Go it alone: Go freelance (co-authored with Mike Hogan)

(This article was originally published in the mELTing Pot and has been posted here with the very kind permission of IATEFL-Hungary).  

ELT teachers are often enticed by the idea of being their own boss or increasing their income by striking out on their own and going freelance or even starting their own small (or large) schools. There are many benefits to going freelance, but where there are possible rewards there are also risks. We may be very good at developing lesson plans and managing a classroom, but as soon as we move into a context of developing a service and managing ourselves as a business we are confronted with all sorts of issues, business issues, which have nothing to do with teaching that we need to be able to do well and do quickly.

Start with an idea and plan from there
Despite the allusion above, your business idea should be designed to fulfil a need, not just to fill your pockets. Decide which need it is you aim to fulfil when going freelance or starting a business. It could be, for example, the need for a type of teaching or training not currently offered in your area, or a higher quality than is available in your local market. It could be offering something completely new to an existing group of customers that don’t yet know they need it, or it could be for a target market which will form as a result of previous experience. Either way, you should start with fulfilling a need and reflecting on how to do that.

Creating a business plan will help. Even if you’re not starting a school but just starting out as a freelancer, you need to see yourself as a business, a one-person business, and prepare accordingly. Spend a day writing down the details of your idea, how you plan to sell it, how much you will charge for it, and so on. Your business plan will help you formulate these ideas, set realistic and attainable targets, and will have various sections which will also help you think about who your competitors are and what sort of budget for marketing or further training you’re going to work under. It will help you to see potential holes in what you’re planning or areas you might be neglecting (e.g. niche markets, saturated markets, professional development, etc.) and it will help you to think about what makes you different from the other companies and trainers who are offering the same thing.

A business plan shouldn’t have vague, sweeping demands such as: “I’d like to earn more money” or “I'd like to get more of my own clients so I can work less for language schools.” You need to have defined targets like: “I want to sign with three new clients by the end of this year.” Set yourself realistic achievable targets with regular milestones. Then, you can start to think about your strategy and how you’re going to achieve those targets.

Consider doing a SWOT analysis. You may already do this with your business English students, but why not make it a part of your own professional analysis? SWOT stands for your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and potential Threats. The GROW model, often used in coaching, is another useful one. It stands for Goal, Reality, Obstacles/Options, and Way (forward). Overall, a business plan can help you put a lot of your ideas down on paper, see them clearly and address them in a realistic way.

Finding your niche, or ELT brand
You may have gained work experience in other sectors before moving into language training. In a way you are already a specialist. Maybe you have some experience in the banking industry, or in the arts, or you are a trained lawyer. This is an amazing resource because you’re immediately differentiating yourself from the general English language training market. You can offer targeted training and, usually, charge more for it.

Perhaps you don’t have experience in other sectors, but you have achieved positive results in other language-rich areas such as test preparation, pronunciation or presentations. You can offer high-quality, skills-specific training in one-to-one or group environments. Whatever your specialized knowledge, it needs to be very prominent on your CV and online profile. Finding one’s “ELT brand” can take time. Try different options and enjoy that time of exploration.

In part two we will develop this idea further and look at what to do once you've found your ELT brand; the importance of online presence and how to build a reputation.

Rhetoric of Irresponsibility

I recently participated in a heated discussion on Facebook.  Luckily, the conversation is so far down my timeline that it would probably take four hours of scrolling to find it, thus the identities of those involved have been protected by piles of social-networking compost.  Rather than provide the details of the actual discussion, I've decided to use a substitute topic: 

The whole firestorm started when a teacher posted a rant on her Facebook page that the coffee machine in her office constantly breaks down.  "This is outrageous!" she vented, "I can't teach properly without my caffeine!"   Meanwhile the post collected "likes" and comments faster than ants on a watermelon. Several of those posting comments worked together in the same office.   The majority of the replies were clusters of Yeah!, Word up!, and Agree! Other comments read: "We should complain to the administration about this!" "We should demand better working conditions!" "We should refuse to come to work unless the machine is fixed!"

Being the victim of office-coffee-maker breakdown myself, I sympathized with my colleagues. I posted a few suggestions to solve the problem that have worked for my institution in the past.  More "likes" popped up along with dozens of, "Yeah! We should do that!" 

A few weeks later, I sent an email to the teacher who posted the original rant, asking if the coffee maker got replaced. She reported that the lifeless appliance was still in her teachers' office and nothing had been done to fix or replace it. She threw in how unfair it was to work without coffee.

Strange, I thought.  So many colleagues seemed to have banded together online to help.  There were some good suggestions and it appeared as if the problem would be solved in no time flat.

Upon analyzing the comments from the conversation, I came to a cloudy-day realization: all the suggestions started with "We should..."   None of them started with "I could..."  or "I will..."

"We should..." are perhaps the two words in the English language that will guarantee the project won't get off the ground.   This is what Maria Araxi Sachpazian beautifully calls "Rhetoric of Irresponsibility". 

I work with some wonderful people who come up with some wonderful ideas. However, I hear "we should" almost on a daily basis. I've thus developed a reflex that fires off the following reply: "That's a great idea! Why don't you come up with a game plan to implement it? Let me know if you need help." 

I encourage you all to try this.  And be aware of when you (over)use "We should..." Consider changing it to "I could..." and see where it leads.

Numéro de déclaration d'activité: Part 1

Expolangues was abuzz this year with seminars devoted to trainers who have taken the leap and gone independent. The majority of the attendees were auto-entrepreneur and many were travailleur indépendant.  I am quite pleased to see the growth of independent trainers; it means the field is headed towards an even higher level of quality and trainers are taking charge of their own professional development. 

Taking charge of the paperwork (a popular French pastime) is also key. I've checked and it's possible for both travailleur indépendants and auto-entrepreneur trainers to obtain a Numéro de Déclaration. Many of you may have heard of (or may already have) a Numéro de déclaration d'activité. This is a declaration of your activity as a training entity. It enables private clients to declare your services using their DIF funding (droit individuel à la formation). If you specialize in teaching students in higher-education establishments, then this number if not necessary.  But it's good to have should you wish to take on private clients.

All of the documents, FAQ, and other handy information can be found here: https://www.declarationof.travail.gouv.fr/index.php
The basic instructions for what is required when putting together your first "declaration": 
https://www.declarationof.travail.gouv.fr/doc/51469-01.pdf
The document that you should fill out (though you can also do it online!) for your first "declaration":
https://www.declarationof.travail.gouv.fr/doc/10782-03.pdf

I strongly recommend you set up an online account. 

There is even an handy tutorial (in French) that walks you through all the steps for setting up an  account. Wonderful!
https://www.declarationof.travail.gouv.fr/doc/TeleD_Tutoriel.pdf

This will make things easier down the road when you have to submit your annual BPF, or Bilan pédagogique et financier (an annual report on the amount of money you've earned as a trainer, expenses, the number of hours, and the number of trainees you taught. This report is due every year at the end of April. If you miss more than two annual declarations in a row, you risk losing your number.).

When doing your first declaration you must provide proof of your:

• SIRET,  
• Code APE/NAF (e.g. 804C for language training - though I'm told APE has changed to another, similar acronym - shall check on this), 
• Address (e.g. copy of your electricity bill)
• Your company name (The name you used when you first registered as an independent - most of us use our own names - some of us have chosen company names).
• Your first "convention" or contract signed with a direct client (public or private), 
• Field of activity (e.g. 136 Langues vivantes, civilisations étrangères et régionales), 
• Name of the founder (you) 
• If you have any employees paid with a CDII, CDD, or CDI salary (if you're auto-entrepreneur or independent then probably not).

And as always with technology, hope for the best but prepare for the worst. When filling out your online account and data, before you click "continue", print out the page just in case the website is buggy. That will help you save time if you need to fill out a paper version and mail it in (registered of course!).  

Going freelance in France has gotten easier over the past few years. Fortunately for us, it's the same for that loisir français of doing paperwork! 

Part 2 of this article (the BPF annual declarations) will appear mid-March when the BPF forms are available on the declarationof.travail.gouv website.

I Touched a Piece of Heaven in 2011

A popular New Year's saying is: "Let us not drink to the past, but to the future."  In this post, I'd like to make an exception.  I'd like to recognize the people and the organizations that brought me a great deal of personal joy and professional satisfaction in 2011.

The TESOL France Conference
I wouldn't be able to keep my sanity as a teacher and as a freelancer without my PLN (Professional Learning Network).  I mentioned it in a previous post that isolation is a teacher's worst enemy.  The individuals I've met through Twitter have provided me with classroom ideas, professional advice and contestant laughs. 

A wave of friends and colleagues arrived in Paris on November 4-6 2011 for the TESOL France Conference I organized.  I'd like to thank the following individuals who contributed to the conference's success. Your words of kindness and support resulted in a marathon of happy tears running down my face.

To:  

The Best Team of 2011

The TESOL France Conference team: Debbie West, Ros Wright, Gillian Evans, Eric Halvorsen, Laurence Whiteside and Jane Ryder who made ELT magic from scratch. It is a genuine pleasure to work with you all.

  To:

The Best Moment of 2011

Vicky Loras, Mike Harrison, Shelly Terrell Arjana Blazic, James Taylor, Dale Coulter, Ceri Jones, Sandy Millin, Shiv Rajendran, Stephen W. Henneberry and Paul Maglione for your thorough Conference Reports and fantastic contributions to the online ELT community.  I hope that others will read your posts and realize that this conference is an event not to be missed!

To:

Willy Cardoso, Brad Patterson, Divya Brochier and Marisa Constantinides for continuing the conference conversations months after the event was over. Marisa, the #ELTCHAT videos are still a pleasure to watch.

And an extra emotional thank you goes out to Matt Ledding, who telepathically understood what drives me to organize TESOL France Conferences.  It really is, as he puts it: in order to shine a light on talents so that we see them and focus on growing and pass that growth on to others.

Working for eduPad 

Best Experience of 2011

I've mentioned to a few colleagues that I didn't have a summer vacation this year.  Instead, I worked for the educational app company, eduPad.  I admit it was the hardest I've ever worked in my entire existence, but I am grateful to the CEO,  Jérôme Serre, and his business partner, Daniel Jasmin, for their faith and encouragement as I hired and managed authors and editors, oversaw mountains of educational content, and formed professional links with educators who put their passion for teaching into the development of eduPad's applications.  

Over the course of three months I juggled busy class schedules and five time zones and worked with highly competent teachers and editors who included a homeschool parent, a physical education expert, scientists, historians, mathematicians, an Iraq War veteran, an SAT author, the incredibly creative Phil Wade, and the inspirational Lisa Dabbs who's insight was instrumental in ensuring the apps met US educational standards.

The Best Students of 2011

The Students at the Management Institute of Paris
Teaching at MIP was one of the most challenging, yet fulfilling, experiences I've ever had.  We all invested enormous amounts of time and energy in the students' development. It wasn't easy because some students had severe learning and behavioral difficulties. It was at MIP I learned the art of "tough love".

I'll never forget the Director of Languages' phone call when he informed me that MIP would be merging with another school in a different part of France. The Paris site was closing permanently. Suddenly, you are slapped with the question, "Was all that energy worth it?"

The process of relocating the students was painful and complicated.  We had to go from training the students for their futures as businessmen and women to counseling them on their transfer to other establishments. As the last day approached like an on-coming freight train, I witnessed inspirational growth in every one of them. In the end, they banded together to ensure the memories wouldn't die, the school's spirit would live on, and they would look after one another.

I wept on the last day, in the street, about a block away from the school.  I wept because they were some of the most creative, resilient and clever students I had ever taught.  They taught me more than they will ever know.  As another quote says: “A new year is unfolding – like a blossom with petals curled tightly concealing the beauty within.”  At MIP, I met dozens of unfolding blossoms. And I was incredibly fortunate to see their beauty within.  

Next year and the years ahead, I hope you witness petals unfolding. And as they do, shine the light on others' talents for us all to see. Continue to focus on growing and pass that growth on to others.

Free Legal Advice in Paris

The English Language Teaching (ELT) profession in France has seen dramatic changes over the last 40 years.  In the 70s, we saw a surge in demand for language instruction and an influx of teachers from English-speaking countries.  In the first part of this century, the demand stayed strong, but laws changed and Americans were denied easy-to-obtain contracts.  Today, the profession is in a bit of a low, companies are cutting back on their spending and language schools and travailleurs independents alike are feeling the pinch.

While a crisis is the perfect opportunity to think outside the box, it's not an opportunity to cheat the system or employees.  And sadly, I've heard of too many examples of the latter.

Granted, some language providers were cheaters even before the crisis.  So, hopefully this post will help them break that nasty habit and replace it with something a little more legal...like, say, nail biting.

Over a lunch of steak, fries and beer, a dear friend and colleague told me of a terrible legal issue she had.  Her French was good, but not good enough to compete with the person who was clearly cheating her.  Moreover, the culprit had a legal background and used that to further intimidate my friend.  She told me of a tiny shack she stumbled upon in the 14th district of Paris: La Maison de la Justice et du Droit du Secteur Paris Sud . Here, she was given FREE legal advice.

Translation of their website:  La Maison allows everyone to learn about their rights and to assert them in everyday life. Hotlines are organized around the themes of daily life: family law, the protected adults (guardianship, trusteeship), housing, labor, consumption, access to French nationality, immigration law, fight against discrimination. For schedules and making an appointment in the house of justice and law, contact us directly.

With the changing tides of the ELT industry in France, I hope you don't need to pay a visit to the Maison. But just in case - there are lawyers there ready and available to help you - free of charge.

Auto-entrepreneur (a wolf in a sheep's clothing?)

I have been called, cornered and accosted by teachers over the past several months asking me to compare the travailleur independent status and the auto-entrepreneur status.

While I am not an auto-entrepreneur (and cannot become one because I'm already a travailleur independent) I've listed a few pros and cons below following an email conversation I had with a teacher.

Being an auto-entrepreneur has its good and bad sides.

Good:

• The social charges can't be beat - you pay 22% in social charges and don't pay income tax on top of that.  That beats being CDD, CDII and Travailleur Independent
• You can charge "pre-charges patronales" prices.  For instance, as a CDII teacher, the going rate per hour is about 22 brut.  However, as an auto-entrepeneur, you could bill the school as much as 35 an hour because they won't be paying any social charges on your salary.   - Ask them about that.

Bad:

• You have to bill the school and keep track of your bills (and be very very organized).
• You can't charge any business expenses (metro, lunch, etc).
• You get very little health coverage.
• You need to be able to understand the government website to become an auto-entrepreneur which is in French, sign up and report your income to the government.
• And most importantly:  the auto-entrepreneur status was set up to allow for already self-sufficient professionals and students to have an income on the side. It was not designed for people to live off of as their prime income.  So, if you do this, I strongly suggest you juggle other contracts that are CDD, CDII, CDI, or that you have a spouse who has a CDI. 

Again, it's great to have on the side, but terrible as a prime income status.

The ELT PLN Book List!

I've just had a quickie conversation on Twitter with those I follow (99.999% are English language teachers) a.k.a. my PLN (Personal Learning Network).

I was also recently asked: "Can you recommend any good summer reading?" 

I came up with titles such as The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary or Shakespeare on Toast  or The Fight for English.  But then it hit me. All the books I've read in the last 365+ days have been non-fiction books related to language or literature.

Fortunately, I've been saved! In the time it's taken me to type this out, the hashtag #ELTPLNBOOKLIST has taken charge.  It's coiner: @Shaunwilden

Who better to ask for reading recommendations than our fellow teachers? We probably have a high sensitivity for writing styles we can sink our teeth into not to mention excellent filters against airport junk.  

So use the hashtag #ELTPLNBOOKLIST and join in on the discussion!  And happy reading!