Failing at your own business–University courses

I’m pretty famous around here. People recognize me all the time. Some people know me because my involvement with my making La Yacata a better place campaigns. (See The Beginning of the Revolution) But most people remember me from one of the 4 schools I’ve worked in over the years. (See Learning and Teaching) Those people that remember me often recommend me to other people, who then remember me on down the line when someone else they know would benefit from my skills.

That’s how I came to be involved in University courses. The parent of one of the students I taught, recommended me to his sister who was studying for her master’s degree in Queretaro. Now, I’m the go-to girl when it comes to English dilemmas.

Here’s what I offer for those higher learners in need of English assistance.

I offer a TOEFL preparation course. I charge 50 pesos per hour and another 50 pesos for a copy of the TOEFL book exercises. Students do better if they answer the questions on their own time and then we go over the correct answers together. I explain grammar points that they are having problems with and offer suggestions on how to best eliminate incorrect answers. I also offer a separate listening course for motivated students. Unfortunately, it seems quite a number of students are looking for TOEFL miracles three days before the exam. I do what I can, but stress that three weeks before the exam would make for a better preparation.

Other students need some help with their actual courses. A good number of the University level business courses have a textbook entirely in English. Most of the students are not up to that level of English reading, so they come to me to see what I can do to get them through the course.

I offer a summary service. I will read the chapter, unit, essay, study, or textbook and write a summary of the material, highlighting important facts. I charge 50 pesos per hour, not per page. My summary is in English. I have had students that want me to write it in Spanish, but I really don’t think my Spanish is up to scratch. I tell them to plug my summary into an on-line translator if they can’t manage it. I expect there are people out there who are busy translating these textbooks, etc, and making bootlegged copies to sell. I’ve lost a client or two after they found a Spanish version someplace. I’m ok with that. It’s a huge time commitment. I’d rather do about anything else than spend hours hunched over the computer. But the money is good.

Most recently, I’ve broadened my offerings to include on-line courses. A former student of mine recommended me to a co-worker. The co-worker called me in mid-March and asked if I could help prepare her for the TOEIC exam that she was going to take on Saturday. It was Thursday night. I told her that I did not have any time slots available for her. I don’t do emergency English classes. She went ahead and took the test, failing miserably. After Spring break, she called me again and wanted to meet. I told her that I was not familiar with the TOEIC test, but that I did have an available time on Saturday afternoon.

After blah-blahing for about 20 minutes about the aggravation of having to take the exam to qualify for her diploma, asked me if I would do the on-line English course for her. Here’s the low-down. She would get 700 points towards her TOEIC exam for completing the on-line course that cost 1,500 pesos per month. She had 3 months to complete the course before retaking the TOEIC exam. She would only need to score 200 points on the actual exam to pass and receive her Licenciatura in Business. The exam was the final requirement, otherwise, she would lose out the thousands of pesos she had already shelled out for the application and thesis requirements.

I said I would, with the understanding that I would charge 50 pesos per hour. She asked me to make a few errors so that it looked as if she were taking the course. She gave me the password and the go-ahead and I went ahead.

This was no measly ESL course. It was a bona fide Business English advanced level course with a few grammar activities thrown in for good measure. The course had 10 parts. Each part had 4 Units. Each Unit had 5 activities. Some of the activities were two-parters, essays or on-line research activities.

How many were going to St. Ives?

In addition, she wanted me to create a study guide so that she could be better prepared to earn those 200 points when the time came. When I sent the first week’s study guide, she was put-out that it wasn’t in Spanish. Nothing doing. I wouldn’t have time for that and told her so.

It took 10 weeks for me to complete the course. I worked every spare minute of internet access on it. I averaged 10-12 hours per week. Some weeks she would come and tell me to “echale ganas” and get it done as quickly as possible. Other weeks she would caress the money in her hand at pay up time and tell me it was “bien ganado” a little resentfully. One week I had class cancellations and logged 20 hours of course time, which amounted be 1000 pesos of hard-earned cash. I think she died a little death when I sent her that bill. She certainly delayed long enough, not stopping by with the cash until Thursday of the following week.

Saturday of week 9, she sent a frantic text message asking when I would have the course finished because she needed money to buy some textbook or other and it would cost $1300. I told her it would be done when it was done, by Wednesday at the latest. She wanted to know how many hours I would be working on the course. She also wanted a perfect score on the course now–no more intentional errors. She would get the full 700 points with a 100%, otherwise, she would get fewer points for the course and have to earn more with the actual exam.

I was feeling not only a little pressured but also a bit annoyed and suspicious. I redid the less than perfect activities and sent my hours when I finished the course, but not the final 3 essays. If she decided not to pay me for the work I’d done, I’d, at least, have the last laugh.

She didn’t appear until the following Thursday. She thanked me for my work, complained again about having to do the course in the first place, and told me if she ever needed another course done, she’d come to me. She also paid me! WHOOPEE! I sent the missing essays the next morning, officially ending our business relationship.

I was so relieved to be done with this project. I earned over 5000 pesos during this 10-week period, all of which I spent gleefully on various and sundry goods. Now, I have a baseline price to give prospective clients that want me to complete this course for them. I also cut and paste the exercises from the course and offer Business English and TOEIC preparation courses on Saturday afternoons. (See Failing at your own business–Saturday classes). I can’t wait to see what other opportunity presents itself!

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