"That which seems like a false step is just the next step. What if it wasn't the wrong step? What if it was simply necessary? The path is not something you already know. The path is something that starts to appear because you just keep walking."

In this special episode of our entrepreneur series, the tables are turned as Andrew interviews his co-host and business partner, Leo Gomez. Leo reflects on his upbringing in Brazil, the psychological impact of moving across cultures, and how an inherent bias toward action shaped his journey as an educator and founder.

Leo Gomez is an experienced language educator, teacher trainer, and co-founder of Learn Your English. A passionate advocate for task-based language teaching (TBLT) and experiential learning, he also breaks down how he built and launched TBL4T by validating demand before creating a single lesson, demonstrating how every "false step" is simply part of the path.

In this episode, we discuss:

How growing up in Brazil’s necessity-driven, micro-entrepreneurial ecosystem forged a lifelong bias toward action.

The psychological tension between a native, spontaneous Portuguese identity and a structured, academic English persona.

Why traditional schooling fails experiential learners by presenting knowledge as a finished product to memorize rather than a tool to use.

Sidestepping academic dogma to build a practical TBLT framework for real-world teachers facing rigid constraints.

How validating an audience first prevents costly product mistakes.

Using student feedback and "loop input" to evolve an 8-week pilot into a high-level, 10-to-14-week transformative program.

Reframing client rejections, failed launches, and operational mistakes not as errors, but as mandatory steps on the entrepreneurial path.

Why waiting to feel "ready" is an illusion, and why taking scary leaps is the only way to uncover what your market actually wants.

*Prefer video? Watch the episode on YouTube.

FOR MORE FROM LEO GOMEZ:

1. Connect on LinkedIn

2. Teaching Agility

3. Learn YOUR English website (coming soon)

OUR PARTNER: E-Solutions for ELT

E-solutions for ELT helps teachers build an online system that works for them by building practical websites, course platforms, landing pages and automations designed around the real needs of their ELT businesses.

You tailor your teaching to your students. Your tech should be tailored to you. 

Explore E-solutions for ELT here. 

SUPPORT US:

🫶 Integrate your brand with our podcast in an effort to improve language education.

⭐ Leave a review where you listen.

WORK WITH US:

1. CPD & Teaching Resources

2. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business. 

3. Monetize your teaching skills 

THE THRIVING TEACHERPRENEUR

Get inspired to start and grow your own education business. Weekly insights, stories, and reflections on education entrepreneurship.

Subscribe on Substack here.

"When you are constantly thinking in scarcity because you're broke... you don't put enough value on yourself, on your time. You will undercharge, you will always look for ways to stretch yourself too thin. And you can also say yes to the wrong customers, too."

We sit down with entrepreneur and BE School founder Zoe Smith. 

Zoe Smith is the founder of BE School, a specialized Business English institution that scales corporate communication via an international team of over 50 educators.

A veteran language coach who designs high-touch corporate environments and personally guides Fortune 500 executives, she recently launched The BE Hub: an interactive sister platform providing editable, real-world target curricula directly to language teachers worldwide

In this episode, we discuss:

How helping build a 50-location Canadian childcare ecosystem proved that corporate clients will gladly pay premium fees for high-value operations.

Why failing to separate your personal pockets from business capital keeps you acting like an employee.

How eliminating regular month-to-month invoicing in favour of non-refundable upfront class packages entirely deletes the administrative stress of chasing money.

What managing C-suite executives reveals about regulating your own internal nervous system against minor operational fires.

The braveness required to shut down classes with CEOs when invoices weren't getting paid.

Launching a sister company - BE Hub - without sinking tens of thousands of dollars into technical development overhead.

*Prefer video? Watch the episode on YouTube.

FOR MORE FROM ZOE SMITH:

1. Connect on LinkedIn

2. Visit the BE School

3. Visit the BE Hub

OUR PARTNER: E-Solutions for ELT

E-solutions for ELT helps teachers build an online system that works for them by building practical websites, course platforms, landing pages and automations designed around the real needs of their ELT businesses.

You tailor your teaching to your students. Your tech should be tailored to you. 

Explore E-solutions for ELT here. 

SUPPORT US:

🫶 Integrate your brand with our podcast in an effort to improve language education.

⭐ Leave a review where you listen.

WORK WITH US:

1. CPD & Teaching Resources

2. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business. 

3. Monetize your teaching skills 

THE THRIVING TEACHERPRENEUR

Get inspired to start and grow your own education business. Weekly insights, stories, and reflections on education entrepreneurship.

Subscribe on Substack here.

"People ask me all the time, 'Are you worried that AI's gonna take your job?' and I tell them, no, but I'm worried that you would ask me that question, because it tells me a lot about what you think my job is."

We chat with researcher Matt Coss. 

Matt is a professor of applied linguistics in the Department of Modern Languages & Classics at the University of Alabama (USA). A research-practitioner who has taught Mandarin and Spanish across all proficiency levels for 13 years, his work focuses on task-based language teaching (TBLT), assessment, language program design, and student retention. He is also the Interviews Editor for TASK: Journal on Task-Based Language Teaching and a founding co-editor of the Focus on Practice section of Language Awareness.

In this episode, we discuss:

How a childhood happenstance and an adopted aunt bypassed traditional language learning methods completely.

Why tracking technical language gains as an absolute baseline sets a language program up for total institutional collapse.

A direct look inside a Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) classroom where a student successfully performed a task but swore their teacher "didn't teach them anything."

Why language classrooms are the ultimate retention machine for universities, outperforming massive STEM cohorts by fundamentally validating student identities.

 How rigid vocabulary lists and zero training in meaning negotiation caused fluent clinicians to completely misdiagnose a critical patient case.

Real strategies for working inside a strict curricular environment by identifying functional communication gaps rather than forcing artificial vocabulary drills.

How to bypass structural paralysis by simply asking learners what they tried to say this week but couldn't.

Why a student asking for a complex grammar rule is actually a cry for comprehensibility, and how to serve chunks over metadata.

*Prefer video? Watch the episode on YouTube.

FOR MORE FROM MATT COSS:

1. Connect on LinkedIn

2. Visit his website 

OUR PARTNER: FLUENTIZE

Get 25% off with the code "TTT25" 

Want to teach your best lessons — without all the prep? Fluentize turns real-world videos into interactive ESL lessons for teens and adults. Explore 650+ ready-to-teach lessons designed to engage your students, simplify lesson planning, and save you hours of preparation.

Start for free here.

SUPPORT US:

🫶 Integrate your brand with our podcast in an effort to improve language education.

⭐ Leave a review where you listen.

WORK WITH US:

1. CPD & Teaching Resources

2. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business. 

3. Monetize your teaching skills 

THE THRIVING TEACHERPRENEUR

Get inspired to start and grow your own education business. Weekly insights, stories, and reflections on education entrepreneurship.

Subscribe on Substack here.

"To build a company, it really requires time. At some point, there will be only you who still believes in the product - not your team, not your investors, nobody. You and yourself in the room and your laptop, and that's it."

We sit down with Amazy founder Kate Bodrova. 

Kate spent over 10 years as an ESL teacher and language school owner before founding AMAZY, a digital workspace for teachers and institutions to create interactive lessons, track student progress, and keep everything in one place. Backed by UCL EdTech Labs and recognized as Best EdTech Startup in Europe 2024, AMAZY is trusted by 20,000 users worldwide.

In this episode, we chat about:

How introducing a proactive, problem-solving method disrupted the traditional, rigid classroom structures of Eastern Europe.

The Ultimate "Mom Test" Fail: Why asking customers if they "like" your product is a hollow question, and the specific data you should be tracking instead.

Why seven years isn't enough when building from scratch, and how to survive the brutal phase when you are the only one who believes in your product.

How chasing "false hopes" and trying to mirror another entrepreneur's specific timeline will quietly kill your product.

How saying yes to a massive, multi-city corporate contract forced a 15x scale and triggered a painful but necessary mindset shift.

Why you should stop overthinking your idea at home and focus on the single true metric of business success: trying to sell it in the first 30 days.

*Prefer video? Watch the episode on YouTube.

FOR MORE FROM KATE BODROVA:

1. Connect on LinkedIn

2. Check out Amazy

OUR PARTNER: COMMUNICATING FOR IMPACT

The Creative House for Leading Educators & Experts. 

Amplify your work with high-end video and podcasts that get results. Create impactful videos and podcasts with their programmes and done-for-you production services.

Start your series here. 

SUPPORT US:

🫶 Integrate your brand with our podcast in an effort to improve language education.

⭐ Leave a review where you listen.

WORK WITH US:

1. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business. 

2. Learn how to monetize your teaching skills with TAP.

3. Our CPD Courses. 

THE THRIVING TEACHERPRENEUR

Get inspired to start and grow your own education business. Weekly insights, stories, and reflections on education entrepreneurship.

Subscribe on Substack here.

"Choice generates agency, agency generates engagement, and engagement is where learning begins. If you aren’t ‘falling over’ as a teacher, you probably aren't pushing yourself or your learners to take ownership of the language."

We sit down with the esteemed Professor Jonathan Newton.

Jonathan is an Associate Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, where he leads postgraduate programs in TESOL and Applied Linguistics. With over 30 years of experience, his work focuses on the "black box" of classroom interaction and how task-based language teaching (TBLT) can foster learner agency and ownership. He has published over 80 articles and several seminal books on classroom interaction and task-based pedagogy.

In this episode, we discuss:

The power of choice: why giving learners agency is the most direct path to motivation and ownership.

Unlearning the security blanket: moving beyond rigid PPP formulas to embrace the "falling forward" of real teaching.

The "Magoo" (MG-O-O) criteria: a simple heuristic for tweaking textbook activities to strengthen meaning, gaps, and outcomes.

Tasks for absolute beginners: why input-based tasks are the perfect entry point for learners with zero English.

Negotiation for meaning: measuring the tangible acquisition of vocabulary through group-work interaction.

The "Atlas Complex" in teaching: letting go of the burden of being the sole source of authority in the classroom.

The desk as the enemy: how small physical shifts in the classroom can reignite learner engagement.

*Prefer video? Watch the episode on YouTube.

FOR MORE FROM JONATHAN NEWTON:

1. Connect on LinkedIn

2. Visit his website 

OUR PARTNER: FLUENTIZE

Want to teach your best lessons — without all the prep? Fluentize turns real-world videos into interactive ESL lessons for teens and adults. Explore 650+ ready-to-teach lessons designed to engage your students, simplify lesson planning, and save you hours of preparation.

Start for free here.

SUPPORT US:

🫶 Integrate your brand with our podcast in an effort to improve language education.

⭐ Leave a review where you listen.

WORK WITH US:

1. CPD & Teaching Resources

2. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business. 

3. Monetize your teaching skills 

THE THRIVING TEACHERPRENEUR

Get inspired to start and grow your own education business. Weekly insights, stories, and reflections on education entrepreneurship.

Subscribe on Substack here.

"It’s 5,000 metres high, and I promise you: it is much scarier to launch a business than it is to jump out of a plane. When you launch, you are open to being judged, and you can fail, but that 80% fear is exactly what drives you to succeed."

We chat with Smart Cookie co-founder Martina Montreal.

Martina is a language educator and the co-founder of SmartCookie. Since 2016, she has taught over 1,000 students, using that experience to go all-in on building a "second brain" that eliminates administrative chaos for teachers. Martina advocates for the power of patience and taking professional leaps, even when launching a business feels scary.

In this episode, we chat about: 

*Prefer video? Watch the episode on YouTube.

FOR MORE FROM MARTINA MONREAL:

1. Connect on LinkedIn

2. Visit her website

3. Check out Smart Cookie

OUR PARTNER: COMMUNICATING FOR IMPACT

The Creative House for Leading Educators & Experts. 

Amplify your work with high-end video and podcasts that get results. Create impactful videos and podcasts with their programmes and done-for-you production services.

Start your series here. 

SUPPORT US:

🫶 Integrate your brand with our podcast in an effort to improve language education.

⭐ Leave a review where you listen.

WORK WITH US:

1. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business. 

2. Learn how to monetize your teaching skills with TAP.

3. Our CPD Courses. 

THE THRIVING TEACHERPRENEUR

Get inspired to start and grow your own education business. Weekly insights, stories, and reflections on education entrepreneurship.

Subscribe on Substack here.

"If you only have this theory, you will never be able to swim. You need some water to experience it. Don't be afraid to start with a speaking exam in the first year. If we change the way we assess, we can change the way we teach."

We sit down with the amazing Charline Rouffet. 

Charline is a foreign language teacher educator and PhD candidate at Utrecht University, specializing in task-oriented language learning. Her research explores how communicative, classroom-based assessments can transform pedagogical approaches and bridge the gap between theory and classroom practice.

In this episode, we chat about: 

Why young teachers struggle to implement communicative methods within a rigid, grammar-obsessed system.

*Prefer video? Watch the episode on YouTube.

FOR MORE FROM CHARLINE ROUFFET

1. Connect on LinkedIn

2. Visit her website 

OUR PARTNER: FLUENTIZE

Want to teach your best lessons — without all the prep? Fluentize turns real-world videos into interactive ESL lessons for teens and adults. Explore 650+ ready-to-teach lessons designed to engage your students, simplify lesson planning, and save you hours of preparation.

Start for free here.

SUPPORT US:

🫶 Integrate your brand with our podcast in an effort to improve language education.

⭐ Leave a review where you listen.

WORK WITH US:

1. CPD & Teaching Resources

2. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business. 

3. Monetize your teaching skills 

THE THRIVING TEACHERPRENEUR

Get inspired to start and grow your own education business. Weekly insights, stories, and reflections on education entrepreneurship.

Subscribe on Substack here.

"One of the mindsets that I really like is that I want to earn more so that I can sometimes offer more to those who can't afford it. It's like a cycle."

We sit down with teacher and creator Jennifer Lebedev. 

Jennifer is the creator of English with Jennifer. Launched in 2007, her YouTube channel has over 1M subscribers and 100M views to date. She is also a published author with Pearson, an award-winning blogger, and a speaker on building a healthy learner mindset.

In this episode, we chat about: 

*Prefer video? Watch the episode on YouTube.

FOR MORE FROM JENNIFER LEBEDEV:

1. Connect on LinkedIn

2. Visit her website

3. Follow her YouTube channel

OUR PARTNER: COMMUNICATING FOR IMPACT

The Creative House for Leading Educators & Experts. 

Amplify your work with high-end video and podcasts that get results. Create impactful videos and podcasts with their programmes and done-for-you production services.

Start your series here. 

SUPPORT US:

🫶 Integrate your brand with our podcast in an effort to improve language education.

⭐ Leave a review where you listen.

WORK WITH US:

1. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business. 

2. Learn how to monetize your teaching skills with TAP 

3. Download our free guides for teacherpreneurs. 

THE THRIVING TEACHERPRENEUR

Get inspired to start and grow your own education business. Weekly insights, stories, and reflections on education entrepreneurship.

Subscribe on Substack here.

"We’ve got to have a very hard look at ourselves and stop calling ourselves experts just because we have a Master's from 10 or 15 years ago. Those times are over, and we’ve really got to focus on what added value we can bring that AI can’t."

We sit down with BELF trainer Evan Frendo. 

Evan Frendo is a freelance trainer and consultant based in Berlin, Germany. He has been active in corporate language and communications training since 1993, and specializes in the fields of ESP and business English. A frequent speaker at conferences, he also travels regularly in Europe and Asia to run courses or to work as a consultant.

In this episode, we chat about: 

*Prefer video? Watch the episode on YouTube.

FOR MORE FROM EVAN FRENDO:

1. Visit his website

2. Connect on LinkedIn 

OUR PARTNER: WE ARE ENGLISH TEACHERS

Are you struggling to find students as a teacher entrepreneur? Join the Elevate community via the We Are English Teachers community and gain visibility through their network of learners looking for a teacher. 

We Are English Teachers: https://weareenglishteachers.com/ 

SUPPORT US:

🫶 Integrate your brand with our podcast in an effort to improve language education.

⭐ Leave a review where you listen.

WORK WITH US:

1. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business. 

2. Learn how to monetize your teaching skills with TAP 

3. Download our free guides for teacherpreneurs. 

THE THRIVING TEACHERPRENEUR

Get inspired to start and grow your own education business. Weekly insights, stories, and reflections on education entrepreneurship.

Subscribe on Substack here.

"You have to get beyond the 'it’s all about me' and get over that 'non-profit mindset' to realize you have a skillset worth an investment. Don't compromise on your value." - Catherine Angus

We sit down with Catherine Angus, founder of the Hear You Go podcast, to talk about self-worth, education businesses, and standing firm on value. 

In addition to the Hear You Go podcast, Catherine is an English language mentor, specializing in helping advanced speakers and teachers maintain fluency while silencing their inner critics. Through her 1:1 coaching and WILDE: The Listening Festival, she uses authentic global conversations to help learners build confidence and rediscover their love for the language.

In this episode, we chat about: 

*Prefer video? Watch the episode on YouTube.

FOR MORE FROM CATHERINE ANGUS:

1. Follow on Instagram

2. Her website

3. Her podcast, Hear You Go 

SUPPORT US:

🫶 Integrate your brand with our podcast in an effort to improve language education.

⭐ Leave a review where you listen.

WORK WITH US:

1. Book a free 1:1 chat with us to strategize your teaching business. 

2. Learn how to monetize your teaching skills with TAP 

3. Download our free guides for teacherpreneurs. 

THE THRIVING TEACHERPRENEUR

Get inspired to start and grow your own education business. Weekly insights, stories, and reflections on education entrepreneurship.

Subscribe on Substack here.