I am used to getting daily calls and emails from my clients as well as new inquiries who are asking for our help to build their websites, eCommerce platforms, web design or marketing activities. Working at one of the best Web Design Agencies in Berlin and Germany, that is a normal practice. To put in numbers my daily communication routine, it looks like this:
- 11 emails a day from the ongoing clients
- each of these 12 emails have a thread of 3 to 4 emails a day. Which makes +/- 30-40 emails a day
- 2-4 calls a day that is either offering some offshore services (which we are not interested in, on a side note) or some new tech and marketing tools
- Around 20 emails in the SPAM folder – which are all about offering again offshore or outsourcing services to India, Ukraine, Bangladesh. To those, I almost never answer though.
- 2-3 emails a week for startup, product, and market consulting
When working with the client, we prefer the onsite meeting. My clients know I am a fan of personal meetings. It’s a special moment and commitment. To shake the hands, sit down at the same table, listen and observe, ask and being asked, has a totally different impact on the understanding and executing. On average the onsite meeting is not longer than 2 hours. Nonetheless, the time flies by pretty quick during the workshop.
Nevertheless, I don’t get often emails from Universities, that are looking for a masterclass or course for their students.
This happened last week. Here is the story.
I got an email in March from Ms. Sara Mohamed Mostafa Hamed, from the German University in Cairo, asking me for a masterclass in their Berlin Campus. The event had to be in July 2019.
Without any hesitation, I accepted the invitation. There were several reasons why:
- I believe we must return to Schools and Universities what we got while studying there
- We must share the knowledge and experience with the youngsters. They are those who will move everything further
- Back in 2006, I had a chance myself to study for a semester in Cairo, at Cairo State University. It was a Government Program Exchange, which gave to our managerial skills and knowledge a new side
- I wanted to introduce the Egyptian students to the western management culture and market trends
- A simple social contribution
We meat at the university in Berlin, on Borsigturm 162, at 10:30 and had the course on Management and Marketing for 2 hours.
The group arrived from Egypt for 3 weeks to Germany. The 35 students and the two very professional teachers, Ms Sara Mohamed Mostafa Hamed and Ms Sara Mohamed Hesham Eldeeb. I tried to shape and underline not a generic boring class, with too theoretical details, knowledge both not easy to understand but also at times useless. We talked about real things during a web project. It was about the:
- project lifecycle
- project phases
- tech departments
- communication
- marketing trends
- growth hacking
- client negotiation
- design and trends
- teams and people
- more about the failures
- a little about the success
- disappointments
- and of course the future
- WordPress websites
From what I was told, the class liked the workshop exactly for this – for the dynamic and real things. Insides without too much mumbo-jumbo around. We took several pictures all together after the class, exchanged the contact details and shared our company brochures.
We encouraged the young students to learn and practice. To get their jobs without seeking an instant well-paid position. It is rather for experience and professional growth. The company they will work for will come up quickly with a good offer once they perform well and will not want to let them go. It all depends on their added value and how the company can benefit from their efforts. It is obviously mutually dependent. People are also waiting for the same from their employers.
Internship for students in Berlin is a hot topic. To give you an idea, we get around 30 emails a month from students all over Europe and abroad to have an internship with us. We always encouraged this process. Which is why, some of the best guys we have in our office, joined us while being still in the college, and now, being indispensable for the Company.
All in all, we all enjoyed this cooperation and we eagerly look forward fort he new classes we will have here in Berlin or why not in Cairo, at some point.
We are glad that we worked on that day with the German University in Cairo and the review of their studies, interest and professional preparation is pretty positive. On a side note, you can have a look at their websites for more information:
