About Elena Mutonono
Exhausted by teaching 7 hours of 1:1 lessons a day? Overwhelmed by all the business advice out there (that doesn’t apply to you)? Struggling to create and sell your own educational products?
I can help.
About Elena Mutonono
Exhausted by teaching 7 hours of 1:1 lessons a day? Overwhelmed by all the business advice out there (that doesn’t apply to you)? Struggling to create and sell your own educational products?
I can help.
Hello there! I’m Elena Mutonono.
I help overwhelmed and exhausted online language teachers change their teaching format so they can work less and make more. As a former ESL teacher myself, I know your struggles, fears and anxieties.
In my work I focus on expanding your thinking, changing your teaching format from 1:1 lessons hustle into a sustainable business. I believe that small is smart, and your business can become sustainable with what you already have right now.
In my free time you can find me reading books, writing, doing yoga, playing with my kids, raiding my local library, eating good food and hitting some hipster cafes and restaurants in New Orleans.
I taught at a College in Ukraine for 6 years, was made redundant, got married and moved to the US, and have been in the online teaching industry full-time since 2010.
Since then, I’ve halved my workload while making 5 times more. Working smarter has allowed me to hire amazing people and take 6 weeks off every year (100% unplugged) while continuing to generate income.
Hello there! I’m Elena Mutonono.
I help overwhelmed and exhausted online language teachers change their teaching format so they can work less and make more. As a former ESL teacher myself, I know your struggles, fears and anxieties.
In my work I focus on expanding your thinking, changing your teaching format from 1:1 lessons hustle into a sustainable business. I believe that small is smart, and your business can become sustainable with what you already have right now.
In my free time you can find me reading books, writing, doing yoga, playing with my kids, raiding my local library, eating good food and hitting some hipster cafes and restaurants in New Orleans.
I taught at a College in Ukraine for 6 years, was made redundant, got married and moved to the US, and have been in the online teaching industry full-time since 2010.
Since then, I’ve halved my workload while making 5 times more. Working smarter has allowed me to hire amazing people and take 6 weeks off every year (100% unplugged) while continuing to generate income.
In 2017, together with Veronika Palovska, I started the Smart Teacher’s Library to help online language teachers around the world teach smarter. In the last years, over 200 online language teachers have gone through our training videos, workbooks, and group coaching sessions, and many are now building more sustainable businesses and memorable brands.
Since 2019, we have also been hosting the annual Online Teacher Summit.
Check out an excerpt from my training for the Online Teacher Summit:
In 2017, together with Veronika Palovska, I started the Smart Teacher’s Library to help online language teachers around the world teach smarter. In the last years, over 200 online language teachers have gone through our training videos, workbooks, and group coaching sessions, and many are now building more sustainable businesses and memorable brands.
Since 2019, we have also been hosting the annual Online Teacher Summit.
Check out an excerpt from my training for the Online Teacher Summit:
Building a smarter online teaching business is a long and multi-step process.
You need to…
- Figure out your niche.
- Understand your ideal clients and their language.
- Work out your own social media or content marketing strategy.
- Connect via email.
- Create valuable programs, products and courses.
- Sell something that is not 1:1, with integrity.
Each of these points takes a lot of mental bandwidth. A coach can help you cut through the overwhelm, address these issues as they come and give you encouragement to move forward.
I help my clients and Smart Teacher’s Library members to break through their own mindset limits and get the results that move them forward.
Here’s what some of my clients had to say
"My frustration was replaced by clarity and focus"
After working with Elena, my frustration was replaced by clarity and focus. I understood what small steps I need to take every day and improved my self-discipline and found the courage to play with the format of some of my lessons that led to better effect, satisfaction, and autonomy of my students—and more free time for me.
As a result, I started to train teachers (not just as a one-time consultation but as an individual 1-month course) and write an e-book for teachers.
Maria Glazunova, Coach for beginner ESL teachers from mariaglazunova.com
"I made 6k on my first language retreat"
Working with Elena has brought on a general makeover in every area of my life. I now feel light years from the overworked ESL teacher who was charging $20 an hour. My time is worth so much more and I get to charge up to 80 Euros for a live session with me. Under her gentle guidance, I became an Italian coach capable of making 6k on her first language retreat and selling it through Instagram.
Now I host a podcast, I run monthly events and have a thriving Instagram community. I'm considered an authority on using Instagram. I'm invited to speak at events both offline and online. I dream bigger than I ever have and I've discovered facets of myself I'd have never imagined.
Elfin Waters, Italian coach for Tv series lovers from All About Italian
"I have found my niche, created products, and planned my next steps"
Elena helped me in many ways in the last 4 years. I have had coaching sessions with her and been a member of her Smart Library. She in particular helped me to identify my specific niche, plan my business, create new projects, and establish my online presence. I honestly cannot imagine my position with my business at the moment without her support through her coaching, workshops, newsletters, and Smart Library.
Elena has been my coach, my guide and sometimes I didn’t agree with her but working with Elena is a process, a very valuable journey. It cannot be only a one-off session, if you want to see results you really need to embrace the process, you need to be consistent and resilient, but the result is then bigger than you thought.
Barbara Rocci, Italian Language teacher from Time to Be Italian
"I have gained more clarity and learned how to work in a smarter and more sustainable way"
I found Elena's work on Instagram and it immediately resonated with my struggles and needs as a language mentor I had just started to put my hands on getting my online business started, so I was all over the place. Thanks to Elena's versatile and vast experience in online teaching; moreover, how she has learned to transmit her teachings and connect with people through her writing style, I have gained more clarity, learned how to organize and structure my business in a smarter and more sustainable way, got more engaged followers on IG, learned that strategy matters the most.
I have to say that the times when I have felt like quitting, Elena's stories, which she beautifully relates in her books, have been the right message to inspire me to keep going and have patience while things work out.
José Warren, English language mentor for Latinos
"I now feel empowered by my mission"
Elena helped me with choosing the niche. She encouraged me to take the time and really dive deep into what resonates with me, my skills, and my story. I am really happy about the result because now I feel very empowered by my mission.
Daria, Health coach for exhausted women
"I now have loyal clients and recurring income"
Thanks to working with Elena, I created a new optin and a new product which has brought me loyal clients and recurring income. She really helped me get unstuck and tweak my core message so I could connect with the right people.
Cara Leopold, English listening skills coach for expats from Leo Listening
"Elena helped me to find my first clients"
When I just started out with teaching online, I felt very overwhelmed and confused about which niche I had to “choose”. Elena helped me to stop overthinking and to take the first practical steps: setting up a survey, offer short coaching calls with potential clients, experiment with my Facebook Group to grow my audience, connect with the people. This helped me to find my first clients.
Also, with her support and advice I skipped offering regular 1:1 lessons and went directly with asynchronous programs. Everytime when I overthink or when I’m scared, Elena gives me the confidence to just try out and move forward from that point.
Charlotte Maatman, Dutch language teacher and coach for female immigrants from Soulful Dutch
"After each session, I know what I have to do"
I started working with Elena in March 2020, but more intensively in June 2020. With her I understood what it means working smart and I started seeing things in a different way.
I love the fact that, after each session with Elena, I know what I have to do and each time I listen again to the recording of our sessions I find something new.
I love her encouragement, her willingness to help and I found her tips really valuable.
I still have a lot to do and to understand, in order to reach my goals, but without Elena's mentoring I was just lost in space!
Maria Rugo, Italian teacher from Remember Italy
"I'm now getting more engagement in my IG, my email list is growing, new clients are finding me"
When I first started working with Elena, I was spending a lot of time on things that weren't really helping me progress in my business because I didn't have a grasp on the big picture. She really helped me to focus and to see how all the parts of my business should work together to create an effective sales funnel. She helped me to adjust my mindset and be more realistic about my goals.
As a result, I'm now getting more engagement in my IG, my email list is growing, new clients are finding me, and I've done some successful workshops for art and design organizations. I have learned a lot both from her coaching and also from her example of how to run an effective business. I doubt myself less often now and know that if I continue to follow my path and put in the work, I will see the benefits down the road.
Jessica Gardner, Language coach for artists and designers from Artglish.com
"I now feel more confident that I can contribute to my community with my own unique blends of skills and talents"
When I discovered Elena I was looking for a different, more scalable way to get my learners to actually speak (not just learn!) Italian and she didn't disappoint. Thanks to her guidance I launched my first programme which combined my passion for Italian songs and dance with speaking skills and... it worked! This gave me courage to bring more of my passions and quirks into my work as a language coach to find more of my "meant to be students" (as I now like to call them).
I feel that thanks to the work I've been doing in finding my niche (following Elena's advice and workshops), I'm becoming clearer on what my niche is, and consequently, I don't feel worried about the "competition" anymore. Rather, I now feel more confident that I can contribute to my community with my own unique blends of skills and talents.
Ermy Pedata, Creative Italian Coach from The Language Rose
"I feel relieved that I am creating a unique original project that I love and don't need to teach grammar anymore!"
Before I started to work with Elena I had been struggling for half a year with my new project, an interactive website for kids. And even before that skype lessons had become so tiring and I couldn't see the way out of this only way of teaching. After our first meeting, Elena completely changed my vision of my projects and suggested that I write my own stories.
Now, I have presented my first book to almost 100 schoolchildren around Ukraine, grew my target audience, set up a newsletter, and I feel relieved that I am creating a unique original project that I love. It's not tiring, I feel great I don't need to teach grammar anymore!
Irina Skibenko, Russian and English Language Teacher from Smart Story Space
"I built a sustainable business that incorporated all my passions"
When I first met Elena, I wanted to move my in-person language coaching to a virtual format but I had no idea how to get started. Elena helped me understand what a niche was and how to niche beyond the broad topic of Business English. The idea of specializing was frightening at first but Elena was right.
Through working with her, I built a sustainable business that incorporated my love of language + career branding skills to help corporates + corporate misfits craft narratives that help them land their dream jobs.
Lucy Samuels, Business Language Coach and Career Branding Strategist from lucysamuels.com
"I'm now getting more engagement in my IG, my email list is growing, new clients are finding me"
When I first started working with Elena, I was spending a lot of time on things that weren't really helping me progress in my business because I didn't have a grasp on the big picture. She really helped me to focus and to see how all the parts of my business should work together to create an effective sales funnel. She helped me to adjust my mindset and be more realistic about my goals.
As a result, I'm now getting more engagement in my IG, my email list is growing, new clients are finding me, and I've done some successful workshops for art and design organizations. I have learned a lot both from her coaching and also from her example of how to run an effective business. I doubt myself less often now and know that if I continue to follow my path and put in the work, I will see the benefits down the road.
Jessica Gardner, Language coach for artists and designers from Artglish.com
"I now feel more confident that I can contribute to my community with my own unique blends of skills and talents"
When I discovered Elena I was looking for a different, more scalable way to get my learners to actually speak (not just learn!) Italian and she didn't disappoint. Thanks to her guidance I launched my first programme which combined my passion for Italian songs and dance with speaking skills and... it worked! This gave me courage to bring more of my passions and quirks into my work as a language coach to find more of my "meant to be students" (as I now like to call them).
I feel that thanks to the work I've been doing in finding my niche (following Elena's advice and workshops), I'm becoming clearer on what my niche is, and consequently, I don't feel worried about the "competition" anymore. Rather, I now feel more confident that I can contribute to my community with my own unique blends of skills and talents.
Ermy Pedata, Creative Italian Coach from The Language Rose
"Elena helped me to find my first clients"
When I just started out with teaching online, I felt very overwhelmed and confused about which niche I had to “choose”. Elena helped me to stop overthinking and to take the first practical steps: setting up a survey, offer short coaching calls with potential clients, experiment with my Facebook Group to grow my audience, connect with the people. This helped me to find my first clients.
Also, with her support and advice I skipped offering regular 1:1 lessons and went directly with asynchronous programs. Everytime when I overthink or when I’m scared, Elena gives me the confidence to just try out and move forward from that point.
Charlotte Maatman, Dutch language teacher and coach for female immigrants from Soulful Dutch
"After each session, I know what I have to do"
I started working with Elena in March 2020, but more intensively in June 2020. With her I understood what it means working smart and I started seeing things in a different way.
I love the fact that, after each session with Elena, I know what I have to do and each time I listen again to the recording of our sessions I find something new.
I love her encouragement, her willingness to help and I found her tips really valuable.
I still have a lot to do and to understand, in order to reach my goals, but without Elena's mentoring I was just lost in space!
Maria Rugo, Italian teacher from Remember Italy
"I now feel empowered by my mission"
Elena helped me with choosing the niche. She encouraged me to take the time and really dive deep into what resonates with me, my skills, and my story. I am really happy about the result because now I feel very empowered by my mission.
Daria, Health coach for exhausted women
"I now have loyal clients and recurring income"
Thanks to working with Elena, I created a new optin and a new product which has brought me loyal clients and recurring income. She really helped me get unstuck and tweak my core message so I could connect with the right people.
Cara Leopold, English listening skills coach for expats from Leo Listening
"My frustration was replaced by clarity and focus"
After working with Elena, my frustration was replaced by clarity and focus. I understood what small steps I need to take every day and improved my self-discipline and found the courage to play with the format of some of my lessons that led to better effect, satisfaction, and autonomy of my students—and more free time for me.
As a result, I started to train teachers (not just as a one-time consultation but as an individual 1-month course) and write an e-book for teachers.
Maria Glazunova, Coach for beginner ESL teachers from mariaglazunova.com
"I made 6k on my first language retreat"
Working with Elena has brought on a general makeover in every area of my life. I now feel light years from the overworked ESL teacher who was charging $20 an hour. My time is worth so much more and I get to charge up to 80 Euros for a live session with me. Under her gentle guidance, I became an Italian coach capable of making 6k on her first language retreat and selling it through Instagram.
Now I host a podcast, I run monthly events and have a thriving Instagram community. I'm considered an authority on using Instagram. I'm invited to speak at events both offline and online. I dream bigger than I ever have and I've discovered facets of myself I'd have never imagined.
Elfin Waters, Italian coach for Tv series lovers from All About Italian
"I have found my niche, created products, and planned my next steps"
Elena helped me in many ways in the last 4 years. I have had coaching sessions with her and been a member of her Smart Library. She in particular helped me to identify my specific niche, plan my business, create new projects, and establish my online presence. I honestly cannot imagine my position with my business at the moment without her support through her coaching, workshops, newsletters, and Smart Library.
Elena has been my coach, my guide and sometimes I didn’t agree with her but working with Elena is a process, a very valuable journey. It cannot be only a one-off session, if you want to see results you really need to embrace the process, you need to be consistent and resilient, but the result is then bigger than you thought.
Barbara Rocci, Italian Language teacher from Time to Be Italian
"I have gained more clarity and learned how to work in a smarter and more sustainable way"
I found Elena's work on Instagram and it immediately resonated with my struggles and needs as a language mentor I had just started to put my hands on getting my online business started, so I was all over the place. Thanks to Elena's versatile and vast experience in online teaching; moreover, how she has learned to transmit her teachings and connect with people through her writing style, I have gained more clarity, learned how to organize and structure my business in a smarter and more sustainable way, got more engaged followers on IG, learned that strategy matters the most.
I have to say that the times when I have felt like quitting, Elena's stories, which she beautifully relates in her books, have been the right message to inspire me to keep going and have patience while things work out.
José Warren, English language mentor for Latinos
"I feel relieved that I am creating a unique original project that I love and don't need to teach grammar anymore!"
Before I started to work with Elena I had been struggling for half a year with my new project, an interactive website for kids. And even before that skype lessons had become so tiring and I couldn't see the way out of this only way of teaching. After our first meeting, Elena completely changed my vision of my projects and suggested that I write my own stories.
Now, I have presented my first book to almost 100 schoolchildren around Ukraine, grew my target audience, set up a newsletter, and I feel relieved that I am creating a unique original project that I love. It's not tiring, I feel great I don't need to teach grammar anymore!
Irina Skibenko, Russian and English Language Teacher from Smart Story Space
"I built a sustainable business that incorporated all my passions"
When I first met Elena, I wanted to move my in-person language coaching to a virtual format but I had no idea how to get started. Elena helped me understand what a niche was and how to niche beyond the broad topic of Business English. The idea of specializing was frightening at first but Elena was right.
Through working with her, I built a sustainable business that incorporated my love of language + career branding skills to help corporates + corporate misfits craft narratives that help them land their dream jobs.
Lucy Samuels, Business Language Coach and Career Branding Strategist from lucysamuels.com
Do you also want to move your work away from the hustle towards a more sustainable model?
Start with my One to Infinity Workshop that will help you transform your exhausting 1:1 teaching days into a more efficient model that generates more revenue and time, creates peace of mind and gives your clients a chance to be responsible for their results.
Do you also want to move your work away from the hustle towards a more sustainable model?
Start with my One to Infinity Workshop that will help you transform your exhausting 1:1 teaching days into a more efficient model that generates more revenue and time, creates peace of mind and gives your clients a chance to be responsible for their results.
