How to open a foreign language center. How to open a foreign language school from scratch: business plan

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

Business registration

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

To engage in educational activities, you must obtain a license from the territorial education authorities. To do this, you need to provide information about the premises and the level of qualifications of teachers.

Choosing a room

Study Center foreign languages It’s better to open near educational institutions or near a shopping center.

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

Equipment and furniture

Making a business plan for opening English school, do not forget to include the cost of purchasing furniture and equipment.

There are no special requirements for the equipment of the room, since languages ​​can be studied anywhere. But to create an image, you need to purchase stylish furniture, as well as methodological manuals which you will need first.

Each classroom needs to buy media materials - video and audio recordings, as well as various interactive programs. Since technological progress does not stand still, the school needs to purchase several laptops to offer students new learning methods.

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

Teachers

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

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

Advertising

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

Standard advertising tools are:

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

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

Choosing a teaching method

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

This issue can be resolved in three ways:

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

Each of the proposed options has its own advantages:

• Standard programs delight with the efficiency of organization and simplicity.
• Employee-designed training programs can be quite effective. In addition, no foreign language school can offer such a training system.
• The third option provides you with the patronage of an experienced giant who will provide the necessary assistance and give useful advice. But you will conduct business according to its terms, so this option is not suitable for everyone.

Children's programs

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

Kids love to learn various songs and rhymes. They sing them and tell them to their friends and parents. During the holidays, you can stage theatrical performances in a foreign language.

Expenses

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

• Renting premises;
• Staff salaries;
• Equipment;
• Cleaning;
• Stationery;
• Payment of utilities;
• Other minor expenses.

For all this you will have to shell out approximately 600 thousand rubles.

Profit and profitability

The average income from a foreign language school is 30-60 thousand rubles per month. Large companies make more decent profits. The profitability of such a business is quite low. It is only 8%.

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

conclusions

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

Talking about competitors and the market educational services in general, we can safely say that in Russia it is oversaturated with supply and is highly competitive. You can find a service provider to suit every taste, in any price category.

At the same time, the market is promising and developing dynamically even in times of crisis. After all, both optimists and pessimists are aware of the need to learn a foreign language. The former believe that everything will stabilize and do not want to change the usual rhythm of life (fitness, cafes, foreign language courses), while the latter are thinking about leaving the country (and urgently begin to improve their language skills).

Therefore, opening a foreign language school is profitable, especially considering that the investment at the start is minimal. But due to high competition, it would be a good idea to study the market. Although, this is not necessary in all cases.

We did not conduct a cross-section of the market, because at the time of opening we simply did not have the necessary experience. And, to be honest, we didn’t need it, since we already had requests from potential clients.

We have exactly the case when demand gave rise to supply: we knew for sure that we would have a certain number of students. In a word, it has nothing to do with those cases when a company enters the market with some product, not knowing whether it will be in demand at all.

In addition, we were already existing teachers, and to say that we opened a business from scratch is not entirely true. We had few skills directly related to running a business, but we had an idea of ​​how to organize educational process, had their own at the time of opening client base and experience teaching in a private school.

It was the latter that helped us at the very beginning. We observed how the director of this school conducts business, how contracts are concluded, corporate training is completed, and we noticed mistakes that we would not like to repeat. We can say that the only competitor we studied was the school in which we ourselves worked.

Also, at the start, you need to decide which audience to work with. Today, foreign languages ​​are studied in private schools by people of all ages, starting from 3 years old. This means you can work with babies, preschoolers, schoolchildren, students, working people and retirees. Each category requires its own training program, and more than one. You cannot teach a first-grader and a graduate preparing for the Unified State Exam using the same template. And it’s almost impossible to cover all segments of the population at the start, so it’s better to start working with a category with which you already have experience interacting.

Personal experience

We started working with adults, and until now I had never worked with children in my life. Because I simply don’t know the right approach to them, I can only observe it from the outside as a mother. Therefore, we launched the “children’s sector” in our schools much later, when I saw the effect of training on my child and invited a specialist to head the corresponding area in our school.

If you want to start a business with something you don’t know how to do, it’s important to hire a good specialist. Moreover, you need to try his method on yourself as a client and wait for the results. Because you can't convince people that your product is good without ever trying it. At the start, you need to do what you know how to do, what you are ready for. Only this will ensure high quality services.

This also applies to the choice of languages ​​that will be taught at your school. If you are, for example, thinking about launching a course Spanish Without having information about it and the advising market, nothing will come of it. You won’t even be able to hire good specialists, since they are extremely reluctant to go to unknown schools.

It is best to start with one direction, work it out well and “test it”, and only then open new directions: launch courses in other languages, expand audience coverage. Something new in a foreign language school should be launched regularly. Trying to sell the same thing for 10 years is very dangerous. From time to time the market declines in each segment. The same English sometimes fades into the background, other languages ​​periodically become more popular, and in turn.

But the palette needs to be expanded gradually, starting with everything at once is the same as being scattered. This is exactly the problem of many schools that claim many languages, but cannot gather groups, and as a result, dissatisfied clients, without waiting for the start of classes in a month or two, leave. At the same time, they not only take their money, they are left with a negative impression, and they never return to this school.

Investment size

Step-by-step instruction

To survive in a competitive environment and not dump prices, it is necessary to pay the greatest attention to the quality of the services provided. Therefore, after you have studied the business from the inside and collected the required amount of investment, you need to think through the issue in detail curriculum. First of all, it will depend on what audience you plan to work with at the start. For example, it is better to teach very young children languages ​​through creativity: music, dancing, modeling, etc.

With adults it is somewhat easier in this regard, but they also pursue different goals when they come to a foreign language school: someone wants to emigrate, someone needs a language for work, someone for travel. Accordingly, it is advisable to provide different programs for different purposes.

When we opened our school, we wrote several programs: business English, spoken English, financial English, legal English, English for tourists, etc. We taught all this before, so the programs were working and tested on people.

We currently teach approximately 65 programs at our school, including very specific areas such as interview preparation. All of them are written by professionals. There is simply no other method other than involving a specialist in writing the program. For example, we now have a methodologist who has a higher education degree. Teacher Education and three years of experience in the specialty.

Another way is not to write your own program, but to use modern teaching aids international class - textbooks from publishing houses such as Macmillan, Longman, Cambridge, etc. They offer their programs, which you can simply download on the Internet and use the step-by-step instructions provided.

The teacher can also create a program independently. But for this you need to conduct a lot of classes, describe them, writing down the deadlines, results, textbooks used. Only then will it be a truly normal training program.

Personal experience​​​​​​​

It was with the help of our teachers that we launched the teaching of German, French and Italian languages. Almost all the teachers in our school have an education from Moscow State Linguistic University, they all know at least two languages. When we had already formed a staff of our teachers, each of them spoke one more language. At this stage, launching a second foreign language was easy because we were confident in the professionalism of our employees.

In general, the teacher is a key figure in this business. This is the person who will “keep” your client. If you make a mistake with the teacher, the client will not stay with you despite all the investments, beautiful offices, and chic sales managers.

If the founder of the school himself has a specialized education and “brews” in this environment, then it will be much easier for him to recruit staff, simply because he can involve his classmates in the work.

Otherwise, you can search for teachers in standard ways, for example, through advertisement sites. It is also worth “monitoring” students and graduates of local universities. For example, I constantly interact with MSLU, I know all the forums, I am present on all the sites where students are, and I often write to them directly, asking if they would like to join us after graduation.

Don't be afraid to hire young professionals. From the age of 21-22 you can work, demonstrating all your talents and a high level of language proficiency - C1.

Sometimes applicants come to us, but after the interview we advise them to start studying at our school at the Intermediate-Upper-Intermediate level, since they make a lot of mistakes in speech. This can often be found on the Moscow market.

Personal experience

Through experience, we found out that a sign is important for a school. Initially, we believed that today people are looking for information, including about courses, on the Internet, which means there is no need for signs. But it turned out that when we rented an office with a front sign, 30% of clients came to us simply passing by.

At the stage of brand formation, do not forget about PR: publications, free events, prize draws from partners. Try to find interesting partners and exchange audiences. It is very useful.

Even with the most competent promotion strategy, clients will not engage with you if it is inconvenient in terms of time. At the start, my partner and I worked from 7 am to 10 pm ourselves, looking at what time people were most active. Having studied the peaks in demand and recruited a staff of professionals, we established a working day from 10:30 to 19:30. At the same time, the greatest influx occurs in the evening: after work, people come to meetings, testing, and demo lessons.

In addition, for the convenience of the client, we have to work on weekends, which was a big problem at first. Therefore, we have developed a duty regime. We currently have someone who works on Saturdays but doesn't work on Mondays, and one of the training coordinators is always on duty on Sundays. It turns out that the employee is on duty once a month on Sunday and gets time off any day he wants. Thus, the office is almost always open, so the client can arrive at any time.

It goes without saying that long before the opening it is necessary to take care of finding a suitable premises for the school and its design. And here there are also a number of rules.

A foreign language school must be located in a place with good traffic. We took it for ourselves as an axiom that the distance from the metro is no more than 6 minutes. The acceptable figure for Moscow is up to 10 minutes from the metro.

In other cities, it is also worth focusing on public transport stops. One way or another, people should be able to easily reach you on foot, and not ride on a crossroads. It is very desirable that the school has its own parking lot, but in the city center this may be a problem.

Many beginning entrepreneurs think that the office must be located in the center. Perhaps there is a certain amount of truth in this. For example, our central office is always full of requests. But when choosing a “more central” room, it is important to consider one point:

In the center there are competitors on every corner

In addition, rental rates in central areas are quite high and can vary significantly. For example, you can rent a class A office, paying the appropriate price, and a competitor literally across the street rents a class B office, which is almost no worse in quality, but its price is much lower.

The cost of rent ultimately affects the cost of the course for your students. Therefore, you need to adequately assess the average bill and budget of your client. Even those students for whom money is not a problem do not want to overpay just for a building. Before you splurge on an entourage, consider whether your clients will pay for it.

At the same time, you shouldn’t choose an office based on the principle “the cheaper, the better.” Too budget options may not be entirely “clean” from a legal point of view.

It is advisable to resolve the issue with the premises together with a lawyer, so that he checks the contract and the building for “cleanliness”. Sometimes everything looks perfect, but after a couple of months it turns out that the building belongs to other people, and you can be kicked out any day. This will cause serious damage to your reputation.

There are no strict requirements for the purpose and condition of the premises, or for repairs therein. It is advisable to avoid the open space format. The walls must be erected initially so that you do not have to divide the room yourself. Otherwise, sound insulation will suffer, and therefore the quality of classes.

The number of classes will depend on the school load. On initial stage 4-5 rooms are enough (total area is about 60-80 sq.m., taking into account the entrance and administrative areas). A larger number does not make sense since the classrooms will be empty. This often doesn't make the best impression on clients. It is better to eventually move to a larger premises in the same territorial block. It is undesirable to move to another area, since many clients are residents of neighboring houses, who are often not ready to attend their favorite school after moving.

In the case of registration of a non-state educational institution, a number of additional requirements for the premises appear: the presence of a separate bathroom, the presence of a separate entrance, ceiling height - from 2.6 m, a source of natural light in each classroom, etc. It is also important to obtain opinions from firefighters and the SES. They will be required to obtain a license to conduct educational activities.

Documentation

When organizing a business in Russia, it must first of all be registered with the tax authorities. And to do this, you definitely need to decide on the organizational and legal form of ownership of your future business: work as an LLC, a non-profit organization or as an individual entrepreneur (individual entrepreneur)?

The IP form is, of course, good for beginners. It allows you to provide services to clients on a paid basis, rent premises, hire staff, but you will not be able to issue certificates to your graduates, and from the point of view of the law, your activities will be only advisory, but not educational. Corporate clients will not be available to you. And officially you will be considered only a specialist in foreign languages, and not their teacher.

In order for your school, according to the laws in force today in Russia, to become a full-fledged educational institution, you should register a NOU (non-state educational institution) or a commercial organization with the form of LLC (limited liability company).

This will allow you to obtain a license to carry out educational activities. Such a document is drawn up in the territorial education authority, and in order to receive it, you need to provide a certain set of documents ( full list specified in the body itself). This is usually documentation related to the premises, the qualifications of teachers, the quality of teaching methods and plans, etc.

At the end of 2013, Russia adopted amendments to federal law on education that private schools with any legal form have the opportunity to obtain a license to carry out educational activities. This is great news! But, unfortunately, the process of obtaining a license has not become easier, and the requirements for a licensee in the form of a small private school are still too high.

To obtain a license for educational activities It is best to use the help of specialized law firms. But do not confuse obtaining a license with its illegal “purchase”. This will inevitably lead to repeated checks and detection of counterfeit.

A strong argument in favor of obtaining a license is the opportunity for your clients to return their personal income tax (personal income tax - a direct federal tax in Russia) on the amount paid for education (which is 13%). This is a significant competitive advantage.

About what is needed to obtain a license

Usually licenses are required for registration.

The most profitable investment is in knowledge. Why not open a business providing foreign language teaching services? Is this direction in demand? For the phrase “English language school,” the Yandex search engine records more than 100 thousand user requests monthly, and for the phrase “English language” more than 13 million requests per month.

If the question arises about the relevance of learning foreign languages, then just go to any job search site and evaluate the available vacancies with more or less decent positions and salary levels. What do they have in common? Knowledge of English and, in some cases, other foreign languages ​​is required.

And if the knowledge acquired at school and college is not enough, people are looking for the opportunity to receive additional linguistic education. Many parents “prepare their sleigh in the summer” - they hire tutors and take their children to language courses. And, since there is demand, entrepreneurs looking for their niche have a logical question: how to open a foreign language school? A business plan, where to start, what format to choose, how to formalize it legally, and other important nuances are discussed in the article.

Relevance and target audience

The relevance of learning foreign languages ​​is growing not only due to the requirements of employer companies keeping up with the times, but also due to such factors as:

• active interest of citizens in tourist trips abroad;
• migration to foreign countries;
• admission to foreign educational institutions;
• foreign business trips;
• early development children, which includes language learning starting from kindergarten age;
• filling in the gaps school education when preparing for exams;
• wish modern people develop intellectually and develop your children.

From here, depending on the chosen format, a portrait of the target consumer is formed. These will be parents of preschool and school age, students, graduates, businessmen, tourists, etc.

Format selection

Open a foreign language school as a franchise

Reduce complexity with organizational issues Franchising will help in business. Using the example of a review of the franchises of two schools, we will analyze the main articles of the business plan, the amount of investment and the requirements for premises.

Network of foreign language schools ALIBRA SCHOOL

The network is represented by 17 branches in 4 regions of Russia, on the market for more than 15 years. To open a business under this brand, the following steps are required: apply for a franchise, enter into a licensing agreement, equip the premises and train staff, obtain a license. The company provides comprehensive support at every stage.

The financial terms of the partnership with ALIBRA SCHOOL are reflected in the table.

Premises requirements:

• Area - minimum 100 sq. meters, the premises should be located near residential buildings, large shopping and office centers.
• Availability of a bathroom, ceiling height from 2.6 m.
• Availability of parking next to the premises.
• Internet, possibility of zoning by audience.
• The lease agreement must be concluded for at least 3 years, the premises must have non-residential status.

In addition to the lump sum contribution, the initial investment includes: repair and decoration of the premises, equipment, furniture, office equipment, educational materials, personnel training, marketing events. The payback period for investments when working with the ALIBRA SCHOOL franchise is 14-22 months, the current profitability of existing branches is 30%.

Franchise of the language center "Lingvitania"

The Lingvitania Center offers partners two business formats: English for children from 3 to 12 years old, broken down by age category, and English for teenagers and adults. The advantageous feature of “Lingvitania” is that it is an authorized center for preparing for exams at the University of Cambridge.

Franchisees receive a ready-made business model and a CRM system for working with clients. The brand’s founders participate in the opening of the centers. Teachers working in partner centers are trained and tested at the central office. Uniform teaching materials, fully functional page on the site, advertising layouts.

Terms for partners:

• Until May 31, 2017, the lump-sum payment is 399,000 rubles.
• Royalties are paid quarterly - 18,000 rubles.
• Initial investments - from 850,000 rubles.
• Not a basement or semi-basement room in good repair with an area of ​​50 sq. m. m, which should have at least two rooms of 15-23 square meters. m.

More detailed information about the requirements and conditions of franchises can be found on the company’s websites. Business success in this area is guaranteed with a careful approach to hiring teachers, drawing up a business plan, choosing a format, premises, studying current offers and demand in your region, organizing a high-quality advertising campaign and first-class service.

How to open an English language school - 3 competitive advantages + 5 ways to promote + 5 working secrets from business pros.

Capital investments in school: from 150,000 rubles.
Payback period: from 6 months.

This is often asked by people who themselves know him perfectly.

To start, a relatively small capital investment and staff are required.

At the same time, demand for the service remains stable.

All more people teaches English for career growth, trips abroad and just general development.

However, desire alone is not enough in a highly competitive environment.

It is important to conduct a marketing analysis, choose advertising methods, correctly register activities and calculate expenses.

What documents are needed to open a language school?

In order to open an English language school, it is enough to register as an individual entrepreneur (IP).

The procedure for obtaining papers is simple.

Therefore, even beginners will be able to cope without resorting to intermediaries.

Language courses are educational program, the existence of which is possible only after obtaining a license.

Only it gives the right to hire training personnel.

The good thing is that this document no longer needs to be renewed every 5 years.

Once you receive a license, you can use it for the rest of your life.

If you are the only one teaching, registering as an individual entrepreneur is sufficient.

Don't forget that you will also need to register with the tax service.

How to open an English language school: marketing analysis

Interesting fact:
Although English is only the third most popular language, the total number of people who speak English is over a billion. This is approximately every seventh earthling.

Demand for learning foreign languages ​​in this moment not completely satisfied, despite active competition and saturation of this segment.

In addition to English, French, German, and Italian are popular.

People need to increase their level of knowledge in order to improve their working skills, travel to other countries, to emigrate abroad, distance learning in foreign educational institutions.

To open English language courses, it is first important to analyze the situation in your city and on the market in general.

Analysis of the target audience of the English language school

Experts recommend choosing a separate, narrow niche for promotion.

For example, teaching young children or preparatory courses before taking international exams.

In general, the target audience of English language courses consists of the following categories:

• tourists;
• children from 3 years old;
• emigrants;
• employees of companies where English is necessary for career advancement;
• people who learn English for self-development;
• future teachers.

List of competitive advantages for the school

It has been mentioned more than once that competition in the segment is very high.

To ensure that the demand for language courses does not pass you by, it is important to highlight several powerful competitive advantages.

Before opening an English school, it is important to make sure that it will have distinctive features:

Certificate.

It’s a big plus if, after completing the courses, you can issue training certificates to your students.

Of course, it will not be possible to issue an international diploma.

But a regular sheet of praise or an internal certificate - yes.

For students, this is an incentive to study better, an opportunity to show off to friends, and a document that can decorate a resume.

If you are just about to open courses, price dumping is a justified step.

Affordable prices always attract customers.

And this will allow you to launch “word of mouth”, which is the best advertising method.

Native speakers.

As you know, a foreign language is best learned through practice.

A significant competitive advantage is the presence of a native speaker in the classroom, who will improve live speech with students.

Often people know English very well, but are embarrassed to speak it.

Classes with a native speaker will help overcome this difficulty.

Methods for promoting an English language school

It is important not only how to open an English language school , but also how to attract customers.

Of course, the most effective method– this is word of mouth.

But in order for word of mouth about you to begin to spread in all directions, you need to attract the first visitors.

To promote your English language school, use the following advertising methods:

No organization that seriously positions itself can do without its own website.

It will become your representation in the virtual space.

Internet promotion attracts financial accessibility.

The site needs to be optimized, filled with interesting content, and promoted using contextual and banner advertising.

This task should be entrusted to specialists.

But if you are looking to save money, you can take matters into your own hands and learn the basics of virtual promotion yourself.

There is no need to completely abandon standard promotion methods.

English language courses are an area of ​​business in which promotions and competitions work well.

For example, you can offer a client an impressive discount (20-30%) for inviting a friend.

1. If the main clientele is children, it makes sense to enter into cooperation agreements with ordinary educational institutions, kindergartens and other places where young parents can gather.

How to choose a premises to open an English school?

You can open a small language school where only you will teach, not even in a separate room, but by renting a classroom in an educational institution.

Then the rental cost will be significantly lower, and you will have more money to invest in educational materials.

Overall, you should not face any difficulties when choosing a location.

This should be a room that clients can reach without problems both by car and by public transport.

For large cities, renting a place in the center is not fundamentally important.

Indeed, due to high competition, it may happen that the client turns to the company that is simply closer to home.

However, for small towns, accommodation in the center is really more convenient and more prestigious than on the outskirts.

In addition, as a rule, you can quickly and easily get to the central region from almost any part of a small settlement.

What equipment do you need for an English school?

To open an English language school, you will need a less extensive list of necessary equipment.

To create a “base”, it is enough to purchase the necessary manuals, furniture for the classroom, a blackboard, and equipment for the rest room.

The larger the number and the higher the declared level, the more equipment will be required.

And the more solid the investment will be.

Equipment criteria	Description
For activities with children	Educational posters, cards, small toys, children's books with large print and bright pictures. It would also be a good idea to purchase a projector to show cartoons in English.
Tutorials	It is important that educational materials are as “fresh” as possible. A big drawback of school education is teaching from Soviet-era books, where the information has become obsolete. The same can be said about the level of teachers. With language courses at a private school, you can provide clients with useful, relevant knowledge. The best material is considered to be modern manuals from America, which come with workbooks. It would be good if you could also collect a library of popular books in English and periodicals for your students.
Furniture	Tables and chairs for the classroom, armchairs and a table for the recreation area.
Technique	In order to open a small English language school, it is enough to purchase 1-2 computers, a Wi-Fi router and a working mobile phone.

How to choose staff for a school?

You can open an English language school on your own, with the help of family members.

However, to develop the business, the staff cannot be less than 2-3 teachers.

In addition, you will need to do administrative work, hire security, etc.

Also find specialists in creating a website and promoting the school on the Internet.

How much does it cost to open an English language school?

Considering that former teachers and tutors often decide to open an English language school, the issue of financial investment becomes the most important.

How much it costs to open a school depends on a number of factors: the area of ​​the rented premises, the number of clients, the advertising methods used and others.

Let's consider the average cost estimate for opening a language school.

Capital investment in an English language school

Regular investments

Do not forget that in addition to a one-time starting investment, the school will need regular support for the following items:

Payback period for an English language school

Income, and therefore the payback period, depend on the occupancy of your English language school.

According to average statistics, with only 2 teachers on staff and an ideal 100% workload, the business will bring the owner 150,000 - 200,000 rubles.

As you can see, this amount slightly exceeds the amount of monthly expenses.

With such indicators, payback will occur approximately in six months.

You can increase your profit by scaling: invite new teachers, introduce additional classes, open additional points.

To open a successful English language school,

Watch a video interview with an experienced entrepreneur in this business field:

5 tips from the pros on how to open a successful English school

It is easier, oddly enough, to cope with fierce competition in big cities.

There, “proximity to home” will be added to the competitive advantages for many.

People love to learn through play.

Introduce days devoted to interactive teaching methods, watching films, and discussion club meetings.

For quality language learning, regular work is required, and not just a couple of times a week when the client comes to class.

Enter your homework and remote form support.

This way, students will learn faster, and their loyalty to the English school will increase.

A good bonus for an English language school is to open a relaxation room with a cafe.

Students will be able to chat over a cup of coffee, finish assignments, and wait for the lesson to start.

Such loyalty systems actively attract new customers.

If a person comes to the first lesson with a discount and receives highest level service, will definitely come back again.

How to open an English language school so that the business allows not only self-realization, but also generates income?

In addition to investing effort and money in opening a school, it is important to regularly engage in its development and promotion.

No amount of competitive advantage will force clients to become permanent if the level of training is low, as well as the qualifications of the teachers.

Staff development courses, thematic events, and an online advertising campaign will create a constant flow of students.

In this case, no competition will be fatal for the business.

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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.

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

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. At first we were looking for an office in a large residential area - Primorsky, but when there was no space there, we turned our attention to Vasilievsky 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 a large space. 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 friends, we started looking for new teachers on Headhunter.

Class time

By August, Lingvoexpert had recruited six groups of 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 of 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 with the Groupon coupon service in advance, back in the spring. Two months of intensive training in summer groups of 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 as part of the promotion continued to study in groups at the regular price of 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, it is more important for them colloquial.

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" before "upper-intermediate", it will take about a year and a half of classes several times a week.

The main difficulty for the school: companies take a very long time to decide who will teach their employees the language. Sometimes 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 an individual approach and ask for small groups of 2-3 people, so one large company can train 50-60 groups at the same time.

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. Administrative staff remain there, and new teachers are interviewed and trained there. Rent costs 55,000 rubles per month.

Two more employees who sell the 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, and the proceeds were invested 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 to corporate clients for money.