Introducing the Teacherpreneur Academy: Empowering Educators to Launch an Independent Teaching Career

A new kind of entrepreneur has arrived and is changing the landscape of online English language teaching. The teacherpreneur is an independent educator, driven business owner and lifelong student. These diverse ESL instructors are sometimes digital nomads, teaching English online from around the globe, and other times they are online English teachers working from home offices. Many have branched out to run fully operational businesses, some even hiring other teachers who support their vision and goals.

To meet the many and varied needs of today’s teacherpreneurs, Bridge has launched an extensive new career pathway program, Teacherpreneur Academy. The first of its kind, the Bridge Teacherpreneur Academy will provide comprehensive knowledge, resources, and support for teachers to launch their own independent teaching businesses.

This program is for teachers at any stage who want to go independent.

Teacherpreneur Academy Creator and Content Developer Rachel Story is a successful teacherpreneur with an online independent teaching business. With more than a decade of teaching experience, she runs her online business while traveling the world. Leveraging this experience, she wrote the curriculum for the Academy’s 60-hour Teacherpreneur Academy Specialized Certification course.

“All the skills and lessons I’ve learned that led me to success are what helped me draft the content for the curriculum,” Story said. “This program is for teachers at any stage who want to go independent.”

Why become an independent teacher?

In addition to the personal benefits such as flexibility, freedom, and more that come with an independent teaching career, the English language market is ripe for entrepreneurial growth. There are 142 countries that include English as mandatory learning in their national curriculum, and many learners outside those markets are learning English for work, pleasure, academics, and travel. The COVID-19 pandemic also drove fast-track innovations in EdTech, creating an online learning market with a forecasted worth of $41.81 billion by 2029. While private and public sector organizations are certainly ramping up efforts to earn their share of that market, many online educators see that potential as well.

The growing market of English language learners isn’t the only influencer of growing teacherpreneurship. The wealth of new digital teaching and learning technologies has also made all aspects of both teaching online and running a business accessible to the average person. You no longer need the technical know-how of a programmer or web designer to have a learning platform, handle e-commerce applications, or market your products and services. Accessible and affordable options that are user-friendly and inclusive are now at your fingertips.

That said, making the transition from teacher to entrepreneur still requires a great deal of knowledge and resources beyond the scope of the average teacher. Few have experience with starting and running a business. There are many business courses that could be taken in schools or online, but few of these courses are dedicated to the niche focus of building an online teaching business, which adds new layers of complexity.

Even so, coursework can only teach so much. To launch and run a successful online teaching business, one must not only understand essential business operations but also identify potential students, a teaching niche, a curriculum, a teaching platform, marketing strategies, and so much more.

Read more about post-COVID online language market growth and projections.

Teacherpreneur Academy: Where teaching meets entrepreneurship

Not all business models look the same, and Bridge understands that. While one teacher may dream of a small private tutoring business, teaching adult professionals English, another teacher may be planning to expand a small business tutoring teens in the Asia-Pacific region, dreaming of hiring multiple teachers to form an online language school that caters to English proficiency test preparation.

The course provides a high-level overview of the many possibilities while also providing practical information about creating and operating a successful business.

The Teacherpreneur Academy is a self-paced program designed to help teachers build successful online independent teaching businesses. It includes certificated coursework, a library of recorded expert-led workshops, curated teaching resources, and access to an exclusive LinkedIn community for connection and support. Most importantly, Academy members can learn from both experienced and aspiring teacherpreneurs as they grow together.

“There are multiple ways to structure an online English teaching business,” Story said. “The course provides a high-level overview of the many possibilities while also providing practical information about creating and operating a successful business.”

Beyond the coursework, the Teacherpreneur Academy provides actionable resources to help teachers navigate the day-to-day realities of launching, managing, and expanding their own teaching businesses.

At the heart of it, the Teacherpreneur Academy provides a personalized blueprint for ESL teachers who have been dreaming of launching their own private teaching business, whether that be from home or traveling the world as a digital nomad. This program provides access to a strong community of experienced professionals who support you each step of the way as you prepare to launch your own online teaching business.

Learn more about options for teaching English as a freelancer.

Teacherpreneur Academy’s key features and benefits

There are two key requirements for a successful business operation of any size: vision and resources. Bridge Teacherpreneur Academy was created with input from industry professionals, lifelong educators, and teacherpreneurs from around the world. Their contributions led to several distinct features that set the Academy apart from other professional development.

Some of the most challenging aspects of transitioning to a teacherpreneur are adopting an entrepreneurial mindset and laying the foundations of a successful business.

While the Teacherpreneur Academy includes certificated training dedicated to developing and running an online independent teaching or tutoring business, the coursework is only one piece of the puzzle. Academy members will have access to an exclusive platform with the resources needed to launch their business. Whether you’re an experienced teacher, online or in-person, or just starting your teaching career, the personalized pathway program is designed to enable teachers to seamlessly transition into influential educational entrepreneurs.

“Some of the most challenging aspects of transitioning to a teacherpreneur are adopting an entrepreneurial mindset and laying the foundations of a successful business,” Story said. The Academy coursework, resources, and workshop library thoroughly address both of these aspects of transitioning to an independent teaching model, as well as details such as sales and marketing.

Let’s look at the key features.

Read about the shift from teaching abroad to teaching as a digital nomad, as more teachers launch online careers to teach and travel.

60-Hour Teacherpreneur Academy Specialized Certificate course

This online, self-paced course teaches the business skills needed to chart your own path as an independent English teacher. While freelance teaching with companies and online ELT marketplaces provides a great online teaching experience, many teachers dream of launching their own independent businesses and marketing their own innovative English courses and products. This course will provide the business, marketing, and ELT industry know-how needed to start your independent teaching career.

Course modules include:

Module 1: Developing an entrepreneurial mindset and identifying your niche
Module 2: Stepping stones to developing an online teaching business
Module 3: Managing your business operations
Module 4: Marketing your business
Module 5: Problem-solving, pivoting, and scaling your business

“The curriculum is full of mini quizzes, reflective journals, discussion boards, and activities to help learners think about how to apply what they learn to real-life situations,” Story said. “There are different formats such as videos, infographics, and text to support different learning methods.”

These tasks help the learners make progress on their final assignment, which is the Preliminary Business Outline, as they move through the course.

Some of the most useful features of the course, Story said, are the Preliminary Business Outline Mapping Tasks. “These tasks help the learners make progress on their final assignment, which is the Preliminary Business Outline, as they move through the course,” she explained. “They also reinforce the lessons in each module and help the learners consider how to best apply them to the online English teaching business they are building.”

Resource Library: Infographics, templates, resources, and guides to support your business

As a bonus, the 60-hour Teacherpreneur Academy course includes a curated Resource Library filled with ready-to-use tools, templates, and guides for running an independent online English teaching business. You’ll have access to eBooks, infographics, templates, guides, and more, devoted to a range of helpful topics. Some examples of these resources include:

Niche Mastery for Independent Teacherpreneurs guide
Market Research for Independent Teacherpreneurs guide
Planning Your Product worksheet
Creating Your Customer Avatar worksheet
Finding Students – an at-a-glance infographic
Your Sales Conversation Framework template
And much more!

Academy members can access the library of resource materials to download.

Workshop Library: Learn from an industry expert

Another bonus included with the course is the Workshop Library – a collection of pre-recorded videos hosted by Teacherpreneur Academy course creator Rachel Story.

These practical, action-oriented workshops are designed to help you apply what you’ve learned in the course, take tangible steps on your Preliminary Business Outline, and start building your independent teaching business with confidence. These recorded workshops go beyond the core curriculum and cover practical topics like:

Building a strong foundation for your business
Developing a product offering
Pricing your services
Choosing the right tech tools
Marketing your business
Growing your business while maintaining a healthy work-life dynamic

Whether you’re refining your niche or preparing to launch, these workshops are your roadmap from ideas to action.

New to teaching English online? Learn about Bridge’s 120-hour Teaching English Online Certification, which includes the 60-hour Foundations in Teaching English Online and the 60-hour Advanced Methods in Teaching English Online.

Peer and tutor support: Build your business with confidence

Just because you’re building your business independently doesn’t mean you have to do it alone.

Enrollment in the Teacherpreneur Academy includes both expert guidance and peer support to help you succeed. You’ll have access to a designated course tutor for questions related to the certification and your Preliminary Business Outline, ensuring you’re never stuck or unsure about your next step.

You’ll also gain lifetime access to the private LinkedIn group, where you can connect with fellow teacherpreneurs from around the world. It’s a collaborative space to:

crowdsource ideas and best practices
ask questions and share progress
network with aspiring and experienced teacherpreneurs

As you build your teaching business, you’ll have a network to lean on for encouragement, advice, and inspiration at every stage. Strong support networks are integral to succeeding as a teacherpreneur, and Bridge offers multiple ways to stay engaged with peers from around the world. It’s a built-in village for the journey ahead.

Ready to take the leap?

Bridge’s mission is to empower the global community of English language teachers with the knowledge, tools, resources, and community they need to pursue their ELT career goals. If you are dreaming of building your own independent teaching business, the Academy is the pathway to reaching your career goals.

“By the end of the program, teachers will have created their Preliminary Business Outline, a blueprint for their business, have made the transition to an entrepreneurial mindset, created a robust portfolio of business content, set up their business backend, developed a marketing plan, and have the tools to scale, pivot, and create their ideal lifestyle as an English teacherpreneur,” Story said.

Enrollment in the 60-hour Teacherpreneur Academy course includes bonus access to:

the Resource Library – practical tools, templates, and guides
the Workshop Library – on-demand video trainings led by a successful teacherpreneur
the exclusive LinkedIn group – a global community of independent teachers

The time is ripe for launching an independent online teaching business. With the right tools, support, and knowledge, you can make your entrepreneurial career goals a reality.

Ready to launch your independent teaching career? Enroll in the 60-hour Teacherpreneur Academy Specialized Certificate course and unlock bonus resources to support your success.