Tutoring
A tutor is a person who offers individual instruction in a given subject. Tutoring can be a wonderful home based business opportunity, especially for those people who have an extensive knowledge of a subject; such as a college student who is majoring in English, a school teacher, or a person who is fluent a foreign language. There are also some good online courses that offer tutor training and certification that can prepare you for this type of work at home career.
Starting a tutoring business cost little to nothing to start up; you’ll need some basic school supplies, a few helpful reference books, and a website with internet access. Word of mouth is a great way to promote your business to teachers and schools, along with posting flyers, and creating a website where can showcase your background experience, credentials, references/testimonials and rates.
Tutors generally charge by the hour and can make anywhere from $25.00 – $75.00 per hour. So if you have an extensive knowledge of a certain subject, a positive attitude, a passion to help others, you enjoy working with children, and you have an open mind, tutoring may be the perfect home based business for you.
Check out our resources below to get started!
Tutoring Resources
ASAP Tutors.com hires home based tutors in a variety of areas. See site for additional details.
Home Tutoring Business (HTB) offers a complete business package to get you started with your own home based tutoring business. Starter package cost $1495.00 and the complete package cost $2990.00. HTB has been featured in Woman’s World Magazine, Entreprenuer.com, Home Business magazine Online.
Home Tutoring Opportunities is a business model for your own home based tutoring business. Complete course cost $1495.00. This business is a member of the BBB.
International Tutoring Association offers membership that includes free training, certification, text-book and other applicable amenities. Membership cost $45.00, see site for more details.
KinderSigns offers a home based business opportunity program for baby sign language instructors. The premium kit with website, costs $249.00, and basic course costs $89.00.
SmartThinking.com offers tutoring services and hires home based tutors. All tutors must successfully complete an online training program that focuses on skills and online instructional practices. See site for details.
Tutor Nation is a website where you can search for a tutor, apply for certification, or register your services. This site offers tips, resources and books. This company is a member of the Better Business Bureau.
Tutor.com is a website where you can search or apply to be a tutor. Tutor.com offers videos and resources to become a certified tutor.
Tutor Vista offers online tutoring services; you can also apply to become an online tutor. Qualified candidates will be a post graduate in your subject, have a computer, and be able to work a minimum of 4 hours per day.
How to Start a Profitable Home Tutoring Service
Starting a home tutoring service is a small business that does not require much start-up costs or training. Essentially, this service is an excellent business for stay-at-home moms who love to deal with children and make some money on the side. Apart from that, this home business provides time flexibility as the tutor would only need to spend a few hours each day on tutoring. Of course, more classes can also be scheduled according to personal preferences.
In fact, a tutoring business can be conducted either within the comfort of the tutor’s home or at the home of the students. This essentially eliminates the need to pay for rental costs of any kind, with the only cost being transportation costs and the time spent on the classes.
Start Up Costs and Financing Sources:
Starting a tutoring business does not require much in start up costs. In fact, the bare essentials that you need to purchase are pencils and paper as well as some books, all of which will cost you less than $20.
Pricing Guidelines for Service:
Tutors normally charge between $15 and $40 an hour for their services. Rates are dependent on the subjects and the levels that are being tutored as well as the location where the services are offered. Naturally, services offered in larger cities will cost more.
Advertising and Marketing:
Advertising and marketing your tutoring service is one of the most crucial steps in order to ensure success in your business. In fact, there are many ways in which tutoring services can be marketed. The first thing that you should do is to create a profile for yourself. List down your credentials, including the details of your degrees as well as any previous tutoring experience that you may have. Apart from that, other teaching related experience such as peer tutoring while at the university may also help in building a strong profile.
Next, think about which area of study that you are interested to teach as well as the specific age group. Most tutors specialize in specific subjects like Arithmetic or History, while others may deal with just elementary students.
Once you have your resume all ready, you are then ready to approach the schools to market yourself. Inform any school teachers that you know about your expertise, experience and the services that you are offering. This is as many parents enquire with school teachers on where they can send their children for tutoring, which makes teachers the best people to promote you. Alternatively you can also approach the school counselor or principal about your services, as they may be constantly seeking tutors to recommend to the parents of children with problems in their studies.
The next thing you can do is to stick a small ad on bulletin boards located in stores around town. You can find these boards in laundromats, convenience stores and supermarkets. Some parents may notice your ad and call you up for a tutoring engagement. Apart from that, you can even design a nicely printed flyer, highlighting your services and credentials as well as your contact information and send them out to mail boxes within your area.
Another thing that you could do is to contact a local home school group in your location. Many parents of home schooled children require tutoring in certain subjects and may be seeking tutors for this purpose.
Recommended training, experience, or needed skills:
A tutor does not necessarily need to have a degree in teaching in order to be qualified for tutoring. However, teaching experience will help in building a profile, as parents will be more confident with your abilities. Furthermore, as a tutor, you need to seek out the latest syllabus and texts which are being used in classes so as to ensure that what your teaching is aligned with the current education system.
Additionally, a visit to the library could help in obtaining lists of books specifically on tutoring your areas of focus. Furthermore, you will be able to find a wide variety of material to present to your students in class from within the local library. You may even obtain creative teaching and tutoring ideas that will help draw the attention of your students during class.
Income potential:
The potential earnings from a home tutoring service are really dependent on the efforts and the commitment of the individual. If more time were allocated to tutoring, then more income will be generated.
There have been tutors who have successfully made an annual income of $10,000 to $15,000 tutoring just 20 hours a week from home.
Target market:
Students from Elementary Level up to High School
Success tips:
One of the factors influencing the success of a home tutoring service is the level of education and guidance that has been provided to the students. Usually, this is measured by the results attained by the students. Once a student scores an ‘A’ in a subject area that he or she has been poor in, your effective tutoring work will travel quickly by word of mouth as parents will make good recommendations to other parents. In fact, word of mouth is the channel that facilitates rapid growth in your business.
© Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.
Randy has dozens of home based business articles at Profitable Home Businesses such as Start a Medical Billing Service.
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