Remember the song that goes, ‘It’s not about the money, money, money’?
I don’t know much about the singer, but one thing’s for sure… she was NOT running an online teaching business. Because as you and I know, it very much IS about the money.
As a caring, supportive teacher, you might want to serve as many students as possible, but you also need to get paid. That’s kind of the first step to building a profitable business, right?
The good news is that there are plenty of ways to earn money teaching languages online. And even if you’ve scoured the internet for inspiration, I bet that you haven’t used any of the strategies I’m about to share! ?
Here are 6 clever ways to make more money in your online language teaching business.
#1: Find yourself a teaching niche
If you have already been running your business for a while, you may already have this. In that case, skip this step!
But if you’re still teaching anyone and everyone who wants to learn the language you teach? STOP RIGHT NOW.
Choosing a teaching niche is one of the simplest ways to make more money in your teaching business. That’s because it will literally make everything you do easier. It will help you create a sellable offer, write great content and build your audience faster.
It may sound counterintuitive, but then so does only offering business coaching for language teachers, am I right? And FYI – I’m doing fine. ?
Not sure how to find your niche? Think about how your unique skills, experience and interests combine. There is very likely something special in there.
#2: Charge for lesson packages
How do you charge for your lessons right now?
If it’s by the hour or based on how many classes your students want to take, let’s change that right now.
Selling course packages is a super simple way to give you a more stable income and your students a more structured learning path.
I know it can be tempting to listen to what your students want to do but remember: YOU’RE the expert. You call the shots. If you think your students will benefit most from studying for 20 hours, then that’s what they shall do. ?
I would even suggest ONLY offering blocks of lessons that they pay for up front or monthly. That way, you can relax knowing the next few months are covered.
#3: Raise your prices
Yep, I said it!
If you’re like most of the superstar teachers I speak to, I bet that you’re not charging nearly as much as you’re worth.
You might worry that people will never be able to afford you if you charge XYZ. So, you stick to rates you *think* are less greedy even though you know you deserve to earn more. Am I right?
Let me tell you, teacher: there ARE people willing to pay a lot more than you think for your language classes. Weirdly, the lower your prices, the more people will complain about them because you’re attracting the wrong kind of people. But when you raise your prices, you naturally begin to attract higher-quality clients to your online business. It’s like magic.
#4: Create a group course instead of 1:1s
This should be a priority for any teacher who wants to make more money in their teaching business. Because if you fill your days with private students, there will always be a ceiling to how much you can make.
BUT! I am not suggesting that you simply group some of your 1:1 students together. Nope. Instead, I recommend creating a signature online course that you run several times per year.
Why? Because it will save you time, increase your students’ motivations, make your work easier to plan AND deliver even better results to your students. I don’t know about you but I’d say that’s a pretty good deal for everyone, right?
#5: Run paid workshops
There will always be people in your audience who aren’t ready to buy your higher-priced offers (like your courses). Perhaps they’re new to your world and don’t know you well enough yet, or maybe they can’t afford your classes right now. And that’s totally ok – it takes time to warm potential students up!
But one great way to serve these people and earn their trust is to offer low-cost workshops. These should be live, one-off webinars that address a common challenge. For example, a French teacher for people who want to work in France could run a workshop on interviewing at a French company.
If you can make it super specific and relevant, you could charge anywhere between $25-$50 depending on the topic, your expertise and your target audience.
Bonus tip: if you record this session, you can also package it up and sell it as a digital product to earn extra income later!
#6: Create and sell digital products
Good news, my dear teacher. All those wonderful lesson plans and teaching resources you’ve created could actually be making you money. It probably won’t be tons (passive products aren’t the magic ticket to running a six-figure business). But it can still be a nice passive income stream.
So, what does ‘digital products’ include? It could be anything from a study plan to an interview preparation pack to a pre-recorded webinar. You just need to make sure that it clearly addresses a need your ideal students have.
As for price, that depends on the value of the resource to your students. I’ve sold digital products for anywhere up to £199.
If you are considering creating digital products, just beware that it still takes lots of work to promote them. You need to consistently remind students they exist and explain the benefits of investing. Whether or not you wish to create passive products will probably depend on your business model.
Should you invest in professional development?
Many teachers think that the automatic way to earn more money in their teaching businesses is to get an extra qualification – like a DELTA. But this is tricky. Though it is a pretty safe way to climb the ladder in a language school, it doesn’t work the same way in business.
Students don’t necessarily care whether or not you have an advanced teaching qualification. They care most about how you can help them reach their goals.
So, I would say if you have lots of teaching experience, you will be better off using some of the strategies above to grow your business. And if you are quite new to the industry or you know a qualification will help you serve your specific target audience, then another qualification may be helpful.
Ready to start making more money in your teaching business?
Join the waitlist to hear when the next round of my free challenge, Language Course Worth Gold goes live. We will look at how to create an irresistible group offer that’s the backbone of your sustainable business.