How to Make a Living as a Tutor
Tutoring is a field with money-making potential for just about everyone. Even without a college degree, you can easily make side money tutoring students from elementary school to high school. To make a living tutoring, however, requires entrepreneurial motivation and a talent for teaching. Your odds of being able to make a living tutoring increase if you have a specialty, whether it's physics, homeschooling or kids with learning disabilities. As with any other small business, being able to live off the income of a tutoring business requires organization, diligence and the drive to expand the business and gain clients.
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Instructions
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Make a budget. This is an important first step because "making a living" can mean different things to different people. Determine how much money you need to bring in to be able to live off and pay your business expenses. If you are truly dedicated to the idea of making a living as a tutor, you can make two budgets: one, the bare bones minimum you would be able to sacrificially live off while you continued building your business and another more comfortable budget to aim for once your business is established.
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Make a business plan. Business plans needn't be complex, but should detail your general business mission and a plan for achieving your desired income. For example, set a specific hourly rate and detail the number of hours you need to work a month to make your desired income goal. Specify your target market -- whether it's children struggling with homework, or college students needing a crash course in specific classes -- and your intended method of reaching them.
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Develop your business. Tutoring clients are of primary importance to tutoring businesses. Consider ways to increase your client base, whether through fliers at a local college, networking with area teachers, or attending homeschool group meetings. Good tutoring materials are also important; develop your own or create a compendium of worksheets, assignments and reading material to standardize your tutoring process.
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Keep costs low. If you're going to live off your income, you will -- at least initially -- want to minimize your business expenses. Tutoring is a business that lends itself to low-cost operations: work out of your home or in places like libraries and coffee shops, and attract clients by networking and developing your own curriculum.
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Be a stellar tutor. Ultimately, your business will only succeed -- no matter how good your business plan is -- if you are a good tutor. Cultivate patience and learn how to speak to your target students, whether that's learning disabled children or adults in continuing education. Take classes on teaching, read books on tutoring and ask for feedback from students, parents and other teachers.
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References
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