Deciding to go from a company or marketplace to an independent ESL teacher can seem daunting at first, but you are not alone and there is a wonderful community to help you on your journey. I have had many mentors to help me on my journey to become an independent teacher and I would like to share them with you. The first thing you should do is join three very important Facebook groups.
#1: XIAOHONGSHU FOR TEACHERS
XiaoHongShu (or Little Red Book in English) is basically Chinese Instagram, and it is a great way to get students from China. Unfortunately you cannot advertise your lessons in an obvious way on the platform or you could get banned. That is where Chris and Kinga can help you. Chris and Kinga are the admins of this Facebook group and they are the go to people for all things XiaoHongShu. They offer a lot of advice as well as different types of training. This is definitely a group you want to join.
#2: WECHAT AND XIAOHONGSHU FOR ONLINE ESL TEACHERS: MARKETING IN CHINA
We already know that XiaoHongShu is the Chinese equivalent to Instagram, but for those who have not heard of WeChat before, basically it is the Chinese equivalent to WhatsApp. You will hear the word WeChat often in the world of independent English teaching, and both XiaoHongShu and WeChat will be important apps for your teaching business. Katie Prescott and Jillian Shanahan are the admins for this Facebook group. They are both very knowledgeable and they are also very generous because they share their knowledge with us. since I joined this group, I have attended a 3 day WeChat Marketing Bootcamp, and a 3 day XiaoHongShu Bootcamp. Both of these training sessions were filled with valuable information that I was able to use to boost my independent teaching business. I must also mention that Katie Prescott is the founder of Abridge Academy Curriculum which is a fabulous curriculum and my personal favourite. It is definitely worth checking out if you are looking for a curriculum for use with a marketplace or your own independent teaching business.
#3 GOING SOLO / INDEPENDENT ONLINE TEACHING
Last but certainly not least is this wonderful group. The admin for this group is Tim Gascoigne and he is the person who has had the most influence on my own independent teaching career. Tim is also known as Online Teacher Dude, and he has his own YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@onlineteacherdude1284
and his own website:
https://onlineteacherdude.com/ .
I signed up for a free webinar created by Tim a while ago called 3 Secrets to Launching and Growing your Online ESL Business and from this webinar, I bought his course called Launch Going Solo. I have to be honest and say that I do not think I would have been able to create my business as successfully without this course. The course is loaded with videos and PDF guides, and it is very easy to follow. If you are just starting out on your independent teaching journey, I recommend joining this Facebook group, watching the YouTube videos on Tim’s YouTube channel, and signing up for the webinar to see if his Launch Going Solo Course is for you.
I truly believe that anyone can have a successful online teaching business if they put the work into it, but it helps to have a community of like minded people there with you. Joining these 3 Facebook groups is a great start in the right direction.