Went from long-term employee to confident business owner.

Before working with Rachael..

Before I started working with Rachael, I was in full time employment with the British Council for 11 years working abroad. I was based in Bangladesh, as a Deputy Teaching Centre Manager, which was quite a difficult time because it was during the pandemic.

So there were a lot of changes, a lot of challenges that the teaching centre was facing. I decided to move back to the UK in 2022, really for some downtime, but also to have some time to think about what it was I really wanted to do with my ELT career. Did I want to continue full time employment, or did I want to do something for myself?

…and that’s where Rachael came in handy.

Why did you choose Rachael?

I decided to work with Rachael based on some feedback from somebody who had already completed her course. We had completed a video editing course together, and she highly recommended working with Rachael. And it was during that time, I was coming towards the end of my contract in Bangladesh, and I already had this idea of, what I wanted to do, but I wasn’t quite sure about how to bring it to fruition and that’s when I decided that Rachael was the person, to go with. Like many people in ELT, I had done a lot of private one to one classes, mainly for exam preparation, conversation, but it was very ad hoc, it wasn’t stable, and it was very hit and miss.

And though I did enjoy that, and it was something I wanted to continue with, I wasn’t sure about how to go about it, and what type of courses I would be teaching. It was mainly general English and conversation classes, but I knew that that was going to be too general and I did want to be more specific and specialise in a specific area.

What difference has working with Rachael made?

Since working with Rachael I’ve been able to narrow my niche. I have a very clear niche now. I work with graduates and professionals who are applying for postgraduate studies and therefore they need to sit for the academic IELTS test.

So this was one of the things that really stood out for me, thanks to working with Rachael. Other aspects, that have made a difference is time management. Being able to set my goals, break them down into manageable bites, which can be quite overwhelming, especially when you have several goals that you want to achieve, while also considering other commitments that people might have, be it part time work commitments, family commitments, et cetera.

I’ve also been able to create my own website, focusing on how to structure it, the type of information that is needed in order to help attract our target audience and how to write a blog to share our expertise. Another thing I’ve, worked on is creating a Telegram channel to help share my ideas with my target audience, and also to help build that trust between the people I want to work with and myself.

In terms of my Telegram channel, which I started about 10 months ago, I’ve managed to gain about 120 followers. Each week I send out information to help students develop their reading and listening skills with example IELTS questions, as well as develop their language skills.

And yeah, it’s been, it’s been a great success

What would you say to anyone considering doing Designed to Flourish?

I think working with Rachael is an excellent investment because you get to work with someone who knows our industry inside out but is also able to bring that business knowledge that we lack. It’s the, one of the best investments I’ve made in my own ELT career. I’ve done every ELT qualification under the sun, and this has been the best investment.

Want to design a business model, offer and marketing strategy that could completely change everything for you? Find out more about Designed to Flourish here.