BabelTEQ Podcast

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 directly
• Working fully independently
• Working 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.