If you’re teaching full-time, I would not recommend adding any other responsibilities to the mix, much less ones that involve more time spent with other people’s children!
However, if you are in a situation where tutoring would enrich your life and/or your bank account, then I’d like to help you out by letting you know how I went about setting up my tutoring services in this two-part series. There’s a lot to think about and I’ve already made several missteps along the way, so I’ll take this chance to help you maximize your effectiveness if you’d like to give tutoring a try yourself.
1. First think big picture. – What subjects are you qualified to teach? How can you prove to prospective clients that you have the knowledge and experience for these subjects? I've found that there is the most demand for high school math tutors. If you are competent and comfortable teaching Algebra and Geometry, you will have way less trouble finding clients. I am a little rusty on these subjects, but I am taking a lot of time right now brushing up on my high school math. I figure that I only have to do it once and then I will be back on track to tutor math for the foreseeable future with no worries.
2. Consider your possible clients. – What age group would you like to work with? You’ll also want to decide on a reasonable radius from your home that you’d be willing to accept clients from. For example, I made the mistake of accepting a client that lives 20-minutes away from me and I will have to drive on the freeway through traffic to get there and back. Not ideal, by any means. But I was just starting out and I felt desperate for clients and I said “yes” before I let myself ponder if it would really work for me and be worth the money. If you think about this beforehand, you won’t be caught off-guard on the phone, saying yes when you really mean no. Now, I plan to only accept clients that are in my immediate neighborhood.
3. Marketing Techniques – Think about the best way to reach your target audience. Some of the options include:
- Flyers with tabs on the neighborhood mailboxes
- Flyer delivery service to your target area
- Post on Craigslist
- Sign up with an online tutoring referral service
- Put up flyers around the community
- Advertise in community publications
- Send a letter and business cards to the guidance counselors at local schools
