Before the workshop I thought I was organised, how wrong I was! The day was broken up into two clear sections, how to get organised followed by how to market yourself. The presenter – Kerstin Armbrust-Krinn – is a professional coach and consultant with her own business and an impressive set of qualifications. Because of this, everyone left the workshop hugely satisfied with a gigantic bag of tips. I’ll try to share some of the best of the day here with you. The best organisation tips:

• • The one-hand rule: don’t move things around – touching something means you should tidy it away not move it to another place
    
    
  • The 2 minute rule: if it can be done in less than two minutes, do it immediately – don’t leave it
    
    
  • Things stay in folders: always put everything back – don’t let your inbox get full (or even throw away your inbox)
    
    

  • The eagle principle: anything within arm’s reach at your desk (spread your arms like an eagle to check) should be what you use and need the most throughout the day

  • Checklists: do you write out the same checklist again and again? If so, create a template instead

  • Create a 3 zone workplace: computer space, secretary space (stationery, etc.), and an empty space to work and think

After a lovely lunch and a great networking session, we moved onto the second part of the day where Kerstin asked us some serious questions about how we see ourselves. The most important things we reflected on were: 

• • Where do you want to go with your business? What do you want to do? If you don’t know, how can you help yourself and your business?
    
    

  • How does your office look? How do you look and present yourself? How do you communicate? If you don’t know, how can you influence the way you appeal to others?

  • What can you do to convince someone of something? Do you trust and have confidence in yourself? If not, what’s missing and what could you do to improve?

  • Do you have an elevator pitch? What is your unique selling point (your USP)? If you don’t know or don’t have one, why should customers
    trust you?

After all this reflection (and quite a few biscuits), the final part of the day talked about how much we value ourselves. This was a great opportunity
to exchange ideas with other teachers and discuss the importance of:

• • Being worth the price you demand
    
    

  • Not being responsible for your client’s money issues

  • Ensuring you end up in a win-win situation

  • Knowing and calculating the market price

I personally loved Kerstin’s attitude to the common (and usually the first) customer question regarding her prices. She says she responds with a “charge as much as possible” attitude and insists she loves turning down people who want the cheapest service without considering quality. Here, the key message was value yourself correctly and learn to say no. Although I don’t often attend non-TEFL training events, this has certainly changed my mind and I’d like to thank Kerstin for taking a full day out of her German comfort zone to coach us in English (and with a cold). And as a final point, I strongly recommend following her key message: STANDARDS SAVE TIME!