There are many reasons why tutors start their own businesses, but one of the main ones is to be their own boss. When you run an online tutoring business, you can set your own hours, decide how much you want to charge per hour, and take on as many or as few clients as you want. One of the best things about tutoring is that it gives you a lot of freedom.
Also, becoming a tutor is a great way to help students and their families. When you help out as a tutor, you help kids learn the skills they need to do well in school, and you take some of the pressure off their parents. A tutor can make a big difference in the way many students do in school. So, tutoring could be your passion if you care about students and want to see them grow and succeed.
Also, over the past few years, more and more people have been using online tutoring. IBIS world says that the size of the online tutoring services market in the US, as measured by revenue, will grow by 4.1% in 2020. When you become a tutor, you help fill a need that is always there, especially during the school year and around the time of standardized tests. Now is a great time to start your own online tutoring business if you want to join a growing market.
When it’s better to join a tutoring service than start your own business
You can start tutoring online in a few different ways. You can join an online tutoring network that is already up and running, like Care.com, or you can start your own online tutoring business. Your choice between these two options will depend on the resources you have, how much time you have, and what your business goals are.
In General, you should Join a Tutoring Network if any of the Following are True for you:
You Don’t Have Many Friends: If you don’t already know a few possible students, it might be best to sign up for a tutoring website. These sites help connect tutors with students, which can reduce some of the demand that comes with building a client base from scratch.
You need to get to work right away: Finding clients and making a name for yourself as a tutor can take a lot of time, energy, and money. Signing up for a tutoring site is a good idea if you want to skip this step. You’ll find clients and start teaching a lot faster.
You’re happy to pay a fee: Most sites that help people find tutors take a cut of what tutors earn. For a tutoring site to be helpful, you should have enough money in your budget to cover this cost.
You don’t want to set up your own technical tools: To be a good online tutor, you need to have access to a variety of tools. At the very least, you need a way to share your computer screen and a virtual whiteboard. Many online tutoring sites, like Varsity Tutors, have these tools already built into their platforms.
Step 1: Make a plan for your business
A good plan is the foundation of a successful business. A business plan is a written outline of the business you want to start and how you want to run it. It shows how you want your business to be set up, how it will run, and how it will make money. You can learn a lot about how to write a business plan online. You may also be able to get help from your local chamber of commerce and government agencies that work on economic development.
Usually, a business plan has:
The Bottom Line
What the company does
Market Overview
Sales & Marketing Strategy
Operating Plan
Organizations and the Leadership Team
Financials
Once you have a general idea of how your business will work, it’s time to figure out how much it will cost to get started. Do you need to buy materials or tools to help you teach? Will you have to pay for software to build a website or a web host? Do you need to buy any hardware, software, or insurance for your business?
Since you just started your business and will probably be the only employee for a while, your business plan doesn’t have to be very detailed. Most of the time, you should use this plan to set goals, make a marketing plan, and figure out how much your business will cost.
Step 2: Set up your computer properly
The next thing you need to do is set up your classroom. Find a place in your home where you can teach online. You should look for a place that is far from the house and has a lot of light. Then, when you are on a video call, move so that there is a clean, neutral background behind you.
Make sure you also have all the technology you need to start online tutoring. You need a computer and a good internet connection, of course. You should also have a webcam and a microphone that works, even if it’s just the one that came with your laptop. Also, we suggest buying a tablet or digital drawing pad and stylus that you can use with virtual whiteboard software. These tools make it easier for you to show your students ideas and explain them from far away.
Step 3: Find the right software to help you learn.
After you decide on the hardware, you should choose the software. You might want to buy the following kinds of software:
Video calling software: Find a piece of software like Zoom or Google Hangouts that lets you schedule meetings ahead of time and then send links to those meetings to the people who will be attending. You should also check to see if you can share your screen, since you will probably want to use this tool to show your students something.
Virtual Whiteboard Software: You can draw, write, and make diagrams on a digital whiteboard with the help of virtual whiteboard software. You only need a mouse to use the software, but a tablet or digital drawing pad with a stylus, like the Wacom Intuos, gives you even more control. You might want to check out Ziteboard, IDroo, and Scribblar, which are all online whiteboards.
Software for Sharing Documents: Use the free tools that Google gives you to your advantage. Google Docs is a great way to share documents, work on them at the same time, and leave comments on certain parts of a document. Google Classroom makes these tools even better. Using Google Classroom, you can put all of your students’ information in one place. You can add assignments, rubrics, and resources here. You can use quizzes to help students figure out how much they know. Google Classroom keeps students’ work for an indefinite amount of time, which makes it a great way to track how students are doing over time.
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