From C-Suite To Classroom: My TEFL Journey Teaching Business English In Germany

A corporate redundancy isn’t the end of your career. It’s often the push you need to build something local. Here is how I transferred 15+ years of global PR experience into an independent Business English coaching venture in Bavaria. 

The unplanned exit: When a career pivot finds you 

I’d always wanted to run my own business. 

For years, the idea had been there, sitting in the background. I considered starting a comms agency or opening a small bar, but both of these industries are under a lot of pressure in recent times with more supply than demand. At 42, still young, I had options and I began to lean towards building something local, rather than pursue another global corporate role. Teaching English made sense.

Read more: Mature Teachers: Is There An Age Limit For Teaching English Abroad?

Market demand: Teaching English in Bavaria beyond expat hubs 

Wolfratshausen is a scenic town of about 20,000 people, half an hour south of Munich, nestled between the Alps, Isar & Loisach rivers and Lake Starnberg, a picturesque part of Bavaria. It’s not a major expat hub and doesn’t have a large industry of its own, but many of its inhabitants commute to Munich or the nearby town of Geretsried for work. 

I’ve lived here for over a decade, having moved from London to Munich and then shortly thereafter to Wolfratshausen. My wife is German and my two daughters were born here. We are in the local school system and we’ve bought a house here: I’m embedded in the community. 

But there’s also a genuine need here. The town sits in a wealthy region with lots of businesses, medium-sized manufacturing and engineering companies, some of them with international operations. They have employees who need English for their work. 

Why suburban markets need Business English trainers

• Executive presentations: Managers who must pitch international clients in English.
• Technical communication: Engineering teams working daily with English technical documentation.
• Fluency gaps: School systems teach grammar well, but professionals lack spoken confidence.

Transferable skills: Why corporate professionals make great language coaches 

I have no formal teaching credentials. I’m not a certified pedagogy expert. I haven’t spent years studying or working in classrooms building up traditional teacher credentials.

On the flip side, I’ve spent several years navigating many of the challenges that English learners have:

•  I’ve given dozens of presentations to international audiences. 
• I’ve managed global communications campaigns, key messaging to cut through to audiences, journalist & stakeholder relations, and communications with English speakers around the world. 
• I’ve coached executives on how to clearly express themselves and hammer their message home, and 
• I’ve been involved in countless meetings and negotiations where communication is key. 

But not everyone can teach. There is a real science and talent to it. So I looked into a respected course that could give me the foundations and confidence to start teaching English. 

Read more: Common TEFL Myths Busted

That’s how I ended up signing up and completing my TEFL Level 5 course with The TEFL Academy in early 2026. 

Validating market demand: Surveying the local market 

I started to think about what kind of English my local community might need. There are already many businesses and people who offer English teaching in my local area. Most local options focus on affordable 1:1 lessons or general Beginner/early Intermediate courses and are taught by non-natives. 

To avoid guessing what clients wanted, I sent a 10-question survey to 25 local contacts.

Key finding: Spoken fluency and conversational confidence were the primary gaps  —  not grammar worksheets or reading comprehension.

Combined with additional research, I used this information to help set up my offerings, prices and focus. 

Human coaching vs. AI language apps 

At the same I was also a little hesitant, thinking that perhaps the market had shifted in recent years to learning English via AI language apps that have become incredibly popular. Maybe there isn’t much appetite any more for learning in person via a real teacher. 

I use a language app myself for Italian and Swedish, but these apps can’t replace what actually builds real fluency: speaking and listening immersion, especially with native speakers. 

AI can give you the words and summaries, but a person teaches you how to use and comprehend them in a room full of people, in real time, with all the mess and confusion that real conversation involves. 

Moreover, language is more than just words, it’s body language, facial expressions, pauses, intonation, rhythm, the hidden meaning between words and more. These things can only be properly learned with real people. 

So, I found my niche: in-person English courses and coaching that focuses on building speaking and listening fluency and confidence. 

Building an English teaching Business in Germany from scratch  

I founded Hughes English in March 2026 and started to build a business plan and strategy for growth.

I decided to keep the name simple and name my business Hughes English. Using my surname immediately signals native British ownership, a critical differentiator in a market crowded with non-native speakers. 

After navigating the German bureaucratic hurdles to set up my official business, I leveraged my comms & marketing background while utilising AI tools to build Hughes English from scratch. 

To help increase organic traffic, I added two English language self-tests on my website, so anyone can answer questions in written or oral form to ascertain their English level assessment based on the CEFR system. 

Read more: CEFR Levels Explained

Then I:

• Set up social media channels
• Learned how to use the design tool Canva
• Wrote a local press release (spoiler: local outlets only offer paid advertorials)
• Set up a Google Business Profile so my business can be found on Google Maps. 
• Printed 2,500 flyers with a plan to post them through letterboxes in my neighbourhood and at every local supermarket community board, as well as at other businesses and community centres. 

I’m about to start running paid Meta ads on Instagram and Facebook. I’m attending local business networking events and have designed and printed business cards (I never needed these in the last 10 years of my corporate roles, but they still work in local settings). I’m reaching out directly to schools and local companies. 

Every day I remind myself that businesses are built on trust and credibility, and you can’t buy that. You earn it through your actions, and that takes time. 

Word of mouth matters more than any paid ad. 

To build my local teaching business, I need to be consistent and persistent, showing up repeatedly in places where my potential students are, digitally or in person. It’s about being patient enough to build relationships that stick, accepting that trust is earned slowly, and that’s exactly how it should be.

Why it’s never too late for a career change 

I’m not going to tell you it’s been a smooth pivot. 

But a career pivot at 42 brings something a 22-year-old TEFL graduate rarely possesses: battle-tested real-world context. Your past career isn’t lost time — it is your unfair advantage in the marketplace.

If you are considering a similar pivot, focus on consistency, patience, and solving a specific problem for a specific community. Starting over is equal parts daunting and liberating, but building something of your own is worth every step.

At 42, I’m starting something completely new and I’m not entirely sure where it will lead to, but I’m excited for the journey!

Author Bio

Written by

Paul Hughes

Edited by Kirsten Colquhoun

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