Every day I speak to teachers who are trying to build a better life for themselves. They are bloody brilliant at what they do, and I just know that they will make amazing business owners.
But… they don’t quite see it themselves.
Years spent working for low-paying schools or platforms has left them with little confidence. Or, in some cases, no idea that building a business is even a possibility.
That was the reality for Elisabetta, a fabulous Italian teacher who lives in Germany.
Two years ago, she never even dreamed of running her own business. But now, she’s got her own students, sets her own schedule AND charges at least 40€ per hour.
But I don’t want to spoil the story. Let’s start from the beginning.
The challenges of being a freelance teacher
Elisabetta had been freelancing for nine years before our paths crossed. She worked at seven different language schools, teaching a mix of Italian and English – and even had her own private students. To most people, things seemed to be going really well.
But in reality, this wasn’t what she wanted out of her work.
All that commuting was absolutely exhausting. Plus, she didn’t want to teach English anymore. She wanted to transition into teaching only Italian, and to have more control over her work by creating some of her own group classes.
At that time, the thought of setting up her own business hadn’t even crossed her mind.
So, thank goodness for Facebook ads… 😉
Becoming a Richer Teacher
One day, Elisabetta stumbled across my ad for my old membership, Richer Teachers. She was curious. So she decided to join and try it out.
She was hooked after coming to a few of the sessions (her words, not mine 😆). And she realised how much she wanted to build a better life for herself where she didn’t have to rely on anyone else for her income.
That was when she decided to join my signature group program, the Rocket Accelerator.
Blasting off her teaching business
Elisabetta joined the fourth round of the program in January 2023. She stayed with us for 14 months, and has undergone such a huge transformation. I’m honestly so proud of her. 🥹
When she joined, she was still charging around 15€ per hour. She wasn’t super confident in selling her programs to her students and she was completely new to marketing. But she was determined.
She absorbed the information and experimented with lots of different things. And that led to some MASSIVE shifts:
Working with her dream clients
Elisabetta wanted to teach Italian, not English, so we started by finding her niche. She realised that she was teaching a lot of Germans who wanted to learn the language for their trips to Italy. So, we looked at what these people needed and built an offer around that.
Selling out her signature group course
Not only has Elisabetta grouped all of the 1:1s she had last year, but she has also successfully launched her signature group course, La Dolce Lingua, which she has sold out THREE TIMES!
Plus, she already has a waitlist of students for the next round and she’s feeling so much calmer and in control of her work.
Charging higher rates
Elisabetta’s lesson rates were far below what she should have been charging. So one of the first things we did was look at pricing.
Now, she is confidently charging no less than 40€ an hour for 1:1s – 45€ in some cases! Because she knows that what she’s offering is super valuable. SO PROUD!
Becoming known in her niche
Like most teachers, one of the biggest challenges for Elisabetta was putting herself out there and approaching people. We worked a lot on finding ways that she could network and get her name known in a way that felt comfortable and aligned.
And she absolutely thrived. A few months later, she was feeling more confident talking about what she does and she even spoke at a big German-speaking networking event! Something that she would never have dreamed of doing years ago.
And finally, she now has a really good understanding of sales and marketing, and feels tons more confident in her own decisions.
Life after the Rocket Accelerator
Here’s what Elisabetta had to say:
“I am SO much calmer, in control, like I know I can do it and how to do it, I see people resonating with the content I put out there and my mindset has completely shifted to seeing everything from my current and prospective students’ perspective as well as absolute certainty I am very, very good at this, and they won’t get as good results everywhere.”
How amazing is that!? 😍
What I love most about Elisabetta’s story is that her situation was so similar to most other teachers I meet.
She was teaching loads, she didn’t have a social media presence already, she didn’t know anything about sales and marketing. But with some strategy, guidance and self-belief she was able to change all of that.
It’s very easy to think that this kind of success is out of reach for you. But trust me when I say that you can completely change your path in a really short space of time. All you need to do is trust yourself and try.
Ready for your own success story?
Just like Elisabetta, you could end up teaching your dream students, earning a good salary and being in control of your own schedule.
If you want support in getting to that point, I would loooove to welcome you into the next round of the Rocket Accelerator. Click here to apply.
And if you want to follow Elisabetta’s journey or connect with her you should definitely check out her website!