Yet another advice post about starting my own private teaching....."business"?

[Spellbound]

I'll keep this as vague as I can, since apparently one of the higher-ups monitors forums such as these to see when employees make posts so he can harp on them.

I've been in Japan for "a while" working for "an eikaiwa" and I have had a really wonderful time (no quotes). I like the job, honestly. I'm one of the lucky ones. I have good coworkers, mostly good students, and my life here is enjoyable.

But apparently not as enjoyable as it could be. I've met two private teachers in passing and apparently I could be making considerably more money for a fraction of the time and effort. While this particular company promises no more than 30 teaching hours [and they haven't gone back on that, which I'm happy with] there is the small fact that I'm at the school for close to 50 hours a week - sometimes just sitting around, waiting for a visitor to come so I can start the sales pitch. While I've had worse jobs, I'd certainly prefer the job of "Bob" the private teacher - 15 hours a week of classes, 3 or so hours of prep time per week, and the rest he spends doing....whatever, for almost twice as much salary as myself.

I speak Japanese fairly well [and honestly, think it's not bad to use it when teaching to a minor degree just to use for translation examples], and my main concern is advertisement - how do I GET students? And is there a particularly good payment "plan" to use for students? A private student at my current job pays close to 460,000 yen for once a week lessons. Would someone pay 400,000 for twice a week?

Some advice would be nice. For the meantime I'm alright but... thinking about the future.

[kamome]

:jama:

I'll keep this as vague as I can, since apparently one of the higher-ups monitors forums such as these to see when employees make posts so he can harp on them.

I've been in Japan for "a while" working for "an eikaiwa" and I have had a really wonderful time (no quotes). I like the job, honestly. I'm one of the lucky ones. I have good coworkers, mostly good students, and my life here is enjoyable.

But apparently not as enjoyable as it could be. I've met two private teachers in passing and apparently I could be making considerably more money for a fraction of the time and effort. While this particular company promises no more than 30 teaching hours [and they haven't gone back on that, which I'm happy with] there is the small fact that I'm at the school for close to 50 hours a week - sometimes just sitting around, waiting for a visitor to come so I can start the sales pitch. While I've had worse jobs, I'd certainly prefer the job of "Bob" the private teacher - 15 hours a week of classes, 3 or so hours of prep time per week, and the rest he spends doing....whatever, for almost twice as much salary as myself.

I speak Japanese fairly well [and honestly, think it's not bad to use it when teaching to a minor degree just to use for translation examples], and my main concern is advertisement - how do I GET students? And is there a particularly good payment "plan" to use for students? A private student at my current job pays close to 460,000 yen for once a week lessons. Would someone pay 400,000 for twice a week?

Some advice would be nice. For the meantime I'm alright but... thinking about the future.

I think forum members Asskissinger and Big Booger have experience with this. If they don't reply in this thread, send them a PM.

[Greji]

A private student at my current job pays close to 460,000 yen for once a week lessons.

Do we have a zero problem here? If not and that is 46 hot ones a week of each lesson, give me that boy's address immediately if not sooner.

[Spellbound]

Do we have a zero problem here? If not and that is 46 hot ones a week of each lesson, give me that boy's address immediately if not sooner.

No, no problem. It's 10,000 yen per lesson, or thereabouts. Means if I charge half as much, or give twice a week lessons, then I only need 6 or 12students to equal my current yearly salary. Comforting thought, but I doubt I'd be able, as some schmuck, to charge the same as one of the largest eikaiwas in Japan.

[katakori]

As I posted here, Globee is trying to gather all the Japanese who want to learn/practice English yet avoid the major eikaiwa. Pimp yourself there and you'll find more private students than you need...

[Big Booger]

In my opinion, the best way to attract students I think is to get involved in all the kominkans and/or international centers/associations in and around your area...

Put up notices in all these places, and actively start looking for a place to hold your classes. Most of my private lessons are group based and I work out of kominkans, international associations and the like.

You can also wait until July or August when a lot of foreigners head back home (though this can vary) and classes that have already been formed become available due to the current teacher leaving... This is one way to pick up an already set up scheme and not have to do a lot of work recruiting and so on...

The kominkans and the international associations are the best places to start your own "business" without having to fork over money for rent. Plus these places typically have parking available for those students who want to drive and are usually located in convenient places.

You can offer to pay the community center fee (usually it's less than 1000yen a class though I guess that depends).. most of my students very generously pay this fee in addition to my fee.

As for the fee, I think you could do this in a few different ways. You could charge a group fee, based on hours taught. You could charge per student per hour or per class. You could charge a monthly fee (this is what I do)...

I'd suggest starting out teaching in kominkans and working your way up until you have a steady business going. Then if you see that you can keep students coming back to your lessons and see little fluctuation, then think about opening your own shop and renting a spot... or whatever..

You could work out of your own place, but then your students know where you live, you use your own utilities and you have to keep your place clean all the time... but then you gotta think about privacy and the potential threat of stalking... I don't know anyone who goes this route in my area.

[Spellbound]

I've heard of the "kissaten eikaiwa". Good route, or no? I imagine most coffee shops wouldn't really complain as long as you buy something - two people buying coffee and sitting down to talk for an hour isn't unusual.

[Mulboyne]

I've seen quiet a few lessons taking place in coffee shops but these are probably eikaiwa teachers with private students. Sadly, it looks like Lindsey Hawker held her lesson with Ichihashi in a Doutor.

A neutral site like a coffee shop is better than your apartment but there is something a little bit fly-by-night about setting up like that. Big Booger's suggestion about investigating local public facilities seems a good one. You might have higher costs but you'll also have higher credibility which will help you retain students and attract new ones. A student might find it easier to consider cancelling a kissaten eikiawa after a few lessons compared with something taking place in a more formal setting.

If you have loyal paying customers then you could probably get away with it for a while.

[Pachipro]

I do not know your situation or what kind of place you live in, but in my own case it was fairly easy.

We rented a 3LDK mansion in a large Danchi complex, set aside two rooms as classrooms, advertised in the local papers with fliers, and put notices on BB's in the complex. We registered our business at the local city hall and were provided an accountant for one year free of charge. Also, since were were a home based business and not Inc, or LLC, the fee was about 10,000 yen to register. (It may be higher today, but probably not by much.)

Within a few months we had a thriving business with close to 100 students. Being in a Danchi complex has it's advantages for both the teacher (I never had to leave my home), and the students (they were within a few minutes of their classes).

Classes ranged from primary school students up to businessmen and college students and private lessons. Lessons were usually 50 min long and the charge per student was 1,000/lesson, 4x/month with a maximum of 10 students per class and a minimum of 5 to ensure I would make at least 5,000/hr.

For obvious reasons, businessmen and college students were few and their fee was 2,500/hr, minimum of two per class.

Private lessons were 5,000 yen/hr. I could've received more, but I wanted to keep my fees below what major schools were charging.

We also did the Japanese thing and charged a one time nyukai kin (entrance fee) of 5,000yen/family and allowed one free lesson to all students to see if they would enjoy the class or not.

As my wife was Japanese, we also had "chu-gakko eigo" lessons for students studying for entrance exams.

Our accountant, that was provided free of charge, was so good at finding loopholes in the tax laws that we hardly payed any tax at all. Of course we kept him on after the first year and our business thrived due to the location. Also, we were able to write off the two rooms we utilized as classrooms from our rent.

Anyway, that's how I did it and I would recommend the same to anyone desiring to have their own school with very few start-up costs and fees and maximum profit. Having one in a Danchi complex where there is a ready made clientel and living there also was well worth it in my case. Good Luck

[Oradea]

I dont have my own private thang going, but I would like to ask if anyone has considered advertising with newspapers, I mean a flyer stuck inside the morning news, or flyers put in post boxes. Anyone have any ideas of cost or effectiveness?

[Hawaiibadboy]

I dont have my own private thang going, but I would like to ask if anyone has considered advertising with newspapers, I mean a flyer stuck inside the morning news, or flyers put in post boxes. Anyone have any ideas of cost or effectiveness?

I think Adds are almost worthless.
Being friends with some PTA mothers can help fill your school with HQ students.
(Worked for me)

[Hawaiibadboy]

A private student at my current job pays close to 460,000 yen8O

I have my own School. privates pay 10,000yen If I go to them (within 10 Km of my school only)

I get between 180,000 - 240,000 per week depending on the schedule and attendance. You must be f_cking with those zero's or drinking while you type:eek2:

[canman]

No Hawaiiboy, if the student is going to Geos and he or she signs up for 48 or 72 private lessons that would easily run them over 460 000. I had a couple of students pony up for the 72 private lesson package and it set them back almost 600 000, for the year.
YOu charge 10 000 to go to their place, wow, how is that working for you. Recently one problem we have up here is a lot of US military housewives are getting students, and really undercutting the price. But they aren't doing any teaching. They sit and have tea or coffee with a bunch of blue hairs for Y2500 per hour. A real bonus for them, but it sucks for those of us trying to make a living doing it.

[wuchan]

I have a private class from a personal contact that pays me 1man en for a one hour lesson. I only took this job as a favor to a personal friend but it does put an extra 1man in my pocket every week, not bad for one hour. I could imagine that if a person is well qualified, they could make 3million en a year working part time(20 hours a week or less) teaching company "english club" classes.

[pheyton]

Christ, since when did people start making 5,000-10,000 an hour for a lesson?! I had a small classroom in my spare room when I lived in Japan. Advertised at the local supermarket and got about 5 students @ 2,500 an hour. I'd kill to be making 5,000 - 10,000 an hour.

Has it slowed down much because of the economy?

[Mike Oxlong]

Know a guy who's been pulling down an average of 7-8,000 a lesson (one hour) for a dozen years or better. A 20-hour work week gets him a monthy salary of about 560,000. Not crazy money, but all right for a guy without a university degree or any previous work experience in the education sector.

[wuchan]

Totally possible. In my case they had Aeon in there before me and got sick of the extra fees (books, travel, tax, anything else aeon stuck on). I offer a flat 10,000 a lesson (plus income tax) and 500en for travel. In one month I cost them 46,000en vs aeon costing 50,000 plus books and random fees.

[pheyton]

Well, while still good at 10,000yen an hour, there is travel time involved. A RT could easily take 1 hour so in reality you are making about 5,000 and hour. Which is still fine.

Again, how is the teaching environment over there right now?

[wuchan]

Well, while still good at 10,000yen an hour, there is travel time involved. A RT could easily take 1 hour so in reality you are making about 5,000 and hour. Which is still fine.

Again, how is the teaching environment over there right now?

If you live outside of the city and drive you could cut that hour travel in half. In saitama it takes almost two hours to go from shobu to higashimatsuyama but you can drive it in 25-35 minutes.

[thatoreoguy]

Im looking into coming over in September/October, 2009. Wondering whats the best way to cut my teeth on the english teaching trade. I will be completing a TESL certificate and have my BA in Psych. I have been to japan on several occasion and work at a japanese car shop my japanese is horrible so any help would be appreciated.

Probably going to stay somewhere near (20min) Shinjuku station. Should i work for one of those big schools? or would one of the smaller schools. Such as the ones you guys were mentioning on here be better to get to know the trade and get some beneficial experience. Is it wrong to assume i will be able to pull in 2,000-3,500 yen an hour at about 20 hours.

Preach !!!

[Iraira]

Im looking into coming over in September/October, 2009. Wondering whats the best way to cut my teeth on the english teaching trade. I will be completing a TESL certificate and have my BA in Psych. I have been to japan on several occasion and work at a japanese car shop my japanese is horrible so any help would be appreciated.

Probably going to stay somewhere near (20min) Shinjuku station. Should i work for one of those big schools? or would one of the smaller schools. Such as the ones you guys were mentioning on here be better to get to know the trade and get some beneficial experience. Is it wrong to assume i will be able to pull in 2,000-3,500 yen an hour at about 20 hours.

Preach !!!

1) Who's supporting your VISA is the first question you need to ask yourself. Coming over here with two suitcases, a tourist VISA, and a plan that exists in your cranium, and not on paper signed and sealed by some company here, will invite a severe amount of stress into your life. Having the VISA support before setting foot on J-soil will let you roam free without the company dicking you around..."You are on a tourist VISA, and you want us to support you? We'll do it, but bend over first....squeal!" If they give you the VISA support you can at least get a reach-around while they...sorry, I'm getting aroused.
2) Most schools pay about 250,000 yen/mo. The hours vary.
3) Many schools don't give a flying frying rat about TESL, or other acronyms such as ACLU.
4) Don't be 100% set on living in any particular place,as you don't know where you'll be working.

[wuchan]

1) Who's supporting your VISA is the first question you need to ask yourself. Coming over here with two suitcases, a tourist VISA, and a plan that exists in your cranium, and not on paper signed and sealed by some company here, will invite a severe amount of stress into your life. Having the VISA support before setting foot on J-soil will let you roam free without the company dicking you around..."You are on a tourist VISA, and you want us to support you? We'll do it, but bend over first....squeal!" If they give you the VISA support you can at least get a reach-around while they...sorry, I'm getting aroused.
2) Most schools pay about 250,000 yen/mo. The hours vary.
3) Many schools don't give a flying frying rat about TESL, or other acronyms such as ACLU.
4) Don't be 100% set on living in any particular place,as you don't know where you'll be working.

Also, the "schools" tend to only offer one year contracts. Which they WILL NOT renew if you don't bend over. And there is not much increase if they do sign you to another year. Expect to earn about $35k US for the rest of your life unless you are the lucky type.

[thatoreoguy]

In my opinion, the best way to attract students I think is to get involved in all the kominkans and/or international centers/associations in and around your area...

Put up notices in all these places, and actively start looking for a place to hold your classes. Most of my private lessons are group based and I work out of kominkans, international associations and the like.

You can also wait until July or August when a lot of foreigners head back home (though this can vary) and classes that have already been formed become available due to the current teacher leaving... This is one way to pick up an already set up scheme and not have to do a lot of work recruiting and so on...

The kominkans and the international associations are the best places to start your own "business" without having to fork over money for rent. Plus these places typically have parking available for those students who want to drive and are usually located in convenient places.

You can offer to pay the community center fee (usually it's less than 1000yen a class though I guess that depends).. most of my students very generously pay this fee in addition to my fee.

As for the fee, I think you could do this in a few different ways. You could charge a group fee, based on hours taught. You could charge per student per hour or per class. You could charge a monthly fee (this is what I do)...

I'd suggest starting out teaching in kominkans and working your way up until you have a steady business going. Then if you see that you can keep students coming back to your lessons and see little fluctuation, then think about opening your own shop and renting a spot... or whatever..

You could work out of your own place, but then your students know where you live, you use your own utilities and you have to keep your place clean all the time... but then you gotta think about privacy and the potential threat of stalking... I don't know anyone who goes this route in my area.

I was thinking more the lines of one of these smaller esc schools.

Iraira I am flying in from canada so i will be getting a work travel visa = 1 year. I have one school that my brother worked for owned by one of his friends that i can easily have them get me some papers if i intend to stay longer.
2/3) is it possible to get into one of the smaller type schools that Big Booger mentions he runs? I think I'd learn more enjoy my work more while making similar if not better money.
4) I only say within 20 min of shinjuku stn. since its a huge hub and easy to get around. Plus the apartment I am looking at is cheap and about 10 min from there.

P.S. I am from canada so 35k usd is about 45k working money with the current exchange. But more is more if i can score a part time gig at a smaller school, making similar money with like referal bonuses i'd be a hog in takeshita street

[thatoreoguy]

anymore suggestions ?