Thought of the day: Should I bother starting my own business?
I have been working for various language schools for a few years, and I am sick and tired of it. Not of teaching, that's definitely what I want to do, but I'm tired of wasting my time and energy for companies that know nothing about running a business, or teaching languages. So for a while now I have been thinking of starting my own school. I know how to teach, I have enough skills and contacts, and I (think I) can run a business (because I learnt so much in my past jobs, about things NOT to do!).
I have been saving up as much as possible for this, talking to potential employees, etc. But every now and now, I stop and wonder, is it really worth it? In order to save for this school I have been working like crazy for the past year, and it is wearing me out. I stay motivated, but I don't think I'll be able to keep this up for too long, and once my school is in place, then there's no going back, I'll have to keep up with this crazy lifestyle.
So, maybe keeping working for shitty places is is still not so bad...?
Schools are in my opinion meant to be an investment into the development of the future, but that is obvious. What I see is that there are many general schools (depending on where you live) but not enough focused development schools.
Depending on the scale of operations you plan on, perhaps an 'Academy' could be a wise move. This has the option of using a more tailored curriculum in smaller classes.
This is already my plan, I want to offer private lessons only, actually, so everything is designed for each student. My main concern is simply that there is nothing really new about this idea. I mean, I like to think I would bring something new in terms of management and business style, but beyond that there are many places like that, here, and a lof of them with incredible advertising budgets... I don't plan on becoming one of these massive companies (one of my problems with them is they are way too big anyway), just a small thing, enough to be profitable. But then, it's hard to compete with the giants!