Offering Free Self-Help Trainings to Students in Karachi: Is This a Good Idea and What Topics Should I Cover?

Dear All,

I am planning to deliver free-of-cost Self-Help & Personal Development Trainings to school and college students in Karachi, Pakistan. The reason behind this initiative is to build my knowledge base and enhance my communication and public speaking skills.

I kindly request all of you to suggest whether this idea would be beneficial and what topics could be included in this series.

Thanks and Best regards

I think it's great to offer your services free of charge as a way to gain exposure and experience.

What are the goals you have in mind for the learner? What are you hoping they will take away from this experience with you? This will help shape the topic listing.

Dear Selfless Soul,

I don't happen to have much knowledge of students in Pakistan, but I have a few suggestions based on my experiences here in India.

Don't give anything for free; charge at least 50p because anything given for free is perceived as worthless in the eyes of the receiver. You will encounter plenty of freeloaders, so only help those who are genuinely in need.

You can consider attaching yourself to an organization to fulfill your objectives. To improve your public speaking skills, it's essential to have an audience who can provide you with proper feedback. This way, you can avoid misleading them or being misled yourself.

Best,
Lisa

Dear Asad,

Adding to what Lisa has already pointed out, what you are asking will depend on your reasons for providing the free training as well as the environment.

For example, if you are doing this out of the goodness of your heart (which you obviously are) and intend to do so for a long time, you should have the means to provide for yourself and your family. If you are doing this as a part of an NPO/NGO that will take care of your sustenance and the objective is to improve the productivity and capability of Pakistani students, then forge right ahead but do charge a nominal fee so that your training is valued.

On the other hand, if you are planning on this training to build goodwill and create a brand for yourself which will enable you to charge for your training at a later point in time, then you should take some steps (such as collecting student testimonials, feedback, placement rates, etc.).

The short answer to your question "will it work?" is: if you believe it will.

Good luck and wish you all the best.

-- Srinivas

@ M. Peer Mohamed Sardhar - Thanks for the reply and your supportive role.

@ staff086 - Thanks for the reply. Your suggestion will really help me in deciding the topics.

@ lisa and Srinivas -

Thanks for the reply. I agree with what you said. To earn money now is not what I am looking for. No doubt, I have plans for this in my future, but currently, I am intending this to build my own self, to build my own public speaking skills, confidence, and to find out how the audience reacts, what they want and what they don't want... Rather, you can say this will be a sort of practice for me. As Srinivas said, I am intending to build a brand which will help me later in. Furthermore, I must say that I have a deep interest in personal development, and I want to spread whatever I have learned, starting with a platform of students will help me in what I am looking for.

Attaching myself formally is unfortunately not possible at this time because of certain reasons; that's why I won't be able to join any. However, I will after some time.

Thanks to all for contributing. I hope you will continue helping me in this regard.

Prayers and Best wishes for all.

To Your Success,

Asad Ali

Hi,

I really appreciate your idea, but I am also in favor of the idea of charging a cost for it so it will be considered valuable by the participants. I am also a Karachi resident, so please do tell me the details of your training as I am very much interested in attending your training programs. You can also include career development, career counseling, and motivation programs.

Dear Asad,

You show great promise as a trainer. This, I say by the content you keep posting on this site. "There is nothing called a free lunch" - goes the saying. It just means that anything given free of cost does not hold much value, and the effort you will put in will go to waste. The first attitude you need to instill in your trainees at the beginning of the session is the value for the skill being imparted. This value encourages them to interact more with you as the tendency is to seek value for money, and this, in turn, benefits both parties. I would suggest you charge something nominal, and the rest will be smooth sailing. I am willing to help you whenever required. You can email me at gourigokarn@gmail.com. All the very best.

Regards,
Gouri

Few suggestions on topics:

Attitude building
Speaking skills
Etiquette (business & general)
Cracking Interviews

Regards,
Huma Riaz

Hi Gouri,

Thanks for the useful advice. What if we come up with a free introductory program to be delivered once to the school, and then whenever we deliver that training again, we charge them something? This could be a step towards better branding and PR. Looking forward to your response.

Hi Huma,
Thank you!

Welcome. However, those topics would be ideal for college.

For school, the following may be useful:
- Creativity
- Teamwork
- Personality Development
- Tackling teenage issues
- Memory skills

Dear Asad,

Your ideas are good, but I quite agree with others that you should charge for the training. Always remember that if you do not give value to yourself/your work, nobody will value the same.

Being in training myself, I understand your need to see how the audience receives you as a trainer and how well you can communicate with them. But believe me, this will come with time and subsequent trainings.

All the best for the future.

Vini