The Unique Story of an Online Language School: How It Found Its Niche

Contents:

• «Anglomania»
• The history of the origin of the project «Anglomania»
• An experiment with daring humor as a path to success
• Reasons for the closure of educational institutions
• How did the new «Anglomania» start its activity in 2018?
• Users and their motivations for contacting «Anglomania»
• The process of creating the «Anglomania» team
• Lack of fear of competition with major players and neural networks Technologies
• Transforming Crisis into Opportunities for Business Success
• Methods for Assessing the Effectiveness of an Online School

"Anglomania"

The essence of the project

We offer online English courses for adults, where lessons last 15 : Minutes are held every day. In addition, we have special programs for children and corporate courses.

Year of launch

2018

Link

anglomania.ru

While still studying at university, Daria Vaulina began her career as a tutor, and immediately after receiving her diploma, she founded her first English school in the Moscow region.

Five years after its founding, the Anglomania network encompassed five language educational institutions, where 50 teachers taught seven different languages. These schools accepted more than 300 students monthly. However, in 2018, Daria faced professional burnout and decided to sell all of her institutions. She soon returned to individual tutoring and, ultimately, transformed Anglomania into an online English school, offering 15-minute lessons every day. Daria isn't afraid of bold experiments—her courses included "BDSM English," for example—and isn't afraid to compete with leading online language schools.

At the request of Skillbox Media, Daria Vaulina shared the story of her project.

The Origins of the "Anglomania" Project

From a very early age, I had no doubt that my destiny was tied to teaching English. I vividly remember how, at the age of three, I returned home after my first lesson and organized a real lesson for my toys, even catching the cat to "teach" it too. At eighteen, while a student in the linguistics department of the Russian State University for the Humanities, I began working as a tutor. A year later, I went to the United States on a Work and Travel program, and then, with short breaks, I completed an internship in Spain and studied in Belgium. These encounters with different cultures and languages ​​inspired me, and I wanted to share with others the wonders of speaking foreign languages.

When I graduated from university in 2013, I had plans to move to Canada to be with my boyfriend. However, the paperwork dragged on, and I decided I shouldn't just sit back and wait. Instead, I decided to focus on my own project, at least for a while. Thus, the idea was born to open my first English school, which was located in a small room in the Nakhabino shopping center, where I was living with my parents at the time. Eventually, everything changed unexpectedly, and I realized that nothing else interested me, including moving to Canada.

To attract clients, I decided to hand out flyers on the street with the sign: "Opening of an English Language School." My start was modest—just ten students and an income of about 12,000 rubles a month. However, as the number of students grew, I began bringing in other teachers and adding new languages, such as Spanish, French, and Chinese, upon request. When I earned a million in the school's first year, it was truly miraculous—I'd never held such a sum in my hands before.

In 2014, our school underwent a significant expansion—we took over additional space in the same shopping center. That same year, I opened my first branch, a premium school located in Pavlovo, an elite cottage community in the Moscow region. Rents there were significantly higher than in Nakhabino, but this attracted wealthy clients willing to invest in high-quality, individualized instruction. This allowed me to increase the prices of the courses. The school in Pavlovo had a huge impact on the development of Anglomania—it allowed me to accumulate funds to open and develop two more branches.

In 2015, representatives of the English First educational network approached me with an interesting offer to acquire Anglomania on attractive terms. I decided to decline, as at that time I didn't want to develop my business under someone else's brand and was determined to create something of my own. Nevertheless, this offer was a pleasant compliment for me - it was nice to realize that such a significant player in the market saw an opportunity for growth in my project.

Perhaps my decision was wrong, but due to my lack of experience, I made many mistakes. I started my business at the age of 23, when I had no clear understanding of what entrepreneurship was or how adult life worked. For example, I didn't even know the basics of work ethic at the time. I became fascinated with American books like Dan Kennedy's "Tough Management," which advocated strictly supervising employees and firing them without hesitation, rather than building trusting relationships. I believed that was the way to act. Recently, while stopping at a coffee shop, I ran into a young man reading this book, and I thought, "Ten years from now, we'll discuss this with him."

An Experiment with Bold Humor as a Path to Success

In 2016, a project arose completely unexpectedly that attracted a significant number of new students to Anglomania. It all started when one of my students, while I was combining my roles as the school's founder and director with teaching, was constantly failing to complete his homework. I jokingly told him, "If you show up next time without completing your assignments, you'll owe me 30,000 rubles." He took it in stride, showed up for the next lesson with the work completed, and never missed a deadline again. Thus, we successfully resolved this issue, and he completed the course, achieving his goal. Later, he smiled and remarked, "This sounds like BDSM English; you should create a course like that." I thought, "Why not?" Why not really try organizing an online course? Up until that point, all classes at my school had been held exclusively in person.

It's worth noting that at the time, I was a deeply religious person, and the topic we were discussing seemed quite distant and even unusual to me. However, the concept itself made me smile, as it seemed original. I approached the marketing team, outlined my idea, and asked them to suggest a different name. However, they assured me that they couldn't come up with anything better, and that the name was perfect for such a course. In the end, we decided to keep the name "BDSM English."

We developed a landing page, and after that, we began receiving applications from interested people, but I was still unsure how to refine the concept. Ultimately, I settled on an intensive training format: a 30-day course, including 30 short lessons and 30 independent assignments. I record each video lesson on the same day and post it on the GetCourse platform at midnight, where I also publish homework assignments. Participants have exactly 24 hours to complete them.

We took a creative approach to the BDSM theme in our landing page design, which was reflected in the pricing plans. The program included three levels: the first, "Slave," provided access to the basic course for 3,000 rubles; the second, "Servant," included detailed error analysis and additional materials and cost 7,500 rubles; and the third, "Master," provided individual online lessons and cost 30,000 rubles. We also introduced a system of penalties for students who violated the rules: for example, late homework resulted in a fine of 1,000 rubles. If an assignment wasn't completed at all, students on the "Slave" plan were expelled from the course, while "Servants" and "Masters" had the option to skip assignments multiple times.

The first group consisted of 200 students, with the "Slave" plan predominating. The average cost, including fines, was approximately 12,000 rubles.

The program really made a strong impression on people! It was an unusual and exciting story, with tasks such as "Write a letter to an inmate in an American prison" and "Chat with five foreigners in one day." One participant was so successful in starting a conversation that she ended up getting married. From 2016 to 2018, we organized more than 20 launches of the "BDSM English" course and achieved good financial results. Overall, approximately 3,700 people completed this course, which exceeds the number of students enrolled in our offline schools since 2013. In addition, we also launched 15 "BDSM Spanish" streams. However, I feel that interest in this topic has faded over time, and I have no plans for new launches at this time.

Reasons for the closure of educational institutions

By 2018, I managed four of my own schools and one franchise in Dagestan. Anglomania employed 50 teachers teaching seven different languages, with approximately 300 students joining classes monthly. It was a dynamic and successful system, but I was beginning to experience burnout—the schools were demanding too much of my energy and attention. I was overseeing every aspect of the operation, including how the administrator greeted students and even what sweets were in the vases. At that point, I had only two options: continue with the grueling micromanagement or switch to franchise sales. However, franchising typically entails a decline in the quality of instruction, and I wasn't prepared for such a compromise. Along with the business crisis, I was also experiencing personal changes—at the same time, I left the Orthodox Church and divorced my husband. Ultimately, in 2018, I decided to sell all my schools and take a break to rethink my identity, my actions, and my desires.

The schools that were sold continue to operate today, just under different names. I check in on their progress from time to time, and by all appearances, they're doing well. However, in the 11 years since they opened, my views on quality education have changed significantly, while these institutions continue to use the same methods developed back in 2013. Nevertheless, it's proving effective. You can set up an English school on the ground floor of any apartment building, next to a pharmacy and a flower shop, and local residents will happily come. I haven't encountered this phenomenon in other countries, but in Russia, this business model turns out to be quite profitable.

How did the new "Anglomania" start in 2018?

After I sold my schools, people continued to contact me wanting to study with me. Even though I had no particular desire to return to tutoring, as I had during my student years, at some point I finally gave in. I raised my prices (in 2018, my tuition was approximately 100,000 rubles per month) and started teaching from my home again. As my language schools grew, I became disillusioned and decided that I no longer planned to open new educational institutions.

Suddenly, one of the students suggested an idea: "Daria, what if I pay the same amount, but make the lessons 15 minutes long instead of an hour?" At first, I couldn't understand the essence of this proposal or how such a learning process could be organized. I pondered this question. Ultimately, I came up with a new format: the course would cost 17,500 rubles instead of 100,000, and I would accept nine more students at the same price. We will conduct individual online lessons for 15 minutes every day for two months.

In developing this method, I drew on the experience I gained during study trips, when it was necessary to quickly master the basics of spoken foreign languages. The idea is that by devoting just 15 minutes each day, a person receives a small but constant dose of information, which helps prevent forgetting the material. As a result, this approach proves more effective than hour-long classes, for example, twice a week.

I posted about the new course on Facebook, and soon found interested participants. We decided to test this approach, and the result was remarkable.

In 2018, when my colleagues and I were periodically launching the "BDSM English" course, I had a small group of freelancers willing to work online. I presented this idea to the teachers as a new educational project based on "BDSM English," but with one important difference: there were no penalties for not completing homework. Instead, we introduced a strict two-month deadline. This meant that even if a participant missed a class and didn't complete the course by the deadline, they were still obligated to pay. As a result, we developed the "Evolution" program, which continues to exist and has become the basis for the new online school "Anglomania."

Users and their motivations for contacting "Anglomania"

The main goal of the updated "Anglomania" program is to provide students with tangible results in the shortest possible time, focusing on their core aspirations. I noticed that in the process of language learning, it's easy to lose direction, delving into various exercises and grammar rules, and forgetting why you decided to study in the first place. In such situations, we always remind the student of their goals.

At the beginning of our school, for the first five years, we focused on teaching conversational English to all students. Over time, we came to understand the importance of a personalized approach and began to adapt the teaching process to the individual needs of our students. For example, some of them are preparing for interviews with international companies, others are learning the language to expand their business or to ease their adaptation to a new country after emigrating.

A dentist is going to an international professional conference and needs to master specialized terminology. One of our students is working on an award-nominated film, and we teach her film-oriented English classes. Another student has romantic intentions—to meet and marry a foreign man. Although I am not an expert in dating, I can help her learn English so that she can confidently correspond in the language. In the past, we studied English with a farmer, focusing on aspects of beef production, and with one woman, in the context of BDSM practices.

The manager who sells the course to the student begins by identifying their goals and preferences in order to select the most suitable instructor. If the student has no specific requests regarding the course content, the instructor will teach the standard curriculum, emphasizing conversational English. Every two weeks, the achieved results are assessed, and upon completion of two months of training, the student takes an exam with a native speaker.

Currently, the "Evolution" program includes daily 15-minute calls with a teacher via WhatsApp. We chose this messenger because it is accessible to almost everyone. The main concept is to minimize effort for participants: they only need to answer the teacher's call without having to think about any additional steps.

The lessons with the teacher are accompanied by various exercises and assignments on the EdVibe platform. We initially used GetCourse for the "BDSM English" course, but it is more designed for passive learning. In contrast, EdVibe offers a more interactive format, allowing students to engage in games and perform a variety of exercises, which is more engaging.

The most important aspect remains the client's goals, desires, and preferences. If using EdVibe proves inconvenient, the teacher can send assignments directly via WhatsApp. Furthermore, if 15-minute lessons do not meet the stated goals, we are ready to adjust the format. For example, if a student has to deliver a 100-page presentation in English in two weeks, we can extend the lessons to one or even two hours a day to allow time for translation and preparation. Overall, we maintain a flexible approach. Since its founding in 2013, the Anglomania school initially focused on adults, but we also began to welcome children, a practice that continues today. Currently, children make up approximately a third of our students. We offer half-hour lessons two to three times a week, as their needs vary. Creating a comfortable environment and a friendly relationship with the teacher is more important than achieving quick results, which helps the child develop a foreign language proficiency.

We also offer corporate training programs. My experience with this group began in 2014, when we only held off-site classes for company employees. Today, we've transitioned to an online format that allows us to track participants' individual progress. If an employee misses a class or fails to complete the assignments, they are excluded from the course, and the company's funding is redistributed to those truly interested in learning.

When the Anglomania project relaunched in 2018, we introduced a VIP program, where I teach the classes myself, collaborating with other teachers, native speakers, methodologists, and even, if necessary, linguistic psychologists. The cost of participation is approximately 300,000 rubles, and the course typically lasts about two months. I don't accept more than one student at a time, but I intend to continue teaching, as it's important to maintain skills and a connection to the learning process as the owner of a language school.

The Process of Building the Anglomania Team

As I mentioned earlier, I formed a small team within the BDSM English project, with which we began implementing "Evolution." However, as the number of students increased, the need for additional teachers and other staff arose. Unfortunately, it turned out to be impossible to contact those with whom I once opened offline schools - the format of our activities has changed dramatically, and I myself have undergone significant changes since then.

By 2018, I already had fairly popular pages on Facebook and VKontakte, and when searching for teachers, I primarily paid attention to my followers. It's crucial for me that my colleague and I have common interests, so we can understand each other and laugh at the same jokes.

If someone follows me on social media, it most likely indicates that we share similar views and can collaborate effectively. In contrast, even if I'm dealing with a highly qualified specialist, if we don't have a personal connection, working together can be difficult. For me, political views or opinions on vaccinations aren't as important—it's much more meaningful if someone can put aside potential differences and genuinely laugh at the memes I post in chat. Then everything will be fine.

There is a real challenge with teachers: I have a clear concept, and to implement it, I need a talented and experienced specialist who is willing to work within the given structure. It is important that they do not simply agree with the idea and say, "Yes, that's interesting," but deeply understand its essence and meaning. This is the greatest difficulty, since many gifted and passionate people prefer to pursue their own projects and realize personal plans.

I cannot afford to hire "average" specialists, because for Anglomania to remain profitable, every student matters. If we do not systematically achieve high results from our clients, this may lead to us losing out to larger educational institutions.

I have gone through many agonizing thoughts about what responsibilities each individual employee should perform and how to properly define each or each role in the team. At the moment, I have come to a structure that suits me completely, and I do not intend to make any changes to it. The entire team works remotely. In addition to the instructors, who report to a senior instructor, the company has two key positions: a financial director and a technical director, who coordinates our activities on the EdVibe platform. Accounting issues are handled using a service from T-Bank.

Marketing includes a marketer and a designer, who collaborate to develop and implement concepts for social media promotion. The team also includes advertising specialists and an Avito specialist, as we actively use the Avito platform for our promotion. We also have an SEO specialist. The team includes several sales managers, but we are currently lacking a sales director, which would be essential.

We are currently facing challenges in sales, and I believe this problem is familiar to many participants in the online education market. Traditional methods no longer produce the expected results, so we need to find alternative solutions. Our team includes managers who process incoming applications. We are gradually introducing video interviews with prospective students, which allows us to more accurately determine their goals and offer training tailored to their individual needs.

I plan to develop Anglomania in this direction. The Sales Director, regardless of their title, should be the person who listens to calls and actively discusses potential changes with the team. This will help us even more accurately identify and meet the needs of our students.

In addition to selecting a Sales Director, we also need to address the issue of mentors. We have worked both with and without them, and we have found that students are dissatisfied in both situations. When mentors are present, they become irritated: "Why is this person writing to us? We don't want to communicate with them; they're annoying us." Meanwhile, without mentors, the reaction changes dramatically: "Where is my mentor? I urgently need a mentor!"

I am sure this role is of great importance, but the mentor's work should be carried out with minimal intervention. It's like being served at a fine restaurant, where the waiter won't distract you from your conversation with your companion, but will come by at the right moment to check if everything is to your satisfaction and address any issues. Currently, a student can contact the manager who implemented the course, who in turn sends a message to a special chat called the "Ministry of Care," after which the team immediately begins to resolve the issue.

Lack of fear of competing with major players and neural network technologies

Today, there is active discussion that the future of individualized learning is linked to the development of neural network technologies that will adapt to the interests, requests, and needs of each student, selecting appropriate learning materials and assignments for them. We also use neural networks to generate certain ideas, but nothing more. In my opinion, they cannot replace a personal approach to learning. I believe that a bot tutor that offers personalized assignments and exercises is just a more advanced version of Duolingo. But let's be honest: if Duolingo truly provided quality education and helped people achieve their goals, we wouldn't have to do this work.

The situation is similar with large online educational institutions like Skyeng. When a student applies to such schools, it may not be entirely clear who is responsible for their achievements. In contrast, I am a real person, interactable on social media, who directly manages the learning process and is responsible for the success of my students in school. I think this attracts people.

This situation is observed not only in education but also in other service areas. For example, a girl may prefer to go to a certain specialist for her hair coloring or manicure because she trusts them. In my practice, especially in Russia, this phenomenon is especially evident – ​​people strive to find "their" specialists. A similar trend is observed in the premium, personalized services segment: the more resources a person has, the more they prefer to interact with real professionals rather than automated systems or standard call center scripts. Therefore, I am not concerned about competing with large companies.

Transforming a crisis into an opportunity for business success

Throughout the existence of Anglomania, I have encountered various crisis situations. While working on language schools, I was forced to open branches several times in locations with high rents, while simultaneously setting prices that were below market rates. This led to the need to take out loans, which then created difficulties in repaying them. There were also unpleasant incidents associated with unscrupulous people who deceived or tried to profit from my business. The moments when excellent and beloved employees left were especially difficult.

In 2019, an unpleasant situation occurred with the accounting service that the school used. The employees of this service made a mistake by incorrectly submitting documents to the tax authorities. As a result, Anglomania was transferred from the patent tax system to the simplified one, which entailed different conditions. Ultimately, I was fined about a million rubles, and my account was frozen. I tried to get compensation, but the company refused. I subsequently went to court, but unfortunately lost the case.

During that period, I actively shared my thoughts about the incident on social media, presenting the situation from the perspective of a small business that found itself in a difficult situation due to someone else's oversight. Many entrepreneurs who have faced similar difficulties understand how painful this is. Thanks to the legal proceedings, I not only received support from my subscribers but also attracted attention to my school, which ultimately served as good advertising and contributed to an influx of new students.

Methods for Assessing the Effectiveness of an Online School

Currently, 150 to 200 people are studying at the Anglomania center each month. The two-month course, called "Evolution," costs 40,000 rubles. The entire program lasts a year and includes several two-month blocks, each consisting of 15-minute lessons.

Our main source of new students is Facebook, which continues to play a significant role in attracting an audience. My page there already has over 4,000 subscribers, and we actively use advertising in various communities. Repeat sales make up a significant portion of our revenue: approximately 80% of our students return to Anglomania and bring their friends with them. Avito has also become another effective channel for attracting new students, and, as I mentioned, our Avito specialist is responsible for promotion on this platform. We are also working on SEO for our website. However, targeted advertising hasn't been successful—we've tried various approaches, but we've only lost money. Contextual advertising in Yandex Direct has also proven ineffective, although this may be because we simply don't have the necessary skills to create it. We've been sending out email newsletters for the past ten years, but they don't bring in many new students. Since launching the first "Evolution" course in 2018, we've increased our turnover by 7-8 times. However, my goal isn't to make Anglomania as large-scale as possible. Quality is paramount to me. By focusing on expansion, we risk losing ground to larger market players.

For me, having large financial resources is not a priority. After all the trials associated with offline schools, I understand that the most important thing is for the company to avoid losses. I evaluate the effectiveness of a small online school by the satisfaction level of its students and the business owner. If students happily share their impressions of the learning process and recommend the courses to friends, and the entrepreneur himself does not experience stress and anxiety, but, on the contrary, enjoys life, devotes time to his development and travels - this is already a sign of success. While in the school network, when I was striving for scalability and constantly running around to branches, I was unable to achieve this, now the situation has changed, and I have achieved my goals.

The court has ruled to ban the activities of Meta Platforms Inc. In Russia, regarding the sale of products such as social networks Facebook and Instagram, based on involvement in extremist activity.

Read also:

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  It is also important to consider the location of the educational institution. Conveniently located classrooms that are accessible to students usually attract more clients. In addition, it is necessary to consider the presence of competitive institutions in the area to stand out from the crowd.

  Financial aspects are another key consideration. You will need to draw up a detailed business plan, including start-up investments, expected monthly expenses, and sources of income. Don't forget about the possibility of receiving grants or loans to support your endeavor.

  The staffing issue is also of great importance. Hiring qualified teachers who can engage and retain students can be crucial to the success of the school. In addition, it is worth paying attention to their teaching skills and work experience.

  Finally, developing a marketing strategy will help you attract students and create a positive image of the educational institution. Effective advertising campaigns, the use of social media, and the creation of a website can significantly increase the recognition of your school.

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  In recent decades, with the development of the internet and online education, learning foreign languages ​​has become accessible to millions of people worldwide. The advent of mobile apps and language exchange platforms has opened up new horizons for learning. In today's world, language learning is becoming not only more flexible and interactive but also integrated into everyday life, allowing people to better adapt to a multicultural environment.

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• The history of the online school for cardiologists, which developed from a professional blog, is an interesting and inspiring journey. Initially, the author began sharing his knowledge and experience through a blog, which quickly gained popularity among colleagues. Gradually, having accumulated sufficient material and feedback from readers, he came to the idea of ​​expanding the format and offering more structured training.

  Thus, from a simple exchange of opinions and information, a full-fledged educational platform aimed at cardiologists emerged. The school now offers courses, webinars, and interactive sessions, allowing participants to deepen their knowledge and skills. This transition from a blog to an online school was made possible by the active support of the community and the desire to improve professional standards in cardiology.

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