Mistakes to Avoid when Starting a Tutoring Business

Item: Mistakes to Avoid when Starting a Tutoring Business
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Author: Jessie Mitchell

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Tutoring can be a great source of side income for many professional teachers and professors. Connecting with tutors is quite common nowadays for students who struggle with a few subjects and simply want help from a professional. This increases the chances for tutors as well to expand their list of students. For instance, there’s high demand in the new territories of Hong Kong for tutors and with modern technology, it’s not difficult to find an expert Tai Po Market tutors (大埔補習社).

However, it’s important to note that many teachers make a few mistakes when they are about to start a tutoring business, and this can cause a major hindrance to their new source of income. Therefore, we’ve listed a few mistakes in this article that you should avoid when starting a tutoring business. Read below!

Table of Contents

1. It’s Easier and Better to Search for New Students Online

Thanks to social media platforms, it’s not that hard to find a new student who matches your preferences best. Even if you just resigned from a school, it’s not ideal to go after your former students, as this won’t do well to your reputation.

You can ask for referrals, or word-of-mouth can also get you new students. However, at the start of your tutoring business, you can post on social media about yourself and the expertise you offer to get you several new students.

2. You Don’t Need to Take On Every Student

You may feel obliged to take on every single student that asks for tutoring, but you must keep in mind that you should avoid doing this.

It’s important to look for students who you will be comfortable tutoring. For instance, you can connect with a student who best suits your preferences, as this will make the learning journey easier and efficient on both sides.

In case you don’t want to deal with flaky parents or parents who have extremely unrealistic expectations of you, it’s better to decline them politely and avoid problems down the road.

3. Don’t Undervalue or Undersell Yourself

If you have the skills, capabilities, and expertise required to be a great tutor, you don’t have to charge way less than the market rate in order to get new or more students.

This way, you will be portraying yourself as less valuable and this may even make some individuals doubt your abilities.

Therefore, it’s better to research the tutoring market rates and charge accordingly.

4. Do Not Overpromise

You may feel the urge to boast your services and this may give unrealistic expectations to the parents or students. It’s essential to not deliver wrong expectations to the other party and promise only what can be actually achieved.

For instance, if a student has extremely poor mathematical skills, you can’t promise their parents to make their child an expert in math in less than a month.

5. Set Clear Boundaries in the Start

Just because you have started tutoring doesn’t mean that you are available round the clock for parents and students. Parents shouldn’t call or text you after you have given proper time to their child and if there is an important query, they should ask you while you are tutoring their child.

Likewise, students shouldn’t expect you to be available every hour of the day to answer their homework or class questions. It’s vital that you state these matters in the beginning.