meditation Teacher | Poet and Author | Co-founder of The Way meditation app

What if nothing needs to be different? And the way things are, right here, right now, is enough?

#mindfulness #meditation #healing

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