It takes a lot of time to run your own online teaching company, and it’s not for everybody. However, if you follow this path, you’ll end up with a long-term job that provides you with stability, imaginative power, and life skills, as well as a sizable salary.
Good news: When you work as a freelance teacher and become your own boss, you can get a lot of business if you have excellent qualifications. You can teach business English or help students study for the TOEFL, IELTS, SAT, or other exams.
The internet has undeniably brought the career of teaching to a whole new dimension, with English language teachers being one of the main beneficiaries. If courses become more available, a growing number of non-native speakers may likely choose to learn English for a variety of reasons. The greatest gain for English teachers has been a good work market.
Following are some benefits of starting an online English teaching program-
You have full control of the working hours: You may want to plan hours or days to visit places, take a class, or fly from one city or country to another, particularly if you’re traveling. When the schedule is continually shifting, versatility is key. When it comes to online teaching, you have a lot of versatility in terms of when you choose to train.
You can do it from any place: You can lecture from the comfort of your own home, at your favorite coffee shop, at a friend’s house, or even while traveling! Virtual education helps you to lecture outside of a conventional classroom environment and can even be done on the go.
You’ll be able to supplement your salary: If you already work as an English teacher in another country and want to supplement your salary, teaching online is also a viable choice. Teachers can make extra money when doing what they do, while still acquiring more teaching experience and making a respectable secondary salary.
Follow the steps below to get started with your own online English teaching business:-
1. Select a niche
Set simple goals on what you want your independent company to be like before you launch it. You should decide what instructional strategies you want to use.
Do you want to teach IELTS training courses to Chinese college students or teach kids in South Africa conversational English? Will you assign students homework to do before class and then discuss it with them? Pick your niche and work hard to become the best at it.
2. Select pricing
To find out what a good pricing point for your classes, look at what other teachers with similar expertise and specialties spend. You should also care about whether you want to sell class sets, give free trials, or run promotions. You’ll still need to draft a student contract that sets out the price and cancellation policies.
3. Build your class model
Build a teaching model that incorporates long-term plans as well as individual lesson plans. Once you know your students language levels and learning preferences, you’ll want to change it to suit them, but you’ll need to start with a firm base. After all, this is the meat of your service.
You should also gather teaching tools, such as any supplies or manuals that your students may need, classroom props, teaching histories, and so on. You’ll need a headset, a wired internet connection, and a quiet, bright teaching space to set up your classroom.
Finally, you must consider which medium you can use to teach. It should be easy to use for both you and your pupils, whether it’s Skype, Zoom, YouTube, or something more advanced.
4. Make a website
This is a must-have for your teaching business. Building a website is simple: WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace both make web design simple for those with no technical experience. Your website should provide material about you and your teaching process, such as a video presentation and, if possible, student testimonials. It should also contain contact information as well as guidance about how to register for courses. To generate sales, you can advertise free teaching tools and a free sample class on your website.
5. YouTube channel
Create a YouTube channel and upload teaching videos online. Show your skills and methods of teaching to larger audience in YouTube and convince them to join your online class. Grow your list of subscribers and convince them to join intensive training program on your website or through one to one teaching on Skype.
6. Promote online
To promote your business and create a name for yourself, use social media platforms, teaching forums, and YouTube. To improve your company’s exposure, you can write blog posts and use SEO techniques.
7. Payment process
To raise money from students, you can use PayPal or another payment site. Since you’ll be educating students from all over the world, you’ll want to make it easy for them to send money to you in a different currency.
8. Stay focused
You’ll never be finished growing your online English teaching business. You should work to continually improve your business by focusing on your courses, ads, and website to keep your company ahead of the curve and appealing to consumers. You can also strive to learn more about the online English teaching industry regularly in order to remain on top of new ideas that can help your business expand.
9. Expand your business
When your online teaching company is created, you can benefit from it by offering video courses about how to teach, and also model lesson plans, marketing campaigns, and other tools to assist other teachers. You can also offer ESL students pre-made courses.
If you’ve developed these tools for sale, you won’t need to do anything more than market them to earn revenue.
10. Get certified
This move is not mandatory to begin, but it is necessary if you want to develop a good online English teaching career. There are many types of English language qualification programs, the most common of which are TESL, TEFL, and TESOL. Such certifications are also available online.
All three courses will assist you in acquiring the skills required to become a successful English teacher. You’ll hear about various instructional techniques, learning types, how to schedule classes, how to simplify language and grammar for your pupils, and what kind of teaching materials to use, among other things.
Conclusion
It also necessitates that you be self-motivated and unafraid to put yourself out there, possess outstanding entrepreneurial skills, and be able to successfully advertise yourself, handle your money, and schedule. Take charge of the finer points, such as paying fees, deciding student cancellation policies, and running a webpage. However, independent English education necessitates more than just good teaching and curriculum growth skills.