Sarah meets the innovative mind behind the Effortless English Club to discover some of the secrets to starting - and maintaining - a successful language learning business.
Fans have dubbed him "the great English teacher", but AJ Hoge, founder of one of the world's most popular English learning programs - Effortless English - insists he's just a guy who really loves what he does. "I never had a specific job in mind that I'd do when I 'grew up'. Rather, I always imagined myself traveling and exploring the world. I originally became an English teacher as a way to make a living while in other countries. To my surprise, I found that I also loved teaching!"
AJ adds that it was his passion for travel and newfound love of teaching that led the way towards the creation of Effortless English (www.effortlessenglish.com) - an innovative and interactive system of English-learning downloads (audio and video), live seminars, and social media contact.
Fans have dubbed him "the great English teacher", but AJ Hoge, founder of one of the world's most popular English learning programs - Effortless English - insists he's just a guy who really loves what he does. "I never had a specific job in mind that I'd do when I 'grew up'. Rather, I always imagined myself traveling and exploring the world. I originally became an English teacher as a way to make a living while in other countries. To my surprise, I found that I also loved teaching!"
AJ adds that it was his passion for travel and newfound love of teaching that led the way towards the creation of Effortless English (www.effortlessenglish.com) - an innovative and interactive system of English-learning downloads (audio and video), live seminars, and social media contact.
"My driving motivations have always been freedom, the need for new challenges, and the desire to serve people. My first career was as a social worker and counsellor. I worked with homeless youth, with cancer patients, with HIV+ homeless adults, and in a hospital emergency room - but my desire to travel eventually led me to get a job teaching English in Korea. I had no experience, no training, and no idea what I was doing! But I loved teaching. I decided I needed to learn how to do it well. So I got my masters in TESOL (English teaching) and began to experiment with different methods and techniques.
Finally, I enrolled in Tony Robbins' Leadership Academy when I realized that great teaching techniques were not enough. I realized that many of my students struggled because of psychological reasons. They were stressed or had low motivation. So I went to the academy to be a better leader and motivator for my students. In many ways, it was a circle because now I do a lot of psychological work to help my English students succeed."
The Effortless English program has achieved nearly one million downloads and the Facebook fan page alone boasts over 75,000 fans from across the globe. AJ says that in his experience, many English learning programs fail their students because learners, particularly in places like Japan, regardless of being able to read and write, are still not confident speaking English.
"Most students study English for years, yet still cannot speak confidently. I began a long process of searching for better methods, testing techniques in my classes, and constantly improving. Eventually this evolved into the Effortless English system. The system is something that evolved, and which is always improving. The most recent innovation was incorporating success psychology principles into all of our lessons. We realized that we had to teach students specifically how to feel confident when they speak English. I wish I could completely change the way English is taught in Japan and globally.
The Effortless English program has achieved nearly one million downloads and the Facebook fan page alone boasts over 75,000 fans from across the globe. AJ says that in his experience, many English learning programs fail their students because learners, particularly in places like Japan, regardless of being able to read and write, are still not confident speaking English.
"Most students study English for years, yet still cannot speak confidently. I began a long process of searching for better methods, testing techniques in my classes, and constantly improving. Eventually this evolved into the Effortless English system. The system is something that evolved, and which is always improving. The most recent innovation was incorporating success psychology principles into all of our lessons. We realized that we had to teach students specifically how to feel confident when they speak English. I wish I could completely change the way English is taught in Japan and globally.
The current system is a recipe for failure, and the results show. I would love to see the Effortless English system used with middle school and high school students. In the future, I hope to be doing big classes and seminars in Japan. I feel there is a very strong need for Effortless English in Japan. Of all of our students, Japanese students seem to be especially stressed, shy, and frustrated with English. I feel that our system is well suited to address these issues. I love teaching live classes and seminars. I particularly love large classes because it's possible to create a lot of energy and excitement. Once students are energized and excited, they forget their stress and worry. They quickly learn how to enjoy English and speak it more confidently."
AJ and his Japanese wife now spend much of their time traveling to meet grateful students from around the globe. This year they look forward to hosting many seminars in Japan and further refining the Effortless English program to suit their ever-changing user needs.
As someone who has imagined and created a successful enterprise and a business designed to help others, AJ offers advice for other up-and-coming business owners: "Bootstrap and do it! Too many aspiring entrepreneurs focus on trying to plan for every possibility. 'Bootstrapping' is slang for 'do it yourself'. In other words, you start your business without bank loans and without much cash. Focus on 'soft innovations' which do not require extra money.
AJ and his Japanese wife now spend much of their time traveling to meet grateful students from around the globe. This year they look forward to hosting many seminars in Japan and further refining the Effortless English program to suit their ever-changing user needs.
As someone who has imagined and created a successful enterprise and a business designed to help others, AJ offers advice for other up-and-coming business owners: "Bootstrap and do it! Too many aspiring entrepreneurs focus on trying to plan for every possibility. 'Bootstrapping' is slang for 'do it yourself'. In other words, you start your business without bank loans and without much cash. Focus on 'soft innovations' which do not require extra money.
For example, it costs us nothing to focus on the feelings of our students. We innovated by introducing psychology, counseling, and leadership principles into our English teaching system. This innovation costs no money, just creativity. The majority of aspiring entrepreneurs that I have met waste too much time planning and looking for a new idea. What they should do is just start, and then innovate and improve constantly. It's a process of evolution and you don't evolve until you are doing business with real customers."
i am student from Algeria, now i am preparing my these in English
ReplyDeletebefore, i was hate learn English because i saw this impossible
i couldn't imagine speak English with people fluently,and when i speak i hesitate lot and think about grammar rules but now it is absolutely different
i am following A.J. Hoge - VIP Global Leadership Program, it is very very helpful, you can make confidence yourself
after short time i became inderstand people what they are saying
you can try it