Shayna Oliveira Shares Her Story of How She Built Espresso English in Her Spare Time

One of the biggest challenges for teachers moving online is finding the time to get things moving.

Shayna, from Espresso English, shares how she built an online business while working in other positions in this latest interview.

In addition to sharing how she made the transition into going full-time with her business, I ask Shayna about how she built her brand into one of the most popular sites for English learners, what products she sells, how she markets her courses, and her plans for the future.

Watch in HD!

What We Discussed

Shayna started her website after one of her learners asked if she could send daily lessons by email. She soon realized that she could reach a lot more people this way and published the lessons on her new website.

The first stage of her online business lasted around 6 months. She posted consistently (nearly every day) taking inspiration from her offline classes. She then launched her first ebook “100 Common Errors in English”, and the feedback and sales from this encouraged her to keep moving forward.

While Shayna was building her brand, she was teaching in her local area and working 10+ hours per week for a web development client in the U.S. She waited for the right time to go full-time with her business, and her offline teaching was the first to go. After “chickening out” once, she quit her other job in 2014.

As of today, Espresso English offers 3 books, 9 online courses, and a monthly subscription program. There are 40,000 learners subscribed to her email newsletter and her site brings in 300,000 visitors a month.

Shayna puts her growth down to consistently giving away free content. In addition to her blog, she also posts videos on YouTube and has a popular podcast.

Shayna has used an email newsletter right from the start. In every email, she links to a relevant product. Her motto is, “Always present, never pushy.”

Shayna plans to go back and improve the courses she currently has. This will be based on the feedback she receives from those inside her courses.

Over to You

I really enjoyed interviewing Shayna and I have learned a lot from her during out mastermind meetings.

Her transition into online teaching is a perfect example of someone building something on the side and going full-time when the time is right. Additionally, the way she has consistently posted free content shows just how far you can take things if you stick at it.

I hope you enjoyed the interview. Please leave any comments or questions you have below!

You can connect with Shayna through the contact form on the Espresso English website.