Understanding the Starting Point

Imagine transitioning from the structured world of academia at Cambridge University to the dynamic realm of entrepreneurship. This was the journey of Ines Ruiz, founder and CEO of El Internacional, a postgraduate school for Spanish teachers that was expanding into physical Spanish language instruction. Her situation illustrates a common challenge faced by educators-turned-entrepreneurs: the gap between academic expertise and business acumen.

Think of it as being like a master violinist who decides to open a symphony orchestra. While the artistic and educational expertise is firmly in place, the business orchestration requires an entirely different set of skills and understanding. Ines knew how to create valuable courses and help teachers, but the financial and operational aspects of running a business remained a mystery.

The Complexity of Her Challenge

The challenges Ines faced went beyond simple business management. She was experiencing what we might call the “academic entrepreneur’s paradox” – where deep subject matter expertise can actually mask the need for business fundamentals. This situation is particularly complex because it involves translating academic excellence into business success.

Her specific challenges centered around three key areas:

Financial Clarity: Despite running a successful educational platform, Ines found herself making decisions based solely on current bank balances rather than future projections. This would be like trying to navigate a ship by looking at where you are rather than where you’re heading.

Business Systems: Generic business advice and programs like Profit First, while valuable in principle, didn’t address the specific needs of her educational business model. It’s similar to trying to use a general roadmap when you need detailed architectural plans.

Growth Strategy: The expansion from online courses to a physical school required not just scaling operations but fundamentally rethinking how the business operated. This transition is like moving from conducting private music lessons to running a full conservatory.

The Transformation Process

Ines’s journey from academic to business leader involved several fundamental shifts in understanding and approach:

Financial Mastery: Moving beyond basic bookkeeping to developing a deep understanding of business numbers. This wasn’t about becoming an accountant but about gaining the financial literacy needed for strategic decision-making.

Systems Development: Creating specific frameworks for tracking course sales, launches, and performance metrics that made sense for an educational business. These systems helped transform abstract goals into concrete, actionable targets.

Personal Financial Integration: Building a structure that supported both business growth and personal financial security, including establishing a six-figure salary and investment accounts – addressing the often-overlooked aspect of entrepreneur compensation in seven-figure businesses.

The Results in Context

The transformation led to remarkable outcomes across multiple dimensions:

Strategic Control: Development of clear systems for tracking and projecting financial performance Business Expansion: Successful transition from online-only to including physical location Personal Financial Security: Establishment of sustainable personal income and investment structures Decision-Making Confidence: Moving from uncertainty to knowledge-based decision-making

Understanding the Evolution

What makes Ines’s story particularly instructive is how she discovered that business acumen doesn’t diminish academic expertise – it amplifies it. As she notes, “I’m a teacher, I just want to help other teachers. So it’s like the other things were not important to me, but the problem is without those things, you cannot do what you want to do.”

Coach’s Commentary

Working with Ines revealed something profound about academic entrepreneurship: the same methodical approach that makes someone successful in academia can be applied to business mastery, but it requires the right framework and guidance. What makes her transformation particularly remarkable is how she maintained her educational mission while developing sophisticated business capabilities.

Her journey demonstrates that financial literacy isn’t about becoming a financial expert – it’s about understanding the numbers that drive your specific business model. The evolution from making decisions based on current bank balances to planning months ahead represents a fundamental shift in business thinking.

The successful expansion from online to physical operations shows how proper financial and operational systems can support ambitious growth plans. This isn’t just about scaling up – it’s about scaling smart, with full understanding of the financial implications and requirements.

Your Next Step

If you’re an educator or subject matter expert looking to build a successful business around your expertise, Ines’s story offers valuable insights. Perhaps you too find yourself excelling in your field but struggling with the business aspects of your enterprise.

We invite you to explore how your expertise might be transformed into a thriving business operation. Through a confidential strategy session, we will:

• Examine your current business model and identify opportunities for systematic improvement
• Explore how to build financial literacy specific to your business type
• Discuss strategies for balancing business growth with personal financial security
• Determine if our approach aligns with your vision for combining educational excellence with business success

Request Your Strategy Session

“Everybody needs a Devesh in their lives because we just want to do what we want to do… Like I’m a teacher, I just want to help other teachers. The problem is without those things [business fundamentals], you cannot do what you want to do. Now every time I take a decision, I base that decision on knowledge, and that gives me so much confidence.” – Ines Ruiz