7 Language Tutor Success Stories [2024]

Updated: November 19th, 2023
Become A Language Tutor

A language tutoring business provides individualized instruction and guidance to students who are learning new languages.

As an entrepreneurial tutor, you will create tailor-made curriculums that focus on conversational skills, test preparation, and accent reduction based on the goals of each student.

You can offer both in-person and virtual sessions, and as you build your client base, you will help your students improve their communication skills.

If you possess teaching abilities and fluency in multiple languages, a tutoring service can help you turn your language proficiency into profit while giving you the freedom to set your own schedule.

Here are some real life success stories of starting a language tutor:

1. Lingoci ($1.44M/year)

While working at an agency in London, Alex was taking online Swedish lessons with a tutor through a site. However, he wasn't satisfied by the quality of all the tutors there, and only liked one named Isabella. It then struck him that he could build such an online tutoring site, except hire only carefully scrutinized tutors for a better user experience.

How much they make: $1.44M/year
Current team size: 0

article

How I Built A $60K/Month Language Tutoring Platform With No Coding Skills

Founder of Lingoci shares how he launched his online language tutoring platform with just $300 and no coding skills, and has since grown it to around $60k/month in revenue, mostly through Google Ads and a focus on continuous improvement.

About
Alex started Lingoci over 7 years ago
Revenue
Alex grew the business to $120K/month
Read by 12,237 founders

2. Live Lingua ($1.44M/year)

In response to the Mexican swine flu, the founder of Live Lingua, a language learning platform, pivoted their brick-and-mortar language school to online classes through Skype. They quickly realized the potential of online language learning, sold their physical school, and rebranded as Live Lingua, growing steadily at about 20% each year since 2012.

How much they make: $1.44M/year
How much did it cost to start: $60
Current team size: 9

article

How I Started A 7-Figure Online Language Learning Platform Thanks To SEO

Live Lingua, an online language learning platform, built a 7-figure business on a bootstrap budget using SEO and launched thanks to the Mexican swine flu, with the company now growing at around 20% a year every year since then.

About
Ray started Live Lingua about 15 years ago
Revenue
Ray grew the business to $120K/month
Costs
It cost Ray $60 to start the business
Read by 4,350 founders

So... can you actually make money with a language tutor?

Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.

But how?

  1. Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
  2. Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
  3. Take action, because now you have the roadmap.

Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:

Start Now

3. Fluent In 3 Months ($1.09M/year)

How much they make: $1.09M/year
Current team size: 11

article

Benny Lewis On How To Make 7 Figures Language Hacking

Fluent in 3 Months receives over 2 million monthly visits and Benny Lewis, the founder, is now a 7-figure business coach who teaches people how to create online businesses.

About
Benny started Fluent In 3 Months almost 15 years ago
Revenue
Benny grew the business to $91K/month
Read by 903 founders

4. Duolingo ($162M/year)

How much they make: $162M/year
Current team size:

reCAPTCHA and Duolingo: Luis von Ahn: How I Built This with Guy Raz

Discover how a PhD student's creation of CAPTCHA has evolved into the language-learning app Duolingo, valued at $1.5 billion today and experiencing a surge of growth during the pandemic.

Revenue
Luis grew the business to $13.5M/month
Read by 1,003 founders

So... can you actually make money with a language tutor?

Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.

But how?

  1. Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
  2. Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
  3. Take action, because now you have the roadmap.

Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:

Start Now