You Have To Attract Students And Build Trust: How To Start An Online Tutoring Buisness

Welcome to Leaving Teaching’s second specialist interview! I found Audrey’s content on YouTube, and her tone and approach immediately reminded me of so many awesome veteran teachers I’ve known. I just trusted her. Audrey’s launched a successful online tutoring company and isn’t shy about sharing how she did it. I’m especially happy to run this interview today because it’s her birthday! Happy birthday and thank you, Audrey!

What's your background and how did you get into tutoring?

I was a classroom teacher for almost 20 years. Just before the pandemic hit, I knew I wasn't going to come back. I went to my principal and I told her, “Look, I'll finish the year out, I'm going to be strong, but start looking for another person.” And then boom!—the pandemic hit. And I was like, “Okay. this is a sign. It's telling me that I should move forward with something.”

I went on Youtube and typed in, “careers for former teachers.” You know, what are my options? Because as educators, we're always told that our next step is to be a principal or vice-principal. Go into administration and after administration, go to the district. I've seen a lot of great teachers just basically die of their creativity when they go to the district. Yeah, you get your 1% raise every year, but at what cost? You were such a great teacher.

Anyway, I stumbled onto online tutoring. And I was like, That's probably something for a local high school kid or a college kid looking for some beer money. But I decided to go out and do a little more research. I found this lady Joanne Kaminski. She's been doing [online tutoring] for a minute, with elementary reading and English.

I did her program, not once, but twice, because the first time I felt really rushed. But it didn't really mesh with math. So I started to say, “Okay, let me put my spin on it, like how I used to teach in the classroom.”

Before you know it, I'm in year five [of tutoring], still doing it and still loving it. I'm coaching, teaching, and tutoring students from all over. I'm in Nairobi, Kenya, Cairo, Egypt, and throughout California. I started to get popular in Alaska. Alaska! It's just really cool that one minute, I'll be in Florida and the following minute, I'm in Texas. 

But it's just so freeing. At the same time, it does challenge you. You do have to put a lot of work into it. A lot of teachers will say, “Oh, I could just tutor, and that'll be easy.” But you have to do something to attract students and to build trust. You could be the best tutor ever, but if people don't trust you, they're not going to hire you.

So how do you build trust? And how do you attract clients? 

I was listening to a video on Tiktok like three summers ago, and the key phrasing was, “I don't chase, I attract. What belongs to me will simply find me.”

That has resonated with me for this whole duration. Because you get to the point where you are chasing. You're doing social media posts. You're like, “Oh, I gotta do a website. And I gotta have a channel.” When you're doing all this stuff to chase after people, you're gonna get disappointed. Because when it comes to tutoring, the way you started is different from any other business. It's completely different.

First thing, ask, “What is it you're gonna specialize in?” Don't say, “Oh, I do everything from K through 12.” No, no, you're gonna burn yourself out. Pick something that you can do without have to look it up… It's a matter of figuring out what your niche is, and who you want to service.

Then, you just need to go and tell your family, your friends, everyone, what you're doing. You can start as simple with a flyer. Go on Canva; make a little thing with your contact information. Put in a QR code, and either direct it to your email address or some kind of contact, like a Google form. Just basic information like: What's the name? What's the child's name? What grade would they need help with? Give them a space for the parents to say what they’re noticing. Give them the time to talk about their child. 

As soon as you get the message, get in touch with them. Don't bombard them like, “Oh, I’ve got all these great programs.” Parents don't like it. Because they're always being talked to. They finally want someone to say, “Look, let me hear you. And this is what I can do to help. And if this is a great fit, awesome. If it's not, I will even help you find somebody.” Parents are so appreciative of that, because they don't know where to start.

Start off with word-of-mouth, start off with something local, and then take it from there. Because what you really need is a good four to five students. You do them well. Even if you have one person, if you do that one well, they're going to speak highly of you. And that's gonna travel. And before you know it, you're building up.

What do you love about tutoring?

Just the different kids. I get to meet someone in a different state–like I said, Alaska. That's still blowing my mind!

I get to see how hard the students work, and to cheer on their successes, and to be there when they feel like, “I can't do this anymore.” It's really beneficial when at the end of your session, you see the kid who at first was like, “I don't want to do this,” to at the end, when they're like, “Oh, wow! It's over already? That was quick.” And to go from a failing student crying hysterically on the Zoom call, to now I'm hearing that you're helping your classmates out, and your teacher is seeing a major change, and you're starting to get A's, and you're expecting to get A's. Now, I don't know if it was me, or if it was just that they needed someone to jolt them, to see how great they truly are.

You don't get to do that in the classroom in the same way. You don’t really get that time to dig in with one student… So what do you think makes a successful tutoring company?

Someone who listens. Someone who’s patient and flexible, and also constantly wants to be knowledgeable. For myself, I'm always learning something: what's the latest thing, and does it really match what I'm trying to do? Always be learning.

When it comes to having that connection with your families, remember that person is not just that $52 or $75. That's a kid. And they're already on edge. They just want someone to be like, “Okay, you got this. Let's break this down.” By having that connection [with you], now they can relax. When they're relaxed, they can learn.

And then for you, understand what your value is. Have a price and stand firm. If you don't feel like comfortable with a certain amount, do levels: your highest, that you really want; a medium grade that you're like, “Okay, I can still survive off of that”; and your absolute low.

I see a lot of teachers who want to go into online tutoring and go for these big tutoring companies, rather than going out on their own. Why do you think that is?

Fear. It's the fear of the unknown. 

A lot of trouble people have is they mix up the definition of what a tutor is, and what a teacher is. When you're a tutor, you're doing more of the assistance. You're taking on what's being presented, looking at homework, looking at getting them ready for assessments, giving people support. Whereas in teaching, you're creating a program, where you want people to go ABCDE. You’re teaching. So when people transfer over from the classroom to the tutoring world, they still bring that classroom mentality. I like to call it the “teacher-tutor mindset shift.” We have to really purge ourselves [of the teaching mindset] to get into tutoring.

So a lot of people get fearful of what they don't know. They don't know what questions to ask. So they just like, “Okay, let me just go into this third party.” And then, after they're there for a minute, they realize, “Wait, this parent is being charged $80 and I'm only getting $35, but I'm doing most of the work.”

The company will say, “Well, we're paying for the marketing.” But really, how much marketing are you doing if you only have two or three clients? Then they realize, “If I did the same amount of marketing myself, I could probably get the same amount or more, and be able to still keep that money.” 

So what would be your advice to those people who want to tutor, but are afraid?

I always say, before you start making any kind of transition, save up to about two and a half years worth of money. There's going to be not a whole lot of cost to start up; that's the one thing about tutoring that's great. But while you're still trying to figure your business out, bills are still coming in, so at least have that saved up. Then you won't be in the deficit as you're building yourself up. 

Sometimes people just need someone to brainstorm with. Brainstorm with me if you want! Because I'm going to give you the real real. So if people aren’t sure, let's talk about it. Are you willing to do the amount of work that is going to take? You gotta do flyers. You gotta do marketing. You gotta do videos, because people are more prone to videos than just regular pictures. Are you willing to do that to attract the clients you want? Because that's what you're going to have to do.

What are some helpful tools for folks building an online tutoring business?

Google business is huge. I think [every tutor] should have a Google business account. Because if you think about it, if people are looking for something, what do they do? Google it, right? 

On Youtube, do some instructional videos. Show a sample of what you do or how you would break down a concept. What are some tips that you can give parents? 

Then, when you go to parent groups on Facebook, don't go in as your business. You'll be kicked out instantly. It's like Fort Knox when it comes to Facebook! Go as yourself. Look around, see what people are talking about. Make sure you respond to people's posts… Be yourself so you can attract [clients] to you. And they're like, “Oh, I don't know how my child can't read, what's going on?” And then you can say, “By the way, I'm an English tutor.” Or, oh, this child has this one math problem is driving me nuts, I'm like, Hey, post it! Let me take a look at it because I'm a math tutor.

So it kind of comes back to that original question: how do you build trust? You have to be yourself. 

It is going to be a lot of work. It's not just a matter of hitting publish or send, and all of a sudden everyone's flooding. No, you got to do some additional stuff to attract people. And then you tell them, “Hey, I also do online tutoring. I can help your child out.”

What are some surprises or unexpected challenges that someone who's new to tutoring might not know to anticipate?

Doing your taxes quarterly instead of just at the end of the year. Holy Hanky, I was not prepared for that at all! 

Just having a system down for collecting payments. Cause as teachers, we're so used to teaching, teaching, teaching. Sometimes in my first year, I would totally forget [to collect payment], because I was so used to just teaching. But now you gotta understand that this is a business. This is not a hobby. In order for it to transfer from a hobby to a business, you have to make a profit.

The other thing was putting a price to my services. If you're a teacher and you're new to tutoring, you should not be taking anything less than $52 an hour. The reason I say $52 is because if you're going to do automatic payment through, say, Stripe, they take a percentage. So if you charge $50, they're gonna take about $2.40. That means you're not getting paid $50, so you want to add those fees to your total amount. 

[For collecting payment], I use the Fonz App, and I love them. I've been with them for like 4 years now, and they’re very supportive. If there’s any kind of discrepancy whatsoever with payments, they will go after the person for me. I don't have to do anything.

How it works is, parents pay through the app. Anytime we do any kind of any kind of appointment, it just automatically charges payment. So I don't have to do any invoicing… At the end of the year, they give you a 1099, and a breakdown of how much you took in per month. You can see on their dashboard how many people cancel appointments and all this other stuff, and they're always adding things... It's like $30 a month, and I gladly pay it. 

That's another thing: everyone needs terms and conditions. Keep your boundaries out there. After my first year, I noticed I was losing tons of money because of the last-minute cancellations. Because I was like, “Oh, okay, you've canceled last minute, not a problem. I'll see you next time.” And I was hemorrhaging money. So now you have to give me 24-hour notice. If clients call me with 12 hours’ notice, as opposed to 24 hours, I charge half. So I at least get something. I put that in my terms and conditions as well.

You've started coaching people and starting their own tutoring businesses. So tell me a little bit about the services you offer. 

I do one-on-one coaching, I have a Facebook group, and I also have a small group called U Can Tutor. I'm doing a subscription, where I’m sending videos with me talking, showing tools, and giving some resources, directly to your email. 

Twice a month, I have what's called a Collab Workday. We start off with a question and answer section, then I give you some time to work on one particular thing that can help boost your business, maybe a flyer, or an email marketing. Whatever you want to do, you're gonna do that for like 45 minutes to an hour. So it gives you time to uninterrupted time to do work. And then at the end of that time, you present what you were working on, so you can get real-time constructive feedback. So by the end, you'll have something, a product that you can use.

I also do what's called a how-to session, like how to set up your Google business. Plus [subscribers] can message me if something comes up. You're like, “Audrey, can you read this email for me? I don't know if this makes sense.” “Yeah, send it to me. Let me read it over.” I think a lot of people like the fact that it's almost like, “Just ask Audrey. I got a question. Just ask Audrey.”

Do you have any other tips or advice for people who are thinking of leaving the classroom and going into full-time tutoring?

I always say, try it first before you dive fully in. Give yourself like six months to a year. Then, if you're like, “You know what? This feels really good. I know I'm not going back into the classroom.”–then you can be all in. 

I started to tutor a little while I was still in the classroom to see if it was something I wanted to do. Because sometimes people get emotional and they're like, “That's it! I'm going completely into tutoring.” 

So I would say, Try it while you're developing, figuring out your name, your business name figuring out how much it costs in your state to register, try to get a domain name that ends with a dotcom, and just really see if that's what you want to do. Go with your heart. Just because you've been teaching for a while doesn't necessarily mean that's what you want to do now. After you're done, you might want to work just in the coffee shop as a waitress. And you might be happier. 

For teachers, we're so programmed that you have to give for the kids. You have to be a martyr, you are not your individual self. So God forbid if you want to take a day off because your kid is sick... My whole thing is, people are not going to value you until you're gone.

So do something that makes you happy. Do something that's not only beneficial for you but also for society.

You can find Audrey’s tutoring business here.

You can find Audrey’s Facebook group for aspiring tutors here.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.