Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Elsa Mucyo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Elsa, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I have been tutoring since I entered College. At first, I was just helping Elementary and Middle School Students with their homework. Then, I also started teaching the basics of English and German as Foreign Languages since I was studying them at an advanced level for my Bachelor’s Degree. Once I obtained my Master’s Degree in Teaching French as a Foreign Language and moved from France to the United States, I started tutoring and teaching French to kids and adults as a side job. I was a full-time Preschool Teacher in Bilingual Schools for three years and the amount of tutoring I had on the side was getting bigger and bigger each year until I came to a point where I was working way too much – I was finishing late every weekday after my day at school and I was also working on Saturday mornings. Plus, I wasn’t completely blooming as a Preschool teacher. That’s when I started considering opening my tutoring business so that it would become my full-time job. I was super nervous at the idea of losing the stability of my employment and failing to get enough students to make a living. But my husband and both of our families were very supportive and are the ones who convinced me to take a leap of faith and try it. They were right. There is a high amount of students who want to study French and a lot of tutors in the market are simple French native speakers who improvise themselves as French Tutors. A lot of students are looking for better credentials and I did have enough student requests to make a living.
Elsa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was born and raised in France and have obtained a Master’s Degree in Teaching French as a Foreign or Second Language and Intercultural Education. I opened my French Tutoring Business in June 2020. French Encore provides French Classes for kids, teens, and adults. I teach online and in-person for Private, Semi-Private, and Group French Classes. I can work with students on their written and oral understanding skills as well as written and oral production.
I am skilled at preparing students to ace tests such as SAT French, AP French, and DELF/DALF exams.
I am creative and adapt well to each student’s learning goals, personality, and starting language level, I strongly believe that is what sets me apart from other tutors. I have shown great results with students of all ages and even brought a notable number of them to a conversational level.
I also have helped get students ready for admission interviews to enter French or Bilingual Schools such as the International School of Brooklyn.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I think that there are two main things that helped me build my reputation within the French Tutoring Business Market. First of all, my credentials and experience in this field. In the New York Metropolitan Area, where I am located and where most of my students come from, we have a lot of French Tutors whose only skill they have to teach French is that they are native speakers. They don’t have any diploma in teaching French or a diploma in Education in general, and no specific experience in teaching in schools or associations with a specific method. In my case, I have a Master’s Degree in Teaching French as a Foreign Language, and I have taught French at many different schools which gave me an edge because of my experience and methodology for teaching. A lot of my students also tell me that they love the fact that my English is great which allows me to make a lot of bridges between the languages and explain things from their English-speaker point of view. The second thing that helped me build my reputation was being a Preschool Teacher for three years. It gave me the possibility to have contact with a lot of parents who could be interested in tutoring and/or who would speak about me to their friends and family members who would like to learn French. Word-of-mouth has been very big for my business and I am very grateful to all those parents who appreciated my work as a Preschool Teacher and supported me and my business once I decided to take a leap of faith and dedicate all my time to this.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
I am very close to my students as well as the parents of my young students. I discuss with them very regularly and I like to establish a friendly relationship with them. They all become a big part of my life and that’s why we generally have a long-term relationship. Students can also change their minds and from one day to another, decide that they want to focus on another type of learning than what we have done so far. I always make sure to really answer their requests and evolving goals so that they don’t become frustrated with the feeling that they are not learning exactly what they want which would bring them to quit learning French or look for another tutor.
On a logistic side, I also offer packages of classes to my students instead of paying per class. When students purchase a package of lessons, they get a discount. If they take several classes a week, they get a higher discount. My students appreciate those possibilities.
Finally, one thing I love doing is trying to meet my online students in person. Most of my business is online and I have never met most of my students face to face. Nevertheless, I like to travel and whenever I go to a place where I know my students live, I try to organize a meet-up so that we can connect and have a different approach than online sessions only.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.FrenchEncore.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frenchencore/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrenchEncore/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/french-encore/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLiuxtpkJMCMFSFicCLloKA