 Hey everybody, it's Lisa here and I'm glad to welcome you to another ITTT live stream. Just in case that somebody doesn't know me, let me quickly introduce myself. So I'm a Tefl and TESOL expert with ITTT and I'm also a non-native ESL teacher working online primarily. From time to time I go offline as well and organize some speaking clubs or meetings for people in my area. But generally speaking I prefer online lessons and that is why when I do these live streams I usually give some tips and tricks on how to develop in this field and how to promote yourself as an online teacher. Before we start I'm actually going to add this banner of today's meeting with the name of today's meeting. But before we start I just want to check out if everything works. So if you see me and hear me clearly please let me know via the chat box. So can you hear me? Can you see me? Let me know. And what else? I'm actually based in Russia, in the central part of Russia and today it's pretty gloomy in here. I believe that's because of the smoke from the fires you know like a region which is really close to my place has bad fires in there and we have this extreme weather conditions which is not good. Yeah but anyways I hope that today will be sunny probably a little bit later. Let me know where are you guys from and if the weather is good in there. So yeah we have this comments section feel free to write whatever you want. Let me know if you see, if you hear. It is always pleasant to know that someone is behind the camera because basically right now I talk to myself and it is a little bit weird. And let me switch on the banner with today's meeting's name. So we're going to talk about different ways on how to find students online and I would like to discuss some ways that are not that typical in this field because usually when it comes to searching for students, searching for clients, online people go to some teaching platforms and or find some employers with their own platforms. I believe that these approaches are good. However there are even more ways how to find students and how to work with them directly. So in this case you will be able to create your own personal brand and probably it would be a great start for your own teaching business. Why not? So I want to share these strategies with you and yeah just let me know that you hear and see me, okay? I'm still waiting and let me know where you guys are tuning in from. So I'm based in Russia, where are you from? It's also AM in here so it's 10 AM. I believe that it might be later or earlier in your places so I would really love to know about it. All right and the last thing to mention, I just want to draw your attention to this QR code in here and I want to say that it's a really special offer. We have at ITTT for those who are seeking this opportunity to get TAPL certified and I will dwell upon this situation a little bit later because I know that many people believe that it is not necessary to be certified, it's not necessary to have a diploma to teach. That's not true from my point of view but yeah, I will explain that a little bit later. All right, I see some comments in the chat box. Hello guys, nice to hear from you. So here is Andrea from Vancouver, Canada and also Poe. I hope I pronounced your name correctly. If not, I'm so sorry, okay? You ran from Venezuela. Yeah, so nice to see you guys in here. Thanks for coming and also let me send the link to our website with this 30% off, okay? All right, so let's now jump into the discussion. So today we are discussing different ways, different unusual ways on how to find ESL students. As I've mentioned, there is no problem with looking for students on online teaching platforms or going to work for some teaching companies. It's totally fine and it's actually a great start for those who don't have any teaching experience for example but I would like to dwell upon some other ways. And the first one I would like to mention is social media. So basically it's also pretty obvious. It is not a secret that anybody on the net can find students over there on social media but when you start looking for people on the internet, when you want to reach out your clients, your potential clients, it is absolutely necessary first to choose the right social media which fits your needs, which fits your positioning and which will assist you in a way of creating your personal brand. And to find your perfect social media, it is really important to narrow down your niche, to narrow down to one specific niche for example, or and at the same time to research your audience. So it might sound slightly vague so I'm going to give you an example. So for instance, you are an English teacher and you are specialized at teaching general English. So you can basically work with young students, you can work with teenagers, you can work with adults as well, which is fine. You can get a lot of clients this way, just working with this general audience. However, if you want to find that specific niche and if you want to succeed in teaching some specific students and sometimes even get more leads and get more funding, get more money from this perspective, you should research some specific audience. Even if you work with this general audience, you should still break down to smaller sub audiences to smaller niches. So first of all, I would start with researching based on the audience's age and some, I don't know, some demographical things like gender and social status for example. So it will help you understand what is the driver for those people to study English. So it is absolutely crucial before you choose specific social media to place your personal brand, to place your business, you have to research every single audience. Yeah, let's talk about a more specific example. So since last year, I started working with adult students and for example in my local area, there are a lot of people who want to learn English just because it is necessary. Some people want to travel abroad, some people want to get this content in English, want to watch movies and listen to some audience in English and they want to authentic content. However, I decided to focus on a more interesting kind of audience which is people traveling abroad to work there. It's not that obvious that those people might need English harder, might need English skills more often than those who just want to travel abroad. So I decided to focus on immigrants, those people who go to native English speaking countries or go to just some different countries to work there because this audience has some more specific needs and their needs are absolutely clear and motivating. Basically, their income depends on their English skills, which is why it is really easy to reach out to such potential clients and to build this relationship with them. If we talk the same language, if we speak the same language in terms of our work opportunities and career goals, it is much easier to give them what they want, to offer them some services and to help them understand that I am the person who can actually help. Otherwise, if you work with younger children, for example, it might be slightly more challenging to reach out to this audience because basically you have to deal with two different audiences, I should say, with two different niches. So you might think that you are going to teach a child, however, the person who decides if you are going to be a teacher or not is a parent. So basically, you have to count on two different audiences. You have to think about parents' needs and you have to think about children's needs as well. So when you start looking for the base placement for your freelance job or for your small business, research the audience first and then choose the most appropriate social media to place your business, to place yourself. So I am not sure about this demand all over the world in terms of social media. I know that in some countries, Instagram is really popular. On the other hand, in some other countries, Facebook is that social media which is more convenient and which is more oftenly used. And for example, in such countries like China, Japan, I don't know, maybe some other Asian countries, there are some other social media which are more popular. So you have to count as well. And you have to think which placement will be the most suitable for you. Yeah, so this is probably the first way, the first unusual way I wanted to dwell upon. And I believe it is really easy to start your freelance career or freelance teaching career. I mean, or even your own business on social media, if you research everything really in small details. Yeah. And now I would like to move on to the next idea I have. And it is always my, it is also might seem obvious to you. So basically, I have mentioned this point many times in my previous live streams. Personal network is also really great in terms of offering your services. But I know that many people, for some reason, are ashamed mentioning that they provide teaching services. I don't know why. We just feel uncomfortable saying our friends and, I don't know, saying friends of our friends that we are professionals in this field. And it's a great mistake because in your personal network, there might be people who are seeking those services and they just don't know where to find. So make sure you are absolutely fair. And you don't worry about saying that you are that person who can give what they want. Yeah, it means that you have to communicate with those you know. You have to mention every time you have to mention that you are a teacher, you have to say that out loud on your social media, on Facebook, on Instagram, wherever. You just have to build on your network and you have to, you have to create this personal brand as well in the offline sphere. Yeah, with this technology and all stuff happened last year, we are worried to communicate with people in real life and it's a great mistake. So consider telling your friends, families, and just some people in your social circle that you're a teacher and you can offer these qualities, these quality services. It's a great way to find students. It's a great way to sell various goods, various services as well. So just bear that in mind. It might work together with the first approach and it might work solely without anything else. And I believe that this way is really convenient for those who doesn't have much experience. Actually, when I was a student myself, when I was at university, that was the way I found my students back in the day. So I wasn't experienced, I was inexperienced at all in English teaching, but I really wanted to have some extra money, you know, because I was a student and my scholarship was really small, like it was nothing. I had to work and I had to make money. So I worked as a tutor, but at that time it was even harder to find students. Not because of this, a lot of services provided in the field, but because there were no placements to look for. Online business wasn't that developed at that time yet. So I had to talk to my parents' friends, I had to talk to people to offer my services. And that actually worked well. I found a lot of students at that time and I started working when I was, I don't know, 19 probably. So I just provided my English tutoring services to those I knew at that time. It might seem easy, but at the same time for many people it is difficult just because you have to get out of your comfort zone. But basically if you want to sell anything, you have to get out of your comfort zone, right? Okay, and let me move on to the third idea. It is less obvious. So you can basically find clients in some site projects by collaborating with other professionals. And this is a more challenging approach, I should say. However, it's really strategical. So when you take part in some other projects, you still can create your personal brand as a professional in your own field. So for example, my own example is again, I believe it's really interesting. I didn't think it might be a way to find clients, but it turned out that it is. So recently I started working as a volunteer in an ecological project. So I decided to take part in that project to build on my resume as a professional because, you know, when you apply for some specific programs at universities or when you want to get a scholarship, you have to show that you do some social work as well. So that was my idea. But then when I started doing that, I realized that actually I can build my network around that project, around that site project, and it worked out. So in that project, I help out as a social media manager. And every time I make some videos, every time I reach out to the audience on the project social media, I think of the ways I can introduce myself as well. It might be a little bit sly. So I'm sly as a fox. So but anyways, it works out because I do that job for free. And why not exchanging the audience? Why not exchanging, you know, clients? It's actually good. And last week on Saturday, I worked on the field. So we had a regular event offline. Every month, we go to a specific point and organize a recycling place. So people come to get away of their plastics, to get away of their paper waste and stuff like that. And I decided to communicate with everyone who came to take part in the event with our potential. Not I can't say that they are clients, but just with the members of that community. I interviewed them and also presented myself, not only as a volunteer for the project, but also as an ESL teacher. That was just the way I that was just the way I introduced myself. But that was a great way to get the meaningful connections to. So that was pretty easy. It took me like a minute to explain what I do in the project. And then I just added something to that that might be useful to those people coming to the event. But at the same time, that wasn't really pushing, you know, you can think of some other ways to reach out to people when you take part in different projects. It doesn't mean that you have to volunteer. You can do whatever you want. But basically, it's one of the ways to get meaningful connections and to create your personal brand as well. Because if you are not worried and afraid to express yourself, especially offline, it will give you even more credentials. Because people respect those who are fair and people want to work with those who who isn't afraid, who aren't afraid to say where they are professionals and what fields they can help with. So it's a strange approach, but yet it works out. And once again, it may be helpful to those who don't have much experience. So if it is your case, if you want to find students, if you want to find clients, especially for longer relationship, it's a great way to start your personalized approach. Because on social media, there is a lot of demand, but at the same time, the competition level is pretty huge, is pretty high. So sometimes you have to invest in your social media to promote yourself. Because if you don't think of strategies, how to engage your audience for free, you have to pay out for advertisements, you have to buy your audience. But number two and number three approaches are absolutely for free. Because the only thing you have to do is talking to people, being friendly and being communicative. So it is really helpful in terms of saving some extra cash and at the same time building on your personal brand and on social media and offline. And that is actually all I wanted to discuss today. If you guys have any questions related to the topic, so I'm going to switch on this banner. We are talking about unusual ways to find ESL students online. Basically, we can have a talk right now. If you have any questions, if you have any concerns, feel free to type it in, feel free to use the comments section. I will be glad to communicate with you. I will be glad to help you out if you need my help. I also want to invite you to my Facebook group. So I created this Facebook group to stay connected with those who come to my live streams. And I believe it's a great way to make connections as well. So if you have any questions after this live stream, feel free to ask me on the Facebook group or feel free to write me a message on Facebook as well. And now I'm going to look at the comments section and answer your questions if you have any. All right, there are actually people from South Africa and Central America. We are truly global. I am so impressed. Every time I do this live streams, I can't believe that I communicate with so many people from various places around the globe. It's so amazing. Just one second. All right, this is a question from Amitava and it's a great question, I believe. So Amitava asks about the ways I price my lessons. Well, basically, you have to research the market before you create your price, before you create a specific cost on your lessons. So you have to research how much other teachers price and at the same time, how much people can pay for some specific services. It is usually based on the situation in a specific area. For example, here in Russia, there are various needs and various possibilities, opportunities. So some people can afford paying more and some people can't afford paying even some average price. You have to focus on that audience, which fits your best in terms of your location, in terms of your professional skills and your experience. And then probably you have to create the basic price to offer your services for. It is really subjective to many various factors. So as for me, when I try to make up this amount of money to offer my services for, I count on my personal experience and my professional skills. So for example, this year I took three different teaching courses. So I increased my professional skills and at the same time, what else? At the same time, the level of inflation in the region was accelerated. So that amount of money, which was okay last year, isn't okay this year. So I added that percentage, which is equal or slightly above the inflation level. And then what else? And then I also focused on my audience. So I don't work with children, I don't work with general English students because it's really big to teach this audience for me. So I just looked at those who need some specific services as I mentioned earlier. And just research how much they can pay actually. So that was it. Yeah, this is basically the way you create your own price. Pricing is really important. Make sure you don't put a low price because such teachers who either do not estimate yourself fairly, they mess up with the whole market. Because if there are people who are ready to work for like, I don't know, $1 and at the same time, there are people who provide the same quality services for let's say $25, it's slightly strange and customers, they get this vision that everything might be super cheap. So we don't want the market to be like this. Make sure you don't set an unreasonable price, both unreasonably high and unreasonably low. You want something really specific, but at the same time failure. Yeah, I can actually write my email. But as I mentioned, you can contact me on Facebook and you can contact me via the Facebook group. I have sent the link to the chat box already. But yeah, you can contact me at just one second. Yeah, it's here. Here is my email address at ITTT. So if you have any questions related to TEFL courses, online teaching, whatever related to this ESL field, you can reach me out via this email. And if you guys don't have any further questions related to TEFL, TESOL, online teaching, teaching abroad, so whatever questions you have in your mind, that's probably it for today. However, I've now remembered one thing I wanted to mention as well. So when you look for your students either online or offline via social media through online teaching platforms, whatever ways you use, you still have to think about your professional skills. And as I mentioned, it is possible to work without any experience, because I actually did that many years ago. But still, you have to build your professional skills as well. You have to develop as a professional. What helps you developing professional skills is taking courses, like taking part in different workshops, master classes, whatever, whatever helps you understand teaching better, whatever helps you understand how to communicate with other people, how to provide the best quality services to your potential clients is helping your professionalism. It is an asset to your general profile and this personal brand. It is absolutely necessary. If you don't have a diploma, so if you don't have any degree, it is absolutely crucial to get TEFL certified if you want to, if you want providing teaching services. People won't pay for some unreasonable quality or for some strange services. They are offered with, right after they understand that there are some other people who are actually better. Even if the price is higher, they still want some specific quality and you have to make sure that you can provide this quality. The quality of teaching is really necessary. Make sure you read at your spare time that you take various professional courses, professional development. It is helpful indeed. It is helpful for you as a person. It is helpful for you as a professional and it is necessary for your online business, for your offline business. You have to work on your own skills and basically ITTT can help you working on your professional career, developing your professional skills. Just make sure that you have a look over our website and check out which courses we provide these days because we had a major update and we added, for example, a teaching practicum specifically for those who don't have any experience and doesn't know how to work online or offline. So there is this option. At the same time, if you've never worked on social media, if you've never worked online, you can also take a course related to teaching online or if you want to narrow down to some specific niche, you can also take a look over our business English teaching and teaching to young students, teaching to young learners. Those are great options and I wish I had that opportunity back in 2013 when I started teaching because at that time that was a real disaster. I thought the way I thought people should be taught, but that was not correct absolutely. So I hope you change this opportunity and you give it a shot at least. So I hope to see you guys next week before we wrap up, before we finish today's session, I just want to mention that every week we have two live streams. I know that many of you go to my live streams and then visit Linda's live streams, but just in case you don't know that we have two different hosts presenting. So I go live either on Tuesday or on Wednesday and my colleague Linda goes live on Thursday or Friday. So we decided to rewrite the days of the week and we've decided to go live at different time just to make sure that we can reach out to everyone who needs that. Linda is an ESL teacher and a native English speaker, so she can actually give you her professional advice and share her own experience from different perspectives. Make sure you check out her previous videos or make sure you check out her next live stream, which will be this week. If you have any suggestions related to some specific topics, so for example you want me to talk about something related to, I don't know, a personal branding as an English teacher, just let me know right down in the comments section. It will help me to think of the next live streams. It will help me creating various topics and adjusting the content to your needs. And yeah, thanks for coming. That was really nice to communicate with you. Yeah, Amitava, Leterg, thanks a lot for asking questions and giving your feedback. It's really invaluable. I hope to see you soon once again. And if you have any further questions, you can totally reach me out on Facebook, either on Messenger or via the group. So thanks a lot for coming and see you soon again. Bye-bye, guys.