If you are interested in online teaching you’ve certainly already came across Kirsten Winkler, who’s is one of the most knowledgeable people in the field. Although today Kirsten spends most of her time covering the online education market in her blogs, she was among the first successful online language teachers. I had the chance to interview Kirsten to ask her about how she was able to build her online teaching business back in 2008. Her insights are a must read for all teachers out there trying to do the same.

Kirsten, what brought you to online teaching?

After a first “traditional” teaching experience with children, I moved from Germany to Brittany and started giving offline corporate trainings there. Because I would waste so much time driving I very rapidly turned to online teaching. I kept teaching offline as well, but after only a year online teaching accounted for 70% of my activity, and 80% a year later. I taught German, English and French. Most of my students where between 28 and 55 yo and I almost exclusively delivered one-on-one classes.Students took lessons for various reasons ranging from learning a language as a hobby, for travel but also for personal enrichement and to have meaningful dialogues about the cultural aspects.

How did you build up your student base?

The most important thing to find students is to have your own personal website or blog. Students need to know who you are, what you do, etc. You need to put up a complete and thorough profile so that potential students can learn about you. You should put yourself in a nice light without exaggerating. Being honest about what you can and can’t teach is essential.

Teachers need to showcase their expertise and establish themselves as experts. Just saying that you can teach something isn’t enough. I created educational videos that I put up on YouTube. I wasn’t expecting people to contact me for classes directly from YouTube (which actually ended up happening), the idea was really to start building up an online reputation. When people google you, you need them to be able to get an idea of how it’s going to be to take classes with you.

I would also spend time on language learning communities and social websites, Facebook in particular. I helped out people for free, not necessarily with a specific plan in mind to convert them to paying students. But what happened is that it helped me create a reputation. TeachStreet is also a good service to find students.

How long did it take you to have your business up and running?

You’ll be surprised but 6 months after starting to teach online I was already refusing students. At my highest activity point I would give up to ten 30minute classes per day and had about 15 students. Above you just can’t keep up with giving great, tailored lessons, because of all the preparation time that you have to factor in.

Many teachers find it hard to get paid for their services when they teach online. Can you tell us a little more about your students and your pricing ?

My pricing strategy evolved a little bit higher than most teachers I think. I would teach for 25€ to 50€/hour. This pricing made it possible for me to spend extra time creating tailored content and preparing for classes. On average my students would take one to two 30-45 minutes classes per week, and kept taking lessons for 18 months to two years.

I never really had any problem getting paid for my classes. I usually gave a 30 minute free conversation to meet with students. Nine out of ten of these students would end up paying for classes. The key is to do some screening before you actually engage in classes with students so you don’t loose your time, you shouldn’t be desperate in contacting people. If they have a profile on a learning website for example, you could look up their evaluations. I would never engage in negotiations on prices either. A key is to be very clear about pricing very early on, so there is no misunderstanding.

Did you give group classes on online communities as well ?

No, not that much. Paid group classes don’t work out well on those platforms because there are so many free classes, so sign up rates are low on paid ones. And I don’t think it’s such a good idea to give free group classes, it isn’t a very efficient way to find leads. I did give free group classes once in a while, but more as a way to build up reputation than as a direct recruiting strategy.

How is teaching online different from offline ?

I think you really need to see online teaching as a service. Providing a great service means adapting to students, both in your classes and in your schedule. I wouldn’t bill a class if it was cancelled even only an hour in advance, for example.
You need to create your own tailored content and spend time preparing for classes. Being a good teacher is what will make a difference in the long run.

Anything else you would like to tell teachers starting out online ?

If you want to be successful in teaching online you need to be passionate about what you do. And that is not only teaching the student some vocabulary and grammar rules but to help them succeed in their goal of speaking another language. This includes that you adapt to their interest, tailor lessons to their jobs or hobbies, helping them to express things they are passionate about in the language they are learning.

Starting your online activity takes time and effort. You need to be in the trenches, engaging with potential students, creating content and contributing to establish a reputation. It’s important to be helpful and persistent, success doesn’t come overnight.
Having your own blog or website and showing your expertise is really critical. You need to create your own personal brand. It’s not necessarily something that we teachers are accustomed to doing, but it’s a necessary step in building up a successful online activity.
But if you put in the effort you can make a good living, have a good lifestyle, and it’s also very rewarding when your students say they love your service and thank you for their progress!

Bio:

Kirsten Winkler is one of the most renown blogger in the online education space and a thought leader of the educhange movement. Knowing both sides of the table she was amongst the pioneers who started teaching students using new technologies like Skype and virtual classrooms quickly becoming one of the most successful for profit language teachers on various platforms as well as on an independent basis. Kirsten Winkler was also one of the first educators who leveraged the new medium video through YouTube and built a free video series for learners of German as a foreign language.

Her blog KirstenWinkler.com was awarded “Best new Blog” at the Edublog Awards 2009 and became runner up in the categories “Best Individual Blog” and “Best Resource Sharing Blog” in the 2010 edition of the awards. It is one of the reference blogs in the industry often refered to as “The TechCrunch of Online Education”. The video interview series EDUKWEST hosted various leaders and founders in online education putting a spot light on this rising industry attracting other founders and investors as viewership alike.

In late 2009 Kirsten Winkler has also started consulting various online education startups on their strategy and working with those on different projects ranging from more classic models to cutting edge projects in the social gaming and mobile learning sector. She is also the host of the “This Week in Startups Paris Meetup” where up and coming entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to serial entrepreneur and angel investor Jason Calacanis and a global audience live on the Internet.

Links:
http://www.deutschhappen.com
http://www.youtube.com/deutschhappen
http://www.facebook.com/deutschhappen
http://www.kirstenwinkler.com
http://www.edukwest.com
http://www.twitter.com/kirstenwinkler

A great video interview Kirsten held with Koichi, an active online Japanese teacher :
http://www.edukwest.com/edukwest-60-with-koichi-ko-of-textfugu/