We all know that a good education is vital for everyone. Maybe you have even done some home teaching for your children during COVID-19 and thought your skills could be useful moving forward?
There is also a lot of stress placed on young people to make sure they pass their exams. Consequently, this does lead to a demand for home tutoring students outside the classroom.
Students are also faced with fierce competition in every field, from going to university or applying for jobs which require specific qualifications. So any extra assistance would be greatly appreciated.
So, starting a home tutoring business means that you can help students achieve their chosen goals
So how could you start a home tutoring business?
Teaching is a valuable and rewarding career for many people. We all remember our favourite teachers and how they inspired us.
Perhaps you have always thought about becoming a home tutor. Maybe you are fed up being a regular teacher and now considering home tutoring?
Your research
Before you start a home tutoring service you need to do some research. Decide on the subject you wish to tutor in.
Make sure you research the subject and check that the market is not saturated in that particular area. How many tutors are teaching that subject? If there are a lot, then think if you can add a unique selling point to make it different from your competitors.
Remember that demand for tutoring can vary throughout the year, so you need to consider how you structure your finances while you are building up your client base.
How you can find out if your subject is popular
You can do this by searching online forums to find out what people are wanting to learn. Perhaps there is a topic you have vast experience in and that people are calling out to learn more. You can also research the subject the schools and college are teaching in your local area.
What skills do you need?
- Ideally good experience in teaching either children or adults. Perhaps you have worked in a youth centre or similar?
- You need to be professional and energetic
- You must be educated to at least one level above your student.
- Full understanding of the examination board syllabus.
- You also must be friendly, be able to inspire your students adaptable, presentable, good knowledge of the subject you are going to tutor on. Time Management is essential. Perhaps you have worked in a similar area as the topic you are going to tutor on. A good example would be if you were a PA and excelled in Word skills. You could then offer tutoring on Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
- Are you good at languages and fluent in a particular language? One good niche would be conversational holiday languages. Ideal for people going on holiday or for business owners who travel overseas to see clients
Think outside the box of what you know.
How will you tutor your students?
Tutoring in Person
If you are tutoring, you will either visit the student at their home or they come to you. An alternative if you do not want them to visit you would be to hire an office room at an alternative location.
Remember that if you are working externally you need to factor in costs including room hire, transport, petrol costs and parking.
Consider
- Do you have a room in your home where you could teach without disruption?
- You also have a legal requirement to make sure if you teach at home that it is a safe environment
- Do you have pets – your student may not fond of animals or worse still they could be allergic to them.
- Contact your local authority to see if you can actually tutor from your home
- There will be additional costs such as utility bills which would increase
- Also think that if you are going to work from home do you have the room to teach someone.
- Would the actual student want to travel to a stranger’s house – even if they bring someone with them?
Online tutoring
- Taking into account the potential problems with working from your home tutoring students you may prefer the option of online tutoring.
- Online tutoring is growing in popularity mainly due to faster and efficient internet speeds.
- Neither you or your student need to travel anywhere (which means you can tutor students all over the UK and abroad)
- Your lessons can be more flexible and likewise you are more likely to be able to offer students tutoring outside standard hours
- If the student is shy then online tutoring would be a preferred choice
- You do not have to make sure your home is ‘clean and tidy’
- You would also feel more in control
- You can share files with your student online, answer any questions they have and give them homework.
What you will need
- Good laptop or Computer
- Microphone headset – may already be built into your laptop or computer
- Webcam –again this could already be built into your laptop or computer
- Landline and mobile phone
- Good lesson planning structure
How to market your business
Your current students – You may already be teaching some students – so get them to spread the word. You could offer them a referral if they introduce you to potential new students. You could offer your current student 10 free tutorials in return for introducing (and placing) a new student
Tell your family and friends – The best way to get the word out about your business is to tell your friends and family. Perhaps they may know someone who wants home tutoring.
Contact local schools and colleagues – Call the local education establishments in your area – it is possible they may need someone to offer home tutoring or help one of their students. They may even know of people outside the school that require additional tutoring
Attend local events – Why not attend any local events in your area and meet the local community. You could ask the organiser of the event if you can hand out your leaflets/business cards.
Networking events – Why not find out if there are local networking vents in your area that specialise in the Education and training.
Your local town hall – Pop into the local town hall as they may well have community groups that you could meet and chat to about your home tutoring business
Tutoring recruitment agencies – Why not contact local tutoring agencies in your area. They could bring in work for you. Meeting with them you can show that you are an authority in your niche.
Website and social media – This business would essentially require a website and good social media presence – See Chapter 12.
Your local library – You could place leaflets in the local library (but only leave the leaflets in areas where the residents are in more affluent areas)
How much can you earn?
- Research has shown that you could charge around £25 per hour. However, do some research for your local area to establish to market rate?
- Some home tutors can earn up higher rate per hour, but these would be established professionals.
A good website I found while researching this topic is https://www.tutorhunt.com
Making money as a tutor also depends on a variety of factors. These include the following: –
- How long you have been a tutor for
- Are the lessons face to face or online
- What level are you tutoring for will it be Stats, Common Entrance Exam(s) GCSEs, A Levels, and Entry training for Universities etc.
Finally, if you are going to home tutor you must keep up to date with the latest developments in your chosen subject.
Good Trade Association
The Tutors Association
https://thetutorsassociation.org.uk
Final thought
As you can see if you are an expert in a particular skill then tutoring is a great home business to start. People always want to learn more no matter what their age and so your skills could be valuable.
