In recent times, teaching has gone beyond what we have in the physical classes- especially for adult education. The newly extended means of getting an education is online tutoring, where students get to meet with their tutors for classes. Online training is a kind of teaching that is done with e-facilities, often like a distant learning program where students do not have to worry about class schedules and the likes.
Indeed, online classes have increased employment rates while also making education accessible to all. Aside from the usual academic curriculum, students can also take courses in specialized knowledge like catering, freelancing, graphics design, electrical and electronic repairs, and many more based on your choice of preference.
Get Up to $100,000 Student Loan for Your Master in US or Canada - Apply before 31 December 2024 to get as low as 9.99% interest rate
Amazingly, online tutoring does not only bring convenience to the tutors only but also to students who will not have to sit for long hours in the classroom. They can access all visual and audio material from the comfort of their home, not having to worry about distractions from their course mates or even intimidation from teachers- they learn when and how they want.
Table of Contents
How to Start as a Private Tutor
It is not enough to know what to do; doing it is what is highly applaudable; after reading on what online tutoring is about, does it interests you? Do you wish to get into this venture? If yes, you should be ready to take up some tedious tasks, read through the next lines, and find what you seek.
- Prepare a business plan. A business plan is highly essential when starting a business; this is why it is highly emphasized all through this context. A business plan is what will guide you through your plans and expectations, as well as your aims for your venture.
- To start an online tutoring business, you will need a functional and stable network alongside a PC. This is what will create a connection between you and your prospective students.
- Check out the profiles of other tutors you admire and create your profile in their fashion. You can as well look out for tutors in the same area of specialization as yours, read their programs and know what is expected of you.
- Prepare your program, study plan, and courses. You can make your courses and programs as presentation packages or better still as videos that you can pass across to your students to help them learn visually and in the audio format.
- Sign up with an online tutoring platform. It is through online tutoring platforms that you can meet with students and earn some bits while you teach. Some of these platforms include Skillshare, Udemy, and many more. Contrarily, you can make use of your social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram; if you are sure to get students.
- Create a payment and withdrawal method; this could be PayPal or any other universal means- to help you get hold of your funds wherever you are across the globe.
Make Money as a Private Tutor
It is not enough to be an excellent tutor; you also need to seek ways in which you can make money from what you do. Tutoring is like an advanced form of teaching, and it requires outstanding qualities and skills. After building on these skills, you should get more concerned about making money from what you love doing. The next lines present as follows:
- In-person private tutoring: This is one easy way to make money. When you take part in one-on-one coaching, you get to meet with your clients and transact in person. This way, you can take out all the hurdles as though it were online and assure your pay through practical classes.
- Online tutoring from your home or a café: When you teach from your home, you are saved the stress of trying to comport students or dealing with noisy ones. Also, teaching from a cafe can help you get along with your students well (in a serene environment) and also attract prospective students to your course. You can take both tutorings from home and cafe, but you have to be well scheduled about it.
- Upload your teaching resources to online teaching platforms: Platforms like Udemy and Skillshare allow you to share some skills with people while you earn money. Interestingly, these platforms can save you a lot of stress as they enable you to share your teaching resources as slideshows and videos while your students pay to get them.
- Excellent communication skills: Your communication can earn you a lot of students, which subsequently turns out to be a lot of pay.
- Excellent marketing skills: This is another way to make money as a private tutor. When you market and promote yourself properly, you get to meet with better prospective students.
- Always keep an eye on tutoring jobs around you: Various tutoring jobs are still on billboards and banners across the community. Keep a constant eye on these and look out for the ones that best fit your desire.
- Create your website: You should create a personal site through which you will teach students. When you have your platform, you will no longer be reliant on other platforms to find work; you will directly scout them to yours.
- Be social media active: A lot of students will want to keep up with you aside from the classroom; social media builds this link. It also helps you connect with people who might be interested in your services.
Teach yourself these skills to thrive as a private tutor
Deciding Your Tutorial Sessions
There are certain aspects of being a private tutor that is based on your choices. Many factors can decide the number of sessions you take weekly; some of them include:
- Your course: The first factor that decides how many sessions you will take every week in the class. Some courses require more time than the rest when determining how many sessions you should be getting on the weekly, first look at the nature of the course and its length.
- Your students: After knowing your target students, you should be able to decide how long they will be interested in taking your course. If you find this hard to determine, you can as well make questionnaires and seek the help of your students in finding the best sessions under which they would be highly attentive in the classes.
- Lastly, you can also be another factor in deciding the number of sessions you are willing to take weekly. Although, it is your job and you do not want to suck at it, however, you might also need to make schedules and programs that will not affect your tutoring sessions. So look into your plan and decide the best number of sessions for your courses.
Choosing Your Hourly Rate
The process of choosing and deciding your hourly rate as a private tutor can be highly tricky and time taking. While your level of expertise can determine this, the people you teach, your location, and experience would also be a determining factor.
The ultimate and indisputable fact is that the more you tutor, the better you become in teaching people. This also stages up your experience below amateur level. Subsequently, this is what determines how much you will charge your students.
Also, you can look up to other private tutors online or within your locality and inquire from them how they charge their students.
Common Problems of Private Tutoring and Solutions
Although based online, online tutoring still posses in itself some challenges. While you are stepping into this business, you need to know what lies ahead of you; some of the most common problems of online tutoring business include:
- Not enough students
Solution: The issue of having little or no students taking your problem can be solved in two ways. Firstly, it could be due to the ineffectiveness of your program; the other way could be that you have not created enough connections and links to gain yourself the required level of exposure. First things first, you need to create a program, not just a program but a very effective one- when your plans are professional effective, students get to multiply by reviewing and referring you to their peers. The other way, you need to expose yourself to people with similar interests, your level of exposure goes a long way in redeeming huge students to your page.
- Network from your internet service provider
Another problem of the business of online tutoring could arise from a slow network
Solution: You can easily purchase a personal WiFi service provider and limit connections to yourself alone, this way, you will rest assured that you own all powers of using the Internet on your device- thereby creating a smooth relationship for yourself.
- Payment and withdrawal methods
Other problems of online tutoring could arise from payment and withdrawal methods
Solution: As mentioned earlier, it is expected of you to create an online account with PayPal; PayPal is available in all countries across the globe, this assures you that your funds will surely get to your purse. Other payment methods might be giving you some stress and could result in you losing your funds.
The business of online tutoring will surely come easy to you if you have been tutoring and teaching people before now. However, if otherwise, you might need to learn some basics of teaching before venturing into the business- if you want to be successful.
In a sum of the above, this is perceived to be a comprehensive guide not just on making money as a private tutor, but also getting yourself well-positioned as a tutor.