2022: Let’s Keep Making Things Happen!

From ideas to opportunities

“If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later”. This quote by the Virgin Group founder, Richard Branson, has been guiding me from the start of Premiere Class in 2018.

Back in July 2018, when the idea of starting a business came to me, Premiere Class – that was called Bonus or Agenda at some point – was supposed to only be a side project. I was actually working with a Government of Ontario agency promoting its French digital educational content and I was about to be offered a new opportunity in the organization. Of course, one doesn’t start a business without a goal or for no particular reason. As I had always been teaching French to adults and professionals since I moved to Canada in 2014, I knew that starting a company specializing in teaching French would be a great way to develop my professional network and practice new management skills as an entrepreneur. This market was not unknown to me thanks to my previous positions as a French teacher and a campus principal with the largest French language school in Canada. No risk-taking, you may say. I agree. I was often told during my education in business administration that the core value that is shared by successful entrepreneurs was to be realistic. In other words, A leads to B, B leads to C, and so on. So, let's put it into practice!

From a food court somewhere in downtown Toronto, I started thinking about our potential clients and students that we could work with. I defined the strategy for promoting this brand-new company. I designed the logo, the website, and utilized a satellite office in the financial district in Toronto. Everything was ready in August 2018.

From opportunities to key milestones

A few inquiries and six months later in early 2019, the then two-person team began working with its first private sector clients (technology, insurance). The company then kept growing with more and more students. As I was still working full time with frequent business trips across Canada, the period between March and November 2019 was a quite epic one! Then in October 2019, a prestigious Toronto-based firm in asset management contacted us to teach French to its employees. A great opportunity that we could not miss! Remember “(…) say yes – then learn how to do it later “. I obviously said “yes”, and I then decided to quit my previous job to work full time with Premiere Class. My company was no longer side project.

A couple of months later, one of the largest unions in the public service contacted us to train its employees with two requirements. The first one was to be able to offer our services in Ottawa, Toronto, and all across Ontario. The second one was to teach both official languages, French and English. That meant to expend the company with a team of trainers outside Toronto in different cities. Once again, I said “yes”. The union is now one of our key clients and five of our trainers work with its employees located across Ontario.

When the COVID-19 related situation started in March 2020, we offered to switch to online courses to all our students. This digital shift was something new to all of us, including students and trainers and it was a success! After a few weeks, we conducted a satisfaction survey to assess our students’ experience and their online learning with Premiere Class: 100% of our them were enjoying their online training! Two years later, we are still offering online courses to all of our students.

2021 was the launch year of our new French as Second Language (FSL) teacher professional development service. This is another “yes” to the largest Canadian association for French immersion professionals and we are now training FSL teachers to develop their French skills. As of today, more than 75 teachers across Ontario have registered to participate in this program.

All these milestones would not have been possible without saying “yes” to these amazing opportunities.

Key success factors and quick facts

Premiere Class’ success does not only lie on taking new opportunities but also two key factors: its team and its partnerships. The Premiere Class team is comprised of language training experts who builds strong relationships with its students. As a team, we collaborate as often as possible and share new ideas to improve our approach.

At the end of the day, the numbers speak for themselves. Premiere Class has trained over 125 students for 4,000+ hours of training with a growth of 98% in 2021. We look forward to keep making things happen in 2022!