Deutsche Fassung (legally binding)
1. Controller
Marcel Melzig, sole proprietor, Circular Link
Mendelssohnstraße 31, 40670 Meerbusch, Germany
Email: marcel@circularlink.eu, Phone: +49 151 62848983
2. Summary
- This website does not set any cookies and stores nothing in your browser. For anonymous reach measurement it uses Cloudflare Web Analytics, which works without cookies (see section 4).
- Fonts, images and all content are loaded from our own server. No third-party content (e.g. LinkedIn, Substack) is embedded; apart from the cookieless reach measurement by Cloudflare (section 4), no data is transferred to third parties when you visit the site.
- LinkedIn, Substack and Calendly are only linked. Data goes to the respective provider only when you click a link.
3. Hosting and server log files
This website is hosted by Hostinger International Ltd., 61 Lordou Vironos Street, 6023 Larnaca, Cyprus. When you visit the website, the host processes technically necessary data in server log files: IP address, date and time of access, page accessed, referrer URL, browser and operating system. This processing serves the secure and stable provision of the website and is based on our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). A data processing agreement pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR is in place with the host. The log files are deleted automatically after a short period.
4. Cookies and analytics
This website does not set any cookies and uses no comparable technologies (e.g. localStorage). There are no advertising trackers.
For reach measurement we use Cloudflare Web Analytics, a service of Cloudflare, Inc., 101 Townsend St., San Francisco, CA 94107, USA. When a page is loaded, a script from static.cloudflareinsights.com sends technical information about the page view to Cloudflare: the page address, the referring page, the time of access, browser and operating system type, screen size and page load times. Your IP address is necessarily processed for this transmission, but it is not used to identify you or to build user profiles. No cookies are set and visitors are not tracked across websites. We only see aggregated statistics, such as the number of page views and the most visited pages.
The legal basis is our legitimate interest in understanding how the website is used and improving it (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Cloudflare, Inc. is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework; transfers to the USA are therefore based on the European Commission's adequacy decision (Art. 45 GDPR). More information: cloudflare.com/privacypolicy. You can object to this processing at any time (Art. 21 GDPR), for example by blocking the domain static.cloudflareinsights.com with a content blocker.
5. Fonts
The fonts used (Anton, Figtree) are stored locally on our server. No connection to Google Fonts or other font providers is made when the page loads.
6. Links to LinkedIn and Substack
The profile card, the charts in the “Latest on LinkedIn” section and the “View profile”, “Follow on LinkedIn” and “Subscribe on Substack” buttons are simple links. The profile card's image and text are stored on our server; no script, widget or iframe from LinkedIn or Substack is loaded.
Only when you click one of these links does the provider's page open, and your IP address and technical browser data are transferred to that provider. From then on, the privacy policy of LinkedIn (LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland: linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy) or Substack (Substack, Inc., San Francisco, USA: substack.com/privacy) applies. Newsletter signups take place directly on Substack.
7. Appointment booking via Calendly
The “Book a 30-min Strategy Session” button is a simple link to Calendly (Calendly LLC, Atlanta, USA). No data is transferred to Calendly on this website. Calendly's privacy policy applies only once you follow the link: calendly.com/legal/privacy-notice. We use the data provided when booking only to prepare and hold the appointment (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
8. External links
Links to LinkedIn, Substack, Calendly and circularlink.eu are simple links. Data is only transferred when you click a link and open the respective page.
9. Contact by email or phone
If you contact us by email or phone, we process your details to handle the request (Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR) and delete them as soon as they are no longer needed and no statutory retention obligations apply.
10. Request form (Work with me)
If you send a request via the form on marcelmelzig.com/work-with-me, we process the details you enter (name, email address, company, role, the selected topic, your timing and your message) and, where available, the page or campaign through which you reached the form. We use this data only to answer your request and to prepare a possible engagement (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). The request is stored on our hosting provider's server (see section 3) and forwarded to our Google Workspace account (Google Cloud EMEA Ltd., Dublin, Ireland), where it is saved in a spreadsheet and sent to us by email. Google may process data in third countries; transfers are covered by the EU Standard Contractual Clauses and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. We delete it once your request has been fully handled, unless statutory retention obligations apply. To prevent abuse, a shortened, non-reversible hash of your IP address is kept for up to one hour. Fields marked as optional can be left empty.
11. Your rights
You have the right of access (Art. 15 GDPR), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction of processing (Art. 18), data portability (Art. 20) and objection (Art. 21), as well as the right to withdraw consent at any time (Art. 7(3) GDPR). To exercise these rights, please contact the email address above.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, for example the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of North Rhine-Westphalia (LDI NRW), Kavalleriestraße 2–4, 40213 Düsseldorf, Germany.
Last updated: November 2026