Opening a language school business plan. Business plan for a foreign language school

Calculations are current for 2019

MS Word Volume: 45 pages

Business plan

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Need a business plan for a foreign language school? You can study this document on our website. A language school is a popular area of ​​modern entrepreneurship, because speaking English is an urgent necessity, and not just prestige. Career advancement often depends on knowledge of the language; with fluency in English, you can easily communicate on tourist and business trips abroad.

Having studied the business plan of the language center, you are guaranteed to acquire a unique opportunity to develop activities in the linguistic direction. Language courses can help preschoolers, children of primary school age, high school students, students and already established people, professionals who want to learn English, German, Spanish from scratch or simply improve the level of their knowledge of a foreign language to the desired level.

A proven business plan for organizing language courses in English and other foreign languages ​​will certainly allow you to move in the chosen direction with the least losses. A modern language center is not only the work of competent teachers, but also training using modern textbooks, the use of video communications, studying material with native speakers using audio courses, lessons, modeling standard and non-standard situations. Knowledge of a foreign language opens up new horizons, so if this business is set up correctly, constant success is guaranteed.

Knowledge of at least one foreign language significantly increases the chances of those who want to find a good job. But, since not everyone studied diligently at school or institute, only special courses will allow you to fill the gaps in knowledge. If you decide to open foreign language courses, you can be sure that you will always have clients. Of course, if you can attract them.

As the experience of opening language courses shows, first of all, it is necessary to take care of the level of teaching. Graduates of linguistic universities are not a suitable option. Teachers with experience working with people or specialists who received education abroad are suitable for such work.

In order to open a foreign language school, an entrepreneur must obtain a special license for educational activities. They are issued by territorial education committees. You must first prepare a fairly substantial package of documents confirming that you will be able to provide high quality education at your school or courses. And remember: if you plan to open a full-fledged foreign language school, with the issuance of state-issued documents, registration as an individual entrepreneur will not be enough for you.

The main problem for a businessman who decides to open a business such as a foreign language school will, of course, be high competition. Moreover, potential competitors include not only the owners of similar schools and language courses, but also ordinary tutors who go to their students’ homes. Therefore, the first step of an entrepreneur should be a competent assessment of the competition in your region. Study the prices at which tutors work, find out how much they charge for similar services in other schools.

Judging by the experience of opening a foreign language school, the level of prices in it should be slightly lower than that of tutors. Many clients find it much more convenient to invite a tutor to their home than to travel to classes themselves. As for the owners of competing schools or courses, in this case they should be taken not by lower prices for services, but by quality. It is important to find an opportunity to stand out from your competitors in some way or to occupy a narrower niche.

Try opening an English language school for children or opening foreign language courses for adults who need knowledge of spoken language to travel abroad. A business such as teaching Turkish also has a right to exist, but in this case the entrepreneur will have to seriously think through the advertising campaign in order to find his client.

A professional example of a business plan for opening a language school in English and other foreign languages ​​with ready-made calculations will help you get started with minimal losses. Do you want to know what is the difference between school and foreign language courses? After studying this document, you will easily understand the difference and decide what attracts you.

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 the investment at the start is 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’s 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 we opened our school, we wrote several programs: business English, spoken English, financial English, 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 for ourselves 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;

The integration of international relations dictates new rules for a modern business person, where knowledge of English is becoming the norm rather than the exception. After all, the international language is popular not only in the business environment, it is used by all civilized people as a means of international communication: students, travelers, workers in science and art. And as we know, demand creates supply.

Undoubtedly, there are many offers of private tutors on the Internet, and you can always take advantage of online English teaching. However, these options are more suitable for beginners. For people who want to gain more in-depth knowledge of the language, which presupposes free communication and the right to test in international exams, a more serious base is required - a foreign language school.

School of Foreign Languages ​​as a Business-the project involves the creation of a cost-effective training center that will help recoup costs in the shortest possible time. How to properly organize a school and develop a business plan - we will consider in detail in our article.

First steps

If you are thinking about creating your own training center, you must first determine the goals and objectives of this project, as well as the possibilities for implementing your plans.

Without a doubt, you have already mentally nurtured this idea and come up with an original name for your future school. Let's call it sonorously, reflecting the main idea - for example, “Language Center”. Very cumbersome or difficult to pronounce names often carry internal rejection and are difficult to remember. In addition, interactive Internet searches require “national” titles. In any case, the choice is yours.

The issue of personnel is one of the most difficult in any business. In the future, of course, you can use the option where the school itself will train specialists, training and certifying its own students.

Let's say you already have a team of professional teachers, the necessary licenses and certificates, and you are ready to transfer your knowledge to others. Now you need to choose a room suitable for the corresponding tasks. For example, we focus on a school that will recruit 10 groups of 15 people and work seven days a week, that is, 30 days. There will be one group and office workers in the room at a time – presumably 20 people. We choose a room from two rooms - study and relaxation. In this case, you must count on a usable area of ​​at least 150 square meters.

Based on this, calculate all potential costs associated with rent. Keep in mind that the most expensive rent is in the city center, while on the outskirts it is much cheaper. It is necessary to find the best option, where there will be the most convenient transport interchange and, preferably, a short distance from business centers and educational institutions.

Think through to the smallest detail what you will need to create a modern classroom. Most likely it will be:

• computer technology;

• presentation equipment;

• multimedia;

• comfortable furniture;

• educational materials.

Don't forget about the rest room too. A mini-cafe will also be a significant plus. After all, the number of people wishing to gain knowledge at your “Language Center” depends on how comfortable and attractive your educational institution looks. .

Then you will need to document the school in accordance with the law as a property in order to pay taxes to the state. At the same time, you need to take into account all the nuances so that licensing issues do not arise in the future. Please note that a legal entity has more opportunities to organize work with international training centers, in particular to work with international certificates and licenses from Cambridge.

The licensing procedure itself is free, but it takes a long time, sometimes up to a year, as it is carefully inspected by regulatory authorities.

The key to success lies in new approaches

In order not to get lost in the sea of ​​offers for teaching English from various beginner schools, tutors and express courses, you need to correctly position your exclusive direction and professional opportunities.

Among the main areas of study at the “Language Center” there must certainly be:

• preparation for international testing;

• testing using TOEFL, CALE, GMAT, IELTS systems;

• express training in fluency in speaking.

Do not forget to emphasize that the training is conducted by English specialists who have personally successfully passed international testing and have the appropriate licenses and certificates.

Each of the areas of training presupposes a certain level of basic knowledge, which should be the focus of clients who have expressed a desire to learn foreign languages. Let's look at each direction in more detail.

Conducting TOEFL exams. What it is? Testing using the TOEFL system is an international test of knowledge of the English language for people of non-English-speaking nationality. When hiring for an international company, such testing is mandatory. Therefore, if you see your professional future in a foreign company or plan to study in another country, you cannot avoid the TOEFL exam.

For more serious applicants, training through the CALE system (University of Cambridge) should be offered. This testing system is considered one of the most prestigious in the world.

Oxford students are tested using the international exam systems IELTS and GMAT (for MBA students).

Express training involves relaxed communication in English in a relaxing environment. This is a very effective method that has been tested by many training programs, but our version needs to be more creative and effective in order to attract the attention of consumers.

General atmosphere - comfortable learning

Do not forget that the basis for quick and effective comprehension of the proposed educational material is comfortable conditions. To achieve this, classrooms must be equipped with the necessary technical equipment and comfortable ergonomic furniture.

The educational process is designed in such a way as to alternate between a complex educational program and a game program. The “feature” of our “Language Center” could be a gaming room for relaxation with an operating mini-cafe, where the main condition for staying there will be communication in English. For those who are “forgetful,” hints of traditional words or phrases that are appropriate in a particular case can be pasted on the walls and objects.

Advertising is a perpetual motion machine of progress

Undoubtedly, to successfully promote a project called the “Language Center”, a massive advertising campaign will be needed.

You can actively hang up leaflets in places of public transport or crowded places, tell friends and friends of friends about yourself, and also invest money in advertising billboards. This will not hurt if you have free financial resources. However, as practice suggests, today there is nothing more effective than an Internet resource. Online advertising today will be less expensive, but more effective: you can place banners, pre-rolls, promotional videos, etc., while reaching a much wider audience.

Particular attention needs to be paid to discount portals: “Groupon”, “Pokupon” and others, where you can “highlight” loyalty programs. It has long been no secret that at first any company, in order to attract more customers, offers the lowest prices. However, you shouldn’t go to extremes: you need to weigh all the pros and cons, and then offer the optimal price.

And, of course, it is necessary to make a high-quality website with appropriate support and contextual advertising in order to bring it into the top ten of search queries. But this will require the investment of additional funds, and you need to be prepared for this.

From theory to numbers

In order to really assess your capabilities to create an English language teaching school, you need to include all the costs and possible risks in the summary table and evaluate the profitability and payback of our idea.

However, you should not expect that everything will immediately go according to plan and in accordance with your calculations. Especially in times of general crisis and fierce competition, you need to be prepared to respond quickly and have a certain financial reserve for this.

Usually, any business started from scratch progresses with difficulty at first due to lack of experience, lack of resources and low “promotion”. In addition, first you will need to work off the invested funds, so there can be no talk of net profit. Work at the initial stage is more focused on the future. At this stage, your task is to optimize current costs and contribute to the speedy receipt of profits. To do this, it is necessary to attract the estimated number of students so that income covers expenses, and ideally exceeds them.

Preliminary business calculation for the creation of the “Language Center” school

* Provided that the company operates on a simplified taxation system.

** Training of 10 groups of students of 15 people each with payment of 6,000 rubles. per month per person.

These numbers may change, but the essence remains the same - you need to start implementing the idea only if the costs are covered by income. And only then will your foreign language center, as a business project, be completely feasible.

• Registration
• License
• Premises and equipment
• Staff
• Advertising
• Costs and profits

The ability to speak a foreign language has always been highly valued in society and is a great advantage for getting a good job. That is why people who want to succeed in life and career strive to gain new knowledge in this area. For those women who decide to organize a business while studying, advice on how to open a foreign language school from scratch will be relevant. We invite you to read the step-by-step guide for implementing this idea.

Registration

Where to begin opening a business? In order to properly open a school for the study of foreign languages, it is necessary to legally formalize your activities. The easiest way is to register an individual entrepreneur. You will be able to provide training and hire teachers, but the company will not have the right to issue special certificates for completing courses in English or other languages. Experts advise opening a non-state educational institution (NOU). This is a rather labor-intensive process, but it will still be easier to “promote” your establishment and make money. The company will have a more advantageous position than if it had been registered as an individual entrepreneur. Agree that students would be more happy to study at a specialized institution than with a private businessman. The same goes for teachers. The registration process with the tax authorities will last up to 1 month.

License

Many women are interested in whether it is possible to open their own foreign language school without a license? Unfortunately, for the provision of educational services and the issuance of certificates, licensing is a mandatory item (it does not need to be issued only for private tutoring). You can get it from the city Department of Education, for which you will need to collect a certain package of documents. Its list includes:

• application for a license;
• notarized copies of constituent documents;
• notarized copies of permits for the premises from the SES and Gospozhnadzor;
• curriculum and certificate confirming the availability of the necessary methodological and special literature;
• personnel information;
• certificate of payment of state duty;
• a list of all attached documents.

Check with your territorial authority for the exact list of documentation required to obtain a license and open an educational institution from scratch. Please note that this may change.

One of the popular ideas for making money for a girl on the Internet at home is teaching English or other foreign languages ​​online via Skype. This option is suitable if you have the appropriate education and at least some work experience.

Premises and equipment

Where is the best place to open your English or other foreign language school from scratch? Experts recommend renting or purchasing premises near educational institutions, shopping centers and other places with high foot traffic. It is much more profitable to open an institution in the central areas of the city, since in bedrooms you are unlikely to be able to attract many clients. Be sure to evaluate the competition thoroughly. If a similar establishment is already open nearby, find another place to set up your business.

The next step to open a school will be renovation, purchase of equipment and furniture. This is perhaps the largest expense and should be taken seriously. The educational institution must be modern, with stylish furniture and equipment. First of all, take care of buying good tables, chairs, cabinets and boards. Of course, a school cannot do without educational and methodological literature. It will also be very cool if for the opening you purchase several computers and provide Internet access. As for the design, it all depends on your taste and financial capabilities, but we advise you to make the room beautiful and cozy. Hang themed paintings and posters on the walls, and put funny symbolic figurines with the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben on the shelves. People must feel comfortable so that they want to come again and again. Especially if you want to open a school to study foreign languages ​​for children.

Staff

To open a successful foreign language school from scratch, you need to find highly qualified teachers. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as it seems. Experienced employees can only be lured to a new job by high wages. You will have to try to find a decent teacher, especially if the institution will teach not only English, but also, for example, Spanish, Chinese, Italian or German. The age of your students also plays a big role. For adult clients, it is best to find a foreign teacher who can teach the nuances of business speech. Teachers in regular schools are quite capable of teaching children, including preschoolers. In any case, this is a very important issue that needs to be addressed long before the opening of the institution. Your educational institution should have only experienced, competent and qualified teachers with an impeccable reputation, since a large part of success depends on this. Among the staff, you will also need a cleaner and a visiting accountant.

* The calculations use average data for Russia

RUB 635,800

Minimum starting capital

17,5%

Profitability

7 months

Payback

1 PROJECT SUMMARY

The goal of the project is to open a language school to provide a range of available services in the field of learning foreign languages ​​and translation in a city with a population of more than 1 million people. The main source of income for the institution is payment for teaching a foreign language.

Language schools provide a range of services for studying various foreign languages ​​for different levels of student preparation.

Every year the popularity of language schools increases - people realize the advantages of speaking a foreign language and strive to study it. Therefore, a linguistic school is a prestigious, sought-after and profitable type of business.

Main business advantages:

relatively small amount of capital investment;

promising direction, annual growth in demand for this type of service;

quick payback.

To implement the project, a room with a total area of ​​100 m2 is rented, located in one of the residential areas. The linguistic school plans to teach seven foreign languages ​​in various programs.

The target audience is the city population aged 16 to 45 years, families with an average income.

The volume of initial investment is 635,800 rubles. Investment costs are aimed at furnishing the office and purchasing materials to support the educational process, creating a working capital fund. Own funds will be used to implement the project.

Financial calculations cover a five-year period of operation of the project. According to calculations, the total net profit for the first year will be 1,290,000 rubles, and the return on sales will be 17.5%. If the planned indicators are achieved, the initial investment will pay off after 7 months of operation.

2 DESCRIPTION OF THE INDUSTRY AND COMPANY

In the modern world, the role of foreign languages ​​is rapidly increasing. This trend is especially noticeable during times of crisis, when interest in learning foreign languages ​​increases sharply. Analysts attribute this phenomenon to people's desire to acquire competitive advantages that will increase their value as specialists. However, the motives for learning a foreign language can be very diverse: someone needs it for work, someone learns the language in order to communicate freely when traveling abroad, someone is preparing to enter abroad or for the Unified State Exam, and for others it is becomes a hobby.

Over the past ten years, attitudes towards learning foreign languages ​​in Russia have changed noticeably. Firstly, the demand for this type of service has increased. Secondly, learning opportunities have expanded - today the market offers various ways to learn foreign languages, and everyone can find the form of learning that suits them. Language schools and courses, tutors, online learning, classes with a teacher via Skype, trips abroad and so on.

People are beginning to realize the benefits of knowing foreign languages, as evidenced by the results of a sociological study:

97% of respondents said that traveling is much easier if you know foreign languages;

98% of respondents said that a second foreign language would help them in their career;

95% believe that learning a second foreign language will improve mental abilities;

1/3 of enterprises want to hire a person with knowledge of a foreign language in a certain field;

people with knowledge of a foreign language can count on a 20% salary increase.

Russia ranks 10th in terms of the growth rate of foreign language learning. The list of leaders includes China, Romania, Ukraine and Malaysia. At the same time, the EF2013 Index, developed by an international educational center, characterizes Russia as a country with a low level of knowledge of foreign languages. This fact is associated with the fact that the standard school curriculum and training program in universities is inconsistent, outdated and rather fragmented. Therefore, people, faced with the need to use a foreign language, are forced to resort to the services of language schools, courses or tutors.

The goals for learning a language are varied: 26% consider a foreign language as a factor in career growth, 23% study the language for professional development, 20% do not set a specific goal and learn the language for self-development, 12% learn the language while planning emigration, 8% - for passing exams at school or university, and 7% - for passing the international exam TOEFL, IELTS. 4% learn a language to communicate freely when traveling.

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In the Russian market, 76% of students choose English, German – 10%, and French – 7%. The remaining 7% comes from Japanese, Chinese and other languages. It is worth noting that learning Asian languages ​​has been gaining popularity recently.

When answering the question what foreign language they would like to learn, respondents indicated: 25% - English, 7% - French, German - 5%, Spanish - 4%, Chinese - 3%, Italian - 3%, Japanese - 1% .

57% of respondents believe that it is impossible to do without knowledge of a foreign language in the modern world - and, in particular, because it is needed to travel to other countries and this is a requirement of the time.

At the same time, 46% of respondents who do not speak foreign languages ​​would like to gain this knowledge.

Thus, teaching foreign languages ​​is in great demand, and the popularity of this type of service is growing every year.

Today, in the largest cities of Russia, the practice of studying foreign languages ​​in language schools and courses that can create the necessary conditions is widespread. Table 1 shows the approximate number of language schools and courses in different cities of Russia as of the beginning of 2017.

Table 1. Number of language schools and courses in the largest cities of Russia according to 2GIS data

Online learning is also gaining popularity: over the past two years, at least 15 online resources have been created. However, consumers prefer language schools.

The cost of educational services in the segment of studying foreign languages ​​varies, depending on the form of training - in a group, individually for one academic hour, or purchasing the entire training course. In addition, the cost of classes varies depending on the language - for example, learning English due to its popularity will cost much less than learning Japanese. Therefore, when creating a language school, it is necessary to clearly understand which languages ​​to include in the program.

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Thus, the dynamic development of the market for paid educational services in the foreign language segment allows us to talk about the investment attractiveness of this business.

3 DESCRIPTION OF GOODS AND SERVICES

The main activity of a language school is the provision of educational services in the field of teaching foreign languages.

Before opening a linguistic school, it is necessary to determine which languages ​​will be available for study, as well as what audience of courses is expected - preschool children, high school students, students or working adults. The development of educational programs, the range of services provided, planned sales volumes, and the organization of the educational process depend on this.

The most popular language is English, followed by German and French. This set of foreign languages ​​is considered mandatory for linguistic school. It is recommended to organize courses in rarer languages: Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese. This can become your competitive advantage and attract clients, since competition in the field of teaching foreign languages ​​is quite high.

You should also provide a range of different courses so that each student can choose the form and direction of study that suits them at your school:

express training in fluency in spoken language;

English for children;

preparation for Unified State Exam, TOEFL, IELTS exams;

intensive foreign language training;

group and individual lessons;

specialized business English courses;

family education (with the ability to create a convenient schedule and home schooling).

The list of services and areas of study is open and is determined individually for each linguistic school, based on its goals, financial capabilities, staff, etc.

This project involves the opening of a language school offering the following types of educational services:

General training program in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese. Classes in small groups of 4-6 people and large groups of 12-20 people. The course program includes spoken language and grammar. For the English language, it is expected to select a program depending on the level of knowledge - beginner, basic, advanced;

The intensive (accelerated) English language teaching program includes three levels - initial, basic, advanced;

Preparation for exams: Unified State Exam, TOEFL, IELTS and so on. The course includes preparation for various international tests in a foreign language, as well as preparation of schoolchildren for passing the Unified State Exam and Unified State Exam. Group and individual courses are expected;

Spoken English. The course is focused on expanding vocabulary and live communication practice;

Business English. The course includes studying grammar, expanding vocabulary, studying specific business terminology;

English for children: programs for children 3-5 years old and 6-7 years old. Education is built on the alternation of educational activities and various games, which allows students to effectively learn the material.

Translation services – written translation of texts from Russian into English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and vice versa. We translate various types of documentation, advertising and other texts.

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In accordance with the specified list of services, the required office space is determined, a staff is formed, a class schedule is drawn up, and a marketing strategy is planned.

4 SALES AND MARKETING

The target audience of the language school, taking into account the course programs, is the city population aged 16 to 45 years, families with an average income.

A corporate identity, a memorable name and logo are of great importance for a language school, so before launching a project it is recommended to carry out work on naming and creating an image. The assistance of naming specialists will cost an average of 6,000 rubles - the price includes the development of a brand, logo, and name.

The location of the language school also plays an important role - it is necessary that students have a convenient way to get to school. It is advisable to choose an office in a public place, on a crowded street. Locating a school in a residential area will become a competitive advantage, since the proximity of the school to home is a determining criterion for some consumers when choosing.

A sign indicating the location of the language school must be placed near the school. Coordination, production and installation of an advertising sign will cost approximately 24,000 rubles.

In the first months of opening, it is necessary to conduct an advertising campaign. This includes: distributing promotional leaflets and posting notices in the elevator. The budget for this type of advertising will be about 10,000 rubles. To form your client base and attract visitors, it is recommended to hold various promotions and bonuses: the first lesson is free, a discount for reposting on a social network, a “refer a friend - get a discount” promotion, etc.

It is also necessary to create a group or profile on popular social networks. The content of a group or profile should be diverse, including not only organizational issues and advertising of school services, but also contain useful information - this could be fascinating videos in a foreign language, interesting facts about the languages ​​of the world, useful infographics, etc. Marketers note that the company’s provision of useful and, most importantly, free information increases the degree of loyalty of potential customers. Through social networks it is convenient to carry out various promotions and bonus programs, which were mentioned above.

It is also recommended to create your own website - this will not only increase the school’s reputation, but also simplify the process of informing about services. On the site, users will be able to read the description of each course, view the class schedule, check prices, take a test to determine the level of training, find out contacts and location of the school, and get acquainted with the teaching staff. Creating and promoting a website will cost approximately 50,000 rubles.

It is necessary to use promotion tools comprehensively - then advertising will give the fastest and most effective results. However, it should be understood that for a language school, as for any service industry, the most effective way of advertising is word of mouth. Therefore, the best advertisement for your language school is qualified staff and a pleasant atmosphere.

5 PRODUCTION PLAN

• Registration with government agencies. In accordance with Art. 91 Federal Law “On Education in the Russian Federation”, additional education is subject to licensing. The state fee for a license is 6,000 rubles. You should also decide whether you will issue students with a document confirming completion of a particular language course. To issue a state document on completion of training, you must obtain a license from the local department of the Ministry of Education. The simplest option is to organize a language school with individual teaching activities - in this case you will not need a license, but you will not have the right to issue documentation confirming the qualifications of graduates. To implement the project, it is planned to create a language school without the right to issue a state document. To conduct commercial activities, an individual entrepreneur is registered with a simplified taxation system (“income” at a rate of 6%). Types of activities according to OKVED-2:
• Additional education for children and adults, other, not included in other groups
• Translation and interpretation activities.
• Location and choice of office. A good location involves proximity to educational institutions, shopping centers, and crowded streets. It is desirable to have free parking and convenient transportation. Also, when choosing a room, you need to pay attention to lighting, sanitary condition, the presence of a bathroom and other technical characteristics. The optimal size of a room for a language school is from 100 m2 - this area is enough for two classrooms and a reception room with a reception. If you intend to provide individual training services, it is recommended to provide a small office for this.

To implement this project, it is planned to rent an office with an area of ​​100 m2 located in one of the residential areas. The cost of renting such a room with renovation will be on average 70,000 rubles for a city with a population of about 1 million inhabitants. It is planned to place 2 classrooms and a hall with a reception. One classroom will be specialized for English language classes, where classes will be held daily. The second classroom will be used for classes in other languages. This division will allow you to properly design the space and make it easier to draw up a class schedule.

• Recruitment. For a language school, the availability of qualified personnel is one of the main parameters, so you should carefully select personnel. You can search for employees as follows: on specialized websites; collecting information through friends; monitoring of teachers of secondary and private schools with subsequent employment offers.

The composition of the teachers also determines the schedule of the language school. It is expected that the work schedule will be from 10:00 to 20:00, seven days a week, since the presence of weekend groups will allow us to serve a larger number of clients.

The average duration of a foreign language course is 4-8 months, or 72-144 academic hours. At the end of the course, students take a test that assesses the level of knowledge acquired during the course. Group enrollment is carried out 2 times a month in English and 1-2 times in other languages. The main flow of students falls on evening groups (from 17:00 to 20:00). Small study groups consist of 4-6 people, and large groups of 8-16 people. An even number of students in a group is recommended, since during the learning process it is often necessary to split the group into pairs to complete tasks, which increases the effectiveness of such learning.

Table 2 shows the sales plan and revenue calculation for the first year of operation of the language school. The implementation plan is drawn up taking into account the operating mode, the number of courses being implemented and their duration. For example, an intensive English language course takes 72 academic hours, and a general course takes 144 hours.

Table 2. Implementation plan for the first year of operation of the language school

6 ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN

To operate a language school, it is necessary to form a staff of the following employees: teachers, administrators, accountant, cleaner. The main staff are teachers, since the atmosphere of the educational process, the level of knowledge of students and impressions of the school as a whole depend on their professionalism and communication skills. Based on the drawn up implementation plan, the language school needs to hire 2 teachers in English and 1 teacher in each of the other foreign languages. Thus, the teaching staff will be formed of 8 specialists.

When choosing teachers, the following requirements must be presented: a higher education (preferably linguistic), excellent knowledge of spoken and written language, two years of work experience, and the presence of a proven and comprehensive teaching methodology.

The administrator position involves shift work - 2 through 2, so you will need to hire two employees. Requirements for an administrator are limited to a high level of discipline, responsibility, and communication skills. Their responsibilities include receiving calls and letters, signing up clients for classes, forming groups, scheduling classes, maintaining groups on social networks, and providing the school with the necessary equipment. Part-time employment is expected for the cleaner and accountant.

A school leader is also needed to act as a manager. All personnel are subordinate to him, he makes decisions on hiring employees, builds a marketing policy, and interacts with the counterparty.

The total wage fund will be 274,000 rubles, and taking into account insurance payments - 356,200 rubles per month.

Table 3. Language school staff

7 FINANCIAL PLAN

The financial plan takes into account all income and expenses of the project; the planning horizon is 5 years. To start a project, it is necessary to calculate the amount of initial investment. To do this, you need to decide on the costs of furniture, technical equipment of the office and the purchase of educational material. Approximately 54% of the initial investment is in office furniture and technical equipment; 26% of the investment is for educational material, and 20% for advertising and registration.

Table 4. Investment costs

Fixed monthly costs are shown in Table 5. Of these, almost 70% of the costs are for employee salaries. Depreciation is calculated on a straight-line basis over 5 years. Monthly costs also need to include the cost of updating teaching materials, since this is an important element of the educational process.

Table 5. Monthly expenses

Thus, fixed monthly expenses were determined in the amount of 519,153 rubles. The planned revenue is 660,416 rubles per month. It is planned to reach the target figure in the fourth month of the school’s operation.

8 EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATION

The payback period for the project with an initial investment of 635,800 rubles is 7 months. The net monthly profit of the project when reaching planned sales volumes will be about 140,000 rubles. It is planned to reach the planned sales volume in the fourth month of operation. Return on sales in the first year is 17.5%.

9 POSSIBLE RISKS

To assess the risk component of the project, it is necessary to analyze external and internal factors. External factors include threats related to the economic situation in the country and sales markets. Internal – the effectiveness of organization management.

Opening a linguistic school is associated with the following external risks:

high competition in the current market of paid educational services. Monitoring prices, thoughtful pricing and advertising policies, identifying and implementing your competitive advantages will help reduce this risk;

an increase in rental costs, which will entail an increase in fixed costs and may affect the financial condition. It is possible to reduce the likelihood of risk by concluding a long-term lease agreement and choosing a conscientious lessor;

risks under contracts with suppliers of educational materials. This risk can be reduced by complying with the requirements of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and other legislative acts when concluding contracts, selecting reliable suppliers, determining the amount and procedure for compensation by the supplier for damage caused;

seasonality of business, which reduces the demand for educational services in the summer months. It is possible to mitigate the risk by developing a marketing strategy and an effective advertising policy that includes promotions and bonuses.

Internal risks include:

failure to achieve the planned sales volume. This risk can be reduced with an effective advertising campaign and a competent marketing policy, which includes various promotions and bonuses;

lack of qualified specialists. This risk will be mitigated by monitoring employees of other schools and offering them the opportunity to combine work, as well as careful selection of employees during interviews, cooperation with universities that train translators and foreign language teachers;

decrease in the reputation of the establishment among the target audience due to errors in management or a decrease in the quality of services. It is possible to mitigate the risk by constantly monitoring the quality of services, receiving feedback from the establishment’s clients and taking corrective measures.

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