* Calculations use average data for Russia

Distance courses and schools do not compete with traditional ones, but occupy a separate niche in the market of teaching services. The opportunity to study from the comfort of home is ideal for business people, women on parental leave, residents of small towns where there are few opportunities for additional education. Indeed, to conduct classes, it is enough to have a computer with high-speed Internet and the free Skype program, a microphone, speakers, a webcam (in most cases, there is enough camera on the teacher’s computer, many get by just with headphones with a microphone) and a certain amount of free time

It is widely believed that the cost of organizing online courses is much less than opening traditional school, is not true. In fact, if you are considering this as an option for developing your own promising business, you will need certain investments to start it.

It doesn't matter if you teach on your own or hire teachers, you will have to start by creating and promoting your own website. The better the site and its content, the higher will be the confidence of potential customers in you.

Be sure to indicate all the necessary contacts, describe in detail your qualifications, work experience, programs for which you teach, prices for your services, methods and details for payment, lay out all the necessary legal documents: licenses, if you are registered as a non-profit organization (however, more often register an individual entrepreneur ), texts of contracts, etc.

Provide a section with online tests, according to the results of which visitors to your site will be able to find out their level of foreign language proficiency.

In addition to the costs of creating a site (from 15-20 thousand rubles, depending on the structure and tasks), you will have to regularly invest in its promotion. You can do this yourself or contact the appropriate agency.

The cost of its services will depend on the audience you are targeting, the number and nature of queries in the search engines that you want to advance on, the competition in this area (and it is quite large) and other factors.

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If the site is completely “young”, promotion by the usual methods at first will be ineffective for objective reasons. However, you should not waste time - the first customers can be found by posting ads on thematic forums and websites.

Purchase a quality headset (headphones or speakers, microphone and webcam) and select the appropriate data plan from your ISP. Constantly interrupted connection, interference and extraneous noise will spoil the whole impression of the lesson, despite the professionalism and talent of the teacher.

Real-time learning usually involves a one-on-one session with a teacher. Firstly, it is much more convenient and profitable for the client. Secondly, in order to conduct group lessons, each student must have a stable and fast connection, which is not always possible. And thirdly, it is more difficult for a teacher to involve all conference participants equally in discussions, especially if their level of language proficiency is different.

Ready-made ideas for your business

However, if you teach on your own, even in private lessons, try to select students with the same level of language proficiency. This will save you a lot of time preparing for classes, since you will use one program, making changes to it, taking into account the goals and interests of each student.

Post additional learning materials on your website. Access to this section can be made closed from casual visitors to the site. For convenience and clarity of the learning process, you can use auxiliary programs and applications - electronic boards (for example, Dabbleboard), Google Docs office applications, Second Life virtual worlds, etc.

Speaking about competitors and the market of educational services in general, we can safely say that in Russia it is oversaturated with supply and is highly competitive. You can find a service provider for every taste, in every price range.

At the same time, the market is promising and dynamically developing even in times of crisis. After all, the need to learn a foreign language is recognized by both optimists and pessimists. The former believe that everything will stabilize and do not want to change the usual rhythm of life (fitness, cafes, foreign language courses), while the latter are thinking of leaving the country (and urgently begin to improve their language).

Therefore, it is profitable to open a school of foreign languages, especially considering that investments at the start are minimal. But because of the high competition, it will not be superfluous to study the market. However, this is not necessary in all cases.

We did not cut the market, because at the time of opening we simply did not have the necessary experience. And, to be honest, we didn't need it, because we already had requests from potential clients.

We have exactly the case when demand gave rise to supply: we knew for sure that we would have a certain number of students. In a word, it has nothing to do with those cases when a company enters the market with some kind of product, not knowing whether it will be in demand at all.

In addition, we were already acting teachers, and to say that we opened a business from scratch is not entirely true. We had few skills directly related to doing business, but we had an idea of ​​how to organize the educational process, by the time we opened our own client base and teaching experience in private school.

It was the latter that helped us at the very beginning. We watched how the director of this school conducts business, how contracts are concluded, corporate training takes place, we noticed mistakes that we would not like to repeat. We can say that the only competitor we have studied is the school where we ourselves worked.

Also, at the start, you need to decide which audience to work with. Today, foreign languages ​​in private schools are studied by people of all ages, starting from the age of 3. So you can work with kids, preschoolers, schoolchildren, students, working people and pensioners. Each category needs its own training program, and not just one. It is impossible to teach a first-grader and a graduate preparing for the Unified State Examination according to the same template. And it’s almost impossible to cover all segments of the population at the start, so it’s better to start working with a category with which you already have experience of interacting.

Personal experience

We started working with adults, and so far I have never worked with children in my life. Because I just don’t know the right approach to them, I can only observe it from the side as a mother. Therefore, we launched the "children's sector" in our schools much later, when I saw the effect of education on my child and invited a specialist to head the corresponding direction in our school.

If you want to start a business with something you don't know how, it's important to hire a good specialist. Moreover, you need to try out his method on yourself as a client, wait for the results. Because you can't convince people that your product is good without ever trying it. At the start, you need to do what you can, what you are ready for. Only this will ensure high quality services.

This also applies to the choice of languages ​​that will be taught in your school. If, for example, you are considering launching a course Spanish, without having information about it and about the advising market, nothing will come of it. You will not even be able to hire good specialists, as they are extremely reluctant to go to unknown schools.

It is best to start with one direction, work it out well and “run it in”, and only after that open new directions: launch courses in other languages, expand audience coverage. Something new at the school of foreign languages ​​should be launched regularly. Trying to sell the same thing for 10 years is very dangerous. Periodically, the market sags in each segment. The same English sometimes goes by the wayside, other languages ​​periodically become more popular, and in turn.

But the palette needs to be expanded gradually, starting from everything at once - the same as spraying. This is exactly the problem of many schools that declare many languages, but cannot gather groups, and as a result, dissatisfied clients, without waiting for the start of classes in a month or two, leave. At the same time, they do not just take their money, they leave a negative impression, they no longer return to this school.

Investment size

Step-by-step instruction

In order to survive in a competitive environment and not dump prices, it is necessary to pay the greatest attention to the quality of the services provided. Therefore, after you have studied the business from the inside and collected the necessary amount of investment, you need to think over the issue with the curriculum in detail. First of all, it will depend on what audience you plan to work with at the start. For example, it is better to teach languages ​​to very young children through creativity: music, dancing, modeling, etc.

With adults, this is somewhat easier, but they also pursue different goals when they come to a foreign language school: someone wants to emigrate, someone needs a language for work, someone for travel. Accordingly, it is desirable to give different programs for different purposes.

When opening our school, we wrote several programs: business English, conversational English, financial, legal English, English for tourists, etc. We have taught all this before, so the programs were working and tested on people.

We currently have about 65 programs taught at our school, including very narrow areas such as interview preparation. All of them are written by professionals. And there is simply no other method than to involve a specialist in writing a program. For example, we now have a methodologist who has a higher Teacher Education and three years of professional experience.

Another way is not to write your own program, but to use modern study guides international class - textbooks from publishers such as Macmillan, Longman, Cambridge, etc. They offer their programs, which you can simply download on the Internet and follow the step-by-step instructions provided.

The teacher can also create a program on his own. But for this you need to conduct a lot of classes, describe them, writing down the dates, results, textbooks used. Only then will it be a truly normal training program.

Personal experience​​​​​​​

It was with the help of our teachers that we launched the teaching of German, French and Italian. Almost all teachers in our school have MSLU education, they all know at least two languages. When we had already formed the staff of our teachers, each of them spoke one more language. At this point, run the second foreign language it was easy because we were confident in the professionalism of our employees.

In general, the teacher key person in this business. This is exactly the person who will "keep" your client. If you make a mistake with the teacher, the client will not stay with you with all the investments, beautiful offices, chic sales managers.

If the founder of the school himself has a specialized education, “boils” in this environment, then it will be much easier for him to recruit staff, simply because he can involve his classmates in the work.

Otherwise, you can search for teachers in standard ways, for example, through sites with announcements. It is also worth "monitoring" students and graduates of local universities. For example, I constantly interact with the Moscow State Linguistic University, I know all the forums, I am present on all the sites where students sit, and I often write to them directly, asking if they want to apply after graduation to our staff.

Do not be afraid to hire young professionals. From the age of 21-22 you can work, while demonstrating all the talents and a high level of language proficiency - C1.

Sometimes applicants come to us, but after the interview, we advise them to start studying at our school at the Intermediate-Upper-Intermediate level, as they make a lot of mistakes in speech. This can often be found in the Moscow market.

Personal experience

By experience, we found out that a sign is important for a school. Initially, we thought that today people are looking for information, including about courses, on the Internet, which means that signs are not needed. But it turned out that when we rented an office with a front sign, 30% of clients came to us just passing by.

At the stage of brand formation, do not forget about PR: publications, free events, prize draws from partners. Try to find interesting partners and exchange audiences. It is very useful.

Even with the most competent promotion strategy, clients will not engage with you if it is inconvenient in time. At the start, my partner and I worked from 7 am to 10 pm ourselves, we looked at what time people were most active. Having studied the peaks in demand and having recruited a staff of professionals, we set the working day from 10:30 to 19:30. At the same time, the largest influx occurs in the evening: after work, people come to meetings, testing, demo lessons.

In addition, for the convenience of the client, they have to work on weekends, which was a big problem at first. Therefore, we have developed a duty regime. Now we have a person who works on Saturdays, but does not work on Mondays, and on Sunday one of the training coordinators is always on duty. It turns out that the employee is on duty once a month on Sunday and gets time off any day he wants. Thus, the office is almost always open, so the client can come at any time.

It goes without saying that long before the opening, it is necessary to take care of finding a suitable room for the school and its design. And there are a number of rules here too.

The school of foreign languages ​​must be located in a place with good traffic. We took it as an axiom for ourselves that the distance from the metro is no more than 6 minutes. The allowable indicator for Moscow is up to 10 minutes from the metro.

In other cities, it is also worth focusing on stops public transport. One way or another, people should be able to calmly walk to you, and not ride on the crossbars. It is highly desirable that the school has its own parking, but in the city center this may be a problem.

It seems to many novice entrepreneurs that the office must be located in the center. Perhaps there is some truth in this. For example, our central office is always packed to order. But when choosing a room "more central", it is important to consider one point:

In the center of competitors on every corner

In addition, rental rates in the central regions are quite high and can vary significantly. For example, you can rent a Class A office paying the appropriate price for it, while a competitor literally across the street rents a Class B office that is almost as good in quality, but its price is much lower.

The cost of rent ultimately affects the cost of the course for your students. Therefore, you need to adequately assess the average check, the budget of your client. Even those students for whom money is not a problem do not want to overpay just for a building. Before you go broke on the entourage, consider whether your customers will pay for it.

At the same time, according to the principle “the cheaper, the better”, you should not choose an office either. Too budget options may not be entirely “clean” from a legal point of view.

It is advisable to resolve the issue with the premises together with a lawyer, so that he checks the contract and the building for “cleanliness”. Sometimes everything looks perfect, but after a couple of months it turns out that the building belongs to other people, and you can be kicked out the same day. This will seriously damage your reputation.

There are no strict requirements for the purpose and condition of the premises, for repairs in it. It is advisable to avoid the open space format. The walls must be built initially so that you do not have to divide the room yourself. Otherwise, sound insulation will suffer, and hence the quality of classes.

The number of classes will depend on the workload of the school. On the initial stage 4-5 rooms are enough (total area - about 60-80 sq.m, taking into account the entrance and administrative areas). More than that doesn't make sense as the classes will be empty. This often does not make the best impression on customers. Better move indoors over time bigger size in the same territorial block. It is undesirable to move to another area, since many clients are residents of neighboring houses, who are often not ready to attend their favorite school after it has moved.

In the case of registration of a NOU (non-state educational institution), a number of additional requirements for the premises appear: the presence of a separate bathroom, the presence of a separate entrance, the ceiling height is from 2.6 m, a source of natural light in each classroom, etc. It is also important to get opinions from firefighters and SES. They will be required to obtain a license to conduct educational activities.

The documents

Organizing a business in Russia, it must first of all be registered with the tax authorities. And for this, it is imperative to decide on the organizational and legal form of ownership of your future business: work as an LLC, NOU or as an individual entrepreneur ( individual entrepreneur)?

The IP form is, of course, good for beginners. It allows you to provide services to clients on a paid basis, rent premises, hire staff, but you will not be able to issue certificates to your graduates, and your activity from the point of view of the law will be only advisory, not educational. Corporate clients will not be available to you. And officially you will be considered only a specialist in foreign languages, and not their teacher.

In order for your school to become a full-fledged educational institution according to the laws in force today in Russia, you should register a NOU (non-state educational institution) or a commercial organization with the form of an LLC (limited liability company).

This will allow you to obtain a license to carry out educational activities. Such a document is drawn up in the territorial education authority, and in order to receive it, you need to provide a certain set of documents ( full list specified by the body). This is usually documentation related to the premises, the qualifications of teachers, the quality of teaching methods and plans, etc.

At the end of 2013, Russia adopted amendments to federal law on Education that private schools of any legal form have the opportunity to obtain a license to carry out educational activities. This is great news! But, unfortunately, the process of obtaining a license has not become easier, and the requirements for a licensee in the face of a small private school are still too high.

To obtain a license for educational activities It is best to take the help of specialized law firms. But do not confuse obtaining a license with its illegal "purchase". This will inevitably lead to repeated checks and the identification of counterfeit.

A weighty argument in favor of obtaining a license is the opportunity for your clients to return their personal income tax (personal income tax - a direct federal tax in Russia) from the amount paid for education (and this is 13%). This is a significant competitive advantage.

About what you need to get a license

Usually licenses are required.

School business plan of English language- this is a great idea to start working in the field of language schools. It is difficult to organize the teaching of foreign languages ​​and get ahead of competitors, but in the long term it is very profitable and profitable. What steps need to be taken to create successful English courses - read our article.

English is the most popular language in the world, it is a means of international communication used by people all over the world. Knowledge of English is almost always necessary for career growth. This direction is now of interest to many people of all ages.

Creating your own language school is quite difficult. The market for these services is oversaturated with offers: from large language centers to private tutors. They often have many years of experience and boast hundreds or thousands of clients. However, this does not mean that there is no point in working in this direction. Demand still exceeds supply, and moreover, the next few years will only grow. Quality services will always find a response from customers.

Who can open a language school

Usually they think about how to open English courses professional teachers with many years of experience working with children and adults. Often this idea comes to tutors who are convinced that classes with individual clients are not capable of realizing their full potential. Excellent knowledge of English is an important condition for opening your own school. In such a situation, the entrepreneur will be able to teach and lead groups himself.

On the other hand, practice shows that organizing good school it is also obtained by businessmen who do not know English and have never taught it, but who know how to select professional employees and promote their services.

An English language school is an inexpensive and fast-paying type of business

What investments are needed

The business plan of a foreign language school does not involve large costs. This is an inexpensive and fast-paying type of business to organize. The main part of the cost will be the rent of the premises. If the entrepreneur has a suitable premises in his property (audience area of ​​approximately 50-70 square meters), the cost of opening a school is completely reduced to several tens of thousands of rubles. Renting a suitable room will cost an average of 30-60 thousand rubles.

It is desirable to locate the school in a convenient area, in the central part of the city. The more convenient it is for clients to get to the place of classes, the greater the flow of students will come to the lessons. The classroom for classes should be well renovated, bright, comfortable. It is better to choose a room where the repair has already been done. Otherwise, you will need to invest about 50 thousand rubles in the design of the audience.

Tables with chairs are required for classes. Their number depends on the size of the group: usually in language schools the largest groups do not exceed 15 people, respectively, 8 tables and 16 chairs are enough. The teacher needs a separate table, chair or office chair. You can also buy furniture within 50 thousand rubles.

The audience should be equipped with a writing board(chalk or with markers). Optional equipment, such as laptops, printers, projectors, should be purchased in a few months, when the first profit appears.

As for methodological materials, it is not necessary to purchase sets of textbooks and workbooks. Modern methods of language learning focus on live communication, audiovisual perception, and not the mechanical performance of the same type of exercises. Required didactic materials, texts for reading and translation can be found on the Internet and printed by yourself. In addition, most teachers have already accumulated a solid stock of various tests and tasks.

Thus, the initial investment in the opening of the school does not exceed 200 thousand rubles. And if it is possible to rent a room with a good repair and suitable furniture, the initial costs will not exceed 100 thousand rubles.

What profit can you get in the first months of work

Most often people go to learn a foreign language twice a year: in September (beginning school year) and in January. Therefore, it is better to orient the start of the school for one of these months. On average, for classes twice a week in groups, clients are willing to pay from 2,000 to 4,000 thousand rubles. You can organize 4 or even 5 groups of 10-15 people.

The class schedule may look something like this: Monday-Thursday, Tuesday-Friday, Wednesday-Saturday, Tuesday-Thursday, Saturday-Sunday. A classic lesson lasts 2 academic hours (90 minutes), which means that you can conduct classes in 2-3 groups on one day (more hours will overwork the teacher).

If you manage to recruit at least 4 groups of 12 people with a payment of 3000 rubles, for the first month you will receive 144 thousand rubles. To increase profits, you need to free hours accept individual practitioners with payment of 800-1200 rubles per hour (academic). 5 individuals who study twice a week for two academic hours will bring about 80 thousand rubles.

The classroom for classes should be well renovated, bright, comfortable

Features of working with different categories of students

Everyone is now learning English: three-year-old children and respectable adults over 50. Each group has its own goals that need to be taken into account when building curriculum. For example, parents bring small children, believing that it is easier to learn a language at a young age. Students and young people come to prepare for exams to count on best job in the future or just get to know each other and communicate while traveling. Mature people are more actively interested in business English. The older generation is pushed to learn a new language by a work or life necessity, for example, moving.

All these features must be taken into account when forming groups and building classes. In addition, it is obvious that preschoolers and elementary school students are not able to study for 90 minutes, their lesson lasts a maximum of 60 minutes, or twice half an hour with a short break. Visits to these groups should be rescheduled for the afternoon and morning.

On the contrary, it is most often convenient for adults to practice in the evening, after 17 hours. Individuals, as a rule, themselves choose a convenient time for classes. The school must also be open on weekends in the morning. Of course, on Saturday evening there will be no flow of customers, but the morning and daytime hours many are ready to devote to learning.

The school schedule may look like this: from Monday to Friday from 11 to 21, Saturday and Sunday from 11 to 14. Try to organize the work so that the groups do not interfere with each other, and at the same time, the audience is not idle. Fill the time with individual students, small groups, and so on.

What does it take to educate children?

How to open an English language school for children has several important features. They mainly focus on the method of conducting classes. If adults come to the language school for a specific purpose, then the children are brought by their parents. The child often does not understand why he comes here. The task of the teacher is to interest even the smallest students and ensure their progress (so that parents understand what they are paying for).

It is good if the teacher has experience in organizing the education of young children. Otherwise, you need to pick up and study teaching materials on this topic. The main rule is that the child should not be bored in the lesson, he should not be scolded and harshly criticized. Learning should be like a game where the child learns new things and makes new friends.

Each group of students has its own goals that need to be taken into account when designing the curriculum.

How to differ from competitors

In any city there are several language schools and several dozen private tutors. It is necessary to initially identify the difference between the new school and the existing ones. This is quite difficult to put into practice, since there are already schools on the market where foreigners teach (including those who do not know Russian), offer the most innovative methods and much more.

The main mistakes due to which a language school can quickly fail in the market:

• use of outdated teaching methods- no one will pay money for solving problems in old workbooks and pronouncing formulaic phrases;
• time-consuming movie viewing, TV shows and cartoons (for children) - again, people rightly decide that they can do this at home and leave such an institution;
• absence individual approach to clients, ignoring the personal requirements, wishes and questions of students.

Any of these mistakes can lead to customer churn. and ruin the reputation of the school forever. Therefore, make sure that teachers do not make such mistakes, do their job professionally and help clients get exactly what they came for.

Buying a Language School Franchise

There are currently several fairly well-known English language schools selling franchises on the market. This is a good option for starting a business, because for a certain fee, along with a well-known brand, an entrepreneur receives a business plan, a lot of recommendations, and often even promotion services. The famous name, the international status of the company and the wording "teaching English" from some year (that is, for example, for several decades) will definitely attract attention and bring many students.

On the other hand, the opening costs will increase in this case. Franchisors are always very strict in the selection of teaching staff - it is quite possible that they will have to present all diplomas and certificates or even pass internal testing. Whether the costs of the expected result are worth it is up to the businessman to decide on his own.

Together with a well-known brand, an entrepreneur receives a business plan and a lot of recommendations.

Distance learning

Many who want to learn English are now interested in distance learning. This method is attractive in that it saves time on the road, allows you to study one-on-one with a teacher in comfortable conditions.

A good language school should provide such services. Teachers should master videoconferencing. For such a lesson, you need a computer or laptop, a microphone and headphones (standard and inexpensive equipment). Remote classes usually have a standard duration of 45-90 minutes. The price of the lesson is also approximately equal to the usual individual lesson, that is, about 1200 rubles.

Website and promotion on the Internet

successful language school there must be a site and groups in in social networks , where information about services, teachers and student success is regularly published. it business card an institution that will show students and potential clients how modern the approach to learning is, how interested you are in what you do.

To develop the site, you need to attract a temporary specialist. Since the structure of the site will be simple, with only a few sections (“Main”, “About the school and teachers”, “How we teach”, “Types of classes and tuition fees”, “News”, “Reviews”), the development of the site will cost 8 -10 thousand rubles. After creating the site and groups, you need to constantly engage in their content.

Also it is useful to invest in contextual advertising- so information about the language school will be seen by all users from a suitable region who have recently been looking for something about teaching English.

Conclusion

Teaching English is the most promising language school market. The demand for it is very high and will only grow in the coming years. It is quite difficult to organize popular English courses in a highly competitive environment, but a competent approach and recommendations given above will help in achieving success.

Text Maria Ovseets

Photo by Inna Ptitsyna

I didn't pass a single interview and flunked everything test tasks

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Searching for yourself

Before the birth of my son, I worked in international logistics - I was engaged in customs clearance, international transportation and declaration of goods. In February last year, she was supposed to come out of the decree, but she didn’t want to return to this area at all. I am not married, I am raising a son, my child's father helps us, but this is not enough, so finding a new job was a necessity.

I dreamed of such an employment that would allow me to spend more time with my son, and began to look for work in Internet projects where everything is organized remotely. I really wanted to get into the team of the Mann, Ivanov and Ferber publishing house. At that time, they just had a vacancy for a copywriter, but with the condition - their own book blog. I began to lead it on Instagram, and it was this blog later became a good basis for starting a business.

By the way, I was never hired to work at MIF, just like in other Internet projects. I did not pass a single interview and flunked all the test tasks. Therefore, at that time, I gave up trying to find some kind of job.

The decision to open a language school

I started learning French by accident six years ago. Once again, I enrolled in English, came to the courses, and the teacher spoke French at the first lesson. As it turned out, English was again transferred. The teacher offered to stay with them, and as a result, I went to this school for another two years, but forgot about English at all. So I reached the intermediate level in learning French.

My book blog on Instagram, meanwhile, grew into something more, became more personal. Then a wave of personal projects started, everyone on the network began to talk about themselves, promote personal stories. And I thought, why don't I do my own French course? I wanted to bring this language to the masses, to gather a group of those who are also interested in French, and study together.

This was around the beginning of August 2017. I immediately signed up for the course "How to sell your course" and after a week I realized that I, as a teacher, lacked knowledge. That is, the option was this: I am now stopping, taking six months to improve my language, and then doing the course. At the same time, I understood that I would write the lessons, but at the same time I would still need help to check the assignments. And then the question arose, and with it the idea: why should I teach myself and why not create a French school with other teachers.

The next day I blogged about it - at that time I already had about 11,000 subscribers. People responded, began to write: well done, good idea, keep up the good work. This inspired me a lot. Two teachers responded to the same post, and they began to work for me.

Running a foreign language school does not mean being fluent in the language

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How it all works: the team

I don't teach French at my school. My language level is only B1, which is not at all up to teaching. People think that I have a super cool level and I teach at my school by myself. And then I show my own classes on Instagram Stories, and people are perplexed and write to me in a personal: “But how, and what, and you, and not? .. Yes, how is it, but I thought ...” How well my friend: “Should a venereologist be ill with all diseases?”

I started the project and began to do everything in it, except for teaching. Because there are qualified teachers for this. Everyone does their own thing and does not climb into someone else's. Mine is promotion and marketing, networking and much more. Teachers are just training. Running a foreign language school does not mean being fluent in the language. I, like Don Al Capone, oversee my territory from the position of chief.

It was pretty easy for me to find teachers. People who wanted to cooperate with me wrote to me themselves. Teachers know how to teach the language, but they do not know how and often do not want to sell their services. That's why they came to me. They prepare courses, work with students, and my job is to bring clients and develop the school.

In the first two months, the teachers earned four times more than I did.

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How it all works: courses

We have different course programs. But besides the programs themselves, the teaching methodology is also important. This is something that took a lot of time to work out when the project was launched, and something that requires constant work, analysis and adjustment.

A person needs constant communication. Not everyone is helped by complete immersion in the environment. For example, when a person moves to live abroad, he is afraid to talk to the locals and can only poke a finger at a bakery, deliberately not using the language because of fear. In our school, we force people to talk, we really force them. On my website it says that they should leave their comfort zone. Our task is not only to teach the rules, but also to remove the language barrier, and also to explain to a person how to learn a language outside of the classroom.

It is very important to constantly train the brain, that is, not to do what you have always done, but to translate your life into French, and immediately, even if you do not understand anything. Listen to songs in French, translate, sing along.

I reduced the percentage of teachers. Nobody left, even though I was afraid that it would happen

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Money

It wasn’t scary to start, because I didn’t look at it as a business, I didn’t understand anything about it, and I didn’t even think about how to start. If an idea comes to me, I immediately launch it. That is, I have such an approach in life - I will figure it out later, but now I need to start and not think about it, otherwise the energy will go away and I will either not start this project, or it will not have such involvement. This is usually what happens.

In general, it was necessary to start quickly. My business was launched on my own savings, of course, minimal. I invested the initial budget in buying a domain for the site, hosting, setting up educational platform, but all of these were some small amounts. My biggest investment was the Dream Path course.

I didn’t have assistants, I did everything myself, I agreed with the teachers on a percentage. Naturally, I had no experience, I did not know what percentage teachers usually take, how to negotiate with them. As a result, in the first two months, employees earned four times more than I did. Then I reconsidered all their rates. In particular, when we took lessons on paying for the work of the team on the Path of Dreams, I gradually dealt with all this.

We had a lot of sales compared to how teachers could sell it themselves. For example, one of them had three sales, and I made 14 students from my blog for the first stream. Then I decided to lower the percentage that teachers received. We didn’t quarrel, I just explained the situation: we are developing, marketing requires investments, and if I do them with my personal profit, then it will only work to zero and I will have absolutely no interest in school. I don’t have an official job, that is, I don’t have a financial base, support that would make it easier to relate to the situation, because when there is a job, you understand: if something doesn’t work out, you still have a salary. I don't have a salary.

The teachers realized that there is not much choice: either they recruit students on their own, or they agree to work for me, but for a smaller percentage. No one left, even though I was afraid that this would happen.

Last November, it was very hard for me physically: I didn’t have time to do anything, my head constantly hurt

»

What do I do in the project

For a long time I had to do everything myself that was possible. If everything went well with the teachers, then with other specialists everything turned out differently. For example, I needed to connect a domain with hosting. I found a man on fl.ru, paid him, and he just disappeared. The other was to set up a course platform - and was gone again. As a result, every time I did everything myself, I had to understand the technical intricacies.

All this led to the fact that I practically did not study French at all, because I did not have time for it. I became a marketer, an organizer, a technician, a businessman - anything but a person who does something for the soul. And I even had a turning point in terms of attitude to work, because I lost a share of interest in self-development. What was my original goal? And improve your level of knowledge of the language, and help other people who are interested in French. But it turned out that I had to understand marketing, financial accounting, technical base.

In the Dream Path course, we learned how to build a team the right way, how to delegate, and most importantly, how to stay true to yourself. It helped a lot. Now I'm trying to get the project back on track, where I'm running it the way I like, and not just thinking about marketing and sales. I noticed that when I returned to this position - when I do everything the way I like, we get better results, including financial ones.

Course "Way of Dreams"

Two months after opening the business, I received a letter in the mail about the launch of the Dream Path course. I immediately signed up for it: firstly, I trust the creator of the course Galia Berdnikova, and secondly, I just needed to understand the intricacies of the business. And the fact that the program pays attention not only to business, but also to life in general, bribed me even more - I really like to learn something new.

All lessons and tasks were interesting. The coolest thing for me went when we started talking about business, because I had no experience in that area. Per recent times The most useful lesson was the analysis of touch points, when you work out points of interaction with customers according to a certain algorithm, and then ask others to do the same. I received very good feedback, and based on it we have introduced many improvements and changes in the school.

Thanks to the course, I learned new things about how to communicate with people, how to improve the technical base and make it easier for a potential student to navigate the site and social networks. In fact, there was a lot of knowledge, all this in combination led to the fact that the school began to make a profit. If before the course the net profit was negative, I only invested, now the net profit is 35,000 rubles, the turnover is 190,000 rubles.

Hiring a team

Last November, it was very hard for me physically: I didn’t have time to do anything, my head constantly hurt - the project required a lot of time and effort, and the number of tasks only increased. And just at that moment, a girl who graduated from courses where they train personal assistants wrote to me and offered her services. This is another plus of being open. When you talk about everything on social networks - necessary people find you themselves.

She took on all the work of maintaining the site on the constructor, administering the educational platform and mailing. And I have time for strategic planning. Hiring an assistant is a very good decision.

Many start-up entrepreneurs are afraid to hire employees - there is no money, there is nothing to pay with ... But in fact, all this is only in our head, these are the restrictions that we set for ourselves. Of course, I am also sometimes afraid to hire people. So it was with a marketer - I thought, how will I pay? When we took lessons on how to hire a team and how to calculate salaries at the Dream Path course, I came to understand that there are different forms of payroll calculation, each type of activity has its own version.

In order to get the result that I want, I rebuilt myself a little - I began to pump managerial skills in myself. The delegation lessons that we had on the course added motivation and inspiration, helped to see how delegation could be better organized. But most importantly, I stopped being afraid to tell a person what he should do.

Instagram

Social media takes a lot of time. Now I have two accounts: I took the school's Instagram plus I lead my. It takes two and a half hours a day. It's work, but I like it. For me, Instagram has always been the place where I realize my creative potential: take a photo, assemble a ribbon so that it is more or less beautiful.

Texts take a lot of time. I noticed such a thing behind me: if I start checking the text after myself, I stop liking it. So now I only check for errors. That is, I do not check how it is written, because then I suddenly begin to dislike the way the sentence is built, or something else - and then I cannot write from the heart. Why do people respond to my texts so much? Because I write from the heart. I write a personal story - with all its problems. I share problems in business, share what I can't do - in parallel with what, on the contrary, I succeed. I try to suggest on my own experience how to organize work productively. And a lot of comments come in a personal message: thank you, your blog is very motivating, you finally inspired me to change something in my life.

fears

I get a lot of questions in PM: “How did you do it?”. How were you not afraid to write to MIF that you want to take books from them for review, when the blog had only 500 subscribers, and the requirements required 5,000? How were you not afraid to post to the public that you want to open your own school? How were you not afraid to open a business and develop it in front of everyone?

Here it is necessary to look at each specific situation. There are fears that have no basis at all. Afraid to write to MIF? Well what can happen? They will refuse you a maximum, but they will not tear off your head. And each such letter will help you move forward, take a step and further express yourself. The first step is the most important. And many are simply afraid to take and send this letter, because they are afraid of failure. You need to get rid of this.

Last year I completed a practice called "100 Rejection Letters". This is when you apply, for example, in search of work to those places where you, as you think, will definitely not be hired. But not a fact. And the more you take such steps, the more, firstly, it becomes easier for you, the fear goes away, and, secondly, the more contacts you make. Here is an example in numbers. I wrote 15 letters. Two did not answer me, thirteen agreed. I have not had a single refusal on those issues that I wanted to solve through partnership with other people.

But there are other fears, of course. More serious, constricting. For example, I was very worried about the issue of finance: I was afraid that we would not pay off, we would not sell something. It happened that these fears just rolled in the evening. And it was difficult to move on, because they begin to accumulate in your head and your energy disappears.

When this happens, I do this: turn off the computer, go to the sofa and read a book, trying not to think about fears so that they do not expand. The next day I will tell someone from my environment, and they will definitely support me.

Support and environment

It is very important to have an environment that is on the same wavelength with you. For example, I don't have family support. My parents are very conservative, for them my occupation is to the detriment of the child: you don’t feed him, you don’t waste time on him. Although, of course, I spend. But I believe that a child needs a happy mother, then the rest of the family will be happy. And if she is driven away by household chores, untidy, fries cutlets with a bunch on her head - what example does she set for her family? She is unhappy, her husband is unhappy, the child sees that not everything is good in the house.

In general, my parents do not understand my ideas at all. Trying to convince them and seek support from them is a waste of energy resources. Therefore, I am looking for support in other places: on Instagram, from all those people whom I met online, who have been watching me for a long time, my development.

If you don’t have people who are on the same wavelength with you, then you will definitely find them on the Dream Path course - there are girls with the same goals and problems as you.

Interview. Founder of the French language school CoCoÉcole Ksenia Vavilova and editor-in-chief of the site Maria Ovseets

Just start doing! And don't be afraid to share it on social media. When you start doing something and share it, suddenly a lot of people come to help, and for free. For example, my friends help me, who turned out not to be book bloggers at all, but businessmen. And until I announced this, I did not know about this part of their life.

Do what you love. This is really important. You need to make a straight list. It was in the Dream Path course, and it really works. You just take it and write: what you don’t like and takes away your energy, and what inspires you and adds energy. And you start your day with something that gives you energy. Then there will be much more strength for accomplishments!

How to open an English language school - 3 competitive advantages + 5 ways to promote + 5 working secrets from business pros.

Capital investment in school: from 150,000 rubles.
Payback periods: from 6 months.

Often asked by people who themselves know him perfectly.

Relatively small capital investments and staff are required to start.

At the same time, the demand for the service remains stable.

More and more people are learning English for career growth, travel abroad and just general development.

However, desire alone is not enough in the face of fierce competition.

It is important to conduct a marketing analysis, choose advertising methods, correctly register activities and calculate costs.

What documents are needed to open a language school?

In order to open an English language school, it is enough to register as an individual entrepreneur (IP).

The paperwork process is simple.

Therefore, even beginners will be able to cope without recourse to intermediaries.

Language courses are educational program, the existence of which is possible only after obtaining a license.

Only she gives the right to hire training staff.

The good news is that this document no longer needs to be renewed every 5 years.

Once you get a license, you can use it for the rest of your life.

If only you will teach, it is enough to register an individual entrepreneur.

Do not forget that you will also need to register with the tax service.

How to open an English language school: marketing analysis

Interesting fact:
Although English is only the third most popular language, total number There are more than a billion people who speak English. This is approximately one in seven earthlings.

The demand for learning foreign languages ​​is currently not fully satisfied, despite the active competition and saturation of this segment.

In addition to English, French, German, Italian are popular.

People need to increase the level of knowledge in order to improve their working skills, travel to other countries, to emigrate abroad, distance learning in foreign educational institutions.

To open English language courses, it is first important to analyze the situation in your city and the market in general.

Analysis of the target audience of the English language school

Experts recommend choosing a separate, narrow niche for promotion.

For example, teaching young children or training courses before taking international exams.

In general, the target audience of English language courses are the following categories:

• tourists;
• children from 3 years old;
• emigrants;
• employees of companies in which English is necessary for career advancement;
• people who learn English for self-development;
• future teachers.

List of competitive advantages for the school

It has already been mentioned more than once that the competition in the segment is very high.

To ensure that the demand for language courses does not pass you by, it is important to highlight a few powerful competitive advantages.

Before you open an English school, it is important to make sure that it will have distinctive features:

Certificate.

A big plus if after the end of the course you can issue certificates of study to students.

Of course, it will not work to issue an international diploma.

But here is an ordinary sheet of praise or an internal certificate - yes.

For students, this is an incentive to study better, an opportunity to brag to friends, and a document that can decorate a resume.

If you are just about to open courses, dumping prices is a justified step.

Affordable prices always attract customers.

And this will allow you to launch "word of mouth", which is the best method of advertising.

Native speakers.

As you know, the best way to learn a foreign language is through practice.

A significant competitive advantage is the presence of a native speaker in the classroom, who will improve living speech with students.

Often people know English very well, but are embarrassed to speak it.

Classes with a native speaker will help overcome this difficulty.

Methods for promoting an English language school

It is important not only how to open an English language school but also how to attract customers.

Of course, the most effective method This is word of mouth.

But in order for the rumor about you to begin to diverge in all directions, you need to attract the first visitors.

To promote an English language school, use the following advertising methods:

No organization that seriously positions itself can do without its own website.

It will become your representation in the virtual space.

Promotion on the Internet attracts financial accessibility.

The site needs to be optimized, filled with interesting content, promoted using contextual and banner advertising.

This task should be entrusted to specialists.

But if you want to save money, you can take matters into your own hands and learn the basics of virtual promotion yourself.

It is not worth completely abandoning standard promotion methods.

English courses are the area of ​​business in which holding promotions and competitions works great.

For example, you can offer a client an impressive discount (20-30%) for an invited friend.

1. If the main clientele are children, it makes sense to conclude cooperation agreements with ordinary educational institutions, kindergartens and other places where young parents can gather.

How to choose a room to open an English school?

You can open a small language school where only you will teach, not even in a separate room, but by renting a class in an educational institution.

Then the cost of rent will be much lower, and you will get more funds to invest in educational materials.

In general, choosing a place, you should not encounter any difficulties.

It should be a room that customers can easily reach by car and public transport.

For large cities, renting a place in the center is not fundamentally important.

Indeed, due to high competition, it may happen that the client will turn to the company that simply turns out to be closer to home.

However, for small towns, accommodation in the center is really more convenient and prestigious than on the outskirts.

In addition, as a rule, you can quickly and easily get to the central region from almost any part of a small settlement.

What equipment is needed for an English school?

To open an English language school, you will need a less extensive list of necessary equipment.

To create a “base”, it is enough to purchase the necessary manuals, classroom furniture, a board, equipment for a rest room.

The larger the population and the higher the declared level, the more equipment will be required.

And the more solid the investment will be.

Equipment criteria	Description
For activities with children	Educational posters, flashcards, small toys, children's books with large print and bright pictures. It will also be a good help to purchase a projector for demonstrating cartoons in English.
Tutorials	It is important that educational materials are as "fresh" as possible. A big drawback of school education is teaching from Soviet-era books, where the information has become obsolete. The same can be said about the level of teachers. On the language courses in a private school, you can give clients useful, up-to-date knowledge. best material modern manuals from America are considered, complete with workbooks. It is good if you can also collect a library for students from popular books in English and periodicals.
Furniture	Tables and chairs for the classroom, armchairs and a table for the seating area.
Technique	In order to open a small school of English, it is enough to purchase 1-2 computers, a Wi-Fi router and a working mobile phone.

How to choose staff for the school?

You can open an English language school on your own with the help of family members.

However, for the development of the case, the staff cannot be less than 2-3 teachers.

In addition, you will need to perform administrative work, hire security and.

Also find specialists in creating a website and promoting the school on the Internet.

How much does it cost to open an English language school?

Considering that it is often decided to open an English language school former teachers and tutors, the issue of financial investment becomes the most important.

How much it costs to open a school depends on a number of factors: the area of ​​the rented premises, the number of clients, the advertising methods used, and others.

Consider the average cost estimate for opening a language school.

Capital investment in an English language school

Regular investments

Do not forget that in addition to a one-time start-up investment, the school will need regular support for the following items:

Payback period for an English language school

Income, and, accordingly, the payback period, depends on the occupancy of your English language school.

According to average indicators, if there are only 2 teachers in the staff and an ideal 100% load, the business will bring the owner 150,000 - 200,000 rubles.

As you can see, this amount slightly exceeds the amount of monthly expenses.

With such indicators, the payback will come, approximately, in six months.

You can increase profits by scaling: invite new teachers, introduce additional classes, open additional points.

To open a successful English language school,

watch a video of an interview with an experienced entrepreneur in this field of business:

5 Pro Tips for Starting a Successful English School

Coping with tough competition is easier, oddly enough, in big cities.

There, for many, the item “proximity to home” will be added to the competitive advantages.

People love learning through play.

Enter days devoted to interactive teaching methods, watching films, discussion club meetings.

For high-quality language learning, regular work is necessary, and not just a couple of times a week when the client comes to class.

Enter homework and remote support form.

So students will learn faster, and loyalty to the English school will increase.

A good bonus for an English language school is to open a lounge with a cafe.

Students over a cup of coffee will be able to chat, complete assignments, wait for the start of the lesson.

Such loyalty systems are very active in attracting new customers.

If a person comes to the first lesson with a discount, and receives highest level service, will definitely come back again.

How to open an English language school so that the business allows not only self-realization, but also generates income?

In addition to investing effort and money in opening a school, it is important to regularly engage in its development and promotion.

No competitive advantage will force clients to become permanent if the level of training is low, as well as the qualifications of teachers.

Personnel improvement courses, thematic events, an advertising campaign on the Internet will create a constant flow of students.

In this case, no competition will be fatal for the business.

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