I would price your services the exact same as the competition. You can always lower your price but raising it is very difficult.
It sounds like you should definitely do it. Like you said, we can't keep working as contract to contract mercenaries. There are no benefits or retirement plans (maybe the public options like social security.) If this is what you (anyone) are going to do for the rest of your life, you need to make your money now and save some. ... Not that that is easy to do ...
I'm still working out of my house. If it aint broke ...
I could have moved to a bigger, better location, and possibly tried to expand. But, I just don't want to be that busy and I don't want the hassles of managing other teachers. I like having the time to create lesson materials and I'm just not that interested in the business side.
Anyway, if you keep expenses low, you don't need to work as much and if you do get a lot of work, you keep more. Also, staying small means less management hassles.
You should register as a business with the local authority. there are generally a lot of incentives for small business owners - mostly lower taxes (tax breaks) and you can write off more stuff. Again, less taxes means more in your pocket.
Quote:
Quote STCrowley  My questions for you: how did you advertise? Have you 'moved' into a location outside your house?
What do you use for materials?
-Toby |
For materials, you can see exactly what I use here:
MES-English.com - childrens resources
- flashcards, worksheets, games and activities. I made these resources and there is a curriculum as well to use just this and supplement with other sites below
Hospital English.com - medical English lesson plan resources
-these are materials I made for the technical college and university I work at
Fun Fonix.com - phonics workbooks
- these are the phonics resources I made for kids classes. There are also worksheet makers to make additional resources in problem areas
Tools for Educators.com - make worksheets and games
- reading, writing worsheets, games and more to supplement MES materials or adult classes
123 Listening.com - free listening resources
- free audio and listening tests. Again these match MES materials. There are also worksheet makers for teachers to use to make their own listening worksheets
Anyway, I set out from the beginning to make all of my own materials. I'm still working on it as I try to keep up with my longer running and advancing classes. I also update some things and revise here and there.
For adult classes, I use Interchange. I don't have time to prepare a full set of materials for adults (at this time) and why should I. What's out there is good and reasonable. So, find a series you like and go with that. Of course you'll still need to supplement any course book with materials that interest your group.
I advertised in the loacl paper. I made a flier to insert in the paper. That's the way most place advertise sales and stuff here. Kind of like a coupon insert or supermarket advertisement.
I also found a place that lists new businesses and events for free. That brought in as many people as the newspaper ad.
A website for your school is also a good idea. Just make sure you have all of the area/city names on the main page to get in searches for "English school Dresden" for example.