7 Non-Teaching Skills You Need to Launch a Freelance Online English Tutoring Business
By Krzl Light NuñesFebruary 23, 2022

From finding students and creating lessons, to scheduling classes and collecting payments, starting a freelance ESL career may make you feel like you need to be a jack-of-all-trades. But there’s no need to panic! You probably already possess the essential teaching skills and technical equipment to get started and, fortunately, the other skills you need to launch a freelance online tutoring business can be learned. Let’s dive in to learn more.
Table of Contents
First, what does it mean to be a freelance online English teacher?
A lot of new online English teachers opt to work with online English teaching companies since working with a company offers training and structure for new teachers and lesson plans are provided. While working with companies often promises a steady income stream and student bookings, the other side of the coin is that you may not have much freedom when it comes to choosing your learners, your hourly rate, and your teaching methods.
However, if you’re looking for greater flexibility as a teacher, working for yourself as a freelance online English teacher is the way to go! As a freelancer, you get to call the shots about every single aspect of your business, including the age and level of students you’ll teach, your teaching rates, how you’ll organize class schedules, and the curriculum and materials you’ll develop to use in your classes.
Who teaches English online as a freelancer?
As freelance online ESL teaching offers plenty of perks and demand for English educators continues to grow, it’s not surprising that more and more teachers are jumping onto this career path. Some examples of who is teaching English online as a freelancer are:
For many TEFL teachers, going freelance has also been a way to thrive during the pandemic. As Sheyla, a Brazilian ESL teacher giving private online classes in the U.S., affirmed, “Little by little, my online classes took over my other part-time jobs and now, during the quarantine, I am so happy that I have so many classes every day to keep me busy and allow me to still make money.”
Here’s why freelance English teaching is a good idea.

What are the benefits of going freelance as an online ESL teacher?
So, what non-teaching skills do you need to launch a freelance online English tutoring business?
Whether you want to make freelance online English teaching a full-time job or do it as a side gig, it’s key to have these core skills in order to kickstart and successfully run your own online ESL business.
1. Marketing skills
Before you can start teaching English online as a freelancer, you have to get as many potential students as possible or let them find you by increasing your online (and even offline) presence. But how do you do that, exactly?
Learn more about how to find online English students.
Carla, from Brazil, is a virtual EFL teacher who has successfully built her client base through social media. “Promoting your work online is a never-ending job. One needs to be persistent because results don’t come overnight,” she shared.

2. Operational skills
As an online English teacher running your own business, all the decision-making and processes will be in your hands. These include:
Take a look at this guide to tackling operational challenges as a freelancer.
3. Creative skills
Creative skills will be very handy for marketing yourself as a freelance online ESL teacher if you want to use social media to get online students or drive people to your website. Sometimes, you may have to think outside the box to grab potential students’ attention.
- Pro Tip: Running out of creative juices? Ask other people for ideas (such as in the Bridge Teaching English Online Facebook Group), or get inspiration by looking at other successful online English teachers’ marketing tactics.
4. Time management and organizational skills
While being your own boss means that no one can tell you what to do with your time, your ability to manage your schedule and balance activities effectively is crucial to running your online English teaching business smoothly.
- Pro Tip: Use online apps like Google Calendar or Calendly to help organize your work schedule more easily.
Here are more tech tools to help save you time and run your teaching business smoothly.

5. Business development skills
Unless you intend to freelance teach for only a short period of time, you’ll want to grow your business in the long run. As planning to succeed is what differentiates good from great independent online ESL teachers, you have to decide which direction you want your business to go and how you can get there.
Consider the following ideas for scaling your online English school:
Here’s how to monetize your freelance teaching business.
6. Communication and relationship management skills
Although having excellent communication skills is vital for teaching English online, you will need these even outside of class hours.
7. Persistency and motivation
The last of the non-teaching skills you need to launch a freelance online English tutoring business are ones that can’t be found in any course.
Your family and friends may have your back as you stand on your own two feet as an online English tutor, but you’ll also need to have the drive to achieve your goals and never give up, despite the hurdles that may come your way. Be confident in your abilities, and students will also believe in you as a teacher.

How can I develop the business and marketing skills I’ll need as a freelancer?
You don’t need to have a degree or experience in business to acquire the skills listed above. Chances are, you’ve already got a lot of them! Nevertheless, here are some ways to hone the most important skills for successfully kicking off your freelance online English teaching venture:
No matter where you are in the process of launching your freelance online ESL career, there’s no doubt that you can succeed on your own as long as you’ve got the skills necessary to market yourself and manage your business.