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A:

To avoid disappointment on both sides, we introduced the "accepted commitments" select options. From experience as Teachers, we often made the mistake to expect our Students to have a high commitment towards their Course but it turned out that they didn't have that kind of commitment (because we never asked them). So we were often very disappointed and so were our Students. 

Students who agree to a "casual" commitment are not likely to be coachable or willing to be pushed to work harder, follow through or improve by their Teacher or Coach. Their goals or intentions are not bad, just different. So to have both sides on the same page from the start, these "Accepted Commitments" will show the Student what level of commitment the Teacher expects from the Student. And this should result in a long lasting Teacher-Student relationship which is beneficial for both parties. You can set multiple "Accepted Commitments" as a strategy to reach a larger audience if you are willing to accept these commitments. During the Course booking, Students will need to select one of your "Accepted Commitments" in order to book this Course with you successfully.

Good to know: Students can search Courses based on the "Accepted Commitments"

A:

You have to set at least 1 "Classroom Option" on every Course that you activate. Use a "Classroom Option" that you can use and love using. Currently you can choose from the following: Zoom, FaceTime, macOS Screen Sharing, Google Meet, MS Teams, and StreamYard. When they book your Course, they can only select 1 Classroom Option from the ones you have chosen. Our recommendation for "screen sharing" is Zoom. But note that you, the Teacher, must have a paid subscription with Zoom in order to teach 1-hour Sessions. You can set multiple "Classroom Options" as a strategy to reach a larger audience if you are willing to use these Classroom Options.

Good to know: Students can search Courses based on these Classroom Options.

A:

Yes, you can offer a Course free of charge but only for a limited number of times.

On the Course edit page, add your own coupon code in the field "Free Course Coupon Code". This works only for Single-session Courses.

Case:
Imagine you've set a coupon code on your Single-session Course. Your coupon code must be a string of characters without spaces. You activate this Course and then promote it in your social circles with a link to the Course and the coupon code. A potential customer saw your social post and decides to click the link. They arrive at your Course page and there they click the "Book now" button which sends them to the Course booking page. There they have to "click the plus icon", at the top right of the page, to enter the coupon code you posted. When they finalise the booking process, as per usual, there will be no payment and their Course becomes immediately active. They can now book a Session for this Course by booking one of your Available Sessions.

Note i: The Student can book this Course for free only once. If they bought this Course before and paid for it, they can still book this one for free using the correct coupon code.
Note ii: if you don't want to offer this Course anymore for free, simply edit your Course and remove the "Free Course Coupon Code".

A: Added Value posts or AV posts, are very similar to articles or blog posts you see on the Internet but this time they contain 5-star value because they are created by a 5StarTeacher. Yay! Each approved 5StarTeacher can create 12 of those in a year. They function similar to the Course creation so that you can set a video, maximum 4 translations, downloadable files and also audio bits that play right in the AV post. The Added Value Video is a regular YouTube video link from your own YouTube account and needs to fulfil a few requirements. AV posts are publicly available, searchable via our AV post listing pages and will be picked up by search engines. You can (and should) attach a Course of yours that you wish to push. It will show up as a Course Ad. Pretty cool, huh? Note i: if you add a downloadable file, you can check how many people have actually downloaded your file so far. To do so: click the "?" to the right of the download button. Note ii: The downloadable file is very handy if you are mentioning "a free download" in your YouTube video. You know, when YouTubers say things like "Click the link in the description below to download the free file."

A:

Absolutely!

Case:
Imagine you are a money managing expert and you have created a spreadsheet that is rather complex but super useful and that you believe all your Students would want. Then you can make it available for download once they bought that specific Course. Look for "course files" on the Course edit page. You can easily use this as a marketing strategy and attract many people to buy your Course.

A: Yes, you can. Up to 4 translations. This is a great strategy to target a specific audience. You add the translations in the field "Description Other Languages". When you do, make sure that the first text is the 2-letter code of the translated language. Then select these 2 letters and choose the option "language" from the formatting menu. Hit enter and write your translation in the text field. Once you save it, it will show up as a tab for the user to click on. Note: All Courses load in English first. If you wish the Course translation to appear as the primary language upon loading the page, copy the link of the Course and add: ?lang=FR at the end of the link so that it looks something like this: https://5starteachers.net/myCourseLinkGoesHere?lang=FR This will now show in French upon loading and if you use Safari's Reader, you will see the Reader in French. Cool, huh?

A:

Yes you can and you should!

We built a 100% transparent feature for you to cooperate with Influencers so that you can get exposure in their circles, i.e. a market in which you currently have no connections. You don't need to be the marketing expert. Let others do that for you and focus on what you do best, that's our suggestion.

Here are the steps: 

1. Find yourself an Influencer and negotiate their reward. 5StarTeachers will not interfere in your negotiations with them or dictate how much they should be paid or what they should get. That is totally up to the both of you.
2. Edit your Course and find the field "Coupon Codes from Influencers". There are 2 values you have to enter: the first is the agreed upon Coupon Code, the second is the email address of the Influencer, in this order. Both the Coupon Code and the Influencer's email address are never shown on the Course or anywhere on the platform.
3. Save your Course, it automatically becomes "unlisted" which means that only people with the link can see it. And if they are a registered Student, they can book it IF they book it with the correct coupon code from the Influencer. 
4. Suppose they booked it correctly, both the Teacher and the Influencer get an email that it was successfully booked. 
5. And when the Teacher decides to take the Course offline (deactivate), the Influencer gets notified of this as well. And therefore this is 100% transparent to both the Teacher and Influencer.
6. Explain this to your Influencer and we are sure they'll love it because it's so easy.

 

Good to know about Coupon Codes from Influencers

Courses can have multiple influencer email addresses and coupon codes.

If you had set a Free Course Coupon Code to offer Students a free Single-session Course and you add Coupon Codes from Influencers, your Free Course Coupon Code will be removed automatically.

Case:

You have a "listed" Single-session Course that you offer at the regular price of USD 100. To work together with an influencer, you "duplicate" this Course and set the Course price on the duplicate to USD 50, for example. You add the Influencer's email address and the agreed upon coupon code and save it. This Course duplicate is now exactly the same except that it is now available at USD 50. It is also "unlisted" and only bookable with the coupon code from the Influencer. When the Influencer can successfully influence people in their circles to book and buy your Course via the link and the coupon code, they have now bought the Course at a 50% discount because everyone else is paying USD 100. 

The reason why you should duplicate your Course, is so that you can always compare the data between the two Courses, the one with the coupon code and the one without, or in case you just wanted to try out a different price for a specific Course without coupon code or influencer. We wanted our Teachers to be able to keep their Course data to analyse their marketing efforts at any time so they can adjust based on data.

 

A: An "unlisted" Course is a Course that will not show up in any of our listings on the platform. This means that no one can search them. They should not be picked up by search engines like Google but if you switch too often from "listed" to "unlisted" and back, we cannot guarantee that the search engines won't pick it up. When your Course is "unlisted", people who have the correct link to your Course can see it and book it. That's why it's so useful for marketing your Course using influencers or in your own social circles. And if you are a famous person or a popular Teacher on our platform, you can easily set all your Courses to "unlisted" so that only the ones who have your Course links, can book you.

A: "Allow repeated bookings" is a checkbox. When you check it, you allow Students to book that Course over and over again. Once you uncheck it, anyone who has bought that Course with you before, will not be able to book this Course again. This is often a great strategy to create recurring customers by requiring them to take on a greater commitment i.e. to buy the Multi-session version of this Course.

A:

Sure.

Case:
Imagine you are a native Spanish speaker and so is your customer and let's say you are an expert in finance. You can choose to teach in Spanish, of course. Why not?

Case:
Imagine you wanted to teach French to Students whose mother tongue is Japanese. That should be possible. But do make sure to set a "required minimum English level" on your Course to ensure your Japanese customer can communicate with you in case they can't express themselves enough in French. There must always be a common language for you to communicate with your customers. And as a Teacher, this is "your" responsibility.

Good to know:
When Students sign up on our platform, they must set their English level.
Also, you can add up to 4 translations of your Course description on your Course page to attract customers who speak those languages. Another great marketing strategy.

A:

Case Student:
Imagine you are the mother of an 8-year-old girl and you want your daughter to learn English but ONLY from a "female" native English teacher. That should be possible and so in order to make that possible, we have to ask you, the Teacher, for your biological gender.

Case Teacher:
Imagine you are a female Teacher and you only wanted to teach "women". That should be possible and so in order to make that possible, you can set a required gender on your Courses so that only people with that gender can see and buy your Course. This way, you can't be disappointed. We believe that is REAL value for both the Student and the Teacher.

Note: We do not explicitly show anyone's gender on the platform, it's only used through search filters.

A:

No. Out of the question.

Why not?
We do things differently. And we don't want to waste anyone's time. Your "paid" Single-session Course is the best opportunity to show your customer/client what value you are offering and the best opportunity for your customer/client (the Student) to experience you as a teacher, coach, consultant or expert in the field. So make sure that you have created a 5-star value Course with an attractive title, a concise and clear Course description and a confident Course Introduction Video which will function as your sales pitch. And if that is all 5-star quality, we're sure they will buy.

No back-and-forth sales conversations before they buy on our platform. They either buy, or they don't. Just like on Amazon.

A:

Sure.

We want you to have full control about who can see your Courses, who and how they can book them and a lot more features that will help you create your own audience and niche market in this marketplace so that you can stand out and teach the people you really want to teach.

How can you become happy by teaching teach people you don't like?
Let's change that, shall we?

A:

Good question!

Our platform allows each Teacher to create different marketing strategies for each Course. The first and foremost thing is to create each Course with 5-star content: a great Course Introduction Video, description, title, tag line, tags, images, video thumbnail, etc.

Besides that, you can:

1. Create a Course Request from your own Course
2. Create an Added Value article and connect your Course to that so it will show up as an "ad" on the AV article.
3. Provide a downloadable Course file. Then, once they pay, they can instantly download that file.
4. In your Course description mention that you create specific tailor-made files for your Students when they buy the Course. Examples are: "audio recordings", "voice recordings", "downloadable files" e.g. code, calculations, spreadsheets, etc.
5. In your Course description mention that "you" take the notes for your Student. Then, they can just watch, interact with you and review their notes any time after their Session.
6. Use the default required settings for your audience so that you target the largest audience possible: Student level, English level, gender, etc.
7. Set your required commitment to all commitments
8. Set your classroom options to the most popular ones e.g. Zoom, Google Meet, MS Teams, etc.
9. Work together with Influencers: set the Influencer's coupon code and their email on your Course (these are never shown to anyone) They will do the marketing for you in return for an agreed deal you have with them.
10. Provide a Single-session Course free of charge: set "your own coupon code" in order to do that. Then market this Course with the coupon code in your circles.

A:

Currently we only pay out through Bank Transfer and Paypal so make sure that you fill out your bank details correctly on your profile. Do keep in mind that you will incur all bank charges for payments you receive from us. So in order to minimise these bank charges on your end, we've added an option for you to aggregate all your outstanding payments. Go to My Financial Transactions > Pending Course Payments. There you can see all your Courses that are completed and have outstanding payments in your advantage. You can choose to have them paid out all in one amount on the 1st of the next month by clicking/tapping on the "Request Payment" button. This is to reduce the bank charges on your end, allowing you to keep more of your earnings.

Note: If your bank account is in Hong Kong, payments will occur faster and with far fewer costs because our bank account with HSBC is also in Hong Kong.

A:

1. show us that you are a teacher at heart
2. show us that you truly care
3. show us that you are passionate about the things you want to teach, coach or advise on
4. show us that you have substantial experience in the field of what you want to teach, coach or advise on
5. be at least 18 years old
6. have at least a lower-intermediate English level
7. have a Linkedin profile (private info)
8. your bank details to receive payments (private info)
9. your phone number (private info)
10. add a quality profile picture
11. add a quality Personal Introduction Video (PIV)
12. add a quality Course Introduction Video (CIV)

Note: To teach under 18s (kids), you must have a Certificate of Good Conduct (CGC) issued by your local Police within the last 6 months. (private info)

A:

No, it doesn't. Students buy or they don't buy.

We ensure that you have lots of features and functionality that you can use to make your Course stand out. When Students search for Courses in which they are interested, we give every Course a chance to be found. We're not like Google who only float the most liked, most seen to the top. But the reason why they would buy your Course has everything to do with the value you offer in your Course, the Course price, the Course features you've set that are attractive to them (e.g. screen sharing options, course files, repeat bookings, coupon codes, influencer connections, etc.), and the quality of your Personal Introduction Video (PIV) and your Course Introduction Video (CIV).

A:

You decide what price to set on your Courses based on our provided "price options".

Case:
A math teacher values his time at USD 50/hr.
He should be able to set that price.

Case:
Another math teacher values her time at USD 150/hr.
She should be able to set that price.

Case:
A business consultant values her time at USD 500/hr.
She should be able to set that price.

Wouldn't you agree?
We work with price options to make things easy to set, easy to compare, easy to follow up and easy for the Student to decide.

Here are our current price options for:

Single-session Courses:
USD 25/hr, USD 35/hr, USD 50/hr, USD 75/hr, USD 100/hr, USD 125/hr, USD 150/hr, USD 200/hr, USD 250/hr, USD 300/hr, USD 350/hr, USD 400/hr, USD 450/hr and , USD 500/hr.

Multi-session Courses of 4 Sessions:
USD 43/hr, USD 60/hr, USD 88/hr.

Multi-session Courses of 12 Sessions:
USD 38/hr, USD 55/hr, USD 74/hr.

Multi-session Courses of 24 Sessions:
USD 35/hr, USD 48/hr, USD 63/hr.

Note: All Sessions are set for 1 hour.

 

A:

We pay out every month on the 1st of the month, just like you would receive a salary. However, you can only be paid out if the Course you sold has been completed, i.e. if there are no outstanding Sessions for that Course, and you must also hit the "request payment" button on your Financial Transactions overview page for that Course to be included in your next payment. This last part is for you to aggregate your incoming payments in order to reduce the bank charges incurred from receiving your payments from us. Banks charge money for every transfer and on our platform are borne by the receiver. So we bear the bank charges from the payment of the Student and you bear the bank charges from the payments of 5StarTeachers. The fewer transfers you have, the lower your overall bank charge will be, and the more money you get to keep.