- “How to Create a Teaching Niche” is the 1st Edition.
- “The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Niches” is the 2nd Edition.
Changes to the second edition are:
- A new title
- Includes an Index
Hannah Yurk rated it it was amazing · Nov 29, 2020 on Goodreads
What can I say? This book has completely changed my mindset about how I approach getting new students and how I frame my experience and specialism when choosing the right clients.
When I bought this book I was desperately searching for an answer as to why I was not getting students at my requested price, despite being extremely qualified and experienced, and it showed me exactly what I was doing wrong and how to remedy it.
This guide clearly explains how to uncover your unique teaching niche, carefully outlining each and every step you need to take to find your ideal clients, and is full of practical and actionable tasks to do so.
I found it a very easy read because, despite being grounded in solid business approaches which would normally scare off an English Language Teacher, Janine has presented the information in a very clear and memorable way, with plenty of anecdotes and stories to provide analogies for complex sales ideas. More specifically the drill company and Weight Watchers’ stories really helped paint the picture for me and I really appreciate that!
If you’re looking to become a freelance teacher and earn a decent living for all the work and training you have put in to become a professional, or even to scale what you’re already doing, this is the right guide for you! I haven’t yet found anything else that is so practical, but also so particular to an ELT professional.
I’m eagerly awaiting the next book in this series! (less)
P.S.
On a personal note, I’m not joking when I say this Janine, but your books sparked a bit of a life change for me… I had been tossing around the idea of going freelance for a long time and with the right conditions of being unemployed/pandemic, the ideas and concepts you’ve shared have completely and utterly changed my mindset and empowered me to value myself and my skills by asking to be paid for what I am worth. Watch this space for big things to come (fingers crossed)! So thank you very much and I hope that this email gives you a good reason to keep doing the work you’re doing!
Praski
5.0 out of 5 stars | A Book that Fills a Niche
6 May 2019
Format: Paperback | Verified Purchase
I would recommend this book for teachers looking to make the transition from being a jobbing teacher to a well-paid and valued freelancer. The author clearly has considerable experience in this field and takes the teaching entrepreneur systematically through the steps needed to create a lucrative teaching niche.
While the book has plenty of self-assessment questionnaires and planning tools, it is also full of wry humour, colourful metaphors and charming illustrations. I don’t know how the author found the time and patience to put all this together, but it would be a really useful resource for teachers wanting to get more of a business perspective on their work and create a sustainable, rewarding teaching business.
What I like the most is it answers the most important question of how to monetise your knowledge.
— Yana C. Freelance Language Teacher —
Janine,
It’s true. Niche-finding is especially important in the online business world. Everyone is talking about it. But you are the only person I’ve come across so far with a really practical and effective approach to niche finding. A lot of the other approaches involve ideal client profiles or finding the ‘sweet spot’ between what you love and what people will pay you for. I find those too theoretical. So that’s why we need your books and the preferred student profile concept!
— Cara L. Freelance Language Teacher —
thinking like a teacher (Sandi Small)
15 May 2018
Format: Kindle Edition | Verified Purchase “How to Create a Teaching Niche” (1st Edition)
See the review:
This book is a real revelation. It reveals to the reader and language coach that it is one thing to be a teacher and another to be a business person.
The book explains why an experienced, competent teacher with several teaching qualifications may have struggled to keep the business afloat. According to the book, a teacher creating a teaching business can make a lot of mistakes. Firstly, and most pointedly, thinking like a teacher. You must think like your client, then market to your clients’ requirements with a niche product. It could be pronunciation, grammar or writing for example. Moreover, you must niche further down to connect it with your model client?s requirements. For example, he or she may want English writing for an engineering business.
Marketing rather than advertising is another key aspect of this book. The two are mutually exclusive. It is easy to advertise, but it takes skill to market a product or service. That is why, as the book states loud and clear, you must take off your teacher’s head to gain business.
