Additional training is a necessity in our time and the market of educational services in this direction is growing every year. If you are a specialist in any field and want to share your knowledge, while making good money, then this business idea is just for you. In addition, such a business can be started even as an organizer who will not teach independently, but can make a puzzle of the following parts: find a teacher, make a course with him, run ads, find clients and take payment for training.
In today’s world, additional training has become an integral part of life for many people who want to develop their skills, and become professionals of their business, keeping up with the latest market trends. In addition, people are studying art, dancing, sports and many other areas, which are in one way or another related to the activities of various training centers. The training niche has become very lucrative, but at the same time competitive. To stand out among other such centers, you need to develop your personal brand, as well as the brand of your company, not only through advertising, but also through quality training programs for your clients.
Training centers hold both group and individual classes. Their activities are somewhat similar to the services of consulting companies, as professionals in their field give practical advice and help solve clients’ questions, based on their experience and knowledge.
Internet and software development have made significant adjustments in many professions, and now in order to stay with a constant current level of knowledge, people are forced to constantly learn, the same applies to those who want to get a job. It can be concluded that the market for these services is huge, and you will be able to occupy your niche if you make a quality information product. The rhythm of life in large cities is very high, and it is worth paying attention to short-term courses, which will give a result for the client within 1 – 2 months. Also, not a bad idea to “go” seminars, trainings and personal consultations from experts.
Let’s imagine, for example, how the requirements for the engineering profession have changed over the past decade. First, it is the mass automation of processes, from calculations to computer modeling and development of project documentation. Secondly, the market of materials and components that engineers work with has also changed. And, for example, courses for such specialists as AutoCAD, SOLIDWORKS, MATLAB and others will sell well, and due to new versions of this software the courses can be updated and sold again. This is a very narrow niche, which shows how you can pick up directions when starting a small business on the training center.
Target Audience.
To promote your training center, you need a clear portrait of the target audience you plan to work with. Based on these parameters, you will be able to effectively set up contextual advertising and social media ads. Let’s take a general look at who attends such courses or trainings.
Representatives of various professions who want to improve their skills, or learn new technologies.
Students who want to expand their list of skills for a resume to get a good job.
School students who are preparing for exams or going to university.
It can also be people who want to learn how to dance, draw, some kind of sport.
Companies with whom a contract is made to train their employees. This is a B2B business format and is one of the most promising areas. It is connected with the fact that if you sign a contract with several companies, you will load your work schedule to the full, squeezing out the maximum profit and not spending a huge amount of money on advertising to constantly attract customers.
The target audience will largely depend on the direction of your training center, which should choose yet at the stage of business planning.
The format of the training center
Before you open a training center in your city, you should understand that there are two basic formats for doing business: online and offline training. Choosing one of them, or a combination of both, will depend on the focus of your business and the requirements of the target audience.
Let’s take a closer look at each of the formats.
Online (online) training center. We mean a format of distance learning over the Internet with the help of special platforms. This includes: streams on YouTube, training and consulting via messengers, watching pre-prepared video lessons with homework, which is checked by the author of the course and so on. There are many platforms on the online learning market, or paid developments to set up your own online school with functions to communicate with students, check assignments, monitor the learning process, and more.
There are a number of advantages that you get if you decide to train clients online.
You don’t need to rent an office, buy expensive equipment, print banners and other promotional products. All this saves money and allows you to make the course cheaper.
Your target audience is not limited to your region. You can train clients not only from other cities, but also from other countries. This perspective gives you the opportunity to scale your business.
Convenience for students. They can learn information anywhere, at a convenient time.
There is a minus in all this and one – is the effectiveness of such courses, which is especially necessary for the promotion of business at the training center. Many who buy courses, do not even get to the end of them and debug them “for later. To make the program work, you need to implement all the knowledge in practice, and many tasks are difficult to control remotely, hence the low percentage of successful students, and bad reviews on the Internet. Take this fact into account before starting your online courses.
Offline training center. This is a classic version of the business, which in addition to the lessons themselves include a lot of organizational issues: space, equipment, advertising and other items of expenditure.
If possible, we recommend that you combine offline and online training, holding events of different formats, so you can maximize earnings on the training center.
Choosing your training areas
The list of areas for training is very extensive and can include any area of human activity, from hairdressing courses to car painting skills or trading on the stock exchanges. The main task for you as an entrepreneur is to find high-demand niches, teachers (specialists), create a program and competently advertise your information product. Launching a business in the format of a training center, you offer your clients some result after its completion, and it is important that they receive it, and your promises would not remain just a marketing ploy.
Paperwork
To work officially, you’ll need to draw up a whole list of documents.
Personnel
Having the right staff is a major asset to your business. The staff of teachers will depend primarily on the number of areas in which you plan to teach clients, as well as the fullness of the groups.
What qualities should the teacher have? First, be educated and practical, not theoretical, because he will often be asked questions related to the practical implementation of the knowledge. Sociability, patience, interest in the subject and constant development as a specialist in his field of knowledge.
The teaching staff at the same time is the main problem of this business. Experienced professionals either work for themselves or require large salaries that are not always available to pay. In addition, no one cancels poaching specialists by competitors who offer higher pay or more flexible working hours. Not bad if you yourself can teach some of the courses, but still constant search for staff you can not avoid.
Investments and profits
Now moving on to the numbers. Business plan development training center with calculations will largely differ due to the format of the work of your educational institution. The first thing to consider – this article expenses, in order to form the start-up capital.
Rental of premises. You can rent rooms for one-time events, on the type of training or seminars, or to rent an office on a permanent basis. The size of the training room depends on the number of students in your programs, but you can consider options from 30 sq.m. and larger.
Registration of activities, including obtaining a license.
Furniture. Tables and chairs for clients, as well as a board for drawing.
Depending on the focus of the courses may need to install workstations for students and computer equipment. In this case, the cost per workplace will be at least $500.
Other equipment. A projector, an audio system in case of learning foreign languages, sports equipment for physical training programs and so on.
The largest expense item for both formats of this business is teachers’ salaries.
Your earnings on the training center will depend on the number of students who will take your courses. This is directly affected by the effectiveness of advertising and the quality of the training itself with good results, both in knowledge and practical skills of your clients.