What are the traps I need to watch for in setting up my online school?
The Free Talk Bulletin (Issue 3)
One of my first subscribers contacted me seeking advice. They had this to say:
I’m envisioning tutoring English online, with the possibility of some travel. About me: I have a PhD in History with 10 years experience teaching college history. Currently I’m unemployed but living comfortably. I’ve even (amateurishly) tutored English one-on-one before, and I’m interested in doing my own online school. My ideal student would be high-school or college level, probably from Europe or the Middle East (cultures I’m most familiar with). I’m thinking of offering a range of academic services, so not just English tutoring, but also college test prep, essay drafting, etc. I guess my question would be, what are some easy mistakes that someone in my situation could avoid in the process of setting up the business? I know there are companies that match students with teachers and take huge commissions, so what are some things like that to watch out for?
My response:
I’ve taken the self-employed route for ideological and practical reasons (can’t abide “the man” taking a big cut of my labour). We went exclusively Zoom during the worst of Corona and we got our whole school of 150 students to take Zoom lessons, supplemented by YouTube videos and textbooks we made all ourselves. I tell you this not to brag but to show my expertise and lack of it — I never had to build an online business from scratch, but what I would suggest is…
If you want to build a business and you have the ability not to have to draw a salary from it now, think long term.
This means you might want to work for an existing online school or agency but only for the skills and experience it will afford you, the salary is irrelevant long term if you plan to build your own business.
I’d suggest focusing on one niche, do some research and figure out if there is a niche you see yourself enjoying to teach that pays more than most and focus on that.
You can be a jack of all trades (that’s what I started as) but specialization works better, especially on the internet. If you are just offering free chats, then you are putting yourself into competition with anyone and everyone, say Filipina housewives who are happy to make $2 an hour, for example. So, focus on a niche that you can be excellent at, and can charge a living wage for.
If you are exclusively online, build an online presence. Think about how you are going to reach your target niche. For example, you could start posting some free YouTube lessons for that niche with links to how folk can contact you if they like what they see. Don’t spend money advertising (yet) use it as a learning experience and to get people familiar with you. (That’s kinda what I’m doing with Substack).
There is no fatal error, except for one: not starting! Prep is of course important but you’ll learn 20x more by setting up something “good enough” and fixing as you go. I know, I’ve been fiddling with Free Talk for a year, but finally just thought, time to jump in and learn as I go. And here we are :)
What do you think? Did I forget anything, or is there anything you’d recommend doing differently? Reply to this post with an email and I’ll post it next week for all subscribers to see.
Welcome to the Free Talk Bulletin — a new newsletter
What is this? I thought you were just gonna post stuff on Mondays and Fridays? Well yeah, I was, but I realise it’s confusing to post such long written content and the podcast at the same time, so from now on, this here Bulletin (sounds like Bullet Train, maybe?) will come out every Wednesday lunchtime (in Japan) as the flagship newsletter of Free Talk TEFL. The free lesson plan will continue to be posted every Monday morning, and the Staffroom podcast will come out every Friday evening (in Japan) for your listening pleasure. Got that? If you are a free member, you’ll get all three in your email without having to lift a finger. If you are not a member, what are you waiting for? Sign up now! Anyway, the following is what I posted last Friday but which you might not have noticed, thinking it was just the notes to the podcast. If you’ve read it before, that’s why. All new content from now on, promise.
Well, hello there…
Thanks for signing up to receive these emails. I’m absolutely delighted to have you here. I only started posting two weeks ago, so there may be a few wrinkles that I need to smooth out, but there are already 12 subscribers (yeah, OK, one of them is me, another is my English school and one is my little sister, but it still all counts, right?) From my Substack stats page, it seems there are members of the newsletter reading in Japan, the UK and the USA (hey there, Louisiana, I have lovely memories of a crazy weekend in New Orleans before I was married, but that’s a story for another blog).
Anyway, I hope what I’m doing here is useful to you, wherever you are from. If you are anything like me, you probably want to know what my intentions are… of course I would be delighted if you paid to subscribe to get more lesson plans or decided to buy some of my textbooks, but even if I never get a penny from you, that’s fine, I actually just want to make a difference. OK, that sounds disingenuous. Let me be totally honest:
I want to destroy shitty English teaching in Japan.
I’m looking at you, chain eikaiwa schools just in it to squeeze every last penny from the students (and teachers). I’m looking at you, juku cram schools eagerly reducing this beautiful language into a+b=c grammar rules. I’m looking at you, public school teachers colluding with the universities in turning English into an examination racket.
I just want to teach English as a great way to communicate and a great way to make a living. I can show you how to do that as a self-employed teacher, but I need your help. And the best way you can help me right now is to answer a question: what do you want to know? Send me an email (I think if you just hit reply on your email it will go straight to me) and I’ll respond here next week to questions with advice and more questions that everyone can see and answer and maybe we can get a dialogue going. So ask away!
Gratuitous photos of our cats
Rako looking for a cool place to sleep…
Saku just being cool.
All the best,
Patrick Sherriff