I don't know how else to say it, other than "I'm loving Effortless English". I'm just having a fantastic time. Why didn't I do this earlier? Building the site has been a fantastic experience. To be sure, there have been many frustrations. Tomoe has gotten used to me screaming profanity at the computer :) I've had microphone problems, software problems, marketing problems, payment problems. But one by one they've gotten solved. And slowly, membership has grown. Slowly, the lesson library has grown. Slowly, the quality and size of the site has grown.
Its an amazing experience to build something like this yourself. So different than working a job. As an employee-teacher, you are never really more than a Mc-WageSlave. You use the textbooks you are told to use, you follow the schedule you are given, you follow a curriculum developed by bureaucrats. However "good" your job, you always serve another's agenda in the end. Under such circumstances, its hard to remain committed and passionate. And no wonder. No wonder burnout is so common. Who can sustain passion, after all, when you are not serving your own values and principles.
As a freelancing entrepreneur, I have no administrators over me, no rule books, no policy manuals, no "required curriculum", no command & control, no grades, no discipline, no bureaucrats to satisfy, no ego-maniac bosses to tip-toe around, no decorum to follow. I am free-- and so are my learner-members.
We are free to create a fun, cool, interesting, new learning community together. As a free entrepreneur, I can respond to a learner's suggestion immediately. Somebody suggests doing a lesson on censorship... and I can make one and put it on the site the next day. Someone suggests a Forum for scheduling Skype chats... bham, its done in 5 minutes. Somebody complains about a problem... I can immediately address it MYSELF. No administrators to consult or ask permission from. No procedure to follow. No imposed schedules or syllabi to worry about.
I tell you, its exhilarating!
It is absolutely exhilarating to create something yourself-- to be fully responsible and fully autonomous.
And the results are amazing too. The amount and quality of what you can do, when unfettered from bosses and bureaucrats, is simply amazing.
And so today, on my birthday, I offer my thanks to you-- the members of Effortless English. Thank you for helping me live this dream! Thank you for working together with me. Without you, it wouldn't be possible. Truly, deeply,... Thank you.
