Tutor Management 101: Why You Need to Plan Your Tutoring Business

A business of any kind is a risk, so to make sure you have the fighting chance to put up a successful business, you must be prepared. You must know the market you will be venturing into and do some thorough research on it. The tutoring business is no different.

            The tutoring business started gaining popularity in the United States as far back as the late 1990s. By 2000, it was fully fledged business with many people having already ventured into it successfully. So to be successful in the tutoring business, you need to plan ahead and make sure you are prepared for all eventualities.  And that is why you need to plan your tutoring business. Planning shows your professionalism to your customers as well, who will feel secure in your hands.

Research is one of the primary stages of planning. You should thoroughly research:

1.       How viable the tutoring business

2.      How much up-front capital will be required

3.      Whether face to face tutoring is more feasible than online tutoring

4.      Which area you would like to specialize in

5.      Know your competitors

6.      The rate at which the competition is selling their services

7.      What value added services are being provided

8.     What differentiating service can you provide

9.      Find out the shortcomings of this service in the market today

     Once your initial research is done, you can weed out a lot of your doubts and get into the actual task of starting the business. If your research was thorough, you should have the following points already sorted out:

1.       Whether you need an office space or a room in your house will suffice – Starting the business in your own home will mean that you can free up a lot of the set-up capital for other things.

2.      Cost factor – never sell yourself short. Even if you think this is a great and attractive customer magnet, it is not. Early bird offers or special discounts are great to encourage initial customer interest, but you must make it very clear that these are for a limited time only. Else customers might feel short changed.

3.     

            Get good quality tutors - They are your true assets. They are the representation of your firm and you must make sure you pick the best ones that you can find. They must be properly trained and must be taught to handle students as well as their guardians. Assessments must be done of them every 6months to a year and iron out any problems as soon as the crop up.

4.      Cash up-front – Always sell your tutor packages in a bulk package of 3-6months as far as possible. It is a tiresome task to collect payments after each class and not too feasible as well. People who are seriously committed to your services will not mind paying upfront.

      A well planned tutoring business will surely reap benefits and will move forward by leaps and bounds. And this is why  you need to plan your tutoring business.