From stuck with a low hourly rate to creating TWO new successful businesses

What did your business look like before you did Designed to Flourish?

I watched your video and you were talking about not selling our time. To create something that will be more than just charging per hour, and that was a light bulb moment. That was absolutely the aha because I knew that I only have just this amount of time to present to my clients (of whom I thought as students back then).

I was a tutor, I was a teacher, a freelancer last year with the offer of many different kinds of courses for, from teenagers to adults. Kids also, but I felt that I didn’t want to teach kids anymore. So already I had this beginning, something was growing in my mind that I have to change something. And there you were. So it was, I think it was perfect timing that I found you.

The moment that I decided that, yes, that’s what this lady knows what she’s talking about, and I definitely have to join, and that’s when I started thinking how I can make it happen.

Why did you choose Designed to Flourish? 
 

I chose you because what you said was exactly what I was thinking, what I had to stop doing, but I didn’t know how to start doing it, how to change anything.

So I thought, yeah, alright, probably I can work it out somehow, but it’s gonna take another year or two years, or God knows how long. So maybe I should just invest less time, some money, which I will earn later on, and just start actually learning how to do it. And that was the beginning of me learning, and there’s no stopping it right now. 

What difference has the programme made to your life? 

There’s a huge difference because when I talk to clients and they obviously ask me how much I charge per hour, I say I don’t (!) You either take the whole package and my fluency booster program, which I love, it’s my favourite baby.. right now I’m preparing the third edition, so it’s gonna be not 2.0, but 3.0….

I tell them what the program involves. What they get, what the expected results can be if they work with me the way they need to work and that’s it. Then they ask about payment plan if they need to, but that’s it.

I don’t charge per hour. And I’m not afraid to tell them how much I want for my work. And that’s a huge change. Huge really. Because what we teachers usually say, okay, it doesn’t bother me. I can do it. I have the means. I have this little time (Although they could rest, for example, or do something for themselves).  No, but she needs me or he needs me. So, I don’t mind…and they charge less or they set the lessons when they should be resting. And that’s what we have to unlearn. And I unlearned it.

If you’re thinking about joining Designed to Flourish?

Okay, so if you are thinking about joining. Think if you are ready to do the work on your mindset and on your mind. You show us, you prepare us for the change, but we’re adults, so we have to do the change. We have to make it happen, really. . I’ve been teaching for 25 years last year, and I’ve been doing it the same way. So, to change that, it’s a huge amount of work, but it’s definitely worth it because it stays.

And you know, the support that you gave us, you never had any problems with us asking you questions during the program or on Slack. Never. We were never left to ourselves. If we had any questions, any doubts, any problems, we could always contact you and, and ask you or other people in the group.

I got to know so many people doing so many wonderful work inside ELT industry that I never had an idea that this kind of thing can be actually done.

So I think that’s.. also the second business of mine is the result of seeing that I don’t have to be afraid. I stopped being afraid. I just started the second business. And after a month, I stopped and thought, ‘Oh my God, I forgot to start being afraid.’

I mean, what can I lose? So, yeah, I’m a totally new person.

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.