Being a teacher isn’t easy no matter how easy our teachers may have made it seem. It takes more than just knowing a subject to teach it. You may not realize the gravity of the matter but you are actually dealing with complex concepts here.
Moreover, teaching is not for everyone and there are certain factors that determine whether or not you can be a tutor. These factors include your innate ability to teach, having an active mind, a can-do spirit.
Giving Economics Tuition
If you’re planning on giving economics tuition you need to tread even more carefully. Generally perceived as an easier choice, subjects like economics can be quite dry and boring for the students. This, in turn, could result in a shorter attention span, disinterest, and boredom.
This is why starting economics tuition can not only be quite challenging but also very exhausting. However, if you manage to do it, you can even take it up a notch and start your very own tutoring business being an Economics tutor.
Starting a Business of Tutoring
Starting a business of tutoring can be a worthwhile option. Especially if you’re either a teacher who’s looking for ways to make a few extra bucks, a student in search of a part-time job, or someone trying to make a living. That’s because it does not require too much investment. Primary school tutoring has boomed over the last few years with more and more parents looking for ways to help their kids get ahead early in life.
It also does not require any capital other than an online platform (in the case of online tutoring), or a physical location where students can come to learn, and some learning materials, such as whiteboard, markers, duster, books, and calculators, etc.
Ask yourself if you’re ready!
Before you start working on setting up your tutoring business, there are certain questions that you need to find answers to. One such question is about whether or not you are prepared to take tutoring up as a business.
Can you handle the financial burden that comes with running your own business as well as the mental stress you may experience from time to time? What about your ongoing engagements, will you be able to invest your time and energy in your business without exhausting yourself to death?
These questions may seem a little too intense for you but they are very important. If you start your tutoring business, there’s a lot you will have to do. And you might even have to do it all by yourself. That can be quite overwhelming at times.
Starting your tutoring business
Starting a business comes with a lot of responsibilities and an exceptionally long list of things-to-do. Especially in the case of a business of tutoring, if you plan on going solo, you will be your own boss. You will have to handle everything by yourself.
So, once you’ve made your mind up about the business, think about where you will teach the students. Will you start it at home, library, academy, or will you be teaching online? Once you decide this, you can set up your schedule and the number of students you will teach in those hours.
You can fix your hourly-rates as well. However, at first, we wouldn’t advise you to go for high rates. That’s because the first thing to do after starting your business is to build your reputation in the market so that your prospects (potential buyers) will trust you enough to hire you.
You should also think about the maximum number of students you could teach in a single batch. However, you shouldn’t be too hasty in making these decisions. Don’t decide on teaching too many students at a time as you won’t be able to pay attention to all of them individually. Be patient, be calm, and be smart about it.
Experience and Qualification:
Having experience in tutoring can be quite helpful but it’s not an absolute necessity. If you’re a student still working on completing your degree, you can choose the subjects you’re the best at and start teaching them.
If there isn’t much you can teach on an academic level, you can always opt to earn a new skill and start teaching it to those interested in acquiring that skill. For experienced tutors, however, there’s isn’t much they have to do to start their own tutoring business. Parents usually prefer tutors with the relevant experience and expertise in the subjects.
When all is said and done, tutoring is no different from freelancing if you are doing it by yourself. There are so many people out there looking for someone to help them with their subjects and teach them some skill they’ve wanted to learn for years. You just need to take the first step. That’s all it takes to start your very own business of tutoring.
That can be quite overwhelming at times, stated by Mr. Wee at tutorcity.sg which is a leading home tuition agency in Singapore. He added “When I just started out, I had to oversee all the planning, website design and matching of tutors 7 days a week. There was simply no time to do anything else.”
Further Reading
