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27.06.18 30 579 0

The story of an entrepreneur from St. Petersburg

In 2010, Ksenia sold her car and used the money to open the Lingvoexpert English language school in St. Petersburg.

Lena Kiseleva

talked to the founder of the English school

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

Idea

Since school, Ksenia has worked part-time as an English tutor. In 2010, she worked as a brand manager in a perfume and cosmetics store, and continued teaching 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 with the premises. First we looked for an office in a large residential area- Primorsky, but when there was no place there, we turned our attention to Vasilyevsky Island. It is located near the center, but there were few language schools there in 2010. Ksenia looked for them on the Internet and personally bypassed potential competitors, just to see their offers and prices.

At the start we decided not to rent large room. First, it was necessary to understand whether the school would have clients at all, and not 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

Before the start of classes, it was necessary to furnish the room and buy educational materials. For the advance payment received from the first clients, we bought 6 desks and 12 chairs in Ikea - the furniture cost 12,000 RUR. Another 50,000 R were spent on educational materials and new office equipment: a photocopier and printer are required to prepare for classes, and tape recorders are needed for listening.

At the same time, they made the first version of the Lingvoexpert website. They paid 50,000 RUR for the development, for promotion to "Yandex Direct"- 20,000 RUR. We ordered a logo for another 20,000 RUR.

50,000 R

paid for the development of the site 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 distributed leaflets, held joint events with a fitness club in the neighborhood, and advertised in business centers: she hung advertising posters in their elevators. Next door to the office there was a fitness club - Ksenia invited its visitors to free classes in the conversation club. At the same time, they launched the “Bring a friend and get a discount” promotion: both students paid for classes 30% lower than the regular price.

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

Start-up costs - 315,000 RUR

Rent 25 m² (deposit + 2 months)

75,000 R

50,000 R

RUR 20,000

Educational materials, furniture

50,000 R

Salary fund

100,000 R

Website promotion

RUR 20,000

Teachers

Ksenia graduated from the Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University, so she first looked for teachers among her friends at the university. At the start, she set aside wages for herself and the first five teachers 100,000 RUR.

It was with great difficulty that teachers were lured from other places: few wanted to leave stable and proven 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, as a rule, are scheduled.

100,000 R

salary fund at the start for English teachers

Ksenia set an hourly rate for teachers - 250-300 R per hour. At that time this was the average rate on the market.

When we ran out of acquaintances, we started looking for new teachers on Headhunter.

Class time

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

Ksenia rented several rooms adjacent to the office. The rental price has increased to RUR 60,000 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, Lingvoexpert became the first corporate client DHL company.

For the school, this training scheme turned out to be very profitable: there is no need to spend money on renting its premises, it is enough to simply send a teacher to the customer’s office. Companies provide normal premises, as a rule, there are already markers, boards and other materials necessary for classes.

DHL formed four groups of employees. Students paid for classes themselves; the company simply provided them with office space. 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 a good start. The calculation was this: other corporate clients would learn about Lingvoexpert through word of mouth.

Within a year after DHL, employees from three other large companies came to study at Lingvoexpert.

Seasonality

The main difficulty that language schools face is the seasonality of classes. In the summer everyone goes on vacation, and in September they suddenly start studying. During the holiday season, the premises are empty, and by September the demand for them increases 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 classrooms and again left only a 25 m² room for the school.

To keep teachers occupied during the summer, Lingvoexpert launched a promotion in advance, back in the spring, with coupon service Groupon. 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, broke even, and earned nothing from it. But she ensured that teachers were busy so that they would not run away.

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

Focus on corporate clients

In 2012-2013, new language courses began to open on Vasilyevsky Island. Classes from competitors cost less, students began to move to other schools. At the same time, large corporate clients came to Lingvoexpert: Pit Product, GC "Transas", 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 HR people in a professional chat. One of them asked his colleagues where it was better to order corporate English training. Several people immediately responded by recommending “Lingvoexpert”.

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; spoken language is more important to them.

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

To pull the tongue away "pre-intermediate" to "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 this lasts for months, and sometimes for years.

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

An academic hour for a Lingvoexpert teacher in 2018 costs 1200-1350 rubles. The price depends on the distance of the office from the center and the time of classes. For example, a group of three people costs the company 1,200 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 costs 19,200 rubles for the company.

1350 R

the cost of an academic hour for a Lingvoexpert teacher in 2018

Today the school has 63 corporate clients. Another 100 periodically seek the services of teachers. To find new contacts, Ksenia and her husband join business associations and participate in their events, where they meet HR people. For example, they joined 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 believed that I had to manage all the processes myself: answer calls, find out what clients needed. But the number of tasks grew, and there was not enough time for everything. Currently there are several managers and an administrative director on staff.

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

The school has 50 teachers on staff. The same number work under a contract during the main training season - September-October. Ksenia looks for new employees at conferences for teachers, which she regularly attends.

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

According to statistics, in 2017, Lingvoexpert interviewed 10-12 candidates in order to ultimately hire one. A diploma from a well-known university does not guarantee either good knowledge of the language or experience in various 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. stayed there administrative staff, interviews and training of new teachers are also conducted there. Rent costs 55,000 rubles per month.

Two more employees who sell new product - online training, work in a coworking space. This is convenient because the lease is flexible: if you have an employee, the premises are paid for. If Ksenia decides to reduce or expand her sales team, she does not need to rush to look for new premises. Renting a coworking space costs 30,000 rubles per month.

Plans

In 2016, Ksenia and Stanislav began to develop online training in "Linguexpert". More than 100 people bought courses via Skype - Ksenia and Stanislav earned 2 million rubles from this launch. The couple added webinars and group classes to the online school’s services, 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 lessons are 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. You can use it to perform language exercises and practice speaking the language with native speakers. To do this, the student connects to a lesson taught by a teacher from anywhere in the world and communicates with the teacher and other participants. In 2018, 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 per year per employee.

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

Integration international relations dictates new rules to the modern business person, where knowledge of English is becoming the norm rather than the exception. After all, the international language is popular not only in the business environment, it is used by all civilized people as a means of international communication: students, travelers, workers in science and art. And as we know, demand creates supply.

Undoubtedly, there are many offers of private tutors on the Internet, and you can always take advantage of online training English language. However, these options are more suitable for beginners. For people who want to gain more in-depth knowledge of the language, which presupposes free communication and the right to test in international exams, a more serious base is required - a foreign language school.

School of Foreign Languages ​​as a Business- the project involves the creation of a profitable training center, which will help recoup costs in as soon as possible. How to properly organize a school and develop a business plan - we will consider in detail in our article.

First steps

If you are thinking about creating your own training center, you need to first define goals and objectives of this project, as well as opportunities for the implementation of plans.

Without a doubt, you have already mentally nurtured this idea and come up with an original name for your future school. Let's call it sonorously, reflecting the main idea - for example, “Language Center”. Very cumbersome or difficult to pronounce names often carry internal rejection and are difficult to remember. In addition, interactive Internet searches require “national” titles. In any case, the choice is yours.

The issue of personnel is one of the most difficult in any business. In the future, of course, you can use the option where the school itself will train specialists, training and certifying its own students.

Let's say you already have a team of professional teachers, required licenses and certificates, and you are ready to pass on your knowledge to others. Now you need to choose a room suitable for the corresponding tasks. For example, we focus on a school that will recruit 10 groups of 15 people and work seven days a week, that is, 30 days. There will be one group and office workers in the room at a time – presumably 20 people. We choose a room from two rooms - study and relaxation. In this case, you must count on a usable area of ​​at least 150 square meters.

Based on this, calculate all potential costs associated with rent. Keep in mind that the most expensive rent is in the city center, while on the outskirts it is much cheaper. It is necessary to find the best option, where there will be the most convenient transport interchange and, preferably, a short distance from business centers and educational institutions.

Think through to the smallest detail what you will need to form modern class. Most likely it will be:

• computer equipment;

• presentation equipment;

• multimedia;

• comfortable furniture;

• educational materials.

Don't forget about the rest room too. A mini-cafe will also be a significant plus. After all, the number of people wishing to gain knowledge at your “Language Center” depends on how comfortable and attractive your educational institution looks. .

Then you will need to document the school in accordance with the law as a property in order to pay taxes to the state. At the same time, you need to take into account all the nuances so that licensing issues do not arise in the future. Please note that legal entity has more opportunities to organize work with international training centers, in particular to work with international certificates and licenses from Cambridge.

The licensing procedure itself is free, but it takes long time, sometimes up to a year, as it is carefully inspected by regulatory authorities.

The key to success lies in new approaches

In order not to get lost in the sea of ​​offers for teaching English from various beginner schools, tutors and express courses, you need to correctly position your exclusive direction and professional opportunities.

Among the main areas of study at the “Language Center” there must certainly be:

• preparation for international testing;

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

• express training in fluency in spoken language.

Do not forget to emphasize that the training is conducted by English specialists who have personally successfully passed testing international level and have the appropriate licenses and certificates.

Each of the areas of study requires a certain level basic knowledge, which should be the focus of clients who have expressed a desire to learn foreign languages. Let's look at each direction in more detail.

Conducting TOEFL exams. What is it? Testing using the TOEFL system is an international test of knowledge of the English language for people of non-English-speaking nationality. When applying for a job in international company such testing is mandatory. Therefore, if you see your professional future in foreign company or are planning to study in another country, you cannot avoid the TOEFL exam.

For more serious applicants, training through the CALE system (University of Cambridge) should be offered. This testing system is considered one of the most prestigious in the world.

According to the international exam systems IELTS, GMAT (applicants for MBA training) Oxford students are tested.

Express training involves relaxed communication in English in a relaxing environment. This is very effective method, tested by many training programs, however, in our version, it should have a more creative and effective approach to attract the attention of consumers.

General atmosphere - comfortable learning

Do not forget that the basis for quick and effective perception of the proposed educational material are comfortable conditions. For this purpose, classrooms must be equipped with the necessary technical means and comfortable ergonomic furniture.

The educational process is designed in such a way as to alternate between a complex educational program and a game program. The “feature” of our “Language Center” could be a gaming room for relaxation with an operating mini-cafe, where the main condition for staying there will be communication in English. For those who are “forgetful,” hints of traditional words or phrases that are appropriate in a particular case can be pasted on the walls and objects.

Advertising is a perpetual motion machine of progress

Undoubtedly, in order to successfully promote a project called the “Language Center”, a massive advertising campaign will be needed.

You can actively hang leaflets in places public transport or a mass gathering of people, tell friends and friends of friends about yourself, and also invest money in advertising billboards. It won't hurt if there are free ones financial resources. However, as practice suggests, today there is nothing more effective than an Internet resource. Online advertising today will be less expensive, but more effective: you can place banners, pre-rolls, promotional videos, etc., while reaching a much wider audience.

Particular attention needs to be paid to discount portals: “Groupon”, “Pokupon” and others, where you can “highlight” loyalty programs. It has long been no secret that at first any company, in order to attract a larger number of customers, offers the most low prices. However, you shouldn’t go to extremes: you need to weigh all the pros and cons, and then offer the optimal price.

And, of course, it is necessary to make a high-quality website with appropriate support and contextual advertising to rank in the top ten search queries. But this will require the investment of additional funds, and you need to be prepared for this.

From theory to numbers

In order to really assess your ability to create an English language school, you need to include all costs and possible risks into a summary table and evaluate the profitability and payback of our idea.

However, you should not expect that everything will immediately go according to plan and in accordance with your calculations. Especially during a period of general crisis and fierce competition, you need to be prepared to respond quickly and have a certain financial reserve for this.

Usually, any business started from scratch progresses with difficulty at first due to lack of experience, lack of resources and low “promotion”. In addition, first you will need to work off the invested funds, so net profit there is no question. Work for initial stage goes more into the future. At this stage, your task is to optimize current costs and contribute to the speedy receipt of profits. To do this, it is necessary to attract the estimated number of students so that income covers expenses, and ideally exceeds them.

Preliminary business calculation for the creation of the “Language Center” school

* Provided that the company operates on a simplified taxation system.

** Training of 10 groups of students of 15 people each with payment of 6,000 rubles. per month per person.

These numbers may change, but the essence remains the same - you need to start implementing the idea only if the costs are covered by income. And only then will your foreign language center, as a business project, be completely feasible.

No matter what anyone says, knowledge of foreign languages ​​(English, French, German, etc.) is the very cherished key to obtaining a prestigious high paying job, perhaps even abroad. Therefore, the school of foreign languages ​​is truly a promising business idea, if properly implemented, you can, like the character of the famous Disney cartoon Scrooge McDuck, swim in gold! Well, perhaps the last phrase was an artistic exaggeration, but it’s really worth thinking about bringing this idea to life.

Step 1. Selecting the form of organization and registering with the tax authorities

How to open a foreign language school? Start with a choice legal form. Beginners, as a rule, are limited to registering as an individual entrepreneur. This will allow you to train students and hire staff, but you will not be able to issue certificates. And in work book the inscription “foreign language specialist” will be present, but not “teacher”.

In practice, it turns out that if there is a certain starting capital and entrepreneurial spirit, it is much more profitable to register a non-state educational institution. Of course, in this case there will be much more responsibility and all sorts of subtleties. However, you will receive a higher status and will be able to issue full certificates to your students.

In addition, NOU has a better chance of gaining a foothold in the city, since experienced and qualified teachers will go to a reliable organization with a clear social package.

After this, you will need to register with the tax office. Depending on the chosen form of organization, this process can take from 5 days to 1 month.

Step 2. Obtaining a license for educational activities

This document is issued by the territorial education authority. In order to receive it, you need to provide a certain set of documents ( full list specified in the body itself). This could be documentation related to the premises, course instructors, their level of qualifications, etc.

Step 3. Selecting a room

Be sure to decide where your foreign language learning center will be located. There shouldn’t be any particular problems finding a suitable place. You can buy or rent premises near large shopping centers, near various educational institutions (from kindergartens to universities).

If possible, try to avoid placement in residential areas. In addition, find out if there are any educational institutions of your direct competitors nearby - a more popular and familiar organization will take away a fair number of students from you.

Step 4. Buying furniture and equipment

When talking about how to open a foreign language school, be sure to take this cost item into account. In principle, there are no special requirements here: you can study the language even while sitting on the floor. But to create a prestigious and trustworthy image, you will agree that this is not enough. Stylish tables and chairs, bookcases, basic methodological manuals(textbooks, workbooks) - you will need all this first.

In addition, media materials must be present in each classroom. These include audio and video recordings, interactive programs for language learning, etc. Ideally, it is worth installing interactive whiteboards in the premises and purchasing several laptops - progress is moving forward, traditional methods of acquiring knowledge are being replaced by new ones.

As your business grows and develops (this can also be included in the business plan for a foreign language school), you can buy new teaching aids and equipment - interactive screens, projectors, etc.

Step 5. Finding teachers

The success of your foreign language school depends 95% on the quality of teaching. However, here you will have to work hard - few talented and experienced teachers will dare to leave their homes for the sake of a new project.

First of all, you need to decide what languages ​​you want to teach. According to statistics, the most popular languages ​​are English, Spanish and Italian. But German and French, oddly enough, have faded into the background in recent years.

You can search for employees both through friends and through specialized sites related to job searches.

At the same time, it is important to build on your own target audience. So, to teach children and teenagers, it is best to invite teachers who have worked at least several years at school. They know how to interest children, attract their attention and help consolidate new knowledge. But when it comes to teaching business language For students and adults, it would be more logical to choose as teachers those people who have lived abroad for several years.

Step 6: Recruiting Students

When thinking about how to open your own foreign language school, try to prepare everything in such a way that you can start work in late summer or early autumn. It is at this time that classes in schools and universities begin. And even adults who have long forgotten about such a thing as summer holidays will be more willing to go to gain new knowledge when the unbearable heat subsides.

Step 7. Advertising

Of course, you've already pictured a classroom full of enthusiastic students actively taking notes. new material and try to discuss in the language they are mastering. When wondering how to open a foreign language school, be sure to think about how you will advertise your services. After all, without this, your potential clients simply will not know that you exist!

The most in an efficient way at the moment is advertising on the Internet. Many people underestimate her, but in vain. By creating your website, you can provide people with detailed information about each course and learning conditions, talk about the teaching staff, the experience and achievements of each employee.

• Registration
• License
• Premises and equipment
• Staff
• Advertising
• Costs and profits

The ability to speak a foreign language has always been highly valued in society and is a great advantage for getting a good job. That is why people who want to succeed in life and career strive to gain new knowledge in this area. For those women who decide to organize a business while studying, advice on how to open a foreign language school from scratch will be relevant. We invite you to familiarize yourself with step by step guide to implement this idea.

Registration

Where to start opening a business? In order to properly open a school for the study of foreign languages, it is necessary to legally formalize your activities. The easiest way is to register an individual entrepreneur. You will be able to provide training and hire teachers, but the company will not have the right to issue special certificates for completing courses in English or other languages. Experts advise opening a non-state educational institution (Non-State educational institution). This is a rather labor-intensive process, but it will still be easier to “promote” your establishment and make money. The company will have a more advantageous position than if it had been registered as an individual entrepreneur. Agree that students would be more happy to study at a specialized institution than with a private businessman. The same goes for teachers. The registration process with the tax authorities will last up to 1 month.

License

Many women are interested in whether it is possible to open their own foreign language school without a license? Unfortunately, to provide educational services and the issuance of certificates, licensing is a mandatory item (it does not need to be issued only for private tutoring). You can get it from the city Department of Education, for which you will need to collect a certain package of documents. Its list includes:

• application for a license;
• notarized copies of constituent documents;
• notarized copies permitting documents to the premises from the SES and Gospozhnadzor;
• curriculum and certificate confirming the availability of the necessary methodological and special literature;
• personnel information;
• certificate of payment of state duty;
• a list of all attached documents.

Check with your territorial authority for the exact list of documentation required to obtain a license and open an educational institution from scratch. Please note that this may change.

One of the popular ideas for making money for a girl on the Internet at home is teaching English or other foreign languages ​​online via Skype. This option is suitable if you have the appropriate education and at least some work experience.

Premises and equipment

Where is the best place to open your English or other foreign language school from scratch? Experts recommend renting or purchasing premises near educational institutions, shopping centers and other places with high foot traffic. It is much more profitable to open an institution in the central areas of the city, since in bedrooms you are unlikely to be able to attract many clients. Be sure to conduct a thorough assessment of the competition. If a similar establishment is already open nearby, find another place to set up your business.

The next step to open a school will be renovation, purchase of equipment and furniture. This is perhaps the largest expense and should be taken seriously. The educational institution must be modern, with stylish furniture and equipment. First of all, take care of buying good tables, chairs, cabinets and boards. Of course, a school cannot do without educational and methodological literature. It will also be very cool if for the opening you purchase several computers and provide Internet access. As for design, it all depends on your taste and financial opportunities, but we advise you to make the room beautiful and cozy. Hang themed paintings and posters on the walls, put funny figurines-symbols with the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben on the shelves. People must feel comfortable so that they want to come again and again. Especially if you want to open a school to study foreign languages ​​for children.

Staff

To open a successful foreign language school from scratch, you need to find highly qualified teachers. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as it seems. Experienced employees can be lured to a new place of work only by high wages. You will have to try to find a decent teacher, especially if the institution will teach not only English, but also, for example, Spanish, Chinese, Italian or German. 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 business speech. Teachers in regular schools are quite capable of teaching children, including preschoolers. In any case, this is a very important issue that needs to be addressed long before the opening of the institution. In your educational institution There should be only experienced, competent and qualified teachers with an impeccable reputation, since most of the success depends on this. Among the staff, you will also need a cleaner and a visiting accountant.