The years 2015 and 2016 have witnessed huge growth here at GermanWithNicole.com, from the increase in client base to how much clients have grown in their German abilities, as well as my own growth and development as an instructor.
Growth in numbers:
Learn German Online with Nicole officially started in 2013. I began with one client and we met over Skype; now all my clients and I meet in a wonderful Adobe Connect classroom, which allows real-time collaboration with a shared whiteboard and audio-video communication. Es ist toll! This business has been going strong for 3 years already!
1 year ago I officially created the online presence GermanWithNicole.com; it was previously a subdomain of another website. Because there was so much interest and so much traffic, I had to move the site to its own domain. In this month so far there have already been over 11,000 visitors—that’s almost double the amount of visitors since this time last year!
Pinterest is my strongest social media presence with 26 boards and over 500 followers and I’ve just started a brand new LinkedIn page. There are a whopping 4 followers there, myself included, because hey—you gotta start somewhere!
It’s also been exactly one year since I attended the Goethe Institute’s Test Proctor training and I’m now certified to proctor 5 of their tests from level A1 to C1 and correct both speaking and writing. This means I can help you prepare for their tests!
Always keep learning:
At the end of 2015 I began an online course for becoming certified in teaching German as a Foreign Language, which has been exciting and encouraging. It has helped to solidify knowledge that I already had and has helped me guide clients along the way in a more grounded and systematic way. I am so excited about the rest of the course and all the ways it will show me how to help my clients learn German more thoroughly.
Exclusively for clients:
As part of the new website, I also redid the student portal and it became the Client Portal, with a newly organized menu and resources. There’s even a mini-blog there just for clients.
There have also been tailor-made worksheets going out to clients, especially recently, which then have a cool ripple effect when they go out to multiple clients. It's fascinating to see how different clients approach the same topic and how one client's understanding can aid in another client understanding the same topic.
Some clients have been making their own resource guides, which is exceedingly valuable. Why? Because whatever you create on your own (from information in your lessons), you learn better. That’s why I encourage clients to write out exercises and such by hand, because science has proven that by writing it out, you’ll retain it better.
These worksheets and the client-made resource guides go hand-in-hand with the European Language Portfolio, which I’ll be introducing to clients in the first half of 2017. And yes, there will be an online launch party for this!
Tuition as of November 1, 2016
From time to time it’s fitting to increase prices, and although tuition here has stayed the same for three years, it’s time for a small increase of 2.4%. This means the monthly rate will go from $187.50 for one-on-one lessons to $192, or in other words, an increase of $4.50 per month.
This will go into effect for new clients immediately and for existing clients as of November 1, 2016 (billed in October).
Lock In Your Rate for 6 Months:
If you are a current client, you have the possibility of locking in your current rate for 6 months; simply refer a new client between now and October 31, 2016. So for the months of November through April (billed October through March), you’ll stay at the $187.50 rate. As of May 2017 (billed in April), then your tuition will match the regular rate.
Refer a new client even if YOU aren’t a client (yet):
Anyone can refer a new client! And I will send you a gift! If you simply stop by the blog or are a newsletter subscriber and you refer a new client to me, I’ll still send you a gift!
Give thanks where thanks is due.
