🎙️ Behind the Mic: Curtis Gets Interviewed on Teaching Business English Globally
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This is the Real English Conversations podcast, where we help you to communicate clearly and confidently in the conversations that matter most in the workplace and your professional life. You may also like a show about the things you may also like. Things like Real English Conversations.

Curtis Davis lives in Mexico. How he got there is a story unto itself. But know that in 2016, he started a podcast that was going to feature real English conversations. He didn't even really know that there were so many people on earth searching to listen to a real English conversation in order to have a real English conversation. From there, his podcast and his learning business took off.

His passion for talking into a microphone, though, started long before 2016.

I have always wanted to be a broadcaster. Since the days where I was growing up in Edmonton, Alberta, I was born and raised in Edmonton. I was always listening to, of course, the music. There's a passion for the music. I'm a musician as well. But the passion came from listening to the guys talk, listening to the entertainers. So I started recording more of those people's

Instead of the music, where my friends would have a recording of the music and they would cut the announcers out, I was doing the opposite thing. By the time I was 15 or 16, I was begging my parents to... I got the opportunity to be on the university station, CJSR 88.5 FM.

It was a dance music show, and I had already had turntables at like 10, 12 years old from my older brothers, and a huge record collection from my dad and my older brothers being nightclub DJs.

The mix show opportunity came to me at 15 or 16 years old. And I remember going to talk to my mom and saying, okay, I've got this opportunity. I'm going to be on the radio. And she was all proud of me. And oh, great. What time's the show? Midnight till 6 a.m. And she was like, no way you're doing that. Go talk to your father. So my dad, who is...

musician as well. He's 84 years old. He plays electric bass guitar. And he knew my passion for music and radio and everything like that. And there was a guy that did the show from 10 to midnight that I really, really grew up listening to and breakdancing to. He was the person that brought hip hop and breakdancing and all that kind of culture from the United States to Canada. His name was Teddy.

He was an influential guy for bringing that music scene into Edmonton. And I always, you know, he was my first radio idol. Always wanted to meet him. And I went to my dad and I said, yeah, this is what time the show is happening. And he's like, I'll talk to your mom. Don't worry about it. So I took that as dad saying yes. And my friends picked me up like 10, 15 minutes later. And I was gone. So yeah.

my parents are still together, so it didn't cause any sort of divorce or disagreement. They may, might've had a bit of a conflict. Then that took me into going to pursue education. Yeah.

of being an announcer and a broadcaster. So I started to pursue where I could make that happen in my life. And the first thing was high school. I went to the Victoria Composite High School for the Arts. And the reason why I chose that high school was it was the only high school in Edmonton at the time, I don't know if it is still, that had a professional television industry.

and radio program in the high school part of things. So that was my choice to go there. And I was all over the high school radio station. I was all over television and radio part of those courses in high school.

And at the same time, close to where I was graduating in grade 12, I got the opportunity to go to Drayton Valley. My parents paid for a portion of the program. And there was a school there, CHIT, Big West Country in Drayton Valley, Alberta. And wow, did that ever happen.

you know, put a realness to it. It was hands-on. It was strict. It was tough, but it was exactly what I needed to start this dream. I graduated successfully from there. I don't remember what year it was, maybe in 96 or 97. And then by 99,

there was a change that needed to happen in my life and my parents were retired and moving to Kelowna, BC. So I got all the demo tapes and the air checks recorded on cassette tape. I guess I'm dating myself here. I'm 49 years old. So it was quite a while ago and decided to join my parents in Kelowna, British Columbia and move from Edmonton to Kelowna.

And I did some promotions work at a few local stations there, but it never really amounted to anything that I possibly dreamed of being an overnight guy, an evening guy or in a morning show situation. So, yeah, it was my wife at the time who said, why don't we start a podcast? Yeah.

And you're used to, you know, cracking a mic and doing your thing. What can we do to start a podcast? And she was a natural. She's moved on to other things and different businesses. And I'm the main host of the podcast now. Yeah, she was really an inspiration to me to say, hey, maybe I can have a bigger business.

better audience, but at the same time as having the audience, you can educate that audience and take them to the next level with their speaking of a second language. This inspiration came from learning a second language myself. I'm still on my journey of learning Spanish. I live in Mexico now. It was how I started studying real communication in a second language. It was from one of my first Spanish teachers,

having his podcast in Spanish where he talked in his native language to other people in a natural way. And I thought, what a great way to learn. What a great way to do that. And it really helped my Spanish. So I took an English as a second language, teaching English as a second language course to, you know, improve my skills. Started teaching on multiple different languages.

online platforms because I live in another country and I have to do everything online. And then it evolved into...

while creating my own website and bringing people into my own website. I still teach on a couple of different other platforms, but everybody that is a student of mine has a podcast episode to learn from with a transcription. So they're really learning to improve their skills. What came first? Was it the business or the podcast? Well, the podcast...

into the business, really. It all became one thing all at the same time. So the podcast really came first and then my upskilling very, very soon after that. And then we just started to develop transcriptions and lesson plans out of every conversation. So the latest two episodes, I've got vocabulary lists, I've got

um, speak in practice questions. So, so every podcast really turns into an English lesson for, for, uh, my adult learners. They're intermediate to advanced level. And most of them are immigrants living in Canada or the United States. Um,

that are working for international companies and living and working in English speaking countries. So we wanted to, to keep everything real and realistic to real life, real conversations. It started off as more of a natural conversation type of thing, but now I've niched it more into business English and English for the workforce and English for the work world. So they, they,

kind of happened very close to the same time. I don't know which, you know, it's the chicken before the egg kind of thing. I guess the podcast came first and then very, very soon after that, it was more the educational aspect coming into it as well. So for context, you're starting this in 2016. Podcasting's at a particular point where it's serial has come out and

people now want to get their own podcast and you realize that it's easy enough to do. And then all of a sudden, you know, there's a business that comes with it and you being one of the only ones in your format, which is, you know, English conversations and encouraging people to learn English and then subsequently, you know, registering for the class. Tell me about how the podcast drives the business. When an episode is released, there is an opportunity, um,

a call to action at the intro and the extra of, of the podcast. The intro tells you what type of student, what type of person we're, we're targeting. The extra is I've got limited trials, uh,

available each month. And from that, you are able to... So, when I ask, what is Odoo? What comes to mind? Well, Odoo is a bit of everything. Odoo is a suite of business management software that some people say is like fertilizer because of the way it promotes growth. But you know, some people also say Odoo is like a magic beanstalk.

because it grows with your company and is also magically affordable. But then again, you could look at Odoo in terms of how its individual software programs are a lot like building blocks. I mean, whatever your business needs. Manufacturing, accounting, HR programs. You can build a custom software suite that's perfect for your company.

So what is Odoo? Well, I guess Odoo is a bit of everything. Odoo is a fertilizer, magic beanstalk building blocks for business. Yeah, that's it. Which means that Odoo is exactly what every business needs. Learn more and sign up now at Odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com. Book a trial lesson with me. So when an episode is released, uh,

just released one this morning. It's already got over 4,000 downloads on it. Trials will come my way from the show notes and the links in that podcast episode to directly come to my website to book a trial with me. And then when they book a trial with me, it's an evaluation of their speaking, their pronunciation, what their main goals are. And then from there, they go into

a 90-day challenge program to get those main things conquered, usually it's low confidence. People are scared of how they sound. People are scared of what they're going to say and what others might think of them. So we conquer that in

in the first two to three lessons and then everything else in English gets easier. And so the comfort level and how people come in is natural. It's very easy for me to release a podcast and get trials out of it where I'm like, great, I get to help

So...

From those episodes, they might hear something, whether it's in the episode itself or the intro or the call to action extra at the end that brings them in, that knows that they can know, like, and trust me to help them with their second language goals and to make better lives for themselves in English-speaking countries.

That's an incredible number of downloads to have for a podcast. And I can only imagine that you are getting traffic from all across the world. And just by knowing this, tell me about the value and the currency it is for anybody to pick up English as a language. Because a lot of us, whether Canadians, Americans, British people, we speak English. There's a lot of people around the world who would just love to speak English for the opportunities.

What stories do you have to share about that from what you know from your students? Wow, I've got some amazing stories. There was a student from China who is probably living in the United States right now, and he joined my 90-day challenge program. I heard one of my podcast episodes about deliberate practice or

you know, improving their, their skills for, for the jobs that they want to do. He joined my three lessons a week, one, two, or three, you know, three different packages. And,

of lessons per week. And he had chosen, he had money saved up where he could quit his job and only focus on improving his English. So he stuck with me. And in the first week or two, I said, okay, you have really low confidence, but a high level of English because you're comfortable with me and there's no...

no problem with how you're speaking with me, but he couldn't get past his own fears of other people. So when they're in the room with me or on a live call like this, they feel comfortable with me, which is great, but they don't know how to feel comfortable with everybody else. So for the first, I don't know, one or two weeks, I told them, okay, we'll work on the things that we've planned out and mapped out in our plan. Every student gets a strategy plan. I said,

bear with me here. We'll work on, you know, pronunciation, accent, fluency, and all of this, but we have to start with confidence because you're, you're terrified. You told me you're terrified to speak in, in business situations and let's role play these and, and do this. I had a whole plan for him. And then in the first week of

or two of lessons. He focused only on his confidence training and homework that I put him through. I have a program called Lift. Lift up your confidence so you have to listen to your inner voice. You have to identify what you're telling yourself. You have to find another way to

to look at it and then you have to try again lift listen identify find another way and then try so i didn't hear from him for a couple of weeks and i was like you got to schedule some lessons i'm just typing this in and he sends me a result of his aisles test that he took in china

And his first goal was to get a 6.5 band score on it. And just within only working on confidence and nothing else, he got a 7.5. So he sent me his IELTS score or his certificate. That's what it was, certificate.

online or through email. And I had a lesson, you booked a lesson with me the next day. I was literally in proud tears of saying, wow, dude, you did this. And we didn't even work on anything in English. We just worked on his confidence.

So that's just one example of how confidence really gets in the way of speaking for better opportunities, being ashamed that it's not as comfortable as your first language, but I'm a learner of a second language. I know that.

that it gets to a point where your second language can be just as comfortable as your first. So that would be one of the biggest success stories. And there are many more like him now

that have been afraid i'm working with a student from poland right now and she hadn't had a job interview in english in over 10 years and now she's had five or six of them now after working with me for a month or two so it's it's really breaking through it's using those and the testimonials on my website as well they're real life students who continue to work with me as well

What was the biggest surprise you saw from the countries that were listening? What's a country that I wouldn't expect where you're getting a lot of attention from? Well, my top 10 countries, South Korea, United States, China, Japan, Brazil, Vietnam, Canada, Germany, Taiwan, and Mexico.

But I wasn't expecting to get countries like, if I click over to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, places like that. I wasn't expecting the Middle East, United Arab Emirates, etc.

very high in the rankings. So it's even like little, little, little tiny countries where you wouldn't even expect Morocco, Malaysia, Iraq, Sweden, Portugal, Azerbaijan,

I hope I'm saying that right. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, like into the thousands of downloads. I'm like, what? I'm in every country in the world. And that's gratifying.

I'm talking to the world. I love that. And I'm helping them at the same time when they listen to a podcast and they listen all the way through. And then they're like, I need help with my English. Curtis is the teacher for me. And then...

into a trial, into a program, into helping the world become better communicators. Tell me about any or some of the friendships that you've made along the way. Wow. A lot of friendships. Gary Evans. That was just an online friendship, an inspiration. I started following other podcasters online.

listening to their podcasts. And that was an instant friendship. He was really easy to talk to and sit down with. No stress. You're the same way. And seeing the appreciation from you as well and having the opportunity right now to be on with you is a dream come true. You had your stint in Edmonton and I've heard you on the air there as well. So it's another influence and it's a way to

really develop connections and friendships with other people who are doing the same thing as you. I think that's collaboration. I think many of my students would like to be my friend. There was only one student that I met. He's one of the testimonials on my website. And he came to Puerto Vallarta. We had coffee and breakfast together. And he's the only student I've met who

but we're in contact with each other. So you never know who you're going to meet. Or, you know, if I go to Brazil, he's like, or he's actually in Canada now, but he goes back to his home country every now and then. But he said, yeah, anytime you want to come and visit, my doors are wide open to you. So it's almost like instant,

trust and friendship that I get from meeting people through the podcast. So one of the things I really like is how you've called it real English conversations. Yeah. And, you know, I think the pandemic taught us, oh, let's pick up a language along the way, maybe using Duolingo. And then we're finding out I'm never going to be able to say my dog has got a beautiful shade of green.

No. You know, for a coat, whatever. These are not sentences we're going to use, but you know what the real situations and the real ones are. And I like, for instance, a driver's test, getting a driver's license. You're going to need a conversation for that. And you've tailored, you know, episodes.

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The search engine tools even helped me get more site visitors. Whatever your passion project is, you can set it up with Bluehost. With their 30-day money-back guarantee, what do you got to lose? Head to Bluehost.com. That's B-L-U-E-H-O-S-T.com to start now. Some lessons towards that. Yeah, and like job interviews too, which I ran my own liquor delivery business in Kelowna for 10 or 12 years. And I was the owner-operator there.

and hiring manager for that. So there was a lot of hiring and firing going on. So I put together a method before, you know, having that business. I was out there, you know, hustling and trying to get my own job. And I was like, I've never had a problem in a job interview from being interviewed to try to get a job. And I've never had a problem hiring people. So I know both sides.

So when they come to me for a job interview or business presentation advice, I know that I've been in a lot of business presentations because the company grew to restaurants and other things where I had to go into restaurants and beer and liquor stores in Canada and talk to the managers, dress up in an ice suit and tie and use that professional communication where they knew I just wasn't another delivery service. I was here to help.

both businesses grow. And when I do that with my students,

They're like, wow, you're a specialist in both sides of the job interview. So during my 90-day challenge, that's one of the special bonuses is a special training that I did about a methodology I use for job interviews. So anything and everything from going to the grocery store, ordering food at a restaurant, all that kind of stuff is seriously, immersefully used

practiced in the class and then they practice on their own and then they get to show off to me what they've improved through practicing the improved version of their English.

in the next class. So it's always evaluating what they can do better, what they can say better, what can get them better opportunities, and what can make their lives feel more complete and comfortable in Canada and the United States. What's it like living in Mexico? It's great. It's different. It's...

completely a different world, but the culture here is beautiful. The people here are so helpful, especially in the city of Guadalajara. The locals are known as Tapatios, which are, you know, Guadalajarans, I guess you could call them in English, but they're known all across the country for being the most polite people

Mexicans in the entire country. So the food is amazing. The people go out of their way to help you and to assist you in any way possible.

And of course, Mexico has its challenges and its safety concerns and problems. But if you know what to do to minimize those, you don't go out at night. If you do, you take an Uber. If you ever feel unsafe, you get out of there. You don't participate in anything illegal. You know, those can drop your risks of anything happening to you. So...

It's great. Of course, I have to be in this bigger city of Guadalajara. It's the third biggest city in Mexico. Just like any big city like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, you have to use caution but not be paranoid. You have to be aware of your surroundings. I'm a bit of a target because I'm a foreigner, so I don't take any more than a couple hundred pesos. I always tell myself enough for some tacos.

And that's about it. And I don't, you know, wear any flashy jewelry. I fit in and blend in quite well. I speak the language fairly well. It's still on my journey, but it's at an intermediate, just

almost upper intermediate level, but I've got a teacher, I've got language coaches. I put myself out there every day in, in situations with native speakers and with no fear. They know I, I miss a word here and there. I, I might know it too, but they don't judge me. So that that's the message I portray to my students as well is if you're living in Canada or the United States, um,

No Canadian or American is really going to judge the way you speak. And if they do, then just don't hang out with them. Leave the situation. My thanks to Curtis for joining me on the show. You can listen to his podcast called Real English Conversations on Apple, Spotify and other podcast listening apps. You can go to his website to learn English, realenglishconversations.com.