Rachel Roberts works with freelance language teaching professionals to fully monetise their skills and experience so they can transform their lives and those of their clients, through her deep dive programme, Designed to Flourish https://earnlearnthriveinelt.com/designed-to-flourish-group-programme/              

 

Acknowledgement

The text originally appeared here.

 

What struck a chord

I recently ran a LinkedIn Live with Ana Jereb , a teacher trainer and coach who helps educators prioritise their wellbeing. We talked about burnout, a topic that’s been coming up more and more lately in conversations I’m having with language professionals.

Not just the “I’ve had a long week” kind of tiredness, but the deeper kind that builds over time. The kind that shows up when you care deeply about your work but constantly feel like you’re falling short. When your teaching is effective, but it never feels like quite enough. When you’re giving more time, more energy, and more support than feels sustainable.

Ana spoke about boundaries, emotional labour, and the importance of treating recovery as seriously as we treat delivery. She also pointed out that many teachers have never been taught how to take care of themselves as teachers.

That struck a chord.

Because when I work with freelance language professionals inside Designed to Flourish, this is often one of the hidden threads we end up unpicking - especially when it comes to designing or refining their offer.

 

Not everything your students need is more of you

My clients are typically generous, committed educators. The kind who genuinely want their students to succeed. So, overgiving often hides behind the surface of “being helpful” - extra feedback, more availability, flexible scheduling.

But when we look more closely, we often find that it’s being driven by fear, rather than strategy. Fear of not doing enough. Fear of disappointing someone. Fear of being seen as less competent.

These patterns aren’t just draining for you. They can also unintentionally make it harder for students to take ownership of their learning.

When we step in too quickly or give too much, we risk creating dependency rather than confidence, crowding out space for reflection or struggle (which is where growth often happens) and blurring the lines of what’s really needed to progress.

It’s not that these behaviours are bad. But they are exhausting - and often counterproductive for both sides of the teaching relationship.

This is why, in Designed to Flourish, we don’t only work on offer creation, marketing, and sales. We also work on mindset.

We explore questions like:

• What would enough look like in your business?
• What’s the difference between support and over-functioning?
• Where are you stepping in out of service, and where are you stepping in out of fear?

We also look at how your offer itself can reduce the need to overdeliver.

 

 

A sustainable offer starts with better structure

One of the most overlooked causes of burnout for freelancers isn’t necessarily the number of hours we work; it's also how those hours are structured.

A well-designed offer doesn’t just package your expertise. It sets clear boundaries around your time, gives your clients a focused learning path, and helps both of you get better results without burning out.

For example, this might mean rethinking the default “hour-long lesson” model. In some cases, a focused 30-minute session with a clear outcome may be more effective - especially when combined with asynchronous support like short video explanations, audio prompts, or tasks delivered via voice messaging apps.

When the structure is intentional, students benefit too. They get more flexibility, more space to reflect, and a clearer sense of progress - without needing constant access to you.

And from your side? You stop feeling like you need to be “on” all the time. You’re not reinventing the wheel for every student. And your marketing becomes less about convincing people, and more about clearly showing the value of what you offer.

If you’ve been thinking about how to make your business more sustainable - for you and for your students - this is exactly the kind of work we do inside Designed to Flourish. We look at mindset, offer design, marketing strategy, and structure through the lens of what will actually support your energy, your goals, and your clients' progress. Find out more here or drop me a message, and I can send you a PDF with all the details, including dates.

And if you’d like to watch the full conversation with Ana Jereb, you’ll find it here.

 

Coming soon! Please check the Pilgrims in Segovia Teacher Training courses 2026 at Pilgrims website