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The story of an entrepreneur from St. Petersburg

In 2010, Ksenia sold the car and opened the Lingvoexpert English school in St. Petersburg with this money.

Lena Kiseleva

talked to the founder of the school of English

Today the school has 200 groups, 100 lessons a day and a profit of 700,000 rubles a month.

1. Start small and expand as you grow.
2. Furnish the room, get your study materials.
3. Promote from the very beginning. At the start, the main thing is that as many people as possible learn about the opening school.
4. Focus on teachers. There are few good free teachers.
5. Consider seasonality. It is better to open an English language school by the beginning of September.
6. Looking for corporate clients.
7. Delegate, don't try to do everything yourself.
8. You yourself constantly learn the language and teaching methods.

Idea

Ksenia has been working as an English tutor since school. In 2010, she worked as a brand manager in a perfume and cosmetics store, and continued to teach in the evenings. I found clients through friends and acquaintances. Then the idea came to open my own language school.

Ksenia's husband sold the car - the couple received 450,000 rubles for the Honda Civic. This money became the starting capital for the school. In August 2010, Ksenia quit her job and registered Lingvoexpert LLC.

room

We decided to start from the premises. At first they were looking for an office in a large residential area - Primorsky, but when there was no place there, they turned their attention to Vasilyevsky Island. It is located near the center, but there were few language schools in 2010. Xenia searched the Internet for them and personally went around potential competitors, just to see their offers and prices.

At the start, we decided not to rent a large room. First, it was necessary to understand whether the school would have clients at all, and not to invest in repairs and expensive rent. As a result, in August, Ksenia rented a small office of 25 m² in a business center on Vasilyevsky Island. The deposit and the first two months of rent cost 75,000 rubles. For the first time, such a room is enough.

Preparation

By the beginning of classes, it was necessary to furnish the premises and buy teaching materials. For the advance payment received from the first customers, they bought 6 desks and 12 chairs in Ikea - the furniture cost 12,000 R. Another 50,000 R was spent on teaching materials and new office equipment: a photocopier and a printer are required for preparing for classes, and tape recorders are needed for listening.

At the same time, the first version of the Lingvoexpert website was made. They paid 50,000 R for development, for promotion in Yandex Direct- 20 000 R. Another 20,000 R ordered a logo.

50 000 R

paid for website development in 2010

From the very beginning, they began to engage in promotion: for a school at the start, the most important thing is to attract students. Ksenia printed and handed out leaflets, held joint promotions with a nearby fitness club, did advertising in business centers: she hung advertising posters in their elevators. There was a fitness club next door to the office - Ksenia invited its visitors to free classes in a conversation club. In parallel, they launched the “Bring a friend and get a discount” campaign: both students paid for classes 30% below the usual cost.

At this stage, the main task was to get as many people as possible to know about the opening school. We decided to start classes in August, before the high season. A month of study cost 3,000 rubles.

Launch costs - 315,000 R

Rent 25 m² (deposit + 2 months)

75 000 R

50 000 R

20 000 R

Educational materials, furniture

50 000 R

salary fund

100 000 R

Website promotion

20 000 R

teachers

Ksenia graduated from the philological faculty of St. Petersburg State University, so at first she was looking for teachers among her acquaintances from the university. At the start, she laid wages for herself and the first five teachers 100 000 R.

With great difficulty, it was possible to lure teachers from other places: few people wanted to leave stable and reputable schools for a new one, unknown on the market. It is impossible to combine: the most popular time for classes is the evening, and all evenings in schools are usually scheduled.

100 000 R

salary fund at the start for English teachers

Ksenia appointed teachers an hourly rate - 250-300 R per hour. At that time it was the average rate in the market.

When the acquaintances ended, they began to look for new teachers at Headhunter.

Class time

By August, Lingvoexpert recruited six groups of different levels: from beginners to "upper-intermediate". Almost all groups wanted to study in the evening, after work, although Ksenia made special allowances for morning and afternoon classes. Until 19:00 the room was empty, and in the evenings there were too many people.

Ksenia rented several rooms adjacent to the office. The rental price has increased to 60,000 R per month.

Corporate clients

A month after the launch, one of the students asked if it was possible to organize English courses for employees on the company's premises. So in September 2010, the first corporate client of Lingvoexpert was dh-al company.

For the school, such a scheme of classes turned out to be very profitable: you don’t have to spend money on renting your premises, you just need to send a teacher to the customer’s office. Companies provide normal facilities, as a rule, there are already markers, whiteboards and other materials necessary for classes.

DH-al formed four groups of employees. Students paid for classes on their own, the company simply provided them with space in the office. We studied twice a week for three academic hours.

An academic hour at Lingvoexpert cost 500 rubles - the price tag was not high for a client even at that time. Half of this amount is the teacher's salary, the other half is the school's markup. Ksenia was sure that the low cost of classes would be suitable for a start. The calculation was as follows: other corporate clients will learn about Lingvoexpert by word of mouth.

Within a year after DH-al, employees of three other large companies came to Lingvoexpert to study.

seasonality

The main difficulty faced by language schools is the seasonality of classes. In the summer, everyone goes on vacation, and in September they abruptly begin to study. During the holiday season, the premises are empty, and by September the demand for them rises sharply. The entrepreneur has to give up the lease in May, and sign the contract again in August.

In May 2011, Ksenia refused to rent additional classes and again left only a 25 m² room for the school.

In order to keep teachers busy during the summer, Lingvoexpert launched a promo with the Groupon coupon service in advance, back in the spring. Two months of intensive training in summer groups, 4 classes per week, were sold at a 75% discount - for 1990 rubles. During the May holidays, Ksenia processed applications and called everyone who bought coupons. As a result, she sold 500 coupons, went to zero and did not earn anything from it. But she ensured the employment of teachers so that they would not run away.

In the fall, many students who came through the campaign continued to study in groups at the usual price - 5,000 rubles per month. someone recommended friends school. Ksenia had to rent a second office in the Petrovsky Fort business center, because the students no longer had enough space in the old building.

Focus on corporate clients

In 2012-2013, new language courses began to open on Vasilyevsky Island. Lessons from competitors cost less, students began to move to other schools. At the same time, large corporate clients came to Lingvoexpert: Pit-Product, Transas Group of Companies, Ensto, Ilim Group, Baltika.

To attract large customers, Ksenia personally called companies whose employees might need English. Usually these are well-known foreign companies, such as Ford or Coca-Cola. Then word of mouth started working. One day, Ksenia found out about the correspondence of St. Petersburg HRs in a professional chat. One of them asked colleagues where it is better to order corporate English training. Several people immediately advised Lingvoexpert in response.

The most popular direction for corporate clients is business English with an emphasis on negotiations and presentations. English for narrow specialties, for example, for programmers, is not popular at all: people already understand specialized documentation in English, the spoken language is more important to them.

Employees with zero knowledge of the language of the company, as a rule, are not trained - it is too expensive. Most popular level "pre-intermediate". And they usually end up with an “upper-intermediate” - it’s enough for work.

To pull the tongue away "pre-intermediate" before "upper-intermediate", it will take about a year and a half of classes several times a week.

The main difficulty for the school: companies take a very long time to decide who will teach their employees the language. Sometimes it lasts for months and sometimes for years.

Abroad, corporate training is popular in large groups of 10 or more people. According to Ksenia's experience, in Russia people love an individual approach and ask to do small groups of 2-3 people, so 50-60 groups can work in parallel in one large company.

The academic hour of a Lingvoexpert teacher in 2018 costs 1200-1350 rubles. The price depends on the remoteness of the office from the center and the time of classes. For example, a group of three people costs the company 1200 rubles per academic hour. A group can have 8 lessons of 2 hours per month. This means that a month of training for three employees for the company costs 19,200 rubles.

1350 R

worth an academic hour of a Lingvoexpert teacher in 2018

Today the school has 63 corporate clients. Another 100 periodically apply for the services of teachers. In order to find new contacts, Ksenia and her husband join business associations and participate in their events, where they get to know HR people. For example, they entered the St. Petersburg International Business Association and the American Chamber of Commerce. Such participation costs 10,000 rubles per month.

Team

For the first two years, Ksenia managed without an office manager. I thought that I should manage all the processes myself: answer calls, find out what clients need. But the number of tasks grew, and there was not enough time for everything. Now there are several managers and an administrative director on the staff.

In 2014, Ksenia's husband Stanislav quit his job and joined the Lingvoexpert team. He took over the finances and development, and Ksenia is responsible for the product and teachers. She no longer leads the group.

The school has 50 teachers. The same number of students work under a contract during the main season of classes - September-October. Ksenia is looking for new employees at conferences for teachers, which she regularly attends.

teachers on the staff of the school. The same number of people work under a contract

According to statistics, in 2017 Lingvoexpert conducted interviews with 10-12 candidates in order to eventually hire one. A diploma from a well-known university does not guarantee either a good knowledge of the language or experience in different teaching methods. Ksenia still personally interviews each candidate and selects those who have focused their careers on teaching and are developing in this area.

Now the Lingvoexpert team is renting two offices. The main one moved closer to the metro - to a business center on Vasilyevsky Island. The administrative staff remained there, they also conduct interviews and train new teachers. Rent costs 55,000 rubles per month.

Two more employees who sell a new product - internet learning, work in a coworking space. This is convenient, because the rent is flexible: there is an employee - the premises are paid. If Xenia decides to downsize or expand the sales team, she doesn't have to rush to find a new location. Renting a coworking space costs 30,000 rubles per month.

Plans

In 2016, Ksenia and Stanislav began to develop internet learning in "Lingvoexpert". More than 100 people bought Skype courses - Ksenia and Stanislav earned 2 million rubles from this launch. The couple added webinars and group classes to the services of the online school, and invested the proceeds in the development of new courses and Internet Marketing.

At the end of the year, Ksenia and Stanislav realized that they wanted to find a solution that would minimize the human factor. Skype one-on-one is effective if the classes are held with an experienced teacher. It takes time to find such teachers.

During a trip to America in 2017, Ksenia and Stanislav learned about the Voxy Internet platform. On it you can perform language exercises and practice spoken language with native speakers. To do this, the student connects to the lesson, which is taught by the teacher from anywhere in the world, and communicates with the teacher and other participants. In 2018, the entrepreneurs added Voxy to their product line and plan to sell it in the corporate segment in Russia. Access to Voxy costs the company about 24,000 rubles a year per employee.

In the same year, Lingvoexpert launched a beta version of a new product - the Telegram chatbot @lindaexpertbot, which teaches subscribers vocabulary and grammar. This is a micro-learning format that takes a person 5 minutes a day. You cannot learn English with a bot, but you can maintain the current level of the language. The beta version is currently free. Later, Ksenia and Stanislav plan to offer chatbot services to corporate clients for money.

Knowing a foreign language is the key to getting a prestigious job abroad, so an English language school is a fairly promising business idea. This idea can be safely implemented, since such services are in great demand, even during the economic period. Accordingly, the English language school will bring you a stable high monthly income.

Business registration

Before you open an English language school, you need to choose a legal form. Starting businessmen usually register an individual entrepreneur. They can hire staff and train students, but they are not authorized to issue IP certificates. The work book will not record a teacher, but a specialist in foreign languages.
If you have a small start-up capital on hand and are confident in your abilities, you can register a company. There are many more nuances in this case, but in this case your school will have a certain status and will be able to issue full-fledged certificates. After that, you should register with the tax office. This process takes 5-20 days.

In order to engage in educational activities, it is necessary to obtain a license from the territorial bodies of education. To do this, you need to provide information about the premises and the level of qualifications of teachers.

Choose a room

It is better to open a foreign language learning center near educational institutions or near a shopping center.

You should not place the school in a residential area, because in such a place you will not be able to find a sufficient number of clients. Also pay attention to the fact that there are no similar educational institutions nearby that can take students away from you.

Equipment and furniture

When drawing up a business plan for opening an English school, do not forget to include the cost of acquiring furniture and equipment.

There are no special requirements for equipping the premises, since you can learn languages ​​anywhere. But in order to create an image, you need to purchase stylish furniture, as well as teaching aids that you will need in the first place.

For each audience, you need to buy media materials - video and audio recordings, as well as various interactive programs. Since technological progress does not stand still, the school needs to purchase several laptops in order to offer students new teaching methods.

When the business begins to expand and make a profit, you can purchase projectors and interactive screens.

teachers

Now you know how to open a private language school. It's time to talk about how to find good teachers for her. The success of your business is 95% dependent on the work of teachers. But in order to find highly qualified teachers, you will have to spend a lot of time, because good specialists are always in demand and they are in no hurry to leave their homes.

If you want to open an English language school for children, invite teachers who have worked with schoolchildren. They must be able to interest children and attract their attention. For students and adults, it is better to invite teachers who are native English speakers.

Advertising

Like any other business, a language school needs advertising. It is best to conduct marketing activities in the global network. Order specialists to develop your own website. On it you can post information about teachers, teaching methods, as well as the advantages of your school. Advertising can be placed on forums, social networks or other thematic sites.

Standard advertising tools are:

• Radio;
• A television;
• Flyers;
• Advertising banners and posters.

Come up with all sorts of promotions. For example, if a student brings a friend, he can get a 30% discount on tuition. In this type of business, the flow of customers must be constantly stimulated by advertising, so it is advisable to hire an experienced specialist for this purpose.

The choice of teaching methods

Aspiring entrepreneurs who are interested in what it takes to open a private school sometimes lose sight of the choice of training program.

This issue can be resolved in three ways:

1. Standard programs;
2. Programs created by teachers;
3. Cooperation with large companies (buying a franchise).

Each of the proposed options has its own advantages:

• Standard programs please with the efficiency of organization and simplicity.
• Training programs developed by employees can be quite effective. In addition, no school of foreign languages ​​can offer such a system of education.
• The third option provides you with the patronage of an experienced giant who will provide the necessary assistance and give practical advice. But you will be doing business on its terms, so this option is not suitable for everyone.

Children's programs

Special attention should be paid to the development of educational programs for children. Many parents strive to ensure that their child receives quality knowledge at an early age, so children's educational programs are always in great demand. Teachers should use game elements in the lessons, such as modeling or drawing. In addition, you can connect outdoor games or soft toys to the educational process.

Kids love to learn different songs and rhymes. They sing them and tell their friends and parents. On holidays, you can put on theatrical performances in a foreign language.

Expenses

To open a foreign language school, you will have to allocate money for:

• Room rental;
• staff salaries;
• Equipment;
• cleaning;
• Stationery;
• payment of utility services;
• Other minor expenses.

All this will have to pay about 600 thousand rubles.

Profit and profitability

On average, the income from a school for the study of foreign languages ​​is 30-60 thousand rubles per month. Large companies get more decent profits. The profitability of such a business is quite low. It is only 8%.

To open a small school, you will need about 100 thousand rubles. Some businessmen invest millions in such educational institutions. It all depends on the financial capabilities of the owner.

conclusions

You can make a good profit from an English language school. Despite the fact that there is a lot of competition in this area, this business remains profitable, as the demand for language services is constantly growing.

• Where to begin
• Registration of a foreign language school
• Language school license
• Premises and equipment
• Language school staff
• Advertising school of foreign languages
• Costs and profits
• Business Development Paths

Being able to speak a foreign language is useful for traveling and is considered an asset for getting a good job. That is why people who want to succeed in life and career try to learn foreign languages. And in 2020, a mandatory USE in English is being introduced, which will lead to an increase in demand for tutors. Let's figure out how to make money on it.

Where to begin

Foreign languages ​​are a very competitive niche. Already at the stage of launching a language school, it is important to develop your USP - a unique selling proposition in order to stand out from competitors. You can focus on:

• the experience of your teachers (especially if there are native speakers or people with cool certificates among them),
• a variety of languages ​​(besides "standard" English),
• work with clients of different ages - from preschoolers to pensioners,
• pricing policy (for example, you can immediately offer an annual subscription with a free trial period),
• a variety of tasks that you can solve - in addition to passing the exam, it can be preparing for an interview in English, passing certain tests for emigration, preparing for emigration itself with an emphasis on spoken language, working out phonetics or grammar.

Registration of a foreign language school

The easiest way to register an IP. This will allow you to train and hire teachers, but the company will not have the right to issue special certificates for passing courses in English or other languages. Therefore, experts advise to open a NOU (Non-State Educational Institution).

This is a rather laborious process, but it will be easier to “promote” your institution and make money. Pupils will go to study in a specialized institution with great pleasure than to a private businessman. The same applies to teachers. The process of registration with the tax authorities can take up to 1 month. It is most advantageous to choose a simplified taxation system (patent). The main OKVED code is 85.41 Additional education for children and adults

Language school license

A license does not need to be issued only for private tutoring - that is, you can do without it if you teach yourself with the appropriate education. When hiring other teachers, a license is required. You can get the paper you need from the Department of Education of the city. The package of documents includes:

• an application for a license;
• notarized copies of constituent documents;
• notarized copies of permits for the premises from the SES and the State Fire Supervision Authority;
• a curriculum and a certificate confirming the availability of the necessary methodological and special literature;
• personnel information;
• certificate of payment of state duty;
• description of all attached documents.

Check with the local authority for the exact list of documents. Please note that it may change.

One of the popular money making ideas for girls online at home is considered teaching English or another foreign language online, via Skype. This option is suitable if you do not have the opportunity or desire to open your own school, but there is a desire to earn money, education and at least some experience.

Premises and equipment

Experts recommend renting or buying premises near educational institutions, shopping centers and other places with high traffic. It does not have to be a whole building - a few offices will be enough for you. An interesting and at the same time budget option is to negotiate a sublease with an existing educational institution - a school, a lyceum, a technical school, an institute.

May be of interest: An interesting and unusual business idea - selling lamps in the form of animals

It is much more profitable to do this in the central areas of the city, since it is unlikely that you will be able to attract many customers in residential areas. Analyze competitors. If a similar establishment is already open nearby, find another place to set up your business.

The next step to open the school will be renovation, purchase of equipment and furniture. These are the biggest expenses. The educational institution should be modern, with new furniture and equipment. First of all, take care to buy good tables, chairs, cabinets and boards.

At school, one cannot do without educational and methodological literature in accordance with the chosen training programs. You will also need several computers and the Internet. As for design, it all depends on your taste and financial capabilities.

Hang themed paintings and posters on the walls, put funny figurines-symbols with the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben on the shelves. People need to feel comfortable so that they want to come again and again.

Language school staff

To open a successful foreign language school from scratch, you need to find highly qualified teachers. You need to be prepared for the fact that experienced employees can only be lured to a new job by a high salary.

If you want to teach Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Italian or German in addition to English, you will have to spend even more time looking for teachers. The age of your students also plays a big role. For adult clients, it is best to find a foreign teacher who can teach the nuances of business speech. Teachers in ordinary schools may well teach children, including preschoolers.

Your educational institution should have only experienced, competent and qualified teachers with an impeccable reputation, as the success of the school depends on this. Of the staff, you will also need a cleaning lady and a visiting accountant.

Advertising school of foreign languages

Use all known methods for promotion, for which there are enough financial resources:

• go to schools, institutes and other educational institutions, offer your services. Try to negotiate with the directors so that you are allowed to attend parent-teacher meetings;
• let's go on the Internet, on radio and television;
• create your website on the Internet and groups in social networks, launch contextual and targeted advertising;
• hand out leaflets on the streets of the city and in educational institutions, put them in boxes at the entrances;
• order advertising on transport, stops, in the subway, in elevators and on billboards;
• tell your friends and acquaintances about your business;
• ask all students to leave feedback.

The start-up capital will be used for registration, obtaining a license, renting and repairing premises, purchasing furniture, literature, equipment and advertising.

One-time expenses will be about 200,000 - 700,000 rubles. Every month it is necessary to allocate money for employee salaries, rent, taxes, advertising, consumables, etc. Depending on the number of employees, monthly expenses will amount to 150,000 rubles and more.

The cost of one lesson is from 500 rubles to several thousand. It all depends on whether it is a group lesson or private, what is the level of the teacher, what language he teaches.

Your profit is directly proportional to the number of students. The owners of successful foreign language schools with a full workload and three teachers can earn up to 300,000 rubles per month.

Detailed foreign language school business plan you can download from our partners! We guarantee the quality of calculations!

Professional business plans

Tatiana Lepassar , especially forExecutive . en

In 2016, the share of paid services (transport, communications, medicine and education) accounted for 2/3 of the value added of GDP. The growth in the share of paid services in the value added structure of Russia's GDP has steadily grown in line with the global trend. It is important that in the context of the ongoing recession in 2017 and against the backdrop of falling demand for durable goods, the forecast for the development of the industry by 2018 is generally positive.

What is the driver of demand, what are the growth points for a company that provides paid educational services in the new economic reality and new trends in education - tells Anna Berkovich, owner and director of a network of foreign language schools Alibra School.

English for 5-8 months

Tatiana Lepassar:Your company has been operating on the market for 17 years and you can already be called experts. What are the market trends in the last few years?

Anna Berkovich: Among the trends typical for the market of paid educational services, I would single out the growing interest in the so-called "blended learning" - blended learning. The new economic reality requires people to be flexible: in life planning, in education, in travelling, in everything! Speed ​​and efficiency, the main trends of the time, reflect the essence of our product: we offer intensive English training in 5 months.

The Alibra blended learning format is most similar to the Face to Face Driver model: that is, the main material is given in face-to-face classes, and electronic services are used to consolidate and deepen knowledge. We work according to our own unique methodology. Thanks to her, we managed to reduce the training period from 2-3 years to 5-8 months. During this period, our students progress to the "Above Average" level and pass the Cambridge exams four times faster than students from other schools.

Another trend is that today training courses are becoming not only a place for learning, but also a real community of interests.

T.L.: How is your school different from others?

A. B.: We have know-how - a unique method of fast learning, without cramming and boring memorization of the rules. Grammar rules are given in simple and understandable schemes, which makes it easier to create a coherent structure of the language. In the minds of students, a kind of language matrix is ​​formed, close to the algorithms of thinking of native speakers.

The study of vocabulary is the most difficult and time-consuming task - it is solved with the help of direct association. It works like this: we teach a person to memorize not a mechanical translation, but an image of a word. This is very easy to do with a picture, either with an association or with a context.

To support memory, the 7-fold repetition method is used, but not the usual one, but the “smart” one. To do this, we have developed mobile applications. Now there are four of them. Three in English is 6000 words from zero to Advanced and one in German. Applications themselves calculate the days of repetitions and send reminders at the right time. It remains only to spend 5-10 minutes to repeat.

In addition, we have created an interactive learning platform Alibra Online- with it, our students can study English where and when they want. Anyone can purchase an online course. All of these are our own creations. They are already used by more than 85 thousand people.

In 2000, we assembled a strong team of methodologists and teachers who created this methodology. In the same year, we began cooperation with University of Cambridge and officially accredited by him.

Our schools are located near the metro. All of them are well equipped, comfortable and pleasant to study in in every sense of the word. We have a “fad” on working with staff and improving the quality of service and an unusual friendly atmosphere, this is not a cliché for us, but a reality, forgive the pathos.

Demand for foreign languages ​​is growing

T.L.: How would you characterize the demand in this area in general?

A. B.: We constantly analyze the feedback from our regular customers. We want to get an assessment of the quality of our services, identify demand and categorize it. When asked what foreign language they would like to learn, about 77% said they wanted to learn English, 12% German, 8% French and Italian. The remaining queries are in Chinese and other languages.

At the same time, 46% of those who do not speak foreign languages ​​would like to acquire this knowledge. According to forecasts in 2017–2021. The "digital" part of the market promises to grow by an average of 23.36% per year - faster than the industry as a whole (according to EduMarket)

Traditionally stable demand for children's programs. Parents are ready to invest big money in the development of their children against the backdrop of conservative public education. And according to our ideas, this direction will go online to a lesser extent. With children, there is a rather big problem for online services - children cannot be kept at the computer for a long time. Therefore, in this segment, we also prefer the classic approach. Our courses are developed using the Cambridge method of teaching children English and taking into account the age characteristics of young students.

T.L.: Now there are already a lot of big players on the market, is there a chance for another new school to rise?

A. B.: The competition is high. There are large reputable schools with a good reputation that play a leading role in the market, there are small companies operating in a certain region. Private teachers and tutors are still in demand. But the demand for language training is also high. People need languages, and they need them not for show, but really - for work, for communication while traveling. Firstly, all large companies require good English and international certificates from applicants, which, by the way, online language courses cannot yet provide. Secondly, a foreign language will soon become a mandatory subject in the Unified State Examination. So there is definitely a chance.

If we take the world context, then in terms of the growth rate of learning foreign languages, Russia ranks 10th. Among the leaders are China, Romania, Ukraine and Malaysia. At the same time, the EF2013 Index, developed by the international educational center, defines Russia as a country with a low level of knowledge of foreign languages. We attribute this to the fact that the school curriculum and the curriculum of universities is still outdated and fragmented.

These factors are the main points of growth for those who decide to open a business in the field of paid educational services.

How to create a successful business in the field of foreign languages

T.L.: Are there any "pitfalls" that should be paid attention to by those who want to start a business in this area?

A. B.: The most important thing is to monitor the quality of the services provided, i.e. the quality of teaching. This is why clients will come to you. We need a strong teaching staff, a good methodological base, thoughtful programs. If listeners do not see results, do not feel progress, they will leave, no matter how chic conditions you offer them.

The second is the level of service. We have 60% of sales come from loyal customers. Learning languages ​​is a very good area for repeat sales. Few people stay on one course. People improve their knowledge or start learning a second or third language, attend conversation clubs.

And the third point is compliance with the requirements of the time. Online courses, learning apps, platforms are all relatively recent, but all the market leaders have been quick to adopt these innovations.

In management, you need to focus on marketing - that's for sure, deal with issues of operational efficiency and do it every day. Hire people who know how to do this, attract consultants. This is often written about, but rarely can anyone really bring it to life.

T.L.: And what about those who can not organize it all?

A. B.: (laughs) Buy a franchise from us! Working under a well-known brand is always easier than starting from scratch.

T.L.: What are the benefits of franchising your language school?

A. B.: Firstly, ALIBRA is a bright brand with clear competitive advantages and a clear strategy, you are not afraid of competition with it. Secondly, it is a small amount of capital investments; thirdly, - quick payback.

To start the project, you will need a room with a total area of ​​100 sq. m. Target audience - the population of the city aged 16 to 45 years, families with an average income.

The volume of initial investments is from 1.3 million rubles. The total net profit for the first year will be from 2.5 million rubles, and the return on sales is 15%. Upon reaching the targets, the initial investment will pay off after 5 months of work.

The Alibra School network of foreign language schools has been on the market since 2000. 170 thousand graduates. Training is conducted in 7 languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and Russian. Accredited by the University of Cambridge, is an official partner of IELTS MOSCOW.

Learn more about how to open a franchise foreign language school on the Alibra School website.

affiliate material

Text Maria Ovseets

Photo by Inna Ptitsyna

I did not pass a single interview and flunked all the test tasks

»

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 an educational platform, but all 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

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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. Recently, the most useful lesson has been 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 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 tell everything on social networks, the right 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 variant.

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 a place where I realize my creative potential: take a photo, collect a feed, 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!