Job Discussion Forums

[thefuzz]

I am currently living in China and the wife and me are getting mighty tired of this place...we've been here much too long. So since I hold Polish citizenship (as well as Canadian) and she already has her Polish residence card (she is Chinese...we visited Poland a while back to get all the paperwork done and card made) so now we're thinking of going back.

Together we're making about 30K per month in China (quoted in RMB) which in turn translates into something like 12K zloty. That's two people working two full time jobs...and I mean working. She is putting in a regular 10 hours per day at the office and I do about 8 (6 to 7 teaching hours per day for me). So, yeah, lots of work.

So I'm thinking of opening up a "dzialalnosc gospodarcza" (one person company) and do a combination of private and contract teaching. I figure I could get a few students on my own and supplement the income while working for a training center. I speak a bit of Polish so I can handle doing all the marketing and such in newspapers and so forth...perhaps even getting the odd corporate training gig. Anyway, the main question is: while working both privately at home and also at a training center would it be possible to make 8K zloty per month?

Also, my wife is thinking of giving Mandarin lessons (she is fluent in English) at home or working for a training center that offers Mandarin Chinese courses. So whatever she can make will be an added bonus to the 8K zloty I mentioned.

Anyway, would love to hear your opinions about this. We're really looking to call it quits here in China and move on.

[TwinCentre]

Working freelance in Warsaw, doing regular teaching, privately and in companies and schools? I would say 8k net a month would be possible, and I do know people who earn that, but it is very hard work, teaching 30 plus contact hours etc.

But yes is the short answer, it can be done.

BTW, do you have a Polish surname? As I don't think that would be seen as an advantage marketing wise here, especially with regards to private students. Also, marketing in English is better I have found, gets better results in Warsaw at least.

[maniak]

Yea, you can do it esp if someone is willing to pay you 65zl+. I just got a paycut though.

[Hod]

Mighty ambitious puts things at the extreme end of extremely mildly with lots and lots of mildly mild bits thrown in; teaching 20 to 30 hours a week, plus doing your own marketing, which in itself is no small energy expenditure.

The trouble with teachers worldwide is that one fluky gut-busting ProPlus�-fuelled week might bring in 1000 Ludovics (made up currency), and they then go and tell all their mates that they can, at the drop of a hat, earn 52000 Ludovics a year.

The 65Zl mentioned (bandied about) will bring in 8000Zl if you teach a whopping 28 hours a week for 52 weeks of the year. Realistically, taking two weeks break (not enough) and not even beginning to factor in your or your students� sickness, cancellations, excuses*, etc, that weekly number of hours is already creeping up to 30. Yikes, three two one, burnout.

* I know a teacher who claims to have a very strict cancellation policy. This is normal, but it won�t stop students having holidays, going away on business, knowing their working week is going to be hell and cancelling a lesson in good time, equating to lost income for the teacher. The ideal contract for a teacher would be: 20 lessons; once a week; you cancel, you lose the lesson. Great but no student would go for it.

What defines your arbitrary 8000Zl? Why not give yourself a better chance and go for 6000, at least to start? You�d have some sort of quality of life then and not be burned out to a cinder and sick of Pooland after two months.

[sharter]

It will be difficult to earn 8 grand a month. I made 8.5 teaching 1 wealthy man in Warsaw, but had no life. Can your wife speak Polish? Why Warsaw?

[hrvatski]

I think realistically with the afore-mentioned cancellations, holidays etc you come out to 4000-5000zł a month, particularly in your first year setting up shop. Better factor in savings for a holiday to the Mediterranean in the summer cause you're gonna need it bad. After my first year in Poland I spent two months in Croatia trying to figure out what the f*** just happened.

[dynow]

i concur with hrvatski. a trip out of Poland, at the very least to get out of the shite weather, is needed every year. for me, it's to America every year, and it ends up costing my fiance and i two months pay to do it (let us not forget that for most of us, we are not paid for vacation time). factor that into what you earn per month, and the numbers start to take on a different look.

[thefuzz]

[thefuzz]

Thanks for your input everyone, seems like like going for 5 to 6K per month would be a more reasonable target. For someone who was wondering in one of the first replies, no, I don't have a Polish sounding surname (my family is of Polish-Jewish decent, therefore, I was able to acquire citizenship after much litigation and hoop jumping). Thanks again...and if anyone else has other suggestions please keep 'em coming.

[Master Shake]

[dynow]

anyone is capable of pulling 8K in Warsaw if you work like a pig, 6 days a week, privates, etc. etc. it's like anything else, do you want to have a life, or do you want to work.

if you just work for language schools, 8K probably isn't going to happen. after you get more experience, it still probably won't happen unless you up your hours because in Poland, raises are few and far between (several on this forum have been writing about pay CUTS recently). I haven't gotten a raise in 2 years, yet I always score above and beyond expectations with all my yearly evaluations from each of my schools' head language instructors.

what I've been doing recently in order to make more money is something like this: i keep a busy schedule, but not too busy. when an offer comes i evaluate it, see what the job entails, and then I throw a really high number at them. many of them walk away, but some of them don't. the ones that don't increase my monthly income. it's that simple. if companies want to cry poverty, the "kryzys", budget cuts, etc., fine....but my price for my services doesn't care about their problems at work or how they spend their money. pay to play. if you want good, it comes with a price. if you pay for shite, you get just that......a little language school with either an inexperienced Polish teacher that doesn't speak English well enough to teach anything above B2, or a native that shows up at your office every morning smelling like the bar he just walked out of.

i work no harder than i did a year ago, but i make more money following this strategy.

i forget who the poster was, it was probably 2 years ago or more, but there was a married couple working in Warsaw out of their apt., their only business, and they were making money hand over fist because they simply gave excellent classes, native speakers, and charged around 40% above the going rate per hour. their philosophy was quite similar. something like, "most people turn away when they hear our prices, but some don't, either because they feel that the higher price means better classes, or they're just rich and feel better spending more for their lessons (kinda like a status thing). Eventually word got around and they had plenty of wealthy people taking lessons from them.

[thefuzz]

[Master Shake]

[TwinCentre]

[hrvatski]

I guess what always kept me in language schools was how easy it was. Admin takes care of all the logistics, you just turn up and fire away. Plus I'm put off by the fact that every single student could want something different so my planning time would go through the roof. Then with commuting to various venues and cancellations the whole thing seems very unattractive. How justified would you say these fears are, o' hardened and weathered private teachers?

Glad I'm out of the teaching business now