At the moment, the discussion of the new law on education, which affects all levels of the educational system without exception, has become very widespread. These include changes in the names of educational institutions and the approach of teachers to the process of transferring their own knowledge to students.

For example, preparation for the Unified State Exam will now proceed a little differently, because now each graduate will be able to prepare for specific packages of tasks that are already publicly available to everyone. In most cases, there is not enough time allocated in the school curriculum, so students must ensure that they somehow acquire the necessary skills and knowledge.
An option could be a lesson with a tutor or attending a course or a special language school. Currently, English, Italian or any other foreign language schools are very popular. This is understandable, because if children can cope with all other subjects with the help of their parents, then not everyone can cope with teaching and explaining the nuances of the English language. This requires at least attending courses or language practice.

Thus, if you are a specialist in the field of foreign languages ​​and want to start your own business, then opening a foreign language school is a profitable business. But it is not enough just to be a good linguist. You need a clear and specific business plan with which you can open a school of one or another foreign language.

Business plan for opening a foreign language school

Most often, people (both children and adults) seek help in the field of English, so your business plan should include a paragraph regarding why you decided to teach this foreign language. Several factors may be in favor of one language or another, and much will depend on the city in which you intend to open a school (don’t forget to include this point in your business plan). So, if in a locality with a small number of residents the demand for these services is not very high (and, most likely, these will only be schoolchildren learning English), accordingly, there will be practically no demand for other foreign languages.

In a large city, you can not only open a school where it is convenient for you, but also acquire many more clients.

To open a school to study a particular foreign language, you will need to register as an individual entrepreneur. This type of registration implies mandatory licensing. A pleasant factor of this event is that currently the license will not need to be renewed every 5 years, as was the case before.

Now, once you have received a license to conduct educational activities, this will be enough for you to continue doing it for the rest of your life. This point is necessary so that you can subsequently hire workers for your foreign language school. This point is one of the main ones in a document such as a business plan, because in the future you will also have to choose the organizational and legal form of your business. If you plan to work only independently, without hiring employees, then a license is not required. Moreover, for registration as an individual entrepreneur you will pay only 1,500 rubles.

In addition to everything, it is necessary to submit an application for registration with the tax service, as well as register with the state or non-state pension fund of Russia.

Return to contents

Selection of premises and equipment

An important factor in the success of your institution will be the location in which the foreign language school will be located. In a city with a high population density, there should not be any particular problems finding a good place to open a foreign language school. It is necessary to try to do this near large shopping centers (but not in residential areas), near educational institutions of various levels (both preschool and higher educational institutions). As for small settlements, you should open a foreign language school in the very center, and also do not forget to make sure that advertising about your institution is located in places with the largest concentration of people (at the train station, again next to schools, kindergartens, colleges and so on).

To get started in this business (if the business plan does not involve significant investments), the equipment that you used as a student will be sufficient. If you conduct classes alone and with a small number of students, then for starters you can purchase a basic set of furniture (chairs, tables) and teaching aids: textbooks, workbooks, audio and video materials. At first, 1-2 laptops will be quite useful as equipment. In the future, as the business expands (this will also need to be included in the business plan), it will be possible to purchase more advanced teaching aids and, accordingly, purchase new equipment.

Knowledge of a foreign language in a globalized world is considered mandatory for an educated person. It is good practice to know at least one foreign language - English. In this regard, many schools and foreign language courses are appearing in cities, inviting both schoolchildren and students, as well as adults and even preschool children as students.

So, foreign languages? The answer is in this article!

English language, it is necessary to conduct a market analysis. The future director should think about the following questions:

• what will be the format of the school: individual or group training;
• Who will the training be aimed at: children, schoolchildren, applicants, adults, etc., for each social group you will need to develop your own methodology and purchase separate teaching materials;
• school goal: simply teach the language, provide preparation for the Unified State Exam, prepare for life abroad, help with employment, etc., it is possible to open retraining courses for teachers with the issuance of certificates;
• how many languages will be studied.

It doesn’t hurt to check the potential demand at the first stage: assess the number of English language schools in the city, their capacity, level of teaching, location, etc. Usually all the advantages and disadvantages of the educational institution immediately become clear.

Important formulate a unique offer, which will interest the widest audience, and also protect yourself from mistakes made by competitors.

Step-by-step instructions for opening a foreign language school

1. Niche analysis, competitor monitoring, USP development,
2. Obtaining initial capital (for example, a loan).
3. Obtaining a license to conduct educational activities.
4. Search for suitable premises, rent or purchase.
5. Carrying out repair work, ordering signs.
6. Obtaining permission from the SES and the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
7. Formation of teaching staff.
8. Development of pedagogical programs.
9. Purchase of necessary equipment, furniture, teaching aids.
10. Active advertising, concluding training contracts, forming groups.
11. From September 1st – the start of classes.

School registration

To open a school you will need:

• or . If a school is organized by several people, then it is easier to organize a company. If the founder plans to work alone or with the involvement of hired workers, then you can limit yourself to individual entrepreneurs. When choosing, you can use the “simplified” approach.
• Obtaining a license. To apply for it, you need to contact your local education department, they will tell you where and how to get it. Usually, to do this you have to go to Obrnazdor and present your business project there.

• Accreditation. At the first stage, you can do without it. This document will allow the issuance of state-issued school completion certificates. It can be issued after 5 years of successful work.
• Recertification. Every three years, the teaching staff must undergo re-certification to verify suitability for the position.

Selecting a room

This is a key moment for opening a school, on which the success of the entire enterprise depends. There are two approaches:

• rent (or buy, if funds are available) a small office, or rent a classroom in an educational institution;
• purchase or rent an entire building.

At first, the first option is preferable. If an entire building is purchased (for example, a former kindergarten), then it is necessary to carry out repairs in it in accordance with legal norms. There are no such strict requirements for offices. Of course, you will have to undergo a SES and fire inspection and obtain the appropriate permits, but it is not that difficult.

Where should you choose a building?

Experts advise to be located:

• near existing educational institutions;
• in busy and business areas of the city;
• if the settlement is small, then in the very center;
• if the city is large, then it makes sense to open several offices in different areas to reach the largest number of residents.

The optimal room size is 50 square meters. It must have natural light.

It should not be forgotten that it is possible you will have to invest in repairs.

Purchase of necessary equipment

You will definitely need:

• desks and chairs;
• teaching desk and department;
• board, chalk, pointer;
• visual aids (for example, a map in a foreign language, a table of tenses, a list of basic irregular verbs, etc.);
• educational kits: textbooks, notebooks, work aids;
• magazines;
• optional - projector, interactive whiteboard, TV, computers or laptops, etc.

The specific composition of manuals and kits will depend on the current training programs. Each of them will require its own set of “tools”. You can develop training programs yourself, take them from free sources, or order them from professional teachers.

Formation of teaching staff

If the founder of the school plans to become a teacher, this will, of course, reduce costs. However, for full-fledged operation, the institution will need additional teachers: at least for a wider audience reach and profit.

A teacher should be selected based on his professional qualities and presented portfolio, based on reviews and recommendations from his previous place of work. It’s good if the teacher has been teaching classes using the same methodology for many years. This way, it will be possible to get diverse teachers into the team and expand the range of services provided.

Recruiting teachers is an ongoing process. It is optimal to accept new ones at the beginning of the school year or before the New Year, then the teacher has a greater chance of recruiting a group.

Basic Rules

The following rules must be followed:

• set depending on the load, no “equalization” - this will motivate additional enrollment of students;
• one teacher – one language, one program;
• Don’t forget about advanced training.

Search for students

The hardest part: find people willing to study. However, if there is a “hunger” in the city for foreign schools, then there will be no problems with the influx of students. It’s another matter if the niche is occupied and there is enough competition. The following tips will help:

The new school must offer something truly unique and interesting, there must be a feature. For example, training is conducted on computers, communication with live native speakers of a foreign language is offered, intensive preparation for the Unified State Exam is provided by university teachers, there are express courses for businessmen, etc.

How to make a foreign language school popular?

• printed advertising in crowded places: at bus stops, on public notices, near schools and universities;
• on thematic platforms: on city portals, in groups on social networks, etc.;
• radio advertising;
• TV.

Business plan for a foreign language school

Costs at the initial stage, if office space is rented, it is planned to recruit 10 groups of 10 students, 5 teachers (not counting the director) will work in 5 programs:

• registration of individual entrepreneurs, obtaining a license in Obrnadzor - from 15 thousand rubles;
• searching for a suitable building, obtaining permission from the SES and the Ministry of Emergency Situations - from 10 thousand rubles;
• repairs (if necessary) – from 50 thousand rubles;
• purchase of necessary equipment, including furniture - from 80 thousand rubles (for 10 students);
• purchase of books, textbooks, stationery, workbooks, etc. – from 30 thousand rubles (for 10 students in 1 program), total: from 150 thousand rubles.

Initial capital: 305 thousand rubles.

Monthly costs

• rent – ​​from 50 thousand rubles;
• utilities - from 10 thousand rubles;
• – from 20 thousand rubles per person, total: from 140 thousand rubles (including taxes);
• (minimum: cleaner and accountant) – from 30 thousand rubles.

Total costs: 250 thousand rubles.

Knowledge of a foreign language is the key to getting a prestigious job abroad, so an English language school is a fairly promising business idea. This idea can be safely brought to life, since such services are in great demand, even during the economic period. Accordingly, the English language school will bring you a stable, high monthly income.

Business registration

Before you open an English language school, you need to choose a legal form. Beginning businessmen usually register an individual entrepreneur. They can hire staff and train students, but do not have the right to issue individual entrepreneur certificates. The work book will record not a teacher, but a specialist in foreign languages.
If you have a small start-up capital on hand and are confident in your abilities, you can register a company. There are many more different nuances in this matter, but in this case your school will have a certain status and will be able to issue full-fledged certificates. After this, you must register with the tax office. This process takes 5–20 days.

To engage in educational activities, you must obtain a license from the territorial education authorities. To do this, you need to provide information about the premises and the level of qualifications of teachers.

Choosing a room

It is better to open a foreign language learning center near educational institutions or near a shopping center.

You should not locate the school in a residential area, since in such a place you will not be able to find a sufficient number of clients. Also pay attention to the fact that there are no similar educational institutions nearby that could take students away from you.

Equipment and furniture

There are no special requirements for the equipment of the room, since languages ​​can be studied anywhere. But to create an image, you need to purchase stylish furniture, as well as teaching aids that you will need first.

Each classroom needs to buy media materials - video and audio recordings, as well as various interactive programs. Since technological progress does not stand still, the school needs to purchase several laptops to offer students new learning methods.

When the business begins to expand and make a profit, you can purchase projectors and interactive screens.

Teachers

Now you know how to open a private school for studying foreign languages. It's time to talk about how to find good teachers for her. The success of your business depends 95% on the work of teachers. But in order to find highly qualified teachers, you will have to spend a lot of time, since good specialists are always in demand and they are in no hurry to leave their homes.

If you want to open an English language school for children, invite teachers who have worked with schoolchildren. They must be able to interest children and attract their attention. For students and adults, it is better to invite teachers who are native English speakers.

Advertising

Like any other business, a language school needs advertising. It is best to conduct marketing activities on the global network. Order specialists to develop your own website. On it you can post information about teachers, teaching methods, as well as the advantages of your school. Advertising can be placed on forums, social networks or other thematic sites.

Standard advertising tools are:

• Radio;
• A television;
• Flyers;
• Advertising banners and posters.

Come up with all kinds of promotions. For example, if a student brings a friend, he can be given a 30% discount on tuition. In this type of business, the flow of customers must be constantly stimulated by advertising, so it is advisable to hire an experienced specialist for these purposes.

Choosing a teaching method

This issue can be resolved in three ways:

1. Standard programs;
2. Programs created by teachers;
3. Cooperation with large companies (purchase of a franchise).

Each of the proposed options has its own advantages:

• Standard programs are pleasing with the efficiency of organization and simplicity.
• Employee-designed training programs can be quite effective. In addition, no foreign language school can offer such a training system.
• The third option provides you with the patronage of an experienced giant who will provide the necessary assistance and give practical advice. But you will conduct business according to its terms, so this option is not suitable for everyone.

Children's programs

Special attention should be paid to the development of educational programs for children. Many parents want their child to receive quality knowledge at an early age, so children's educational programs are always in great demand. Teachers should use playful elements in lessons, such as modeling or drawing. In addition, you can connect outdoor games or soft toys to the educational process.

Kids love to learn various songs and rhymes. They sing them and tell them to their friends and parents. During the holidays, you can stage theatrical performances in a foreign language.

Expenses

To open a foreign language school you will have to allocate money for:

• Renting premises;
• Staff salaries;
• Equipment;
• Cleaning;
• Stationery;
• Payment of utilities;
• Other minor expenses.

For all this you will have to shell out approximately 600 thousand rubles.

Profit and profitability

The average income from a foreign language school is 30-60 thousand rubles per month. Large companies make more decent profits. The profitability of such a business is quite low. It is only 8%.

To open a small school, you will need approximately 100 thousand rubles. Some businessmen invest millions in such educational institutions. It all depends on the financial capabilities of the owner.

conclusions

You can make a good profit from an English language school. Despite the fact that there is a lot of competition in this area, this business remains profitable as the demand for language services is constantly growing.

To get started, you can rent a small room. An educational license costs 6 thousand rubles. At first, you can conduct training yourself without hiring teachers. The most important thing is to assemble a group. If there are no students, there is no profit. This approach allows you to start a business with minimal losses.

To increase your income level, you can offer students additional services, such as:

• Narrow subject training;
• Preparation for exams;
• Reports in English;
• Translations.

To attract as many clients as possible, exchange experiences with other educational institutions, as well as introduce new techniques. This will help you discover your

Speaking about competitors and the educational services market in general, we can safely say that in Russia it is oversaturated with supply and is highly competitive. You can find a service provider to suit every taste, in any price category.

At the same time, the market is promising and developing dynamically even in times of crisis. After all, both optimists and pessimists are aware of the need to learn a foreign language. The former believe that everything will stabilize and do not want to change the usual rhythm of life (fitness, cafes, foreign language courses), while the latter are thinking about leaving the country (and urgently begin to improve their language skills).

Therefore, opening a foreign language school is profitable, especially considering that investments at the start are minimal. But due to high competition, it would be a good idea to study the market. Although, this is not necessary in all cases.

We did not conduct a cross-section of the market, because at the time of opening we simply did not have the necessary experience. And, to be honest, we didn’t need it, since we already had requests from potential clients.

We have exactly the case when demand gave rise to supply: we knew for sure that we would have a certain number of students. In a word, it has nothing to do with those cases when a company enters the market with some product, not knowing whether it will be in demand at all.

In addition, we were already existing teachers, and to say that we opened a business from scratch is not entirely true. We had few skills directly related to running a business, but we had an idea of ​​how to organize the educational process, and by the time we opened, we had our own client base and teaching experience in a private school.

It was the latter that helped us at the very beginning. We observed how the director of this school conducts business, how contracts are concluded, corporate training is completed, and we noticed mistakes that we would not like to repeat. We can say that the only competitor we studied was the school in which we ourselves worked.

Also, at the start, you need to decide which audience to work with. Today, foreign languages ​​are studied in private schools by people of all ages, starting from 3 years old. This means you can work with babies, preschoolers, schoolchildren, students, working people and retirees. Each category requires its own training program, and more than one. You cannot teach a first-grader and a graduate preparing for the Unified State Exam using the same template. And it’s almost impossible to cover all segments of the population at the start, so it’s better to start working with a category with which you already have experience interacting.

Personal experience

We started working with adults, and until now I had never worked with children in my life. Because I simply don’t know the right approach to them, I can only observe it from the outside as a mother. Therefore, we launched the “children’s sector” in our schools much later, when I saw the effect of training on my child and invited a specialist to head the corresponding area in our school.

If you want to start a business with something you don’t know how to do, it’s important to hire a good specialist. Moreover, you need to try his method on yourself as a client and wait for the results. Because you can't convince people that your product is good without ever trying it. At the start, you need to do what you know how to do, what you are ready for. Only this will ensure high quality services.

This also applies to the choice of languages ​​that will be taught at your school. If you, for example, are thinking about launching a Spanish course without knowing about it and the advising market, it won’t work. You won’t even be able to hire good specialists, since they are extremely reluctant to go to unknown schools.

It is best to start with one direction, work it out well and “test it”, and only then open new directions: launch courses in other languages, expand audience coverage. Something new in a foreign language school should be launched regularly. Trying to sell the same thing for 10 years is very dangerous. From time to time the market declines in each segment. The same English sometimes fades into the background, other languages ​​periodically become more popular, and in turn.

But the palette needs to be expanded gradually, starting with everything at once is the same as being scattered. This is exactly the problem of many schools that claim many languages, but cannot gather groups, and as a result, dissatisfied clients, without waiting for the start of classes in a month or two, leave. At the same time, they not only take their money, they are left with a negative impression, and they never return to this school.

Investment size

Step-by-step instruction

To survive in a competitive environment and not dump prices, it is necessary to pay the greatest attention to the quality of the services provided. Therefore, after you have studied the business from the inside and collected the required amount of investment, you need to think through the issue of the training program in detail. First of all, it will depend on what audience you plan to work with at the start. For example, it is better to teach very young children languages ​​through creativity: music, dancing, modeling, etc.

With adults, in this regard, it is somewhat simpler, but they also pursue different goals when they come to a foreign language school: someone wants to emigrate, someone needs a language for work, someone for travel. Accordingly, it is advisable to provide different programs for different purposes.

When opening our school, we wrote several programs: business English, spoken English, financial, legal English, English for tourists, etc. We taught all this before, so the programs were working and tested on people.

We currently teach approximately 65 programs at our school, including very specific areas such as interview preparation. All of them are written by professionals. There is simply no other method other than involving a specialist in writing the program. For example, we now have a methodologist who has a higher pedagogical education and three years of experience in her specialty.

Another way is not to write your own program, but to use modern textbooks of international class - textbooks from publishers such as Macmillan, Longman, Cambridge, etc. They offer their programs, which you can simply download on the Internet and use the step-by-step instructions provided.

The teacher can also create a program independently. But for this you need to conduct a lot of classes, describe them, writing down the deadlines, results, textbooks used. Only then will it be a truly normal training program.

Personal experience​​​​​​​

It was with the help of our teachers that we launched the teaching of German, French and Italian. Almost all the teachers in our school have an education from Moscow State Linguistic University, they all know at least two languages. When we had already formed a staff of our teachers, each of them spoke one more language. At this stage, launching a second foreign language was easy because we were confident in the professionalism of our employees.

In general, the teacher is a key figure in this business. This is the person who will “keep” your client. If you make a mistake with the teacher, the client will not stay with you despite all the investments, beautiful offices, and chic sales managers.

If the founder of the school himself has a specialized education and “brews” in this environment, then it will be much easier for him to recruit staff, simply because he can involve his classmates in the work.

Otherwise, you can search for teachers in standard ways, for example, through advertisement sites. It is also worth “monitoring” students and graduates of local universities. For example, I constantly interact with MSLU, I know all the forums, I am present on all the sites where students are, and I often write to them directly, asking if they would like to join us after graduation.

Don't be afraid to hire young professionals. From the age of 21-22 you can work, demonstrating all your talents and a high level of language proficiency - C1.

Sometimes applicants come to us, but after the interview we advise them to start studying at our school at the Intermediate-Upper-Intermediate level, since they make a lot of mistakes in speech. This can often be found on the Moscow market.

Personal experience

Through experience, we found out that a sign is important for a school. Initially, we believed that today people are looking for information, including about courses, on the Internet, which means there is no need for signs. But it turned out that when we rented an office with a front sign, 30% of clients came to us simply passing by.

At the stage of brand formation, do not forget about PR: publications, free events, prize draws from partners. Try to find interesting partners and exchange audiences. It is very useful.

Even with the most competent promotion strategy, clients will not engage with you if it is inconvenient in terms of time. At the start, my partner and I worked from 7 am to 10 pm ourselves, looking at what time people were most active. Having studied the peaks in demand and recruited a staff of professionals, we established a working day from 10:30 to 19:30. At the same time, the greatest influx occurs in the evening: after work, people come to meetings, testing, and demo lessons.

In addition, for the convenience of the client, we have to work on weekends, which was a big problem at first. Therefore, we have developed a duty regime. We currently have someone who works on Saturdays but doesn't work on Mondays, and one of the training coordinators is always on duty on Sundays. It turns out that the employee is on duty once a month on Sunday and gets time off any day he wants. Thus, the office is almost always open, so the client can arrive at any time.

It goes without saying that long before the opening it is necessary to take care of finding a suitable premises for the school and its design. And here there are also a number of rules.

A foreign language school must be located in a place with good traffic. We took it as an axiom that the distance from the metro is no more than 6 minutes. The acceptable figure for Moscow is up to 10 minutes from the metro.

In other cities, it is also worth focusing on public transport stops. One way or another, people should be able to easily reach you on foot, and not ride on a crossroads. It is very desirable that the school has its own parking lot, but in the city center this may be a problem.

Many beginning entrepreneurs think that the office must be located in the center. Perhaps there is a certain amount of truth in this. For example, our central office is always full of requests. But when choosing a “more central” room, it is important to consider one point:

In the center there are competitors on every corner

In addition, rental rates in central areas are quite high and can vary significantly. For example, you can rent a class A office, paying the appropriate price, and a competitor literally across the street rents a class B office, which is almost no worse in quality, but its price is much lower.

The cost of rent ultimately affects the cost of the course for your students. Therefore, you need to adequately assess the average bill and budget of your client. Even those students for whom money is not a problem do not want to overpay just for a building. Before you splurge on an entourage, consider whether your clients will pay for it.

At the same time, you shouldn’t choose an office based on the principle “the cheaper, the better.” Too budget options may not be entirely “clean” from a legal point of view.

It is advisable to resolve the issue with the premises together with a lawyer, so that he checks the contract and the building for “cleanliness”. Sometimes everything looks perfect, but after a couple of months it turns out that the building belongs to other people, and you can be kicked out any day. This will cause serious damage to your reputation.

There are no strict requirements for the purpose and condition of the premises, or for repairs therein. It is advisable to avoid the open space format. The walls must be erected initially so that you do not have to divide the room yourself. Otherwise, sound insulation will suffer, and therefore the quality of classes.

The number of classes will depend on the school load. At the initial stage, 4-5 rooms are enough (total area is about 60-80 sq.m., taking into account the entrance and administrative areas). A larger number does not make sense since the classrooms will be empty. This often doesn't make the best impression on clients. It is better to eventually move to a larger premises in the same territorial block. It is undesirable to move to another area, since many clients are residents of neighboring houses, who are often not ready to attend their favorite school after moving.

In the case of registration of a non-state educational institution, a number of additional requirements for the premises appear: the presence of a separate bathroom, the presence of a separate entrance, ceiling height - from 2.6 m, a source of natural light in each classroom, etc. It is also important to obtain opinions from firefighters and the SES. They will be required to obtain a license to conduct educational activities.

Documentation

When organizing a business in Russia, it must first of all be registered with the tax authorities. And to do this, you definitely need to decide on the organizational and legal form of ownership of your future business: work as an LLC, a non-profit organization or as an individual entrepreneur (individual entrepreneur)?

The IP form is, of course, good for beginners. It allows you to provide services to clients on a paid basis, rent premises, hire staff, but you will not be able to issue certificates to your graduates, and from the point of view of the law, your activities will be only advisory, but not educational. Corporate clients will not be available to you. And officially you will be considered only a specialist in foreign languages, and not their teacher.

In order for your school, according to the laws in force today in Russia, to become a full-fledged educational institution, you should register a NOU (non-state educational institution) or a commercial organization with the form of LLC (limited liability company).

This will allow you to obtain a license to carry out educational activities. Such a document is drawn up in the territorial education authority, and in order to receive it, you need to provide a certain set of documents (the full list is specified in the authority itself). This is usually documentation related to the premises, the qualifications of teachers, the quality of teaching methods and plans, etc.

At the end of 2013, Russia adopted amendments to the federal law on education stating that private schools with any legal form have the opportunity to obtain a license to carry out educational activities. This is great news! But, unfortunately, the process of obtaining a license has not become easier, and the requirements for a licensee in the form of a small private school are still too high.

To obtain a license for educational activities, it is best to use the help of specialized law firms. But do not confuse obtaining a license with its illegal “purchase”. This will inevitably lead to repeated checks and detection of counterfeit.

A strong argument in favor of obtaining a license is the opportunity for your clients to return their personal income tax (personal income tax - a direct federal tax in Russia) on the amount paid for education (which is 13%). This is a significant competitive advantage.

About what is needed to obtain a license

Typically, to obtain a license you will need:

Copies of constituent documents certified by a notary;

Copies of documents certified by a notary that confirm that you have premises for work;

Language learning is not only a profitable and promising business, but also a noble business. Foreign languages ​​can open the door to work in international organizations and to business with international markets. Different target audiences may need to teach a foreign language: schoolchildren and students; people who need languages ​​for work or business; those who are planning to move abroad. The work on creating such a school is preceded by a business plan for a foreign language school, an example of which we offer you below.

Justification of the business plan

We plan to launch a business in a large regional center with a population of more than 1 million people. Currently, three large language schools, as well as several hundred private tutors and small courses, provide English language instruction here. The market for these services in the city can be assessed as saturated, however, a control study of users of social networks and forums showed that there is a need for high-quality teaching of foreign languages. Among the main complaints made by potential clients:

• Low level of professional competence of private teachers.
• Lack of special offers such as “English for Business”, which could cover the request of some of the target audience.
• Lack of well-equipped classrooms for conducting classes.

In order to take a stable place in the market, it is planned to create a premium language school aimed at entrepreneurs, managers and final school students who plan to enter leading universities in Russia, as well as Europe or China.

In connection with determining the target audience, the following risks and problem areas of the business plan arise:

• There is a shortage in the region of qualified teachers capable of offering the required level of services.
• Insufficient number of target audience in the selected region.
• Large start-up investments are required.

In order to mitigate the first risk, it is planned to analyze in advance the market of private teachers in the city and identify among them those who have the required competence, and conduct a preliminary interview with them regarding cooperation.

To mitigate the second risk, it is planned to study the need of the city's leading companies for corporate training of employees. It is not possible to assess the need for premium services from private individuals - this is a significant disadvantage that can only be overcome through personal contacts with the founder of the school. In addition, it is planned to conduct classes online for students from other regions. However, emphasis will not be placed on it.

The third risk is planned to be resolved by attracting co-financing from the investor for allocating him a share of future profits or by obtaining a bank loan.

If the risks are assessed as too significant, it is planned to reorient the project to provide middle-class services.

Decor

In our case, the need for premium services was identified and an investor was found who was willing to allocate 50% of the required costs to start a business. Another 25% is planned to be allocated from our own funds, and the remaining 25% will be obtained on credit under the guarantee of an investor.

The LLC form of activity was chosen for registration.

The simplified taxation system of 15% is chosen, since the school will have significant costs for paying teachers.

For work, OKVED 85.41.9 “Additional education for children and adults, other not included in other groups, including teaching foreign languages” is selected.

According to the Regulations on licensing of educational activities (Government Decree No. 966), the language center requires the following documents:

• Ownership or right to use premises (lease).
• Availability of developed and approved educational programs.
• Availability of SES documents.

To obtain all the necessary documents, it is planned to use the services of a specialized licensing agency. For these purposes, you will need to allocate 100 thousand rubles, including a state duty of 7.5 thousand rubles.

Personnel search

Since we have chosen the format of a premium language school, we require the best teachers. Since we will work not in Moscow, where the demand for other languages ​​is higher, but in a regional center, offering a large number of languages ​​will be unprofitable. The greatest demand remains for English. In addition, there is a growing demand for the Chinese language, which is not being met by competitors, including in neighboring regions.

Thus, the core of our school will be teachers of English and Chinese. We plan to start with two English teachers and one Chinese teacher. To increase the profitability of using the premises, non-staff teachers in non-priority languages ​​are invited: French, German, Spanish - with payment for the hours actually worked.

It is planned to send the leading English language teacher to specialized courses in Moscow for training. The contract includes a clause on mandatory work in the company for 2 years or payment of retraining costs.

Teachers' salaries are planned at 150% of the regional average.

Renting premises

For work it is planned to rent premises in the city center. There should be:

• A room with luxury furniture for classes with VIP-class clients (30 sq. m).
• Two “standard” class rooms (20 sq. m each).
• Reception room (12 sq. m.).
• Manager's office (10 sq. m.).

Total area of ​​the premises: 92 sq. m.

Estimated cost of renting an office: 50 thousand rubles per month. It is expected to pay 3 months' rent immediately. You will need to spend 150,000 rubles on cosmetic repairs.

In total, at launch you will need 956,000 rubles.

Business promotion

Business promotion is planned to be carried out in two directions: offline and online.

Among offline methods, it is planned to offer preferential conditions for corporate training for employees of local companies at 10% of the basic offer. To do this, commercial proposals are sent out and meetings are held with representatives of companies from a pre-prepared list.

Printed materials are produced and distributed to local universities and business centers.

For online promotion, a landing page is created, SEO promotion, targeting and contextual advertising campaigns are launched.

Cost calculation

To launch

According to the original idea, of this amount, 1,035 thousand are allocated by the investor, 535 thousand rubles from their own funds, and another 500 thousand rubles are borrowed from a bank for 2 years at 15% per annum.

Under these conditions, the monthly payment will be 24,500 rubles (calculated using an online calculator according to standard conditions, the actual cost will differ).

Monthly

How much does the business bring?

The tax base will be:

598,000 – 396,500 = 201,500 rubles.

Let us subtract the costs of unified social tax from it and get: 201,500 – 62,100 = 139,400 rubles.

169,400 x 0.15 = 20,910 rubles will be the monthly tax.

The net profit will therefore be:

201,500 – 20,910 = 180,600 rubles per month.

Business profitability will be:

(180,600 / 396,500) x 100 = 45.54%.

This indicator can be considered very successful for the first year of operation. However, to access it you need to ensure the planned attendance. Please note that the calculated indicators are based on an occupancy rate of approximately 60% of the capacity to use the current premises. In the future, it is planned to increase the useful use of the premises to 80% and thereby increase profits and profitability.

Based on the figure of 180,600 rubles per month, let’s calculate the return on investment of the business.

It is planned to allocate 70% of income to return on investment. The remaining 30% is allocated to the development of the company, bonuses to staff, additional costs incurred and dividends to the two co-founders.

180,600 x 0.7 = 126,420 rubles per month will be used for return on investment (credit costs are not taken into account).

1 570 000 / 126 420 = 12,41.

The return on your own investment is expected 13 months after launch. After this, it is planned to fully repay the loan debt within 3 months. Thus, the full payback of the business occurs in 16 months.

Business prospects

The company's future development prospects depend on the market capacity in a particular region. In our case, it is planned to open two additional schools in other areas of the city, aimed at the middle class. In the future, the first school will be completely transferred to serving VIP clients.

In addition, it is planned to create a franchise offer and introduce the school to the market of other regions.

Eventually

Foreign language courses look like a promising business line for a large city. In cities with less than 300 thousand inhabitants, the demand for this kind of establishment is much lower. The premium English language school discussed above will only be effective in a regional center. In small cities there is simply no target audience for which this business is aimed.

This business plan for a foreign language school with calculations shows that the main cost item and the main problem for a future entrepreneur in this direction will be the selection of qualified personnel. It is quite possible that you will have to pay additionally for special training for teachers. This is not only a guarantee of quality education, it is a guarantee that must be given to VIP clients to attract them to their school. In other words, you can’t just call your establishment a premium school by simply putting tables and chairs there that are twice as expensive as those of your competitors. First of all, you must provide the required level of education. In this case, there will be no end to customers.

Another effective move would be to invite a native speaker to the teaching position. However, today the requirements for such specialists are much higher than before. They must not only have the required competence, but also speak Russian at a sufficiently high level. Please note that today such specialists must have a certificate of proficiency in Russian to work.

Perhaps this is all you need to know about starting this business. We wish you good luck and recommend that you familiarize yourself with other materials on our website. We also remind you that we present only average samples of business plans. Your business plan must be drawn up taking into account regional characteristics and other individual nuances.