This English Teacher Makes 1.5M A Year and drives a 0.5M Lamboghini!

[derekwong28]

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com

This English Teacher Makes 1.5M A Year and drives a 0.5M Lamboghini!



I can only guess how good is his quality of teaching judging by his "Chinglish" accent.

He also remarked that his students "can see something beautiful" i.e. himself!

He got where he is by simply promoting sexy advertisements of himself, just what has this got to do with teaching english!


Derek

[Amitywill]

The guy has 50,000 students and all those businesses and all that
press and only makes 1.5 mil a year? Doesn't sound too great to me
if I'm honest. Still good on him though.

Will

[derekwong28]

Originally Posted by Amitywill

The guy has 50,000 students and all those businesses and only
makes 1.5 mil a year? Doesn't sound too great to me if I'm
honest. Still good on him though.

Will

This is only his income from tutoring. Accordingly to other press reports, he made tens of millions from property speculation last year. In Hong Kong, you need a lot of income to speculate on luxury properties.

Chinese cash inflates Hong Kong property prices - CNN.com

The main point of the story is that you are not supposed to make a fortune by being a teacher but this is what exactly he has done. This just shows that you can be successful in even the most unglamourous professions.

[Tron2k]

This Engligh Teacher Makes 1.5M A Year and drives a 0.5M Lamboghini!

someone needs his class! lol

[graham41]

As an accountant/ business consultant specializing in cashflow you have to ask what is his ROCE ( profit margin x asset turn over) is - quite low i am assuming and what is his net cash flow.

I have been telling my people for months to forget profit calculations and balance sheets - cash is king : What is your net cash flow... do you have cash on hand when you need it?

You can't pay your employees with your Profit and loss account or balance sheet.

If he has 50,000+students and countless businesses and making 'only' $1.5 m a year before costs , I might find some of his ideas useful but he is not some-one that I would shell out big bucks for.

G

[derekwong28]

If you come to Hong Kong, you will see his image plastered all over buses, buildings, and train stations.

The so called "celebrity tutors" have to pay for all the advertisements themselves. It is extremely expensive and not all of them are successful. But essentially, they are now the biggest buyer of advertisments now and it just doesn't make a lot of sense to outsiders.

So the way these schools are run is more or less like lawyer or accountancy firms. Most of the teachers should be considered as partners rather than employees.

[MichaelHiles]

NPR radio did a piece several weeks ago about celeb tutors. Dunno about this guy but in general it's a real phenomenon.

[derekwong28]

No, he is the first person who does this but now there are lots of others.

His surname "Eng" is a bit curious, the real surname should be "Ng" but those who live in N. America quite often add an E in front of their name in order to make it easier to pronounce.

If a native english speaker who can speak cantonese as well, I am sure he could pose a big competition to this and other guys as well.

But essentially, they are using sex to sell. Those adverts almost never mention their actual results.

[Goatboy]

Question: How can I get 50,000 people to let me tutor them in English?

[dv8]

Obviously good for him. I'm glad he is helping people.

But by the numbers they gave, as others have alluded to, he needs to revamp his business.

50,000 students.
Each paying $130 a month
= $6.5 million per month
= $78 million per year

And he only sees $1.5 million of that?!

Am I missing something? Granted there probably isn't 50,000 paying members EVERY month, but still. Half of that is still $39 million a year.

[derekwong28]

Originally Posted by dv8

Obviously good for him. I'm glad he is helping people.

But by the numbers they gave, as others have alluded to, he needs to revamp his business.

50,000 students.
Each paying $130 a month
= $6.5 million per month
= $78 million per year

And he only sees $1.5 million of that?!

Am I missing something? Granted there probably isn't 50,000 paying members EVERY month, but still. Half of that is still $39 million a year.

I have said it in an earlier post. Each tutor at his school would function like an independent business partner rather than as an employee. This is similar to what we find in many hairdresser salons and also solicitor and accounting firms. Each tutor is responsible for his or her costs and thus also the profits. Each would have to pay a proportion of their takings to their school mainly for the rental of the premises. Therefore even if he were the owner, his profits would mainly come from his own students and not from those taught by other tutors.

By the way, all subjects are taught at these tutoring schools. The way these tutors are selling themselves in the media, sooner or later, we will have a major sex scandal involving these schools.

[AffiliateInABox1]

Hmm... Interesting post. I guess teaching English really is quite a booming business right now.

[Rezbi]

I know of another English teacher who's been making millions every year for decades from singing.

Admittedly he doesn't teach any any more and he did have his own band at one time - The Police.

You might know him: His name is Gordon Sumner, AKA Sting

I also know of another English and Business teacher who gave up teaching and is now a copywriter.

Now... what's his name?
I know... I think it's... Rezbi

[rapidscc]

Originally Posted by Rezbi

I know of another English teacher who's been making millions every year for decades from singing.

Admittedly he doesn't teach any any more and he did have his own band at one time - The Police.

You might know him: His name is Gordon Sumner, AKA Sting

I also know of another English and Business teacher who gave up teaching and is now a copywriter.

Now... what's his name?
I know... I think it's... Rezbi

Lol! Who's Rezbi..nyahh just kidding..

What doesn't compute is, how the heck is he able to teach that 50k students..and the thing about "sex sells" I don't get it..

I better watch the video first

[Rezbi]

Originally Posted by rapidscc

Lol! Who's Rezbi.

Search me, never heard of him.

[derekwong28]

Originally Posted by rapidscc

Lol! Who's Rezbi..nyahh just kidding..

What doesn't compute is, how the heck is he able to teach that 50k students..and the thing about "sex sells" I don't get it..

I better watch the video first

He school has 50k students, but he only personally teaches a fraction of that.

They market themselves as objects of sexual desiure by high school girls and boys.

By the way, he is not reported to be highest earning celebrity tutor in Hong Kong.

[Bev Clement]

I was wondering if I missed something with them saying "Eng" not Ng. Can't say I've heard of him, but tutoring is the way to go or so it seems

[armani]

who said teacher were underpaid!

LOL

[rajuthan]

not a bad job

[baybossplaya]

awesome. cant hate on the guy.

[valerieSONORA]

I can't speak a word of Cantonese but can I be an English tutor in HK?

He does not "make money". He "creates value & wealth" and that is why he is driving a sports car!

[ForeignProfessor]

Originally Posted by AffiliateInABox1

Hmm... Interesting post. I guess teaching English really is quite a booming business right now.

It's worth $20b a year here in S. Korea. Only about $3b is online though.

[Martin Luxton]

Originally Posted by derekwong28

But essentially, they are using sex to sell. Those adverts almost never mention their actual results.

These kind of crammers are designed to get kids through exams, not to learn English. If they pass the exam the parents are happy. It's only later in their working life when their boss expects their 'bilingual employee' to perform that things go pearshaped.

I've met hundreds of kids who've passed 'high level' exams after attending these courses yet they can hardly hold a basic conversation.

As education becomes more of a commodity it's more a question of bums on seats than quality teaching.

And it's not just private schools. Some of the marketing tactics of universities in the UK are disgraceful.

Martin

[Sumit Menon]

Originally Posted by dv8

Obviously good for him. I'm glad he is helping people.

But by the numbers they gave, as others have alluded to, he needs to revamp his business.

50,000 students.
Each paying $130 a month
= $6.5 million per month
= $78 million per year

And he only sees $1.5 million of that?!

Am I missing something? Granted there probably isn't 50,000 paying members EVERY month, but still. Half of that is still $39 million a year.

Who the heck pays $130/month for learning English? In most of the Asian countries if you can afford to pay $130/month for learning something, you must be already rich (In local currency).

[techinik]

Originally Posted by derekwong28

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com

This English Teacher Makes 1.5M A Year and drives a 0.5M Lamboghini!



I can only guess how good is his quality of teaching judging by his "Chinglish" accent.

He also remarked that his students "can see something beautiful" i.e. himself!

He got where he is by simply promoting sexy advertisements of himself, just what has this got to do with teaching english!


Derek

Proves 1 idea can make a difference.

[Shannon Herod]

This is just a perfect example of someone being ready for opportunity. There are opportunities around us every single day. The problem, is most of us do not recognize those opportunities.

This guy was able to recognize an opportunity and take full advantage of it.

He has been able to monetize an added value to a commodity and that skyrocketed his wealth.

Shannon Herod

[derekwong28]

Bev, I suspect that he purposefully put an "E" in front of "Ng" so as to make us think that he is a Canadian born Chinese and thus a native English speaker which he is clearly not.

Valarie, native english speakers are in great demand here as teachers in kindergartens, primary and high schools. They are also in great demand as private tutors. However, it would be more difficult to work in "celebrity" tutorial school if you do not speak Cantonese.

Sumit, it is best to think in terms of what proportion of your income that you are willing to invest in your child's education. There is no point in comparing with Hong Kong and Singapore whose disposable income is now higher than most Western countries. Personally, I pay $100 a month for English lessons for my 5 year daughter and I also paid $250 for a two week of course on "Skills required for admission interviews at primary schools" This shows how ridiculous things have got over here, the schools she applied to had more than 10 applicants for one available place.

These tutorial schools are really at the bottom end of the scale. Higher up, parents would employ tutors who visit their homes for one to one tuition. Fees are usually between $50 to $100 per hour, or even more if university students are involved. Of course, if you use crammer schools in the UK as Martin said, it will even be more expensive. One of my friends did badly in his A levels and he attended a crammer for a year. The following year, he was accepted into "The London Hospital" Medical School and he is now a well known consultant Anaesthetist in the UK.

Derek