“It’s a unique brand because it’s a people’s business. That’s valid for each school as much as for inlingua international since inlingua international is held by the licensees. That makes a lot of it. There is no investor behind it – no anonymous company. It’s us – we are the company ourselves.”
Like his grandfather and founder of inlingua, Adalbert Schwarz, Dominic shares a vision of the inlingua brand which is strongly based on the liberty and freedom of being an entrepreneur, but within the framework of a strong and international network that he prefers to call the inlingua family. Dominic was a lot of fun to chat to, and his quick-witted intelligence shines through at every turn of the conversation. If you are wondering what the definition of people’s person is – then you will almost certainly find a picture of Dominic!
Find out more about the legacy of the Schwarz surname as it continues through the hands of Dominic and his parents and learn more about the passion behind the inlingua brand – what being part of the inlingua family really means.
1.) How did you hear about the idea of becoming an inlingua licensee?
Well, my mother is the licensee for inlingua Cologne and it’s actually interesting because there are quite a few of us that are children of the licensee holders that are taking over the schools. Valerio from Rome is one example, Claudia from Münich. Magda from Lugano is the daughter of Ahmad Bteibet in Milano – there’s Simone [Naples, Italy] who runs the centers there alongside his brother, Gianluca, who have taken over from their father. Maryse from Malta has also taken over from her father. In Bern too, Veronique took over from Louis Blaise (her father who was also one of the founders of inlingua) and so on and so on. It shows how appealing the inlingua brand is and what a good investment it can be for your children’s future.
2.) What is your background?
I have the background in that inlingua has always been a part of my life. My parents have run it since I was born. So, I pretty much knew what it meant to live with the inlingua brand. When I started studying, or even when I graduated from school, I didn’t have it at all in mind to become an inlingua licensee or owner one day. So, I studied law and am technically a lawyer in Germany.
Then I decided at the end of my studies that law wasn’t really for me, even though I am graduated and technically a lawyer. I wanted to do something more international, more with people instead of a war with paper. The fun part is the people. I love the contact with people right now and I love the contact speaking different languages every day with my customers. I made the decision to have a lot of direct contact with our customers. Other managers never see their private customers, maybe, but I think it’s a question of how you want to run a center.
But having an academic background is not the decisive question to run an inlingua center. You have to have a love for people, for languages, for a multicultural surrounding. Then you will love the network and brand as well because often we say it’s an inlingua family. We like to share our ideas even though we don’t know what the others will think about it. It’s very interesting.
3.) What do you think makes your specific center special/unique?
It’s a difficult question because everybody does partially the same thing, working on the inlingua method, being a very high-quality language provider and this is what every inlingua center will tell you.
We are one of the centers that focus a lot on client care. I basically know all of our clients myself because when they walk through the door, I deal with them. It’s quite appealing that we at inlingua Cologne know, for example, with the one-on-one students, he wants non-sparkling water, not too cold, a coffee without milk, and things like that. In French you would say being ‘au petits soins’ which means taking care of the little details as well.
Of course, we have our inlingua books and we have our systems and how we want them to learn, etc. But in the end, we pay a lot of attention to the details. What does a specific client need, be it for a one-on-one student or a group student? Is he/she getting what he/she needs? And the same for the companies where we mix up APP (Business), Business modules and things they bring from their own offices to make suitable learning plans.
We are one of the few centers in Cologne only doing private clients [as opposed to state subsidized], and you can feel the difference. There are competitors out there, big and small, who do not care about each client as we do. And this is not something coming from me. This comes from the clients themselves who tell me this after coming from other schools: “You actually really care for us. The others just put us in a group and say – you go and learn”.
4.) What do you think makes the inlingua brand so unique?
It’s a unique brand because it’s a people’s business. That’s valid for each school as much as for inlingua international since inlingua international is held by the licensees. That makes a lot of it. There is no investor behind it – no anonymous company. It’s us – we are the company ourselves. That’s quite appealing to me.
We are all co-owners of inlingua international through the shareholder principle. This means, through the principle that shareholders can only be those who actually hold a license of inlingua international. This is unique because we will always know that inlingua international, because of this structure, will always and only serve the people who are inlingua international’s customers, but its owners at the same time. So, if you are a licensee of an inlingua center, you are automatically a shareholder of inlingua international and that builds up the brand of inlingua.
You know, after my studies, I moved to Paris where my wife is from, and after a year in Paris we decided to move back to Cologne together. I was very interested in running my own business and not working for a big stock exchange loaded company, but for something where I know why I’m doing it. And it may happen that I have to take care of tiny things in the center myself, like putting some new pens in the client’s area. I always know why I’m doing it. Because it’s my company [laughs]. I don’t have a problem with it. I’m doing it for myself basically. We get a lot of repeat business and Word of Mouth is by far the best way to get clients. We have people coming to us saying “30 years ago I learned German with you, and now my daughter needs English.” And in those cases, they don’t even ask about the price.
So, you might go from one center, let’s take a German center like Cologne for example, and you go to another center which is slightly different. And why is it different? It’s because the owner of that center adapted to his/her market. That’s our strength – adapting to the market which means knowing the client’s needs. And we don’t need to ask anyone if we can do it. We just do it because people want it and because people need it.
5.) What advice would you give anyone considering opening a language center?
[Laughs] That’s a tough one. Maybe I’m not the best person to give advice because I’m taking over one that’s already running. But the advice I would give is you have to be aware that it’s a lot of work in terms of time spent and intensity. It’s not just a job. It’s part of your life. And this is what is so great! Once you realize that it’s part of your life. The return is not only the money you earn – it’s the feedback from your customers as well. So, my advice would be to think about what you want. You can run an inlingua center by being far from the customers, or you can run it in terms of a management school and you have advisors who take care of students, or you can run an inlingua center very close to your customers. You will have a lot of feedback, positive and negative as always.6.) What do you find so appealing about the industry you operate your business in (language teaching industry)?
What I love is you see people developing. And when they learn a language, they learn more than a language. They learn the connection to a new culture, the interaction with new people and a new country, which is amazing. And most of them don’t even necessarily realize it!
7.) What, in your opinion, is the most challenging and/ or rewarding thing about being an entrepreneur?
Getting your private life and your work life into a balance [laughs], because there’s actually no difference. And the complexity of the job because you are responsible for everything. In the end it’s a very complex thing and you have to have a feeling for people. They are all individuals. Everyone needs something from you– say a tax problem because they come form the US and they don’t know how the tax system in Germany works. You are in charge! Or, somebody needs help with his or her landlord. You are in charge! Somebody is having a method problem because they are struggling to work with the TRP (Teacher’s Resource Pack). You are in charge!
So, it’s actually a very complex task which you have but that’s what I like. It doesn’t matter what I planned the day I walk into the office, the only thing for certain is that I will do something else first. And something I didn’t have in mind because I didn’t know it would come up. There’s never a day which is the same as the last. And then you have the intercultural part of it. And that’s amazing, but you are also running a business and you have tax declarations and you have to pay salaries.
8.) What does it mean to you to be a part of the inlingua network?
The very simple answer is, it’s fun! Meeting my colleagues is great. Sometimes hearing that they are having the same problems does some good. Then telling them something and they feel like ‘let’s do the same thing like they are doing in Cologne’. Sometimes you are having an issue and they have some great ideas and you think ‘yes, I haven’t thought about that’. So, it’s the stimulus you get – and let’s not call it a network – but rather from the inlingua family. This is the important thing. And, it was founded by my grandfather, so it goes way back for me. Although, knowing this is great, no matter if it helps me in my day to day business life.
9.) How would you describe inlingua to someone?
inlingua is a worldwide quality language provider with a unique organization giving everyone a framework and at the same time the liberty of running his/her own proper business in the language teaching sector, language training sector and the language services sector, which can be partially the same or not, with high quality standards and amazing possibilities. And I leave open what amazing possibilities means because everyone has their own definition about what that is. That’s the best part of it. Freedom!
