How To Build A Successful Home Tutoring Business

Home tutoring is a small business idea that can help one generate extra income. Having oodles of patience ,add to that a good measure of firmness, knowledge of subject matter, a passion for teaching - and learning, willingness to understand young minds, particularly the age group you are to tutor, all qualify you to become a tutor, either at your own home, a library or in the home of the student.

Once you are established as a reliable and reputed tutor in your area, you can run ads in the local dailies,classifieds both online & offline advertising for tutors in every area of your city. Simultaneously, you can advertise your services as a home tutor provider. You can then charge every tutor that registers with you for a fee plus, a cut in their fees that is collected from each student. Students or their parents contact you though the newspaper ads for specific tuitions, and you allot each of your registered tutors the student that matches them subject and area wise. Once you grow this business, and are confident , you can extend this tutoring service to your neighbouring cities and state. Well, there is no limit to your growth. All you need to make sure is that your registered tutors are clear of any criminal records and are certified to teach the subject they want to . Particularly, since they have to visit homes of students, with or without a parent at home. Qualified home tutors need to have good qualities.

You can take up tutoring adults in Conversational skills for languages such as French, English, Spanish,Hindi,Kannada,etc.

A Math tutor or a Statistics tutor, or a Chemistry tutor are always in the Wanted column of several newspapers. And there is always an all year requirement, particularly during exams. Some want additional coaching to take up qualifying exams such as GRE,SAT,GMAT or entrance to medical, engineering and management exams.

If you are comfortable teaching computer skills, this too requires home tutors-whether you can teach basic computers and use of internet or the programing skills such as Java, C++. Your level of expertise matters on what you have to offer .

Music lessons are also offered by piano, violin and guitar tutors.

It is always wise to be open minded and take offers to tutor a student the basics of a subject and another student at a higher level. This way you have several students, your credibility as a qualified tutor in the particular subject is ensured, and, most importantly you never get bored tutoring the same subject matter over and over. Most tutoring offers then just fall into your lap as "word of mouth"' advertising works best, especially among parents of students. Not to mention, that the students' grades' speak well for themselves at the end of every school term. So, they continue to retain you and if there or other siblings needing help, you are their automatic choice.

The home tutoring business is one idea where you do not need much money to invest. All it takes is an effort to network among parents and teachers of your local schools, and run some ads in the prominent local newspapers and online Classifieds such as Craigslist.

Well, essentially the sky is the limit!

In today's world, where both parents are @ work, children need an adult's supervision to complete their homework, projects , and of course, they need someone to teach them what they missed out in class, or need additional explanation, and help them in getting better grades at school. And at high school in addition to being prepared for the Board Exams, students are to be given extra coaching for their entrance exams to Medical, Engineering And Management colleges. And, most often, especially here in India, a student has to apply and sit for as many exams as possible to get admission into a reputed educational institution where grades are the deciding factor, and the number of applicants far outcries the number of seats available. So, good tutors are "most wanted", throughout the year. If you are a Language tutor, you can have adults wanting to travel abroad, or have someone wanting to be taught the local language. School and college students of course, need to be proficient in the Grammar aspects of the Language they opted for, in school. And in India, we have every student having to learn at least 2 additional languages in addition to English. Computers of course, are being taught in every school, but some elderly people at home or some housewives and professionals may need to engage a home tutor as they want to be taught 101. And some businessmen would like someone to train them in setting up a website or SEO ,and leveraging the internet for their business. Which means, opportunities for tutors are aplenty!

Some Points to ponder:

If you are going to be a tutor yourself, you need to be sure about how many hours a day you can devote to tutoring-whether you are doing part time or full time. Most tutors are normally available after school hours as students want tuitions then. Adult learners may want to be tutored over the weekends. And, some would prefer the mornings. It would therefore be worthwhile to note your own preferences first and advertise accordingly. Also, if you are working elsewhere or a student yourself, it pays to know if you would like to teach something you are comfortable with. Tutoring parttime can give you some additional money, which I am sure you can put to good use. I know of several engineers,in service or retired, who are Math tutors and Physics tutors after work and on weekends, simply because they want to make good use of their time and learning and also want to engage in meaningful pasttime, other than watching TV.

If you are engaging tutors to teach the students you provide, you need not necessarily be a tutor yourself, but, knowing what each student requires, the different Board exams, Entrance exams and when they are usually schedule in the course of a year helps one in offering better service in terms of the duration one has to undergo a particular course, and what is expected of the candidate in question-as to what is the cutoff percentage for entrance to a famous college,or what exams one has to appear for to secure a seat in a good University abroad, and so, provide a tutor that matches the expectations. You can therefore be a professional at work in another organization, and still be in the home tutoring business as a hobby.

What Can I Expect To Be Paid?

Tutoring service is paid on hourly basis. Since a tutor is required to come home and teach, transport charges are to be paid as well. In the US, I understand, tutoring charges vary between 15-35 $/hr. For an adult learner it can be up to 40$ an hour.

In India, a home tutor can expect to be paid Rs.120-150/hr for school/college students, and for adult learners it would be Rs.250-300/hr. Of course, in some cases, transport is additionally charged depending on your client and the distance to be traveled. It pays to have a word with your prospective client on the timing factor and the tuition fees to be paid before being engaged. Some tutoring agencies and reputed private home tutors prefer to be paid in advance every month and some like to take an entire term's fees before beginning the first class.