Having an Online Business: My Story so Far and How I Can Help You
In January 2011, I went full-time with my online teaching business.
My wife and I had spent the previous two years teaching English in Spain. This was a lot of fun but we soon wanted to move to the U.S. (my wife's American) and put down roots.
In addition to working in various language schools, I also taught private lessons.
I acquired students in two main ways: putting up fliers and posting on sites like Craigslist. At first, I taught the lessons in-person. But then I had an idea...
... what if I did this online?
I added this option to my website and I soon had students from all over Spain - and one from Italy! - joining me on Skype.
A couple of months later, I created another website that was dedicated to Skype lessons. I started a blog and wrote articles about English grammar. Google ranked these articles and students started finding me in larger numbers.
Our time in Spain was coming to an end and I decided to give this online teaching business a go.
In January 2011, we moved to Asheville, North Carolina. By April, I had a full-time schedule. For me, this meant teaching 20-25 hours per week. I spent a few hours here and there marketing my lessons, but for a couple of years, I was content with what I was earning.
I was living frugally and making the most out of the spare time I had.
Then, my wife got pregnant.
There is something called "The Baby Effect" in Entrepreneurship. This is where you suddenly get a boost of motivation to earn more.
I felt this big time.
That was in 2013. And to keep this post to the point, here is what happened next:
- In 2013, I started a blog to help teachers who wanted to build their own teaching business
- In 2014, I started group lessons to leverage my time and created an online training course for both learners and teachers
- In 2015 & 2016, I created systems to help me grow course sales passively
This year, sales for my courses have grown further. In April, I completely revamped my course for learners and relaunched it.
I don't like to give exact figures, but my the relaunch brought more in sales in 10 days than I earned during my two years teaching in language schools in Spain.
I feel grateful for where I am and I work hard to ensure that things keep moving forward. I hope that you can see that this wasn't just something that happened overnight. There have been many ups and downs.
Things really took off when I started creating online courses. These are the three biggest lessons I've learned in this area.
- Keep improving your course and make changes based on the feedback of those who you trust
- Set up an automated system that works before you concentrate on traffic. Test every step of this system and keep improving your conversion rates
- Set a deadline for launching your course and tell your audience this is when it's going to be ready, otherwise, you'll keep putting it off
Here on Steemit, I'm going to write about online marketing, entrepreneurship, and work/life balance. I'm going to share my journey, the struggles I have, and what I learn along the way.
If you're involved in this space, leave a comment below and introduce yourself. I'd love to see what you write about on this platform.
If you're a language teacher, check out my blog here.
If you're an English learner, here is my YouTube channel.
Thanks for reading!
