BabelTEQ Podcast

In this episode we talk about one of the most crucial components of any online business – your website. You may be thinking, "Why do I need a website when I can just use my social media profile page?" While social media can be a great way to validate your niche and get a "proof of concept", having a website is essential if you want to grow your online language teaching business at SCALE. In this episode, we'll break down the benefits of having a website, including increased credibility, control over your brand and online presence, and the ability to track and analyze your audience's behavior. So, if you're ready to take your online language teaching business to the next level, sit back, relax, and get ready to learn why a website is a non-negotiable for your business's success.

The first BabelTEQ podcast episode for the New Year. Learn about: The new business trend that is going to drive opportunities for Business English instructorsChanges in the China ESL marketNew B2B and IELTS coaching opportunities as we move out of the pandemicHow AI is going to revolutionize ESL (in a good way) in the new year and beyondHow you can create marketing content that still cuts through in an information saturated world

Anyone who has been teaching online for a while will understand that “success” doesn't come from just from FINDING new students. It comes from KEEPING them. So, what are the secrets to reducing “client churn”? How do you consistently deliver a service experience that keeps your students coming back month after month AND referring their friends as well? Today we are going to learn The 7 Secrets of ESL Customer Service Success that will delight your clients and increase your student retention rate. My guest is Crystal Weber. She is the founder and MD of Crystal Clear ESL and Crystal Clear Academy. Crystal now supports thousands of ESL freelancers in launching and building their own online businesses.

If you are familiar with online teaching or coaching, you would know that one of the most important choices you need to make, is the platform that you will use for teaching. Zoom is a popular choice, but it is primarily just a communication tool, not a virtual classroom environment. What advantages does switching to a dedicated online classroom tool bring to you as coach or language trainer? How does a virtual classroom streamline your business and add value for your clients? Today I am joined by Wilim Abrook, Head of Education and Community Development at LearnCube. He is an online ESL teacher himself, and regularly speaks with teachers and schools at all levels, to understand how LearnCube can meet their online education needs.

You've probably heard countless business coaches tell you that in order to succeed online, you need to have a niche. And it's true. The online market is flooded with generalists. You need to stand out. But how do you know that your niche idea “has legs”? How do you know that there is even a market of people who would hire you to help them? How do you know that you aren't going to waste time and resources building a brand that nobody cares about? Today we are going to meet Kirsten Smith whom I think has a great story to tell about how she chose her coaching niche and the steps she took to validate her idea before going on to success.

If you are trying to build a brand and reputation as an expert in your teaching or coaching niche, one of the most important things you can do is create content. By writing, videoing, or recording your thoughts for the world, you are positioning yourself as an authority who your ideal clients will turn to for help. But producing content isn't easy. How do you generate ideas for new content? How do you overcome “writers block”. How do you create original material that engages your readers and doesn't put them to sleep? In this podcast, we hear from professional content writer, Cheri Gipson. She gives advice on how to tackle those challenges and more.

"By my second year, I wanted to scale by multiplication." - Jeff Johnson Today, we are going to hear from a BabelTEQ client who has achieved amazing success with growing his teaching business in a relatively short time. Jeff Johnson (a.k.a. "ESL Jeff") has been helping ESL students for more than 10 years and more recently has been helping clients prepare for the IELTS exam in Canada. In our interview he explains the strategies that he has used to SCALE his online teaching business beyond its initial success.

If you are like the majority of independent teachers, I'm going to guess that you feel uncomfortable about the prospect of “sales calls” with clients. Maybe you believe that as a teacher, trainer or coach, “selling” is something completely outside your wheelhouse, something you'd prefer NOT to do at all, if that were possible. And yet, anyone who is engaged in selling a personal service needs to recognize that there IS a requirement to convert “interested prospects” into “paying clients” in order to have a sustainable business. So, is there a way to approach sales that doesn't make us feel “salesy” when interacting with clients? Is there a way to discuss what we charge with clients in manner that doesn't create a feeling of awkwardness? Today, we are going to learn about how to tackle “selling” with a whole different mindset. We'll discuss how to interact with clients using an approach that achieves our business objectives but doesn't compromise our values or integrity. My guest today has a personal mission to help teachers make MORE money, work FEWER hours, and enjoy freedom. He is Robbie Kane, Chief Marketing Officer of Bowie Strategy, working with James Liu.

You've all probably heard of Twitter and Reddit, two popular social media platforms. But what if I told you there was another platform which has more active monthly users than either of those platforms? I'm talking about Pinterest. Pinterest's user demographics make it an especially attractive marketing opportunity for independent ESL tutors who are focused on the young learner market. It's the platform of choice for Tiger Moms. Pinterest user demographics skews toward women (and higher income brackets than average). So today we are going to learn a lot more about “Marketing Your ESL Service on Pinterest”. My guest, Melanie Boyd, helps entrepreneurs design a career and lifestyle, with purpose and passion through Pinterest management and strategy. Her educational background is in Communication Disorders and in E-Learning. She has almost 5 years' experience working with young language learners through VIPKID. She is currently the owner of Melanie Boyd Creative where she offers support as a Pinterest Account Specialist.

As a solo Teacher Entrepreneur, you no doubt have plenty of dreams, goals and plans for the future. But do you sometimes feel stuck? Do you feel like you aren't making progress? Do you feel like your “to-do list” is overwhelming? Of course, what you would LIKE to see is visible, steady progress toward your goal of career freedom and financial success. In today's podcast we are going to discuss “Dealing with The Overwhelm Factor”. My guest is productivity expert and Asana CRM ninja, Rachel Baker. She is the CEO and Director of Merciful Mornings. She helps other small business owners, entrepreneurs, and teachers to bring chaos and overwhelm under control so they can get more done in less time.

The best landing pages in the world aren't going to do a THING if nobody ever sees them. So how do you get web traffic to come into your ESL student funnel? Sure, you can spend hours posting, commenting, and direct messaging on social media. But the problem is that none of that activity scales very well. So how DO you get hundreds or even thousands of qualified sales prospects into your email inbox quickly?  In this interview I talk with Leah Sparrow about The Online Teacher Facebook Ads Blueprint (TOTFAB), and about her FREE challenge program. She describes how she helped one of her TOTFAB clients to get 164 student signups for a total advertising spend of $US 339 - using Facebook ads.

How much money can you make in a year? As an independent language coach do you make enough to give yourself financial security and cover the risk and uncertainty of being self-employed? Could you afford to separate yourself from your business for one or two months without it having a critical impact on your income? If those questions make you uncomfortable, then you perhaps you should begin thinking about a long-term plan to scale to a more profitable and sustainable footing. In this podcast I am joined by James Liu, CEO of Bowie Strategy and the founder of "The 21-Day Teacher-Entrepreneur Challenge". He explains the strategies and concepts he has shared with his clients, in order to help them grow six figure ESL coaching businesses.

Why is it so crucially important to choose a well defined audience for your business? Why is it critical to have a clear idea of your ideal client? How should you go about choosing a niche? In this podcast I am joined by marketing expert and author, Mike Killen from Sell Your Service. He explains how choosing a niche can radically transform your language coaching business in terms of generating greater income and giving you back more free time. Mike brings to the conversation his experience gained from working with everyone from 8-figure corporate clients to solopreneurs and puts that into a context that delivers tremendous value to independent language professionals.

According to studies, MORE people would rather take a dip in shark infested waters than speak to a crowd of strangers. And yet, if you are trying to establish yourself as an authority in your niche, then at some point you will need to produce original videos or other media to support your claim to expertise. That can sound like a daunting prospect, but it doesn't need to be. Today I am talking with Ashley Griffiths who offers “Confidence in Communication” services which help small business owners find the confidence to create and post impactful content on social media. He assists clients to craft video messages, practice delivery and see that the end results are actually published.

The last 2 years have been nothing short of turbulent for the global online ESL market, first with the COVID pandemic and then with the shut down of several big platform companies in China. In this episode I make some predictions about trends which will impact independent online teachers in 2022 and how they can profit from them.

If you are just starting out as an independent ESL coach, you are probably used to recruiting students one at a time and collecting payments from them individually. But what if there were a way to recruit not just one student, but SEVERAL students at once ... and have their company pay for your lessons? Welcome to the world of B2B clients! In this podcast I talk with Chris Rush about our experiences of dealing with companies as B2B customers, how you need to understand the "mind set" of B2B decision makers and the massive opportunity which just a single company client can bring to your ESL coaching business.

If you're an independent ESL teacher who is struggling with lesson materials for young learners, then this podcast is going to interest you. I am talking today with Miranda Crowhurst, who is the ESL Segment Manager at Twinkl Educational Publishing.  Twinkl is a subscription service offering a collection of English as an additional language teaching and learning resources. These include ready-to-use games, activities, worksheets, and guidance documents which have been developed by specialists for teachers and parents to use when supporting children who are learning English as an additional language.

In this podcast I talk with Chris Rush from OFF2CLASS about the benefits and disadvantages of pursuing an ESL tutoring career through online teacher marketplaces such as iTalki, Preply and Verbling. We discuss and compare the options: Working for a company directlyWorking fully independentlyWorking semi-independently through one of the marketplace platforms.

With the recent changes to Chinese regulations concerning after school tutoring services, a lot of independent freelance ESL teachers are wondering what opportunities still exist in that market. In this podcast I am joined by Cheri Gibson who runs a Facebook group for teacher-entrepreneurs and Minji Xu who also runs a service to help teachers reach and better understand Chinese clients. We talk about how the Chinese Central Government's "double reduction policy" has impacted major ESL companies, to what extent it affects private tutors, and what options are open for them now.

Instagram now has over ONE BILLION monthly active users, making it the 6th most popular mobile app in the world. In this episode I am joined by Instagram marketing expert, Joanne Kaminski, who specializes in helping online tutors launch independent careers. We examine the different kinds of Instagram content, plus how to increase your account reach and follower engagement. Joanne also offers some strategies for growing your ESL teaching business through the Instagram platform.

Today I talk with Kristian de Groot about opportunities for ESL professionals in the field of language proficiency exam coaching. All over the world, there are millions of English learners who want to do well in the IELTS, TOEFL and Cambridge tests. This represents a potentially lucrative business opportunity for ESL tutors who are looking to pivot away from other types of language coaching. Kristian explains his own path to success as a Cambridge test preparation coach and gives valuable insights for anyone considering the same.

Yoshua Reece talks with me about his research into the ways in which independent ESL language coaches can get paid by Chinese clients. We discuss the challenge of getting paid from China and look at his own web project which offers payment page solutions to independent teachers, MyTeacherShop.com BabelTEQ can offer a sales funnel oriented website plus an integration with Yoshua's payment pages as the perfect combination for ESL professionals focussed on the Chinese market.

In this episode, I talk with Tara Cull about how and why she recently began her own podcast as a way of connecting to ESL students. We discuss equipment, production styles and the benefits of starting a podcasting channel for your target audience.

In this episode I talk with frequent guest on the podcast, Rich Tweten, about how we can add value to our ESL teaching brand by building a community for our students. We discuss some things to be aware of when creating Facebook Groups and touch on some other options for making your students feel like they are part of your "tribe".

Bryn Bonino discusses what "personal brand" means for freelance ESL teachers, why it matters and what we can do to create that brand identity.

Leah Sparrow talks about Facebook advertising, why Facebook ads are a great opportunity for ESL teachers and how to run successful FB campaigns on a budget which everyone can afford.

I am honored to talk with a legend of the ESL industry, Nik Peachey. In this episode we discuss the SIX necessary skills which teachers need to come to grips with in order to excel as an online instructor. We also discuss the future of online ESL teaching and Nik's new project - The Teacher's Classroom App.

Liz Bigler, the owner of Bigler English Coaching, explains how she has grown her business by teaching Japanese students, at first through face to face teaching but now online. She talks about how remote teaching methods have changed her business and explains some things ESL teachers should be aware of if they are targeting English learners from Japan.

Are there any common trends, patterns or behaviors which seem to connect successful freelance ESL teachers? This week's podcast is an interview with Bryn Bonino who has interviewed more than 20 freelance teachers as part of her "Make a Leap" research project. She shares some interesting findings about common themes emerging from her analysis of the interview material.

This podcast is for ESL teachers who feel frustrated with traditional teaching methods or who are interested in alternative strategies for helping students achieve language skill results. My guest is professionally certified coach, keynote speaker, neuroscientist, creator of the NeuroLanguage Coaching program and author of "Neurolanguage Coaching: Brain friendly language learning" … Rachel Paling.

In this mini-podcast episode I discuss the recent news that LinkedIn will be launching a freelance platform similar to FIVERR and Upwork later in the year. I give my opinion on the worst case impact but also the potential benefits this will bring for independent ESL teachers on the platform.

This week I talk with ESL Business Coaching expert Hugh Elliott about positioning your teaching services to achieve a higher income. We discuss pricing strategies for attracting the students who will help you build a sustainable and profitable career over the long term.

I talk with ESL coach and entrepreneur, Kris Amerikos about the essential skills which every independent ESL teacher needs to master in order to build a profitable and sustainable business.

Zsuzsanna Bekesi Smith returns to the podcast to give advice for any independent ESL teachers who might be struggling with developing lesson plan material for their niche. We talk about some of the mistakes that can easily be avoided when planning your curriculum. Zsuzsanna talks about when and why you might wish to develop video based course material to supplement your live lesson income stream.

In this podcast Rich Tweten returns to talk with me about the ways in which free social media marketing can be utilized to attract potential students to your sales funnel. We do a brief discussion of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, SnapChat and TikTok.

Today, I talk with Steve Krajewski about how ESL teachers can help English language learners who get "stuck" at the intermediate plateau in their skill development. We discuss the successful tactics and approaches that Steve has used in his independent online English teaching career to deliver value for his intermediate students.

Apple and Facebook are locking horns. This podcast examines how the planned iOS privacy updates will impact on the Facebook Ad platform. Any ESL teachers who are currently relying on FB Ads need to understand what is happening and how Apple's privacy changes will affect them. I list three of the ways that your Ad strategy will be impacted and suggest three things you should do to prepare your business. ---------------------------------------- Thanks for listening in this year of turbulence. Happy New Year! See you in 2021.

Many first time freelance ESL instructors struggle with the marketing aspects of creating a successful online business. In this episode we interview Jane Beachell who is a graduate of the Teacher-Entrepreneur Challenge; a business coaching course for ESL teachers run by James Liu. 

This week I talk with Vivien Leung who is in the process of launching her exciting new independent online ESL business ... with a difference. She provides Neurolanguage coaching sessions for her clients. Listen to find out what Neurolanguage coaching is and how it benefits ESL students.

In this episode I explain why many independent ESL teachers are missing an opportunity if they don't target advanced level students. I look at two of the main misconceptions which teachers have about the advanced student market. I also list five ways that freelance ESL teachers can deliver exceptional value to their online students and justify high hourly rates.

We are joined by Tara Cull, an independent ESL teacher who is achieving great success in her niche, English for Landscape Architects. Tara explains how LinkedIn has been an indispensable part of her online marketing and outreach strategy.

I'm joined by Angie Herrera, owner of First Class Language School. We discuss how she used her background as a native Costa Rican to grow her online English school into a rapid success. Angie explains the ways that non-native speakers can utilize their familiarity with the language and culture of the target niche audience to build a successful brand.

Today we are joined by two guests, Zsuzsanna Bekesi Smith and James Green. They are co-founders of a new service The Teaching Community which aims to assist solo online teachers. Our discussion today is around the issue of "Imposter Syndrome", a state of mind which studies how shown affects a large majority of people at some point of their professional lives. In the podcast we discuss: What exactly is Imposter SyndromeHow Imposter Syndrome can be self-managedEnvironments which can be supportive for teachers dealing with Imposter Syndrome Zsuzsanna and James also talk about their new project and how it is designed to specifically help teachers who want to build sustainable and profitable online careers. To get in touch with either of today's guests go to: www.theteaching.co

We are joined by online ESL business owner and Facebook Group Administrator, Rich Tweten. We do a deep dive into the challenges of starting your own freelance online ESL service. In the podcast we discuss: Factors to consider when choosing a niche.Planning your business model.The two "P's" that get in the way of a lot of new business owners.How to build a personal ESL brand.The two different approaches to growing your business.What to expect as you grow your independent online English teaching career. You can find more information on how Rich is helping online teachers to go solo at his Facebook Group: Online English Teachers - Independent, Fulfilled & HIGH Paid!

In this podcast I'll explain why I think online ESL is on the cusp of a DECADE LONG BOOM  I'll also explain what you need to do NOW to take advantage of that. In the podcast I talk about: The factors driving future demand for ESL teaching.Why vocational English training demand is set to take off.The ESL segment that is effectively "recession proof". You will also learn about the THREE aspects of everyone's work environment which have been scientifically proven to impact on our job satisfaction. And you'll discover why many online ESL teachers relish their work (while also making a good income).