Episode 72: The Accidental Entrepreneur; Building a Global Tuition Business Around Motherhood with Jane Bilham

Hello and welcome to the Mum Means Business podcast, where we shine a light on inspiring women who have one thing in common. When they’re not managing tantrums, homework, P.E. kits and play dates, they are busting their gut to build a thriving business that supports their family life. I’m your host Victoria Phipps and I’m figuring out how to play this game right alongside you. I’m a motherhood, family and personal brand photographer, I teach portrait photographers how to lead with print in the digital age, I’m marketing lead in the family business my Dad founded over 20 years ago and I’m “Mum” to two little girls.
If you’re a multi-passionate mum too, in need of some solidarity whilst navigating the messy middle of making your big dream a reality, then stick around. This is for you.

NOTE: This is the transcript from the original recording, rather than the edited episode so timings may vary.

Victoria (00:00)
If I make mistakes, don’t worry. My guest today is the founder of Virio Tuition, an international tuition business that began with one tutor working in a local library and has grown into an oversubscribed global business with a team of over 60 tutors supporting families worldwide.

Jane Billam has represented UK education on international trade missions on behalf of the Department of Business and Trade and is a regular speaker at industry events. A former assistant vice principal in an outstanding UK secondary school, Jane worked nationally as a specialist leader in education. After the birth of her son in 2013, she stepped away from senior leadership in search of a more flexible way of working.

And over the last decade, her business has grown and evolved alongside her family life. Jane believes that ambition can absolutely coexist with motherhood. It just needs a different environment in which to flourish. With this in mind, she also founded Vireo Academy, through which she has supported over 1000 British tutors, many of them parents, to access daytime international tuition opportunities and build sustainable businesses that can fit around their children’s schedules.

Jane, you have been a busy mama bee. I think it’s fair to say that your story proves that motherhood and ambition can be firm friends, despite some of the messages that women have received from society at large. So let’s dive deeper into your story. Welcome to the Mummy’s Business Podcast.

Jane (01:35)
thank you. And it’s so wonderful to speak to you, Victoria. I’m really excited about this because I’m so passionate about helping women achieve their balance and also their potential as well. So, yeah, really excited to talk about this with you.

Victoria (01:51)
it’s

going to be a good one. I can feel it. It’s going to be such a good conversation. I’ve no doubt

Jane (01:54)
you

Victoria (01:56)
we’ve got lots of ground to cover. So let’s start at the beginning. So you had your first child in 2013. What made you decide to start a business?

Jane (02:09)
So it took me a really long time to realise that I was in fact running a business. I absolutely did not have a plan. I just knew that the kind of work that I was doing as a senior leader in education was not compatible with the life that I envisaged as a mum.

I didn’t have a plan, I didn’t really set out to have a business, I just had a next step because I really did not want to go back into the classroom. And in that sense, this business wasn’t set out from some kind of grand vision board, it just kept growing as I was responding to what was in front of me. Because I didn’t want to go back in the classroom, I started tutoring.

And I always thought that I would go back eventually because I absolutely loved my job. I was so passionate about it. I loved working with young children. I loved developing staff, but I knew as well that I couldn’t be both. I couldn’t be the mum that I wanted to be and also be the teacher and leader that I wanted to be. So something had to give and

In that sense, I just stepped out without a plan at all. I started tutoring because it was an easy thing to do. It was the next natural, easy go-to step for me to take. And like you said, I started tutoring in local libraries and just picked up a couple of students. And in that first stage, I didn’t see it as a business at all. It was primarily…

Can I just get a little bit of independence? You know, can I reclaim a little bit of my identity? After becoming a mum, can I carve out a little bit of space for me to feel like I’m good at something again? Because motherhood can challenge all of your ideas about your identity and your capability as well. And that was really nice for me just to have that space.

to have that hour a week where I just meet a student in the library and you know get to think about something other than changing nappies or baby massage classes. You know going

Victoria (04:40)
Yeah.

Jane (04:43)
back to teach A level English literature was really nice it was an exercise for my brain in many ways. So in that sense I didn’t set out to grow a business I just wanted you know the money really was not the primary.

focus it was more to give me bit of financial independence I suppose because I’d stepped out and didn’t work and just wanted some pocket money really so that I could buy a mascara and not feel guilty about it. Not that I made it feel guilty about anything but you know just have that sense of this money is mine.

Victoria (05:18)
No, but you do. Yes. Yeah.

Jane (05:22)
So in that sense it was not a carefully mapped out journey in any way.

It just has evolved over time to become something bigger. And at each stage, has just, the next step has been taken because I’ve outgrown the previous one, if that makes sense. It’s

Victoria (05:43)
Hmm, yeah.

Jane (05:44)
just kept growing because it’s responded to what has happened and the evolution of that is taking form today with our team.

Victoria (05:56)
So did you step out of your role in education to go on maternity leave and start tutoring whilst you were on that leave? Is that how that looked?

Jane (06:09)
Yes, yeah

that’s how that worked. it was slightly more complex than that in that I was a senior leader. I mean I was delivering at a national conference when I was eight months pregnant and absolutely loving it. But

Victoria (06:24)
Okay. Yeah.

Jane (06:26)
it also, I went on maternity leave and it coincided with a relocation.

We were living down south and we’d always had kind of ambitions to move back to the northeast to be with family and it just fitted like all of the pieces of the jigsaw just came together at the right time. So in that sense my exit was quite easy in terms of a transition because it wasn’t necessarily a decision. I didn’t have a job to go back to and

I didn’t go back, I started tutoring on maternity leave and knew that we wanted to have another child relatively soon after, so was faced with the situation whereby I didn’t want to start on a new job and then become pregnant within a short space of time. You know, we know that that shouldn’t matter in many ways, but it does, the reality that does matter. So that was why that decision was taken.

Victoria (07:25)
But it does, yeah, but it does, yeah. Yeah, and it’s also for your mental health.

Jane (07:32)
Yes, yes, absolutely, absolutely.

Victoria (07:35)
Well, I think it’s a weird time between first and second baby if you do have two. And if you know that you want them to be in fairly quick succession, because that’s better in that they play together and you get it all out of the way. Cause it’s a huge strain on your body. And I certainly felt that limbo whereby, you know, it’s natural. Of course you shouldn’t. And this is all about like dismissing these, these shoulds. know, we shouldn’t have to take that into account. And it

it isn’t fair that this is the burden of that thinking is all placed on the woman when actually it takes two people to make a baby, et cetera. But the reality is we do think about it and you by that point understand the physical strain of making a human and the repercussions and ramifications and the long-term recovery. You really have to think carefully about starting something brand new.

in between two babies if you do want a second. And

Jane (08:37)
Yes.

Victoria (08:38)
it totally makes sense. It seemed like everything for you sort of came together. There was a nice kind of synchronicity. And it’s very natural when, you know, a lot of people when they have children want to go home, you know, for the childcare, but also just

Jane (08:50)
Yeah.

Victoria (08:51)
so that your kids have that relationship with your family and it all kind of makes sense. But what was that like in terms of your identity?

if we can touch on that for a moment, because it sounds like, you you sound a bit like me. Like I was doing mad things like on my due date. Like I just was very much myself until the moment that someone put a baby in my arms. And it was such a shock to suddenly kind of be thrown into this new role. And it sounds like you were flying in your career and you’d worked really hard. So that’s a lot of changes to happen.

in a sort of cluster in a very short space of time. How did you feel about all of that? And how did it affect your sense of confidence?

Jane (09:41)
massively. And I think I didn’t really feel it at the time. But when I look back now, 12 years later, like I was a shell. I’d lost all sense of myself. And like you say, a lot of things combined. I had walked out of a very well paid, very secure, very fulfilling role in education. You know, and I think when you do work as a public

sector worker you do have this sense of vocation that you you are you live and breathe that role and I absolutely embodied that I loved my job I was so fulfilled by it and but I also knew that I wanted to be a mum so that

Friction was quite difficult to navigate. So in some senses I was quite glad that the decision was taken out of my hands because the pull to go back home was stronger than the job. But yeah, I mean in terms of identity it was a struggle. know, I went from being able to silence the most challenging students in a very, very challenging environment. I could silence a class with the raise of an eyebrow.

and then you

Victoria (11:02)
Go.

Jane (11:03)
go to ask your toddler

Victoria (11:05)
Quite a skill.

Jane (11:06)
to put their shoes on and they say no that is very difficult situation

Victoria (11:11)
Mmm.

Jane (11:12)
to find yourself in and just that sense of self really you know you were going to baby massage classes instead of SLT very senior high-level meetings you know the sense of self was

was a real conflict for me, I think. you know, I was so privileged that I didn’t have any pressure to work because that’s the way that we had planned it when we relocated. And, you know, that is a decision that I had made and I am very, very grateful for all of the opportunities that that has afforded me, but it was very tough. You know, you do lose a real sense of yourself and…

I think that that’s definitely what I found the business has given back to me, whether I realized it or not. That yes, I was clearly very ambitious and I put that ambition on hold, but I also have ended up building something that I hadn’t quite planned to build. So I think it is just my personality type really, but I am starting. I think it’s only really in the last.

two to three years that I’ve really started to find myself again through the business and that’s been very fulfilling. It’s been challenging at times, I’ll be very honest, because it has been my baby, my third baby and

Victoria (12:44)
you

Jane (12:45)
it has given me back my sense of confidence and self again. It’s reminded me of who I was and who I can be.

and you know that has led to burnout and all the rest of it but it’s been really nice to find myself again through the business. I’m not sure if that answered your question or not.

Victoria (13:06)
Yeah,

it definitely does. And I think it’s really nice that you have such hindsight now, because, and to say, you know, how old are your children now?

Jane (13:18)
So they’re 10 and 12 now.

Victoria (13:21)
Okay, so they’re kind of much more independent, cruising into adolescence and you have a decade plus to kind of look back at yourself at that point. And you’re so right, I think a lot of people identify with this, just the fact that you don’t quite realize how much you’re struggling at the time. And there is always a lot to do when you’ve got a baby and then toddler and baby, you know, the tasking.

is relentless and you can kind of get lost in that and it’s a distraction from how you might be feeling just a little bit lost in yourself and the conversations you’re having are so low level, they’re gorgeous

Jane (14:07)
Yeah.

Victoria (14:07)
and it’s a beautiful time but in comparison to what you were doing before it can feel like you’ve just literally fallen off a cliff in terms of mental stimulation and it is hard but

it sounds like, you know, and I’m not going to call it an accidental business because it’s more of a sort of organic business in that, you know, you’re starting out just looking for entertainment, mental stimulation to just grab hold of a little bit of that old you that could silence a room with the raise of an eyebrow, which I would love to see. I’d like to see what you’re doing with this eyebrow. Copy it. So.

Yeah, just getting hold of a little piece of old you that makes you feel like Jane and not just like mum. And that word just is not appropriate, but you know what I mean.

Jane (14:56)
Absolutely.

Victoria (14:57)
And yeah, and it has evolved as your children have grown up. So talk to me about how it moved from pocket money an hour a week with somebody doing A-level English, whatever it might be, to the next stage.

How did that happen?

Jane (15:17)
Again, it was just organic really. So I went from one student and then she told her friend and then they told others and it grew very organically through word of mouth. And then all of a sudden I was like, my gosh, I’m earning a hundred pounds a week. Like, this is amazing. Like I wonder

Victoria (15:33)
Hahaha!

Jane (15:34)
if I could earn 150 pounds a week. And that was literally how it went. And then all of a sudden

I could pay for treats for us and we could go for meals out and I could pay for it. And then I was paying for holidays and that felt really empowering. And I think, again, I didn’t really think that it was a business. I wasn’t trying to build a business. I was just trying to make my life work in a way that

Victoria (16:08)
Mmm.

Jane (16:09)
fitted for us. And…

I never really saw myself as a tutor and for a long time I really felt like I was less than because of all of the other really cool stuff that I’d done. It took me a long time to feel empowered by that decision and realise how flexible life was and I got to do what I loved but on my own terms. And it was really just that evolution, it grew through word of mouth.

and demand just increased naturally. I just kind of followed what worked and kind of got myself some adverts made and was on some directory sites and also just challenged myself to say yes to opportunities without really knowing where they might lead to. And again, there wasn’t really any long-term plan here. It was just kind of

right, well, we’ll just see what happens. And then all of a sudden I’ve been out of teaching for one year and then two years. And then I got a call from a contact in China and that really switched everything for me because when I started tutoring around the houses, it was great because I was tutoring in the evenings and

it really fitted at weekends and it gave me that time back for me, which sounds a bit bizarre that you get, you you go to work to have a break. But when you have, when you have young children, when

Victoria (17:45)
no, that’s where I get all my break, yeah. That’s the most restful thing I could do.

Jane (17:51)
you have young children, that really felt like that was the case. But then

Victoria (17:53)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Jane (17:56)
that shifted a little bit because they then started school and I was then kind of,

tutoring in the evenings and on weekends and that didn’t fit quite as well anymore because the whole point of me leaving was to spend time with them and then my day would start when I was collecting them and the call from the partner in China really changed everything and it was just after the pandemic and I think I was just a bit fed up, everything felt quite stagnant and a bit hopeless.

And I just said yes to a call with them. And it has quite honestly transformed everything that we do. Because of the time difference, I can tutor 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. And it just grew from that one

Victoria (18:49)
Perfect.

Jane (18:50)
yes. And that flexibility was really crucial for the sustainability of me tutoring because I think had that not happened.

I would have started to question things and quite likely would have gone back into the classroom believing that it was a better fit because I was working when the children were when actually it probably wouldn’t have been, it would have been a complete disaster. So I think at every stage it’s just happened because the previous things stopped working as well and

Victoria (19:25)
Mm, yeah.

Jane (19:26)
that growth just came very organically.

and it was my choice at that point on how I responded to it. And then that took my tutoring into the daytime, which, you know, everybody was like, you’re living the dream. And yes, I was in many ways. But then I was also stuck at my desk for three to four hours a day, rushing to drop them off at school, racing to go and collect them and trying to squeeze everything into the five hours.

within the school day as well.

Victoria (20:01)
Mm-hmm.

Jane (20:03)
So it just grew very, very organically from then. I became fully booked very quickly. I was very fortunate in that I built up a great partnership and still work with the education consultants now. And when I was full, they just kept asking me for referrals and saying…

Oh, do you know, you’re full Jane, do you know anybody who can do English like you do? And I would just give them names for about

Victoria (20:33)
Mm.

Jane (20:33)
a year. And then my sister-in-law sat me down and she has her own business, she has a marketing business. And she just sat me down at a family event and she was like, oh, how are you? We’re catching up. And she just turned to me and I will never forget this. She was like, you do realize that you’re running a business?

Victoria (20:52)
You

Jane (20:53)
And I was like, no, no, I’m just kind of messing around. I’m just doing this until I figure out what I do with my life. And she was like, no, no, like you could grow this. And honestly, Victoria, I did not sleep that night because she was just casually throwing out suggestions because obviously she’d been in the business world and knew things that I didn’t. And I didn’t sleep that night because I was so excited because I could see what this could become.

and that was

Victoria (21:23)
Yeah.

Jane (21:24)
amazing, that was such an amazing moment.

Victoria (21:28)
I mean, serendipitous, because you’re so right, I think, as we kind of travel through, especially like the first, I suppose, 12 years, once they’re in secondary school, you kind of sat until they packed the bags and go off and do their own thing. But the seasons shift all the time. And it sounds like you were literally just responding and like you say, trying to make things work. And I think for teachers or anybody working kind of in a more institutionalized public sector setting.

The world of business, it like couldn’t be further from your mind. It’s like the thing that Richard Branson does. you know, it’s, it’s just not, unless you have someone close to you that’s modeling it, it literally, found having spoken to a fair few teachers or former teachers, it literally doesn’t occur. And it feels like a space that you’re not allowed to be in. And it’s, it’s really interesting kind of thinking about it.

in terms of confidence. You know, you are such a confident teacher in the education space, you can do anything. But then in business, and it’s, you know, similar, you transition through motherhood and you’re a beginner and you have to start again and you have to learn from scratch and you feel silly asking questions because you feel like you ought to know and it ought to just be like natural, innate knowledge about how to do all these things with your new baby. But you learn and you become confident.

but then this world of business, how many years had it been when you had that conversation with your sister-in-law? How many years had you been tutoring?

Jane (23:05)
probably about three or four it was maybe even five actually

Victoria (23:07)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jane (23:08)
because Arthur would have been at school and yeah maybe five years which is crazy

Victoria (23:13)
Yeah, so it was like it was

a side hustle for pocket money and you just didn’t have anybody pointing out that actually the demand for your service was higher than the supply because you are just you for all those five years and that rather than send them all elsewhere, you could do something with those people with that demand and make even more money. But it’s so simple. Yeah, if no one tells you, you just don’t know.

And this is so important. And there’s no shame in that. Like, why would you know? But how cool that she just took that moment to sit you down and be like, can I just enlighten you to some options that you have available to make this into

Jane (23:57)
Yeah.

Victoria (23:57)
a really successful, thriving thing? And, you know, a lot of business owners as well struggle with leads. You know, they’ve got this idea, they’ve got this service or this product. And the main thing, they’ve got to get leads. You’ve got to get…

people, clients, and you had that. Like you were literally like leapfrogging over that whole challenge because it was pouring into your inbox and you’re getting phone calls like more, more, more. So what did you decide on that sleepless night that you were gonna do next?

Jane (24:32)
I just decided that I wasn’t going to just pass people on anymore, that I would start to look into taking on more tutors and growing a team. And that felt really exciting. It felt incredibly daunting.

didn’t act on it immediately though and I think that was definitely a confidence issue. I didn’t feel like business was something that somebody like me did for many reasons. Nobody in my family runs a business, none of our friends run a business. think a lot of the people that we socialise with and have in our families are all public sector workers. And I do think like you said, there is a mentality there of just, know, you are a servant, you give everything for free.

taking

real work to overcome. And that isn’t to say that we don’t really care about our students and we don’t really care about our team and we will always be empathetic but actually in support of and provide a really high quality service but there is a business foundation there now that absolutely was not there at the time. It was quite literally in the infancy. I just want to help people.

And that still underpins everything that we do. We just want to help people. And I suppose that’s what any business owner wants to do, just help somebody. A business is just solving a problem, isn’t it? But yeah, it took a little while and I had to really challenge myself. And I definitely think that was a confidence issue. And, you know, confidence thinking, can I actually do this? Do I know enough? Is this for somebody like me?

was definitely something that came up an awful lot. But I’m really lucky that I am so supported by my husband, by my family, and I have an amazing village around me. They have so much more faith in me than I do in myself at all times.

Victoria (26:31)
That’s lovely.

Jane (26:32)
So they just were like, yeah, you’ve got nothing to lose. And if it all goes wrong, you can just go back to tutoring and it’s, you know, it’s…

just give it a go and try it. So yeah, it took a little while, but we got there and we took our first tutor on and it’s just grown from there. It’s been incredible.

Victoria (26:54)
I mean, it all plays back into that identity piece, doesn’t it? Like your identity is bouncing all over the place. You’re like leading in education. Then you’re, you know, mum of a newborn on maternity, floundering around, changing nappies all the time and in a new place as well, having geographically moved and sort of recalibrating. And then you sort of tentatively take on this role of tutor just to kind of try and…

find a bit of yourself again and recognize yourself, I think. Because as I said, with that falling off the cliff, there are days when you’re like completely bogged down in tasks and your life’s changed so dramatically from literally like three months ago, you were on stage speaking, eight months pregnant and you recognized yourself then, but who is this person that is like just trying to get all these stains out of these baby growers and just thinking constantly about…

you know, feeds and it’s just, you just don’t recognize yourself. So you’re trying to get a little bit of that back, but it’s pocket money and it grows. And suddenly you can buy your mascara and

Jane (28:03)
you

Victoria (28:04)
then you can pay for a holiday. And it’s, you’re pleased with yourself, but it’s like, you’re still thinking, might, it’s, you’re keeping all your options open. I might still go back to teaching. We’ll see how it plays out. And you’re responding to your kids and what their needs are and their schedule.

and then they go to school and it doesn’t work again, because you want your evenings and your weekends. So the whole thing is chopping and changing all the time. And then the identity piece of someone telling you that you are a business person, and you’re like, no, that’s not in, that’s not in me. Like, that’s not part of, I’ve done all this recalibrating, I’m a tutor, can say that now. And you’ve kind of overcome a lot just to go from like leading in education to tutor. And I imagine there’s a little bit of,

I don’t know, a little bit of clickiness in that, you know, the tutor is the lesser. You know, what you were doing before was right up here

Jane (28:55)
yeah, absolutely.

Victoria (28:57)
and the tutor is like, well, what are they doing? It’s not proper. So, you know, you can feel there’s a bit of a come down there. And how is all this reflected in, if you don’t mind me asking and don’t be specific, but just in your mentality around pricing, because you had a really high paying job, you were doing well, you financially independent, you had all the mascara you wanted, no quibbles, you were doing brilliantly.

Jane (29:18)
You

Victoria (29:19)
And then you sort of drop down to nothing on maternity leave and you’re supported within your family. There’s no pressure to earn, but then you start tutoring. Like how, how did you sort of go about pricing for this hourly session? And then how did that evolve over time? Cause that’s so linked to our confidence, isn’t it?

Jane (29:42)
Yeah, and look, if I started out at £25 an hour in a local library, it’s, yeah, it’s,

Victoria (29:48)
Yeah, which is mental. Yeah, yeah.

Jane (29:51)
I just kind of looked around and thought, oh, that seems like a fair price. What are other people charging? Despite the fact that I had such vast experience and

Victoria (30:01)
Yes.

Jane (30:02)
expertise, was like, yeah, £25 an hour, that sounds okay. Oh, I couldn’t, this person’s charging £30. I don’t think I could charge that. It took me a while to…

then increase it. You know, when I realised that the travelling time, I kind of wised up to that. Like, you know, if I’m travelling, then I probably need to add a little bit more on. And even then it was £35 for a very long time. And yeah, it’s significantly more now, given the expertise that I feel confident that we can offer. And, you know, we’ve grown quite exponentially.

at that price point so it proves that there isn’t there isn’t an issue with that but yeah it’s definitely linked to confidence and this does come up an awful lot with a lot of teachers who’ve left the classroom you know what am i worth and that’s

Victoria (30:55)
Mmm.

Jane (30:56)
a really difficult question to ask yourself particularly when you’re in the midst of potentially an identity crisis if you like as you’ve

Victoria (31:04)
Yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah.

Jane (31:05)
just emerged into motherhood what am i worth what is my

what value can I offer and what price can I put on that is quite difficult to navigate, think, particularly when you aren’t really thinking about it as a business. It is very difficult, but yeah, you are intrinsically linked to, you know, it’s quite personal, isn’t it, when you offer a service-based

Victoria (31:32)
Yes.

Jane (31:32)
business because they are buying you and your expertise and it’s very difficult to navigate putting a price of.

a numerical value on that, I think.

Victoria (31:43)
Yeah, and it’s, it’s kind of your value in different spaces. You write it as so personal, but also you’re having to decide it yourself. So, and then you have to market it yourself. So, you know, you’re in that school environment and there is a system in place telling everybody what they’re worth. And of course, you you can, you can have a conversation about it, but generally speaking, you traditionally progress through your career and your salary elevates accordingly.

but it’s all dictated from some higher power. Whereas when it’s just you in a library by yourself, asking someone, another mother probably for some money and your mom and their mom, just two women. And it’s easy to like forget all of that wealth of experience that you have and just come to that situation as little old me. And I

Jane (32:38)
Yes.

Victoria (32:38)
know because I’ve done it and it’s really,

The shift comes when you start thinking about they’re not just paying for your hour. They’re paying for your hour, yes, and a bit of travel, but they’re also paying for your 15 years or whatever it might be of experience in this field. And I think that’s a really important transition that takes a bit of time. I think it’s, really appreciate you sharing that because it’s not something that always comes naturally.

that you just take that sense of your own worth and value with you. You’re in a different space and it’s normal to kind of forget all of that experience or just feel like it’s not applicable and go to like default to this hourly rate thing where they’re just paying for you to be there. You you may as well be there and just be mute and not speak because the value is actually in what you can deliver, which comes down to all of that training that you’ve had. So.

Go on.

Jane (33:44)
I think as well it’s approaching it from a business mindset now as well in that actually

Victoria (33:50)
Yeah.

Jane (33:51)
that 25 pound isn’t just the expertise it is the outcome and for

Victoria (33:56)
Hmm.

Jane (33:57)
25 pounds you can get better e-level results which means that you can then get into the university of your choice which means that you can then potentially

get a career that you desire. Who knows, you may meet your partner at that university. It is a whole, all encompassing value that is on offer. But I think until you start thinking about it like a business, you can’t really unpack that. It is just, I’ve got an hour of tuition and it’s going to cost X amount and here, like we’ll just have this kind of transactional.

relationship actually I can see now the value in what we offer a lot more clearly because of the business foundation that is underneath that and not in a way that is kind of selling or making a sale in a sleazy way but when you start to do that work you see a lot more clearly the value that you can actually have on a child on a student on their confidence on their relationships with their parents you know

the kind of testimonials that we have, their home life is a lot more settled. They’re having less arguments with their child about, you know, doing homework, that they feel less stressed about their exams and they’re growing in confidence and they’re speaking in class because they feel like they have something to offer now. Like it is so much more than just turning up to a lesson one hour a week, but until you start to view things like a business.

you can miss those things I think, particularly in the first stages.

Victoria (35:38)
Yeah, you’re selling the transformation. And that transformation, like you say, has ripples that you can’t guarantee they’re going to meet their future spouse at uni, but you never know. It’s worth throwing in, you never know. But it is, it’s that transformation. It’s transformation for the whole family as well. So interesting. It must be so rewarding for you to have those comments, that positive feedback that you can see those ripples and

the difference that it can make to somebody’s life in the long term. Like, yes, it’s an hour. I’m gonna go and turn my phone off. Sorry, can you even hear that? Bear with me one second.

One thing you can’t do anything about. Right, where was I?

Jane (36:43)
I’m impressed you have a landline Victoria.

Victoria (36:46)
the signal’s rubbish here, like in the middle of nowhere, so I have to. Yes, it’s an hour, but you’re selling, yeah. Okay, I’ll start again. I’m gonna leave a little pause and then clap so that my editor knows where to go.

Yes, it’s an hour, but actually the transformation is long lasting and you can really impact the trajectory of somebody’s entire life with those consistent one hours, know, cumulatively. So tell me about your experience of hiring because you must have really known what it was that you wanted. I imagine you had very high standards. You’d been at the top of your game in education.

What were you looking for and how was it to delegate for the first time and not be doing it yourself?

Jane (37:42)
So it was terrifying, not going to lie. I think anybody who says it isn’t is lying. However, it was made less terrifying because I knew that I’d found the right fit for my first tutor. We kind of…

connected in the community, in the tuition community, and I met her in person and I just knew, and I knew before I’d made the decision to hire that if I ever did, she would be the person that I asked because we were just so aligned in our views about education, she had a really similar background to me, it felt like a really safe pair of hands.

And yeah, I was really fortunate that she said yes when I did actually approach her. And it was just to get in your head, it felt like a really big step, not only because of the legalities around it, you know, about having to get contracts drawn up, the investment, the financial investment, when I wasn’t really sure if this was going to be something that had longevity. It was a very big decision, but it…

When you have the right people there, it feels so much easier. know, when you meet people in person and you can trust them with your business. But that first lesson, those first couple of lessons, I was checking my phone, checking to see if anything had gone wrong. It was, you know, it was very stressful because I had built up a reputation for kind of delivering very high quality tuition. And I knew that

I needed people that were aligned within the team. So we have kind of criteria that we look for in terms of the expertise and experience that our tutors can bring. So we kind of stick with that and that’s served us well so far. But yeah, it’s been exciting. And now we’re in a stage now where that…

evolved very quickly. for a very long time we took our first tutor on about two, two and half years ago. It evolved very quickly so for very long time it was me and one or two others but in the last 12 months we’ve grown to a team of over 60 and we’re supporting more and more students with

with tuition and it feels great to have a team again. I feel like it was definitely the right time. My children, we have a different schooling system here in the North East where we have a first middle and high school so when my children hit year five I didn’t have to do a school run anymore which has transformed my life. I get an extra hour, 90 minutes a day to work.

And that,

Victoria (40:37)
Yeah.

Jane (40:38)
I didn’t really appreciate how much difference that would make, but I’m now at the stage where I’ve got time to cultivate a team. So we have meetings, we have, you know, I’m much more hands-on with them and I’ve been able to gradually step back from my own tuition and reduce those hours and contact time that I have so that now I only work with students two days a week and the rest is spent on…

building the team and on building the business and that’s really exciting

Victoria (41:07)
Your business. Yeah.

Jane (41:11)
so I feel like I’ve got that flexibility back again which is very very exciting in this next stage of evolution.

Victoria (41:19)
That’s a fast growth from, you know, one or two tutors. 12 months later, you’ve got 60. And do you feel like a business person now?

Jane (41:34)
I do more and more because I’ve developed the confidence to put myself in the room and when I first went into those rooms I was not confident at all but I would just sit and listen to anything that anybody would say. I’m a bit of a weirdo because I just love learning like I love learning stuff like I am a real geek like a real geek so

I loved learning about business. I would just devour books. And I realized that intrinsically a lot of business is down to your confidence and your sense of self and your self-worth. So I’ve had to do an awful lot of work on that. I see somebody, well, in the early stages, I was seeing her once a week to help sort me out. But I see her once a month now. And she’s been transformative in just helping me see my value.

and what I have to offer and just helping me to step into who I am now really or who I want to be in the future. I’m not, I’m definitely not a finished article. But just that, yeah, I feel more and more that I can now step into those rooms and be more confident. And I think a lot of that has come from just pushing myself. Like I’ve been absolutely terrified at several points. Some of the things that

I’ve done, but I’ve had to say yes to them because I would have constantly regretted it had I said no. It is just that idea that I’ve had to be a lot more intentional about where I spend my time and where I want to be and be a little bit more strategic now. And I’ve had the benefit of being in some incredible spaces, incredible rooms, and I’m really hungry for that now. Not just because of the growth that I’ve seen.

in the business, but the growth that I’ve seen in myself as well. And I think that’s been the most valuable thing, to be honest. It’s

Victoria (43:38)
Yeah.

Jane (43:38)
really helped me to find myself again and just feel like I’ve reclaimed who I was.

Victoria (43:49)
Yeah, I can feel the energy coming off you. Because it is hard becoming a mum. And I don’t mean just physically in terms of tasking, but that identity piece can be so challenging. And actually, that your business for you has been a way to kind of…

help you with that personal growth. know, motherhood forces a lot of personal growth, but a business does the same and the two can kind of work together in tandem to get you to where you are supposed to be and that you’re providing all this value, but you feel settled and confident in that value as well that you understand.

everything that you can bring and all the positive impact that you can make. And you’re happy to walk into those rooms. And actually what’s interesting now for you is that you have set up this academy and that you can actually help other tutors, parents in particular, to navigate their own journey through this stuff. So talk to me about that.

Jane (45:04)
Yeah,

I mean, I, whenever I talked about international tuition and how it had had the transformation for me, because daytime tuition is the holy grail, isn’t it? Right? Like you step out of the teaching world and then you end up tutoring, which can be great because you have the freedom and flexibility, but then

you left the classroom to spend time with your children and you’re not really getting that because you’re working every evening and weekend. And when I grew the team, I’m a really strong believer in that I am.

I really want to help raise people and give them opportunities that have been afforded to me. I was really lucky in my career that I worked with some incredible women who really lifted me and gave me opportunities. And that’s the kind of mentality that I took in when I was building my team. I’ve been fortunate enough to have these opportunities to work with international students. It’s given me daytime. I want to share that because I think that’s really powerful.

Every time I mentioned that I was working with international students, I would literally get hundreds of DMs. You’d mention

Victoria (46:16)
Really? Okay.

Jane (46:17)
it in a Facebook group. I would, again, you would help people and send voice notes and messages, but there just needed to be something a little bit more structured than a snatched five-minute reply to a direct message. So I set up an online course and

It’s just being really powerful and it just reinstills that belief that you know, sharing your expertise and sharing that journey is a way to lift people and

And I’ve loved the sense of community. We support tutors, access daytime hours. I’ve supported over 120 tutors in the online course. I run a free challenge, which is supported over a thousand tutors. Like it has been incredible. And I am so passionate about helping other people to access the kind of freedom and flexibility that I’ve been able to experience because it…

It sounds really lame, but it did really transform our life. It transformed my life. It transformed the life of our family. Because had that not happened, I know that I would be back in the classroom and our life would be incredibly stressful. Juggling all of that comes with that change. So that’s been incredible to support other tutors just have that flexibility because I didn’t even realise that it was a thing.

Victoria (47:46)
Yeah, yeah.

Jane (47:47)
never really

thought that, you know, that tuition would be a global export really. And it’s silly to say that because children are children throughout the world and you know, there is a demand for UK education. But if somebody had said to me at the beginning, it took me a very long time to get to that point where, you know, I can support students during the daytime, we have a team.

I just want to accelerate that journey for somebody else because it took me 10 years to figure this out that I was running

Victoria (48:22)
Yeah.

Jane (48:23)
a business, that I could work during the daytime and that you you have to think like a business. If I can just support one person to do that then it just makes me really happy that we’re able to do that through our academy work too.

Victoria (48:39)
It sounds brilliant. And it’s a kind of diversification for you as well, that you’ve kind of got these two things working in tandem and ones feeding into the other. And I think it’s so cool that you have had this sort of natural organic evolution alongside your family life. What’s it been like bringing your kids along for the ride?

Jane (49:00)
Yeah, I knew you were going to ask me this Victoria. So the

Victoria (49:04)
You

Jane (49:05)
honest answer is it has been very tough.

Victoria (49:08)
Yeah.

Jane (49:09)
And last year especially, it was very hard and it, you know, there would be a time when the kids would come in from school and if I wasn’t in the study, they would wonder where I was. And that really hit, like there were some moments like that where I thought, right, this isn’t really living the dream. But I think.

You know, this podcast is all about that messy middle, isn’t it?

Victoria (49:34)
Yes.

Jane (49:36)
80 months ago, I’ve said yes to everything. I went to China and was on a trade mission there and that was incredible. But that took me away from home and I was away for two and a half weeks and my daughter cried every single night that I was away. But they will now also ask me about China and, you know, we’d love to travel as a family anyway, but…

my son wants to start and help me in the business and my daughter there was a real moment where she kind of I overheard her talking to her friend and she said her friend was like oh what does your mom do like why is she in her study as they were having a play date and my daughter was like

Victoria (50:19)
Yeah.

Jane (50:21)
she’s a business woman and I was like you know and that

will be a moment that I will remember forever because I

Victoria (50:29)
Yeah.

Jane (50:29)
just felt like

actually the reason why we’re doing this is, know, I think it’s important that the children see that we work hard, but I think there have been points where we’ve definitely worked too hard, me especially, but I think sometimes you need to go through that in order to realise that there may need to be a shift. And we’re all reaping the benefits of this, you know, I’m able to be around for

the school nativities. I’m able to be around for school drop-offs. I’m there every morning. I’m there when they go in from school and that’s really powerful. But I think it will always constantly evolve and that’s, I think I have struggled with that, but in every season, like you say, there will be a shift and I’m sure that it will shift again in the future.

But at the moment, I feel like we’ve got a little bit more of a balance now that I’m not working as much. We do have a bit more flexibility

Victoria (51:35)
Well, yeah, but Jade…

Jane (51:37)
and freedom.

Victoria (51:38)
Yeah, I mean, last year you took on 50 plus people. So obviously there’s going to be times when you’re just in your study, you’ve suddenly got this enormous team. And I think that’s part of it as well. And like you say, you kind of learn from all these phases. It’s like, give yourself grace when you, when you’re pushing in your business for something, but actually once you’ve kind of expanded and you understand it’s a mystery of it as well. You’d never grown a team like that before. And, and that

brings anxiety. think when you’re doing something new quickly, you know, you want to get it right, you know, you’re conscientious, you want to do right by all those tutors and also do right by all your clients. And it is a lot of pressure on you because this was your baby and now it’s this big thing. So of course, you’re to have phases like that. But then I think you’re right. It’s about noticing, like, can you just have a phase now where

you kind of move your energy back towards the kids for a while. And it’s a dance always, isn’t it? And the moments, like you say about your daughter, just telling her friend that mommy’s a business woman. It’s like that stuff lands and you will always remember it. And they will remember this whole journey that you’ve been on. And the fact that your son’s now interested, like wants to know more about it.

And yeah, of course, like I’m going away for four days and a couple of weeks and I’m just feeling rotten about it already. And I’ve just got a cluster of things that I have to do that involved me not being at home. And we beat ourselves up. Of course we do. But we’re there all the time. We’re there all the time, aren’t we? Like you say,

Jane (53:21)
Yeah.

Victoria (53:21)
every day. And it’s just these small things and we feel awful about it and they’re upset, but actually it’s showing that

you have this other life that you’re bringing them along with you in it. And it’s a big adventure. And you’re kind of demonstrating once you know, you’re home and recovered, then they start asking about China, then they want to know about your business, then they’re telling all their friends about it. You’re demonstrating what’s possible for them as well. And it is a really hard tension. I don’t think there’s any answer to it in the moment, but actually what an experience for you and to be able to come back and tell them all about it. And you know.

We’ve got to kind of push through and do this stuff, I think. It’s really hard in the moment. I totally relate. So I have one last question for you before I let you go.

What would you now say to your eight year old self if you could have a conversation

Jane (54:14)
my gosh.

Victoria (54:15)
with her?

Jane (54:17)
I’m

Gosh Victoria. I think I just I had an amazing teacher. I mentioned this to somebody recently. I had an amazing teacher when I was I had a really difficult time at school for a variety of reasons but I had a teacher who just really took me under her wing and she just like said it doesn’t matter what you do you will always be successful.

and I had completely forgotten about that until maybe 18 months ago and I just hear her voice all the time now when I’m like having a major wobble or like going my gosh what am I doing like why have I done this her voice just comes back to me saying that it sounds really random I don’t know if that answers your question but I just

want to tell that eight year old just to remember that like because I think there are times in my life before the last 18 months where I could have done with just internalizing that a little bit more but I would just kind of tell her that you are worthy and that you can add value and that you can absolutely do this.

Victoria (55:43)
It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? That, I mean, even if you forget for a few decades, there are moments where someone just seems to pop into our life and share something that just lands so deeply. And you don’t necessarily even know at the time an eight-year-old would be like, okay, what? It wouldn’t necessarily resonate, but actually that that’s still serving you decades later. And it’s about faith. You know, she obviously saw something in you and she just had faith. And also,

take the time aspect out of it, you you will be successful and you get to define that success. And that’s not saying you will be successful straight away. That’s saying, you know, you will get there. And the pressure of time, which I feel like is so heavy on all of us, you know, that we need to be successful tomorrow. You know, we need to make a 10K month this year. need to do, you know, it’s too much actually just that.

you will get there and believe in yourself is so lovely. I think you’re.

Jane (56:46)
I think that there’s lot of

barriers, sorry Victoria, I think that there’s a lot of invisible barriers and that actually once you have pushed through those then you start to see what is possible for yourself and that’s when you build that self-belief there I think by pushing through those barriers.

Victoria (57:05)
Yeah, and we don’t often, they are invisible for a reason, you name them as such. We don’t know that they’re, we don’t even realize. And it’s not until we do things like this that feel really stretchy, like growing a business, and it forces you to kind of look internally and consider why you feel afraid of this or why that’s causing some resistance. And it is that.

story of personal growth, but it’s so rewarding if you can do that work. And I think your story is just so human and relatable. And I really appreciate you being so honest about like all those moments where you just felt out of your depth. You just felt frightened or terrified. You didn’t consider yourself to be a business person. And yet here you are running this big team, delivering a global service.

in the thing that you feel really passionately about, which is education. And the ripples of what you’re doing, you know, you can be that tutor in the library and say, well, the ripples for that one person are that they might pass their exams, get into uni, meet their spouse, their whole life just is rosy. But now you’ve got 60 tutors under your wing delivering that to all of these kids. You know, the ripples are just expanding. You’ve got a tidal wave coming.

I’m sure it’s amazing. I think you should be really proud of yourself. I think it’s awesome. And I think your story will be really inspiring because it’s so relatable and the juggle and meandering and responding to your kids schedules and how your day to day works. I think there’s a lot to take away from this conversation. I’m so grateful to you for taking the time to talk to me.

Jane (58:52)
Thank you so much for having me. It’s wonderful the chat. Thank you.

Victoria (58:56)
Tell me where everybody can find you.

Jane (58:59)
So you can usually find me on Instagram, I am at virio underscore academy and I will share the day to day runnings and background of running a business and the backstory behind all of that too.

Victoria (59:19)
Thank you so much, Jane. It’s been a real pleasure.

Jane (59:23)
Thank you Victoria, it’s lovely to speak to you.