How to Start Tutoring Business: Everything you should know

If you are passionate and committed to the e-learning industry, which is just on top of its success, then the tutoring business is your next step towards success.    
 

So, what is this all about? It is about YOU, be smart, and start taking action.    
 

In this article, we will reveal the top tips & tricks that will help you to establish a successful tutoring business, generate leads, turn them into customers, and make some profits.    
 

Along with everything you should do, we will tell you the Top 5 Mistakes you should avoid in this industry.    
 

If you are ready, let's just start. 

Who is the business tutor?

So, who is a business tutor? Basically, a business tutor is someone who is anticipated to have expert knowledge in a specific area and who teaches others that knowledge. Tutoring can be conducted in person, over the phone, or over the internet. Tutoring itself is a method of teaching that relies on one-to-one interaction, in our case, between the expert and the learners.    
 

Also, there is a Private Business Tutor; the main difference is that private business tutors will use their own lesson plans, which they create after assessing the student's particular needs, in this case, tutoring on an interaction between an expert and a learner.    
 

Of course, each of those come with their advantages and drawbacks, and none of those is easy enough to start and immediately succeed. However, you have to keep in mind that with the right mindset, a little bit of effort, and with a nice platform that saves your time during website creation, you can achieve your goals and become one of the best tutors in today's market.    
 

Why start business tutoring?

If you thought about why you would need to start a business tutoring, then surely, after these advantages that are listed down below, you would be all set to actually start it. Let’s start:   
 

Demand

If you both - are passionate about teaching, coaching, and also looking forward to making some profit, then the tutoring business is what you need. Now online coaches are demanded as never before. Here are a few reasons why:

• Cost-Effective: There is no need to rent a separate space to hold training in, as well as your clients, would not need to spend money on transportation. 
• Time Effective: Online training saves your clients time and energy and helps them better understand the provided material. Which afterward benefits you in terms of positive reviews, and positive publicity
• Safe: It not only feels safe to enter a live-session training with strangers from the comfort of your own home, but it also is quite solid and safe in terms of the current pandemic. 
• High Demand: Again, coronavirus made everyone start implementing online learning in their daily lives, and now as people are used to it, many new methods have been developed to improve the experience. Actually, the truth is that due to upgraded methods and new efficient techniques implemented, nowadays, many people prefer online learning over offline one. So use your chance and open a website for starters. 

Salaries 

Besides other benefits of the online tutoring business, one more advantage is Tutor Salaries. For example, in the US, those vary from 30 to 180 $ per hour, subsequently 4800 to x 28,000 $ monthly.    
 

Therefore, if you decide to pursue the career of a tutor/coach, and if you have the necessary skills required, you’ll get the chance to be one of the best and most demanded coaches in the market. Also, you should remember that in case if you start your tutoring business instead of working for someone, you will be your own boss. Therefore your income fully depends on you. 

Enhances/broadens your own knowledge

One more major benefit of tutoring or coaching is that it broadens your knowledge about the area of expertise plus improves your skills as a coach within every hour of tutoring. It all is logical; with practice comes excellence, and how much energy and time you invest in it will come back to you multiple times more in the form of better knowledge, higher demand, and profits.    
 

What is required for tutoring business?

There are certain requirements for tutoring business since it is a source of income. Your business should be declared and registered; otherwise, you are good at working for a criminal syndicate. Let's have a closer look at the requirements.

Legal Requirements

It depends on the Legal Structure of your business and the country you live in. The main legal requirements are:

• Licenses and certificates to start a tutoring business: for tutors, it is not required to have a teaching license; however, we recommend having at least a college degree. You'd like to have a confirmation of your knowledge and, of course, an actual understanding of your material. Besides, if you plan to become the best on the market, you should think about getting new coaching qualifications. 
• Permits needed & Insurance: you should check your local law for tutoring territory requirements, as in some places, it is illegal to work from home. Tutors may need general liability insurance, professional liability insurance, and workers' compensation insurance.
• Legal Structure of your tutoring business: for tutoring, there are a few options you can choose from, but mostly, tutors choose from a sole proprietorship, partnership, and LLC. A sole proprietorship is when you are the only owner and have no employees; the partnership allows you to share the profits with multiple people; an LLC (Limited Liability Company) is liquid in terms – it can have both corporate or partnership nature.  If needed, you can get support from an LLC service for consulting and making other types of decisions.

Bonus

• Payment options: you would like to have at least one online payment method – via cards. But we also recommend using PayPal and GooglePay to provide your users with comfortable and safe payment ways.

How to start business tutoring: 6 simple steps

Working for yourself is the best way to make money, and business tutoring is one of the ways to do that. Although you more or less have complete freedom to do whatever you want, we advise you to follow six steps that will make achieving your goals simpler and faster.   
 

First, you need to identify your client, i.e. narrowing your audience choice. You will get to choose from different categories, like age, location, education, employment, etc. This will help you with the further steps, for example, for coming up with your content.    
 

Since you’re working for yourself and may even hire other people to work for you, it is essential that you have a business plan. It is really easy to lose track of expenses when you keep your mind occupied with other problems – and the online tutoring business is a complex thing – so your business becomes and stays effective.    
 

The third thing you need to think about is the platform you’ll exploit for your business. You may think that it is about time to work on content, but the platform comes first. The platform of your choice dictates the medium of your educational material. You don’t get famous on youtube by writing blog posts, really.

The fourth step is to set prices. You may present your content in several forms, and each one of them will have a different price. Plus, if you’re just starting, you don’t put high prices in the beginning – it may repel possible customers. But when you already have an audience (and we will discuss how to get it in a few steps),you can start raising the prices.

Now is the time to work on the educational material. You already know what platform you are going to use and what audience you’re going to present it to, which gives you a clue on what type of material you’ll have to come up with. Think about your audience: what is relevant to them? What information should you include and what to omit? Then think about presenting it: in a video, article, podcast, etc.   
 

And finally, establish your web presence. Where are you going to get your clients from? Probably the Internet, right? Make yourself a nice website with all information about your courses, share it on your social media, etc.    
 

Every step builds on the previous one, like clusters of the Earth, so you can’t really skip any of them or swap them. Try following our guide and see how effective it is. See the details below!   
 

Step 1 - Identify your client

Let’s have a closer look at the importance of identifying the audience you’re going to work with. 

Since all the people are different, it is really hard to come up with content that will satisfy all people of all ages or cultures. So you have to come up with specific content that will satisfy a specific group of people. To come up with that, you will have to understand what their needs are. Even when the topic is the same, you will have to design the course differently. Let’s say, you want to tutor classical physics. You will definitely change the type of information depending on whether you’re teaching high schoolers or PhD students.   
 

Major benefits are:

• Content adjustment. As we already mentioned, knowing your audience will help you to choose the information you are going to present and the medium of it. Teenagers, for example, will absorb knowledge better through videos, while people of 60 y.o. would prefer readings. 
• Advertising. It would be easier to attract customers when you know them better, when you know what they need and where to put your adverts. Plus, in the future, it will help with attracting new customers. 
• Customer service. The more you know about your audience, the easier it is to predict what they may need. You’ll know how to answer their questions, how to satisfy them just enough so they recommend your courses to their friends.   
   

How to identify clients? Answer these simple questions:

• What age range is your ideal client?
• Do they study at university, school, or maybe they do not study at all?
• What are the goals and expectations of your client from the specific course you offer?
• Do you prefer group tutoring or one-on-one, or maybe selling pre-recorded training videos?

Step 2 - Prepare a business plan

It is time to work on your business plan. Why exactly is it important to have one for tutoring? 

As any other business, tutoring business is a risk. Business plan helps you to be more or less sure about the future.

Benefits of having a business plan are:

• Be effective. Sticking to a plan, especially when it comes to finance, will help you decrease risks, and in case of budgeting, avoid unexpected expenses. This will induce the efficiency of your business. 
• Attract investors. Having a business plan makes your business more reliable not only for you, but also for those who consider supporting you. When investors see a highly detailed plan they understand your seriousness and confidence, so they are more likely to invest in your tutoring business.
• Expand in a certain way. Business plan helps to mark a way your business is going to go and expand. Knowing your goals and aims will help you actually achieve them.    
   

Here are the main points that should be included in your business plan. 

• Company Description: Think about how you’re going to present your company to the market, what information you’re going to include on your website and on your social media.
• Market Overview: To sell something and get profit, you need to understand how the market works. And not just the market in general, but a specific niche market of your target audience. And of course, research the law, taxes, employment status, licenses, etc., are really important to know about. Successful Market Research will help you to better understand and plan your next steps. 
• Sales and Marketing Strategy: At some point, you will have to advertise your business. Where are you going to find your customers? What platforms will you use for advertising? Carefully research it according to your audience choice and create different adverts for different media. 
• Organizations and Management team: You may work with your family and friends, or hire a team of specialists to do separate tasks for you (e.g., making a website, advertising, etc.). It is quite hard to develop a business all by yourself, so find at least one person to help you out.
• Budgeting: You have to understand that your tutoring business will not pay off immediately. If you are not occupied, think about the money you will save for your living, for your business and for a rainy day. Separate your money into building a website, advertising, technology and equipment, your team members’ salary (if you have a team) etc. If you pre-plan it, you will end up saving a lot of money.

Step 3 - Find a Platform 

The platform dictates the form and medium of your educational content. Depending on the topic you want to tutor on or your personal preferences, you may consider different platforms. It is essential that you adjust your content according to the platform you are using. As we said before, it makes no sense posting articles on YouTube. And of course, you can post educational videos there, but they will not bring you much money, especially in the beginning. YouTube, after all, is social media. What we recommend is to use platforms that are created for tutoring. Here are some suggestions:

• Uteach: Uteach is our own development. It is a website that is made for people who like to learn and like to teach. It is comfortable and simple to use, whether you are tutoring or taking courses. What is unique about Uteach is that you need to perform only two actions to start your tutoring career there – register and get your domain name. Uteach allows you to build your own professional website and upload different courses. It is really affordable, you can get a premium plan with a fourteen-day trial or a free plan. Check the details about pricing․
• Udemy:  Udemy is a website that was specially designed for tutoring. It already hosts 183 thousand courses, so it is one of the best platforms to develop and expand your tutoring business there. It is really flexible when it comes to scheduling and planning your course, so consider this platform.
• TeachWorks: TeachWorks is a platform that you may choose for tutoring, as it is fairly simple to navigate in and versatile for building your courses. The website has a fast payment system, plus it allows you to gain followers really quickly. It’s a nice platform to start tutoring in.    
   

Step 4 - Set prices

Since you are your own boss now, you can set your own rates, but you have to be careful. You have to keep two things in mind: your worth and your customers. First, you need to understand how much money your tutoring is worth. And of course, it depends on the medium of your tutoring. You may charge different fees for e-books, audio podcasts, pre-recorded training, live one-on-one and group training, and also traditional face-to-face training. Then, we have the audience. If you’re tutoring courses are brand new, you lower your rates to attract customers. When you have enough profit and feedback for your reputation, you start raising the prices.

Think about how much money you expect to make. Of course, you can say, as much as possible. But be realistic. You need achievable goals. Calculate the minimum amount of money per month that you will need for your survival, add 10% on top – that’s how much money you will have to make at least, if you don’t have any other means of supporting yourself. And this is if you work alone. If you have a Team, you will have to think about their salaries, too. 

Also, make sure to thoroughly research and analyze the market that you’ll be working with. A firm understanding of economic processes, such as demand and supply would be helpful as well. It is very helpful if you start your tutoring business when you have enough money to support your new growing business, your teammates and yourself.    
 

Step 5 - Educational Material

What topics are you going to teach? Are you going to offer e-books, live sessions, online and offline classes? Here you have to decide everything you are going to provide within your business and prepare relevant material for it. For example, you have to make presentations and shoot training videos for pre-recorded training programs. You will have to upload each audio, e-book, or other materials you offer on your website to make sure your clients are aware of all the services that you offer.    
 

Make sure that you have a lesson plan and strategy for online and offline training. Your training has to make sense, and each lesson has to embrace the previous one, give new information, and fulfill your clients' knowledge desires.

A good tip that I can suggest for you to include in every training session no matter online or offline, is the Q&A section. So that you will be able to help participants better cover and comprehend the material provided.    
 

Step 6 - Establish Your Web Presence to Get Clients 

No matter if you are an online or offline tutor, or maybe both (which is more efficient, by the way),most of your clients are likely to come to you because they found you on the internet. So, making sure that you are present online, have a nice-looking website with available materials, and have testimonials from previous clients is a crucial factor in finding new clients. Few tips for you:

• Choose an easy-to-use platform: I believe you do not have time to build a website from scratch. Therefore, you can choose a ready-to-use platform, such as Uteach. With it, you will easily design and customize your website without additional costs and coding knowledge. Besides, uploading materials there due to an excellent user interface saves a great deal of your time. 
• Share your services on social media: If you want to get noticed, especially as a new coach, make sure you tell about what you offer literally to everyone you know. Share your services, along with website links on social media, tell your friends about it to your friends, ask them to share your website as well, etc. 
• Blog: If you have a blog on your website (an option that Uteach automatically offers),it will assist you in ranking higher in search engines. Blog and articles are the best way to generate some quality leads and turn them into real-time customers. Share your experience and vital up-to-date knowledge about your area of expertise in your blog, SEO optimize the articles, and just have fun with what you do. 

Also, one additional, however very helpful tip is to research the best examples of coaching websites.    
 

Best practices for selling your tutoring service

Now it is time to review best practices to implement throughout your online or offline training sessions in order to keep your audience engaged and gain some positive publicity. 

• Your USP: USP is a unique selling point; this is definitely something you should know. What are your areas of expertise, and what can you offer that other private or group tutors can’t? Think about it very well, write down the qualities that differentiate you, afterward, use those for “self-marketing.”
• Use testimonials (past client’s reviews): in order to gain trust, you will have to showcase some testimonials and reviews from your past clients. It is very hard in this era of cybercrime to trust someone who has no base online. Ask your previous clients to send you some recommendation letters (short, just 100-300 words),describing their experience and learning outcomes. 
• Showcase your work: Put on some introduction or demo lessons in order to help your future clients better understand your teaching methods and avoid any confusion. 
• Share: Do not be shy, and do not hide what you are doing. You will not be able to wake up one day and magically become the best in the market if no one knows about what you do. This point is especially important for those who are just starting out and have never even had real clients before. So, go on and share your website on your social media, ask friends for help, do not miss the opportunity, and almost in every company tell about what you do, how and why you do that. That simple sharing is a huge opportunity for you to find new clients and make some profits, alongside building a good tutor reputation. 

5 mistakes you should avoid

There are several ways to succeed, and eventually, you will; however, it is good to know that success will come to you a lot faster if you avoid certain mistakes. Therefore, here we will review the top 5 mistakes you have to avoid:

• Poor planning: Many coaches and tutors fail to complete a successful training session because of poor planning. You can be an excellent expert in your area, but if you cannot plan your steps and learn programs successfully, it will result in failure. For example, your student asks you a question by the middle of the lesson, giving them a long explanation. And now you don't have time to cover your lesson topic fully. This can cause a lot of management problems, so you would like to preplan your lessons in a way that there is a special time for questions.
• Offering only one product: If you just offer one thing, the chances it is not what your customers want is high. They would go to somebody else. Say a person wants to learn about linear algebra, but they are having a hard time learning it from an article. They'd rather watch a forty-minute video lecture. If they do not find it on your website, no matter how good your article is, they will look in other places. And you would lose a user. Show variety, please your customers.
• Not marketing yourself: No matter how SEO-healthy your website is, you cannot rely on algorithms solely. A good way of promoting yourself is to buy advertising on social media, such as Instagram, Meta, etc. You would sit and wait forever to blow up on social media without proper advertising, and even longer if you do not have a social media presence for your business.
• Poor technological knowledge: Nothing is more repelling in a tutor than incompetence with technology. It shows that you are not moving with the times, which is a harm to the trust between you and your customers. And it can be really distracting, too, trying to work and study when there's something off with the technology. Update your technological insight, do drills with friends to check the quality of connection, etc.
• Not upgrading your tutor skills: You may be really good in your area, but it is impossible to know everything, especially when information gets updated daily. You would want to provide your students with the most relevant information. Imagine if they watch your video course and recall that one article in Nature journal that proves everything you claim wrong. That'll be a great deal of harm to your reputation.

Start your tutoring business journey with Uteach

After completing all the legal requirements, creating the necessary materials such as engaging videos (we can add Engaging Video internal link here),business plan, and market research, your final step will be choosing a platform. I recommend going with Uteach, as currently, this platform makes your life as a coach/tutor easier.    
 

Uteach is an incredible all-in-one platform where you can create a website in just a few clicks. Major benefits of Uteach are:

• Affordable: Many famous website builders require additional web development work, plugins for customization, and paid hosting services meanwhile, Uteach offers you four plans (one of which is completely for free) within the highly affordable price range
• Time-saving: In under a minute, you can register on this platform afterward have an opportunity to design your website using ready-to-use templates and themes quickly
• User-friendly: Due to the extremely simple interface Uteach will not require hours of concentration simply for the sake of learning how to navigate and use the admin's dashboard    
   

Let's go through the main steps of creating a website with Uteach. 

Step 1 - Registration 

Your first step in the tutoring business journey with Uteach will be "registration" on the platform. It is straightforward to do; just fill out - Full name, email, and password, choose a pricing plan (for paid ones, you will have a 14-day free trial run),and be done!

Step 2 - Design

After the creation of a website, it is time to customize everything. Go to the admin's dashboard, and click on the "Site Builder."   
 

What features Site Builder offers: 

• Pages - number, order, etc. 
• FAQ section
• Menu Builder where you can customize pages, order those, and control the overall appearance of your website
• Email Setting - allows new students to register for a course on your webpage effortlessly    
   

Step 3 - Publish the Materials

To publish the materials on your website, you can do that through the admin's dashboard. For example, if you click on a blog or courses, you will see the page where you can add a title, then text for the article or media for the course, along with the course descriptions, and publish everything just by clicking on the "publish" button. 

By the way, we recommend you to have a blog on your website in order to generate more leads. Uteach offers you some tools for a successful SEO for your website, such as a place to type a meta description in.    
 

Step 4 - Tracking tools

One more excellent feature of Uteach is the build-in sales tracker, with which you can track the results, analyze those and implement a successful strategy on how to boost some traffic and sales.    
 

One more piece of advice that I can give you is to have fun with what you do. Remember, that first of all, you have to enjoy the process in order to get desirable results, smile, accept new challenges with grace and a positive mindset; you will definitely find a resolution to all the obstacles; Uteach is there to help you during your vital journey towards success in the tutoring industry.    
 

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