soursop wrote:Does anyone know what the average salary for expats teaching English is?

Again, the average does not matter. The average always sucks, in anything. The average whatever job makes lousy money. That does not mean, however, that everybody in that job makes lousy money.

Ok. You've got a wealthy Cambodian guy, yearly income 20 million USD/year. There are lots of them. He has three kids. His willingness to spend on education for his kids is at least 1 million USD/year. You know what? He cannot spend that money. There is no school that can reasonably justify charging that kind of school fees, even though there exists a demographic of parents perfectly able and willing to pay them. In fact, that demographic cannot spend even 100 000 USD/year. It's also not possible. At best, they will manage to find 20 000 USD/year worth of school fees to spend on; which is peanuts in comparison to their income and peanuts in comparison to their real willingness to spend.

That is why it is trivially easy to charge 200 USD/hour to tutor his kids in English. If he believes that he is buying at the top of the teacher market, that he is getting the best possible tuition for his children that money can buy, he will drop the 200 USD/hour, no questions asked. So, targeting the right demographic is the key to making money with teaching English. Otherwise, you will have to work for the schools and they will sit in between you and the wealthy Cambodian parents, thoroughly skimming your income. In other words, you cannot make any money whatsoever with teaching English, if you allow a middleman to pick which parents-clients to work for and to set the tuition fee. You must do that by yourself.

Do you see any English teacher in Cambodia doing that? No, probably nobody. The average English teacher does not understand this kind of things. He just does what everybody else does, seeks out a job with a middleman (a "school"), like the average does, and therefore makes lousy average money.

You only need to find one upper-middle class Cambodian family who will buy 4 hours per week from you, to thoroughly defeat the average strategy in terms of income. You can do that by putting two ads on the internet and one in a Cambodian newspaper or other publication that the wealthy are likely to read. It will cost you less than a few hundred dollars and a few months before you have your first customer.

You see, all of that is just a chess game. With a few similar moves, I make 10 times more in my own field than the average does. All you need to do, is to realize that the average has got it totally wrong. That is why the average sucks. Everything the average believes, is bullshit, and that by definition. Never copy the behaviour of the average. If only, as a matter of principle, try something else. Success in these things always starts with contempt for the unshaved masses. Plebs imperitum ad deterrimum promptum.

eriksank wrote:

soursop wrote:Does anyone know what the average salary for expats teaching English is?

Again, the average does not matter. The average always sucks, in anything. The average whatever job makes lousy money. That does not mean, however, that everybody in that job makes lousy money.

Ok. You've got a wealthy Cambodian guy, yearly income 20 million USD/year. There are lots of them. He has three kids. His willingness to spend on education for his kids is at least 1 million USD/year. You know what? He cannot spend that money. There is no school that can reasonably justify charging that kind of school fees, even though there exists a demographic of parents perfectly able and willing to pay them. In fact, that demographic cannot spend even 100 000 USD/year. It's also not possible. At best, they will manage to find 20 000 USD/year worth of school fees to spend on; which is peanuts in comparison to their income and peanuts in comparison to their real willingness to spend.

That is why it is trivially easy to charge 200 USD/hour to tutor his kids in English. If he believes that he is buying at the top of the teacher market, that he is getting the best possible tuition for his children that money can buy, he will drop the 200 USD/hour, no questions asked. So, targeting the right demographic is the key to making money with teaching English. Otherwise, you will have to work for the schools and they will sit in between you and the wealthy Cambodian parents, thoroughly skimming your income. In other words, you cannot make any money whatsoever with teaching English, if you allow a middleman to pick which parents-clients to work for and to set the tuition fee. You must do that by yourself.

Do you see any English teacher in Cambodia doing that? No, probably nobody. The average English teacher does not understand this kind of things. He just does what everybody else does, seeks out a job with a middleman (a "school"), like the average does, and therefore makes lousy average money.

You only need to find one upper-middle class Cambodian family who will buy 4 hours per week from you, to thoroughly defeat the average strategy in terms of income. You can do that by putting two ads on the internet and one in a Cambodian newspaper or other publication that the wealthy are likely to read. It will cost you less than a few hundred dollars and a few months before you have your first customer.

You see, all of that is just a chess game. With a few similar moves, I make 10 times more in my own field than the average does. All you need to do, is to realize that the average has got it totally wrong. That is why the average sucks. Everything the average believes, is bullshit, and that by definition. Never copy the behaviour of the average. If only, as a matter of principle, try something else. Success in these things always starts with contempt for the unshaved masses. Plebs imperitum ad deterrimum promptum.

this is a very true post and deffo worth the read, being a self employed builder back home i know what he is saying, good post mate

It's very easy to spend more than $100 k a year on schooling - as long as you send your kids oversesas for their schooling. My alma mater currently charge approximately $120,000 a year in fees and additional costs (such as uniforms - of which there are a lot, sports equipment, excursions, etc.) easily add another $20K to that. (Please note: I was an academic scholarship pupil, my parents only had to eat the insane additional costs not the fees - I was, by far, the poorest kid in my year).

But I agree, service differentiation is key to earning. It's why I make good money doing what I do when so many people struggle to break $1,000 a month doing it... and that issue normally resides in the head of the service provider when they think; "I couldn't possibly ask for that much."

eriksank wrote:

soursop wrote:Does anyone know what the average salary for expats teaching English is?

Again, the average does not matter. The average always sucks, in anything. The average whatever job makes lousy money. That does not mean, however, that everybody in that job makes lousy money.

Ok. You've got a wealthy Cambodian guy, yearly income 20 million USD/year. There are lots of them. He has three kids. His willingness to spend on education for his kids is at least 1 million USD/year. You know what? He cannot spend that money. There is no school that can reasonably justify charging that kind of school fees, even though there exists a demographic of parents perfectly able and willing to pay them. In fact, that demographic cannot spend even 100 000 USD/year. It's also not possible. At best, they will manage to find 20 000 USD/year worth of school fees to spend on; which is peanuts in comparison to their income and peanuts in comparison to their real willingness to spend.

That is why it is trivially easy to charge 200 USD/hour to tutor his kids in English. If he believes that he is buying at the top of the teacher market, that he is getting the best possible tuition for his children that money can buy, he will drop the 200 USD/hour, no questions asked. So, targeting the right demographic is the key to making money with teaching English. Otherwise, you will have to work for the schools and they will sit in between you and the wealthy Cambodian parents, thoroughly skimming your income. In other words, you cannot make any money whatsoever with teaching English, if you allow a middleman to pick which parents-clients to work for and to set the tuition fee. You must do that by yourself.

Do you see any English teacher in Cambodia doing that? No, probably nobody. The average English teacher does not understand this kind of things. He just does what everybody else does, seeks out a job with a middleman (a "school"), like the average does, and therefore makes lousy average money.

You only need to find one upper-middle class Cambodian family who will buy 4 hours per week from you, to thoroughly defeat the average strategy in terms of income. You can do that by putting two ads on the internet and one in a Cambodian newspaper or other publication that the wealthy are likely to read. It will cost you less than a few hundred dollars and a few months before you have your first customer.

You see, all of that is just a chess game. With a few similar moves, I make 10 times more in my own field than the average does. All you need to do, is to realize that the average has got it totally wrong. That is why the average sucks. Everything the average believes, is bullshit, and that by definition. Never copy the behaviour of the average. If only, as a matter of principle, try something else. Success in these things always starts with contempt for the unshaved masses. Plebs imperitum ad deterrimum promptum.

ANY khmer that has that kind of money is NOT going to have their kids educated in Cambodia but in Singapore, London, the states or if he ain't that rich, Bangkok

He wont drop the 200 USD/hour, The best school in Cambodia is Norhtbridge and their fees are only $15-20,000/year

200 USD/hour? That sounds just a little too high. The most I see private tutors making in Thailand is 25 USD/hour.

know a couple of REAL teachers as the British international school here,
they do private side lessons at 600 baht/hour -$16 or so

General Mackevili wrote:Yeah, I have a hard time believing that someone who's smart enough to make $200,000,000 a year is also stupid enough to pay WELL over the going rate for a service.

Plenty of people will pay a stupid premium for private tuition - if there's a clear end benefit. There are SAT prep tutors, for example, who can charge way more than $400 an hour. But they are normally based in the West with a very clear track record of success. Nobody's going to pay $400 an hour for tuition within Cambodia's education system - there's so little benefit in the end product of that education from a career/employment perspective.

Can I teach English online in Cambodia? I heard it pays about $20 per hour. The company is based in China. Could I get a work permit for that?