Knowledge of a foreign language in a globalized world is considered mandatory for an educated person. It is good form to know at least one foreign language - English. In this regard, many schools and foreign language courses appear in cities, inviting both schoolchildren and students, as well as adults and even preschoolers as students.

So, foreign languages? The answer is in this article!

English, it is necessary to analyze the market. The future director should think about the following questions:

• What will be the format of the school? individual training or group;
• Who will be trained for: kids, schoolchildren, applicants, adults, etc., each social group will need to develop its own methodology and purchase separate methodological materials;
• school goal: just to teach the language, provide preparation for the Unified State Examination, prepare for life abroad, help with employment, etc., it is possible to open retraining courses for teachers with the issuance of certificates;
• how many languages will be studied.

It does not hurt to check the potential demand at the first stage: to estimate the number of English language schools in the city, their occupancy, the level of teaching, location, etc. Usually, all the advantages and disadvantages of the educational institution immediately become clear.

Important formulate a unique offer, which will interest the widest audience, as well as protect yourself from the mistakes that competitors have made.

Step-by-step instructions for opening a foreign language school

1. Niche analysis, competitor monitoring, USP development,
2. Obtaining initial capital (for example, a loan).
3. Obtaining a license to conduct educational activities.
4. Finding suitable premises, rent or purchase.
5. Carrying out repairs, ordering signs.
6. Obtaining permission from the SES and the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
7. Formation of teaching staff.
8. Development of pedagogical programs.
9. Purchase of the necessary equipment, furniture, teaching aids.
10. Active advertising, the conclusion of contracts for training, the formation of groups.
11. Starting September 1st, classes start.

School Registration

To open a school you will need:

• or . If the school is organized by several people, it is easier to organize a company. If the founder plans to work alone or with the involvement of employees, then you can limit yourself to an individual entrepreneur. When choosing, you can use the "simplification".
• Obtaining a license. To obtain it, you need to contact the local department of education, they will tell you where and how to get it. Usually for this you have to go to Obrnazdor and present your business project there.

• Accreditation. At the first stage, you can do without it. This document will allow the issuance of state-recognised school leaving certificates. You can issue it after 5 years of successful work.
• Recertification. Every three years, the teaching staff must undergo recertification to verify the suitability of the position.

Room selection

This is a key moment for opening a school, on which the success of the entire enterprise as a whole depends. There are two approaches:

• rent (or buy out if funds are available) a small office, or rent a classroom in an educational institution;
• purchase or rent an entire building.

At first, the first option is preferable. If a whole building is bought (for example, a former kindergarten), then it is necessary to make repairs in it in accordance with the norms of the law. For offices, there are no such strict requirements. Of course, you will have to pass an inspection of the SES and fire supervision and obtain the appropriate permits, but this is not so difficult.

Where should the building be chosen?

Experts advise to be located:

• close to existing educational institutions;
• in busy and business areas of the city;
• if the settlement is small - then in the very center;
• if the city is large, it makes sense to open several offices in different areas to cover the largest number of residents.

The optimal size of the room is 50 square meters. It must have natural light.

Do not forget that it is possible will have to invest in repairs.

Purchase of the necessary equipment

Without fail you will need:

• desks and chairs;
• teaching desk and lectern;
• board, chalk, pointer;
• visual aids (for example, a map in a foreign language, a table of tenses, a list of basic irregular verbs, etc.);
• training kits: textbooks, notebooks, work aids;
• magazines;
• optional - projector, interactive whiteboard, TV, computers or laptops, etc.

The exact composition of the manuals and kits will depend on the curricula in force. Each of them will need its own set of “tools”. Curricula can be developed by yourself, taken from free sources or ordered from professional teachers.

Formation of teaching staff

If the founder of the school plans to become a teacher, this, of course, will reduce costs. However, for full-fledged work, the institution will need additional teachers: at least for a wider audience coverage and profit.

A teacher should be selected according to his professional qualities and submitted portfolio, based on reviews and recommendations from his previous place of work. It is good if the teacher has been teaching classes according to the same methodology for many years. So it will be possible to get a team of multi-format teachers and expand the range of services provided.

The recruitment of teachers is an ongoing process. It is optimal to accept new ones at the beginning of the school year or before the New Year, then the teacher has a greater chance of recruiting a group.

Basic Rules

You should follow the rules:

• set depending on the load, no “equalization” - this will motivate for an additional set of students;
• one teacher - one language, one program;
• Don't forget to upgrade your skills.

Search for students

The most difficult: find those willing to learn. However, if there is a “hunger” for foreign schools in the city, then there will be no problems with the influx of students. Another thing is if the niche is occupied and quite a competitor. The following tips will help here:

The new school should offer something truly unique and interesting, there should be a feature. For example, training is conducted on computers, communication with native speakers of a foreign language is offered, intensive preparation for the Unified State Examination is carried out by university teachers, there are express courses for businessmen, etc.

How to make a foreign language school popular?

• print advertising in crowded places: at bus stops, on public boards, near schools and universities;
• on thematic sites: on city portals, in groups in social networks, etc.;
• radio advertising;
• a television.

Business plan for a foreign language school

Expenses at the initial stage, if office space is rented, it is planned to recruit 10 groups of 10 students, 5 teachers (excluding the director) will work in 5 programs:

• registration of an individual entrepreneur, obtaining a license in Obrnadzor - from 15 thousand rubles;
• search for a suitable building, obtaining permission from the SES and the Ministry of Emergency Situations - from 10 thousand rubles;
• repairs (if necessary) - from 50 thousand rubles;
• purchase of the necessary equipment, including furniture - from 80 thousand rubles (for 10 students);
• purchase of books, textbooks, stationery, workbooks, etc. - from 30 thousand rubles (for 10 students in 1 program), total: from 150 thousand rubles.

Initial capital: 305 thousand rubles.

Monthly costs

• rent - from 50 thousand rubles;
• utilities - from 10 thousand rubles;
• Monthly income
  • the cost of 1 hour of classes is 500 rubles, 2 classes are held per week, as a result, for a month the profit from one student is 4 thousand rubles, from 100 students - 400 thousand rubles.
  • conducting express courses or individual lessons - from 50 thousand rubles.

  Total profit: 450 thousand rubles.

  Net income per month: 200 thousand rubles.

  You will have to pay 6% of the income - in this case, it is 12 thousand rubles. In this way, with the right approach, after 3 months you can reach full payback.

  It should also be noted that private schools, including English language schools, are non-profit institutions. Therefore, they cannot accumulate money in accounts. Ideally, in the summary sheet at the end of the month, the total column should show “0”, otherwise problems with the tax may arise.

  Funds can be put into circulation by purchasing new equipment, you can spend them on the purchase of real estate (if, for example, a lease has been concluded with a subsequent purchase) or issued as a salary to the director and other staff.

  Do you want to open a language school and don't know where to start? Watch the following video instruction:

In the conditions of convergence of business relations between countries, an increase in the tourist flow and globalization, the study of foreign languages ​​is becoming a necessity for an increasing number of Russians. According to statistics, 46% of our compatriots do not leave the dream of learning foreign languages. At the same time, they are driven by different goals: someone would like to study in order to meet the requirements of the time (13%), 14% of Russians want to feel free when traveling abroad, 11% would ensure their career growth with the help of knowledge of a foreign language, 9% understand that such knowledge is necessary for communication, and 7-8% would like to easily read labels on foreign-made goods, information on foreign websites, understand instructions, etc. Based on these observations, we can conclude that the services of schools that teach foreign languages ​​to everyone are quite in demand.

Language schools provide a full range of services for learning not only the most popular languages, but also rare languages ​​for different levels of student preparedness. Passing the basic courses, students can move on to the next, more complex stages. At first glance, the competition in this industry is high. Nevertheless, as practice shows, a new school, with the right positioning, can quickly attract regular customers.

The amount of initial investment is 635 600 rubles.

The break-even point is reached in the fourth month of work.

The payback period is from 12 months.

2. Description of the business, product or service

Before opening a foreign language school, you need to decide whether you will issue documents to students confirming the completion of a particular course at your school. If you choose to self-teach, you will not need a license, but you will not be able to issue government-issued graduation documents to students. This option is easier in terms of registering a company and is suitable for teaching adults, for whom it is not the papers that prove education, but the real level of knowledge that are important. If you want to issue documents confirming the qualifications of graduates, you will need to obtain a license from the local department of the Ministry of Education. With this type of organization, the client, upon completion of training, can receive a certificate or certificate of additional education.

The target audience of language schools depends on the focus of your school. If you are ready to provide services to both preschool children and active pensioners, then the age of your clients will vary from 3 to 60 years. Since the services of language schools are not classified as cheap, visitors, as a rule, have an average and above average income.

Before you open an English or other language school, you should decide which languages ​​will be taught, as well as what audience the courses will be - adults or children. English is the most commonly used language, followed by German and French, followed by Italian and Spanish. If possible, courses in rarer languages ​​such as Chinese, Japanese, or some other exotic language should be organized. In certain cases, they are very popular and will become a feature of your project that distinguishes you from the rest.

Among the main areas of study in your school may be present:

• preparation for international testing;

• testing on TOEFL, CALE, GMAT, IELTS systems;

• express training in fluency in colloquial speech.

The average duration of a foreign language course is 4-8 months, which corresponds to 64-128 academic hours. After completing the course, students take a test and receive a document indicating that they have received a certain amount of knowledge. Recruitment in groups is carried out 2-3 times a month in English and 1-2 times a month in other languages. The main flow of students falls on evening groups (from 17:00-21:00), the lowest attendance is observed during the day, since at this time many are at work or study. Each group of students consists of 4-6 people. It is important that the number of students be even, as in the learning process you often have to work in pairs to get better results. An example of the placement of groups and the schedule of a language school on a weekday with two classes is as follows:

Time	Class A	Class B
		English
	English
		French
	English	French
	English	Spanish

Groups are expected to be recruited in the following formats:

• evening groups;
• morning groups;
• day groups;
• weekend groups.

This business is seasonal: as a rule, the flow of visitors decreases in the summer months, and resumes in September. Working hours of language schools: daily from 08:00 to 21:00, as there is a need to collect both morning and evening groups.

3. Description of the market

Language school clients can be segmented as follows:

• According to the purpose of applying to a language school:

Clients whose profession requires knowledge of the language, and career growth depends on it;

Clients who want to improve their level of knowledge of foreign languages ​​for more comfortable travel abroad;

Clients who have a need to learn additional languages ​​in order to improve their own level of education, who want to keep up with the trends of the modern world;

Clients who need to raise their level of knowledge of foreign languages ​​for admission to a university or school;

Corporate clients.

• According to the requirements for conducting classes:

Students who wish to study in groups (usually 4-6 people).

• By age:

Pupils and students who want to learn new languages, in addition to those that are in the school curriculum or improve their knowledge of the main language;

Working people who know a foreign language requires work, or ordinary interest and passion for travel;

Pensioners who are accustomed to travel, discover something new, develop.

In percentage terms, the target audience looks like this:

Having studied your target audience, you need to decide who exactly you will provide your services to. The choice of audience determines the focus of your school, the range of languages ​​offered and the marketing policy. Another important success factor is the analysis of your competitors. As a rule, 80-100 foreign language schools have been opened in cities with a population of up to 4 million people. It is necessary to familiarize yourself with the range of languages ​​offered by competitors, with the prices for their services, and the level of qualification of the staff. After the analysis, it is important to identify the competitive advantage that will set you apart from the rest. These include a convenient location, low prices, the possibility of installment payment, the author's teaching methods, and the offer to study exotic languages.

4. Sales and Marketing

5. Production plan

1. Registration with government agencies

First you need to obtain an appropriate license allowing educational activities. The list of documents required to obtain a license is as follows:

• Application for a license;
• Details of documents confirming that the applicant has a license on the right of ownership or other legal basis of buildings, structures, structures, premises and territories (including equipped classrooms, objects for conducting practical classes, objects of physical culture and sports) in each of the places of educational activities, as well as copies of title documents in the event that the rights to these buildings, structures, structures, premises and territories and transactions with them are not subject to mandatory state registration;
• Signed by the head of the organization carrying out educational activities, a certificate on the material and technical support of educational activities for educational programs;
• Copies of documents confirming the availability of conditions for nutrition and health protection of students;
• Certificate of availability of educational programs developed and approved by the organization carrying out educational activities;
• Details of the sanitary and epidemiological conclusion issued in accordance with the established procedure on the compliance with the sanitary rules of buildings, structures, structures, premises, equipment and other property necessary for the implementation of educational activities;
• Details of the conclusion on the compliance of the object of protection with the mandatory requirements of fire safety in the implementation of educational activities (if the license applicant is an educational organization);
• A certificate signed by the head of the organization carrying out educational activities on the availability of special conditions for obtaining education by students with disabilities;
• A certificate signed by the head of the organization carrying out educational activities on the availability of conditions for the functioning of the electronic information and educational environment in the presence of educational programs using exclusively e-learning, distance learning technologies;
• Description of attached documents.

Since the list of documents is quite voluminous, it is possible to contact a specialized organization that will collect the documents for you, the cost of services will be 50,000 rubles. To conduct commercial activities, you can register as an individual entrepreneur, non-profit educational institution or as a legal entity. It is more expedient to register as an individual entrepreneur with a simplified taxation system (6% of income). This will save you the hassle of completing a lot of additional paperwork. A pleasant factor of this event will be that at present the license will not need to be renewed every 5 years, as it was before. Now, once you have received a license to conduct educational activities, this will be enough for you to then engage in it at least for the rest of your life.

2. Search for premises and repair

The successful location of the premises can be considered close proximity to the subway, educational institutions, shopping centers. It is desirable to have free parking and convenient transport interchange. When choosing a room, you need to pay attention to lighting, sanitary conditions, the availability of a bathroom, etc. The optimal size of the premises for a school is from 100 sq.m., this will be enough for two classes and a reception room with a receptionist. The cost of rent will be about 50,000-70,000 rubles. You may have to make cosmetic repairs and invite a designer who integrates the style of your logo into the interior of the room, lay at least 50,000 rubles for this.

3. Purchase of the necessary equipment and inventory

To open a school of foreign languages, the following equipment and inventory is required:

Name	Amount	The cost of 1 piece, rub.	Total amount, rub.
Magnetic whiteboard
Educational material
A computer
wifi router
Stationery
Microwave
Electric kettle
Wardrobe
Microwave
Total

4. Personnel search

You can search for employees (teachers, administrators, accountants) in the following ways:

1. through dedicated websites. The advantage of this method is the ability to see the exact work experience, reviews of previous employers, qualifications, availability of certificates. However, access to applicants' resumes is paid, the cost is about 15,000 rubles;
2. Collecting information through acquaintances is the cheapest and easiest method of finding staff;
3. Posting vacancies in specialized groups on social networks - in the most popular groups, this service is paid, the method can give a good response, the audience of large groups starts from 100,000 people;
4. Monitoring of teachers of general education and private schools with a subsequent job offer.

5. Marketing policy

Initially, you need to place a sign or pillar of your school. Coordination, production and installation of a sign will cost you about 50,000 rubles. The sign will not give the desired effect without additional incentives for customers, so the budget should also include the cost of printed materials (promo leaflets) and the promoter's salary (about 10,000 rubles). For complex work, it is necessary to resort to online methods for promoting your project, in this case, about 100,000 rubles should be budgeted for the creation and promotion of the site, and about 10,000 rubles for the development and creation of a group on a social network. Over time, when you develop a client base, these types of costs will decrease, the main flow of students will come to you on the advice of friends and acquaintances.

6. Organizational structure

In order for your school to function smoothly, you need to hire the following employees: teachers, administrators, cleaner, accountant.

The key personnel in your business will, of course, be teachers, because the presentation of material, the level of knowledge of students and the impression of your school as a whole depend on their professionalism and sociability. If you plan to offer students the most popular and accessible languages, then at first you can limit yourself to hiring one specialist for each language. The requirements for teachers are the presence of higher education, excellent knowledge of spoken and written languages, work experience of at least two years, knowledge of the cultural characteristics of English-speaking (and other) countries, the presence of a comprehensive and proven teaching methodology. The teacher's salary consists of a salary (15,000 rubles) and interest, depending on the number of lessons he has taught.

Your school administrators will work in shifts, 2 by 2, so you need to hire two employees. Requirements for administrators are limited to communication skills, friendliness, and a high level of discipline. Their responsibilities include receiving calls and letters, registering clients for classes, forming groups, maintaining a group on social networks, providing the school with the necessary equipment (stationery, cooler, etc.). It is necessary to allocate 20,000 rubles to the budget for the salaries of administrators. for each employee.

In addition, you should be puzzled by finding a cleaner who cleans the premises 3-4 times a week. This employee has a part-time job and a flexible work schedule. It is better to hire an accountant on a remote basis or contact an outsourcing company in order to reduce taxes and other expenses.

Also, you can not do without a director who will perform the key functions of a manager. All personnel will be subordinate to him, it is he who makes decisions on hiring employees, determines their wages, builds a marketing policy, and interacts with counterparties. The director's salary depends on the financial results of the school; in general, it consists of a salary (30,000 rubles) and a percentage (5%) of the proceeds if the planned project indicators are met.

The general payroll changes monthly due to the percentage wage system. The salary fund in the first month of the school of foreign languages ​​is presented below:

fixed costs	Salary	The number of employees	Sum	Average salary per month per employee
Director	30 000	1	30 000	45 205
Teacher	25 000	5	125 000	27 027
Administrator	20 000	1	20 000	20 000
Cleaning woman	10 000	1	10 000	10 000
Insurance premiums			55 500
Total payroll			240 500

Teaching foreign languages ​​is a promising, profitable and noble business. After all, in this way you can help a large number of people who want to improve their level of knowledge of a foreign language, without which it is difficult to be successful in the modern world. It is possible to make money on the provision of progressive knowledge that will contribute to intercultural communication if you draw up a business plan correctly.

Relevance

The opportunity to learn a foreign language today is interesting for almost everyone. Such knowledge will be needed even if you have no plans to emigrate abroad - to get a promotion at work, read books in the original and watch films without dubbing.

The pace of development of society has led to the fact that knowing only 1 foreign language is no longer enough, and not everyone can learn them on their own. At the same time, 46% of Russians plan to study foreign languages. Despite different motives, they create a constant demand for the service.

At the same time, to start a business, you do not need much investment. If you develop a plan correctly, the business will quickly pay off.

Market analysis

It cannot be said that by opening a foreign language school you will become a business pioneer. Today, such organizations are everywhere, and if we are talking about cities with a population of over a million, there may be more than a dozen different language schools.

At the same time, school teaching of foreign languages ​​is recognized by experts as outdated, inconsistent and fragmented, and therefore, in order to really master English, German, French, etc. many have to go to special courses.

If competition in business is not terrible, when drawing up a plan, be sure to study not only how the work of competitors is built, but also what customers lack. Usually we are talking about the following shortcomings:

• insufficient level of qualification of teachers;
• lack of special training programs, for example, English for business or preparation for IELTS, TOEFL;
• lack of exotic languages.

It is also necessary to familiarize yourself with the list of languages ​​offered, the level of training of teachers, prices for their services and marketing policy. This will help you understand what exactly customers in your area lack and draw up a business plan highlighting your features, which will distinguish the language school from competitors and attract the population. It can be exotic languages ​​to learn, competitive rates, native speakers as teachers, unique lesson plans, etc.

The results of a sociological study showed the following results of what languages ​​people would like to learn:

• English - 25%;
• German and French - 5%;
• Spanish - 4%;
• Chinese - 3%;
• Italian - 3%;
• Japanese - 1%.

In general, in recent years there has been an increase in interest in learning Asian languages, this should definitely be taken into account when drawing up a business plan.

The target audience

To determine the portrait of the ideal client in the plan, you first need to segment the audience. This can be done in a variety of ways:

• according to the purpose of the application:
  - for professional growth;

- for traveling;

- to improve the level of their education;

- for admission to a school or university;

- as part of advanced training;

• according to the requirements for foreign language lessons:

– training in small groups (4-6 people each);

- wishing to receive individual lessons;

• by age:

— students and schoolchildren;

- working people;

- pensioners.

Working people represent the largest group by age, followed by students and only a small part of potential business customers are pensioners. However, it is recommended to design a training plan in such a way that it is interesting and useful for different categories of clients, and also to offer at least several options for training programs in order to satisfy as much demand as possible.

Legal side of the issue

Before starting a business, it is necessary not only to draw up a plan, but also to officially register the activity. For a foreign language school, ANO (autonomous non-profit organization) or NOU (non-state educational institution) is suitable. You can also register as an individual entrepreneur, but then you will not be able to issue diplomas of additional education to graduates.
On the other hand, then a license is not needed to provide services, which greatly simplifies the implementation of a business plan. But only clients who need to study the language for personal purposes will contact you.

If this option is not enough, you will need to obtain a state license. This can be done at your local education department. The presence of a license will allow issuing school graduates a certificate of language proficiency, a certificate of additional education. This document will be a great addition to your resume. The good news is that now the license does not need to be confirmed every 5 years, having received it once, you can provide services indefinitely.

After the business plan is drawn up, the time comes for registration - without this, it is illegal to start a business. Language schools are encouraged to register as a non-state educational institution. For this you will need:

• full name of the organization;
• legal address;
• Contact phone numbers;
• passport data of employees;
• information about the founders;
• the chosen system of taxation;
• charter of the organization (developed in accordance with the requirements of Law No. 3266-1 "On Education";
• print sketch.

When preparing the plan, pay special attention to the charter of the organization. It must include the following data:

• Name of the organization;
• the address;
• information about the founders of the business;
• types of training programs envisaged in the plan;
• languages ​​of instruction;
• school admission rules and expulsion criteria;
• the duration of the lessons;
• ownership of the property where the language school is located (documents for ownership or lease agreement);
• rules for hiring workers;
• procedure for the liquidation of the enterprise.

Full compliance of the document with this plan will allow you to register with the Ministry of Justice without any problems. Do not forget to obtain permission from the SES to operate the premises.

When registering, indicate code 85.41.9 “Additional education for children and adults, other, not included in other groups, including teaching foreign languages” of OKVED activities. You can also add Interpretation and Translation Activities.

The process of officially registering a business can be simplified by contacting a licensing agency. Services will cost about 100 thousand rubles, taking into account the payment of state. duties (7500 rubles).

Choosing the right school space

When choosing an office, it is important that it has a convenient location. It may be close to schools and universities, large shopping centers and busy streets. A big plus for business will be convenient transport links with other areas of the city, as well as the availability of parking. Check out the office:

• on well-organized lighting;
• for the availability of bathrooms;
• for compliance with sanitary standards.

At the initial stage of the business, the optimal area of ​​the center will be 100 m2. This will be enough to accommodate 2 separate classrooms and a reception area. You can provide a small office for private lessons.
One of the classes will be designed for English lessons - as the most common language, the second will be used for other foreign languages.

It is not necessary to open an office in the city center from the start of a business. No less result will give a location in one of the sleeping areas, but in a place where there is a lot of traffic. This will save on rent, which will cost an average of 15 thousand rubles.

Registration

The room does not require special repairs if the building is in good condition, however, school decoration will definitely be included in the plan. You can hire a designer to design the style of the room. Since clients pay for classes, they expect to receive them in a comfortable environment. Let the rooms be spacious and bright. Each classroom should have a blackboard. You can hang world maps in foreign languages, educational posters on the walls. In the foyer, you can place educational certificates and diplomas of employees and the language school.

It will be useful to buy a projector or DVD player. This will allow the class to watch educational films and videos. The total cost of this item of the plan will be about 80 thousand rubles.

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 keep it on Instagram, and it was this blog that later became good ground 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’ll 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 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 doing 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, 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 run two accounts: I took the school's Instagram plus I run my own. 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!

English is popular. You can't argue with that. Knowledge of English is a springboard for a career, the ability to quickly learn news from primary sources, a chance to travel the world on your own. It is easier for a candidate with good English to find a job, and his salary expectations are 20-30% higher. Other languages ​​are much less in demand and more often perceived only as an addition to English.

More and more job descriptions include such wording: "English is not lower than the level of Upper-Intermediate (sometimes higher) - a must, knowledge of other languages ​​is an advantage."

The language of Shakespeare and Byron is taught today by everyone: from three-year-olds in kindergarten to top managers of large companies. But learning is not always successful. People attend English classes for years, learn the language at school, at the university, in courses, but do not read, do not understand, do not speak a foreign language. But they do not lose hope and try new forms, methods, approaches. There is room for improvement in this niche.

Legal formalities

No matter how good the business idea of ​​online English courses is, no matter how incredible the product you come up with, you will have to break away from creative activity for a while and settle all organizational and legal formalities. But it's not that hard. Every year the registration procedure becomes easier and faster. Now there is even no need to go to the tax office.

1. How to open English courses without a license

When starting a business, we strive to deal with paperwork quickly and without unnecessary investments. And obtaining a license means numerous documents, formalities, contacts with government agencies. And after obtaining a license, your company will be periodically checked for compliance with the requirements of the license.

In the case of online English courses, a license is not required. If you plan to teach yourself, and you have the appropriate education (English teacher diploma), you can simply register an individual entrepreneur and work without a license. Decide to scale the business and hire other teachers, get a license. But if the teachers are called consultants or methodologists, a license is also not needed. You will also not need a license if you work with other self-employed educators.

2. Register IP

Consider the most affordable way to launch an online English language school - register an individual entrepreneur.

You can act on your own. In any case, you need to pay the state duty (800 rubles). No time to register? There are different submission options:

1. Contact an intermediary company, paying an average of 5,000 rubles.
2. Entrust the registration to the bank in which you will open a current account (Point, Promsvyazbank ...). You can arrange everything at home - leave an application and wait for a prompt specialist (today or the next day). Registration of IP will not cost you a single ruble, and the price of annual maintenance depends on the service package.
3. Ask a friend or relative to take the documents. But they will be accepted only if the notary first certifies the signature.

Ready to do it all yourself? Use the algorithm:

Step 1. Select the OKVED code (All-Russian classifier of types of economic activity).

For English courses, OKVED 85.42.9 is suitable - other activities for additional professional education, not included in other groups.

Step 2. Fill out an application.

It is more convenient to do this on an electronic service, for example, on this one. So you insure against mistakes.
Attention! Print the application on one side of the paper.

Step 3. Choose an appropriate taxation system.

1. OSNO - general (or main) system of taxation. This system is applied by default and implies the payment of all taxes: VAT, personal income tax, property tax.
2. PSN - patent taxation system. This system is convenient to test a new kind of business. An entrepreneur acquires a patent for a certain activity for a period of 1 to 12 months, therefore he does not submit a declaration, does not deduct contributions for employees in social insurance, only to a pension fund and health insurance. The cost of a patent is calculated individually, depending on the type of activity and region. A patent is paid immediately upon registration, its cost is the tax, only paid in advance.
3. USN - a simplified taxation system (popularly called simplified taxation. It is the most popular among small businesses. It is characterized by a low tax rate and ease of reporting.

Simplification has 2 varieties:
USN Income. Tax rate - 6% on the entire amount of income (all receipts to the account). Regions have the authority to reduce the rate to 1%.
USN Income minus expenses. Tax rate - 15% (on the difference between income and expenses). Regions can reduce the tax rate to 5%.

Attention! An application to switch to a simplified system or a patent system is not submitted at registration or within 30 days after it. If you don't, you'll have to wait until next year. You can fill out an application online .

Step 4. Submit documents for registration of IP.

You can do this in the following ways:
Come to the IFTS and pay 800 rubles (state duty).
Come to the MFC and also pay the state duty.
Send by mail, having previously certified the signature by a notary. The cost will be the same 800 rubles + 500 rubles (notary services) + postage.
Through a trustee (with certification of the signature by a notary). You will have to pay 800 rubles (state duty) + 500 rubles (notary).
Through the online service of the Federal Tax Service using an electronic signature. The signature will cost 3,000 rubles + the standard 800 rubles.

Don't forget to bring the following documents:
Russian passport.
Application for state registration of IP.
Receipt for payment of state duty.
Application for the transition to a preferential taxation system (if you decide to switch).

You may also be asked to:
TIN and its photocopy.
Passport copy.

Attention! In the case of personal submission of documents to the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate or the MFC, you should be issued a receipt for receipt of documents.

Step 5. Get documents.

They will be ready in 3 days. You will be given:
Extract from the unified state register of individual entrepreneurs.
Notice of registration of an individual with a tax authority.
Notification of the assignment of statistics codes from Rosstat. Sometimes it needs to be ordered additionally.

Step 6. Register with the pension fund.

Sometimes this is done automatically when registering an IP.

Step 7. Choose how to keep accounts.

There are different options:
Hire an accountant or use an accounting firm. It is not cheap.
Do your own bookkeeping.
No one needs to pay, but you have to spend time.
Use online accounting (tariffs up to 500 rubles per month), for example,
Use the services of the bank where you open a current account (the cost is included in the service tariff).

Step 8. Open a bank account.

Step 9. Make a print.

We are planning cooperation

Online English courses are more often opened by experienced teachers who no longer want to be limited to the walls of one educational institution or classes with several private students. They are ready to apply their own methods to work with a wider audience. However, there are exceptions, and very successful ones.

SkyEng, the largest and fastest growing online English language school in the CIS and Eastern Europe, with a monthly income of more than $1 million, was created in 2012 by a team of graduates of the physics and technology department. SkyEng co-founder and CEO Georgy Solovyov, as a student, faced a shortage of affordable English lessons.

He needed to raise the level of English in a year in order to go on an internship in a European country. The services of Moscow tutors were too expensive for a student from the provinces. As a result, Georgy went on vacation to his hometown, started studying there with a tutor, continued his studies via Skype, and then found a native speaker on the Internet, with whom he began to train his conversational skills.

A year later, George went on an internship. Even then, he had the idea to create an online school. From the very beginning, hired teachers worked at SkyEng.

Himself an expert and producer

An expert rarely possesses entrepreneurial abilities. He or she has experience, authority, charisma (not always) and a cool product (or the ability to make one), but building a company, promoting, organizing an online learning process and operating activities for an expert is a dark forest.

In order not to abandon the idea of ​​online courses and launch the project within a short time, the expert can either join forces with the producer, or find an assistant who will guide the expert through all the stages of creating an online school by the hand, teach producer tricks, and also help with promotion and launch . Accel, an accelerator of online schools, has become such a “senior friend” for ... residents, which from the first day immerses its wards in the process of creating a successful information business and quickly brings startups to payback and profit.

Oksana Sudareva is an expert in English teaching with 28 years of experience and a Ph.D. But for five years she could not decide to launch a project until she got to Accel. In two months, Oksana not only understood how to open English courses, but has already registered an individual entrepreneur, settled all legal formalities and is ready to start the project in November. And Oksana managed to get the most out of the Content & PR conference in Alushta: networking, master classes, ideas for creating and promoting an online school from industry leaders Netology, Synergy, Free Publicity School and SkyEng .

Sometimes I wanted to drop everything and give up, because any little thing turned into a big question: on which platform to make a landing, on which platform to hold a webinar, where to open a current account, how to connect acquiring, how to open a personal account on the tax website and get an electronic signature, how to deal with all the financial, legal and tax subtleties associated with individual entrepreneurs ... My colleagues from the Accelerator helped me a lot, who had already gone through this themselves, tried something and could suggest some practical things.

Search for experts and employees

If you are a producer who is going to open an online English language school, you need an expert (or several) who will take care of the content part (create a program, video tutorials and teaching materials) and teaching (will conduct webinars, individual and group consultations, check homework ...) .

You can search for experts through friends, on the Internet, at networking events. Sometimes you have to talk to many experts to find the right one for you. But it's worth it - the success of online courses largely depends on this partnership.

At the SkyEng school, teachers go through a strict system of selection, control and dropout. The SkyEng recruiting funnel currently stands at 60,000 teachers. And 1,500 people (2.5%) work on a permanent basis.

To be continued…

To the question “how to open English language courses?” you can't answer in one post. We examined the legal aspects of creating an online school, found out that it is quite legal to work without a license, and took a glimpse of online English courses from the standpoint of a producer and an expert.

But these are only the first steps. To be successful in the infobusiness, you need to carefully analyze the target audience, formulate a unique USP that our potential customers simply cannot refuse, choose the right platform and create a cool product. And then this product needs to be promoted, sold and get the maximum profit. How to do this, we will tell in the following articles. Keep for updates.

Sasha Galimova

Material preparation