How I learned to tutor:
Tutoring has been my job since I moved here in the city. After only a year of teaching in my hometown once I graduated from college; I decided to come to the city.
It was here where I learned to tutor kids one on one. After a few years tutoring kids in their homes; I decided to tutor instead at home.
It is a better choice since I can tutor two to four kids at a time.
The good thing about tutoring is that you can easily put up a tutorial center in your own home.
It’s not so hard to put up a tutorial business in the Philippines. The success lies in how you manage the business.
Now that you have some tips; you can start now while the market is not yet full. Tutorial centers are growing like mushrooms so better hurry.
Here are some reminders when you decide to do your tutoring job at home.
1. PLAN
Planning includes considering your budget. Your question should be; how can I manage my expenses while waiting for students to come? Of course, you don’t expect an immediate income. You should have at least set aside some money to spend before money from your tutorial job starts coming
2. SET GOALS
Setting goals are always part of a person’s life. Once you decide to go into business, you have to set your own goals to achieve. While setting goals is exciting; it may turn out a frustration once you don’t achieve your set goals.
So what should you do with your goal setting?
Simple, just set goals that are achievable. Make sure that you are setting goals that you know you can handle and thus achieve.
Next, set short-term and long-term goals. Your short-term goal is to have an immediate income once the end of the month arrives. Your long-term goal is how to maintain a good number of students.
3. KEEP YOUR STANDARD HIGH
You are set to go into business so you aim for a high standard of teaching and other tutorial services. This is not easy to achieve being that, there are several tutorial centers popping like mushrooms. Your edge is when you are able to establish a standard that people will start to seek.
The key is, know your students and your clients.
4. ADVERTISE
MY friend who owns a pre-school does not advertise her business. Her reason is that people around know her and she has many relatives around.
Yes, that may work but how about if her relatives will all grow up? How about if all her friends have gotten tired recommending or it is possible that when they have no more youngsters at home they easily forget the pre-school?
Advertising your business helps. This method has been practiced since the beginning of time and has been proven to be the most effective way of going into good business.
You can advertise formally by giving away flyers, leaflets or calling cards. You can even have someone make a nice colorful streamer to display in front of your tutorial center or somewhere else that people can easily see.
You can also make a blog and blog about your tutorial center. Either way, advertising your business always helps.
A good place also to advertise now is on Facebook, Google+, Linked-In, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
All these types of advertising are good and will help you promote your tutorial business.
5. MAKE YOUR BUSINESS LEGITIMATE
First, you have to get a barangay permit. This is easy to get especially because the people in the barangay office knows you. It is cheap and you can get it in less than thirty minutes.
Next, secure your DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) permit to operate so that you will have a legitimate name for your business. The name of your business will then be registered in the DTI and nobody can use it.
The key when naming your business is to find a name that will catch the attention of prospects or clients. Of course, when choosing a name for a tutorial center, it should ring with the type of business you are building.
Reminder: Before going to DTI to apply for a Business Name Certificate, prepare at least four business names so that in case the name you wanted for your business was already used, you can have other choices to make.
When I first applied for a DTI certificate, I didn't know that the names I wanted to use were already being used. The fourth name that I thought sounded funny because I cannot think of any other name already. The office clerk even repeated the name I gave two times sounding like he didn't approve but I just said it was a fine name for my business. But when I went home and my sister read the business name written on the certificate, she smiled. She thought that the name was funny.
Anyway, that's what will happen if you aren't prepared.
6. MAKE FRIENDS WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS AND THE COMMUNITY
Having friends is good in business. Remember that when people around you are your friends, they can help promote your business. Your friends will recommend your business to their friends and family and that becomes a chain when taken care of.
The more friends you gain, the more people who will pass on the word that you have a tutorial center.
There are three types of students that are enrolled in my tutorial business.
• The fast learners – you would think that fast learners do not need tutors but yes they also come for tutorial services. The reason is that their parents are too busy working and they need someone like us to help their children with their school works.These are the best students to handle because you just give them their worksheets and they just answer. They only ask questions once in a while.But take note because they could also be the students who could give you a headache because they are mischievous and naughty.
• The average learners – these are also easy to handle. Give them their worksheet, explain the lesson and then let them answer the worksheet. They often ask questions but they can cope and they understand what they are doing.
• The slow learners – they are the students who need the most help so make sure that you are at their side. These students can cope if you give them more time. I usually extend the time of this type of student with no additional payment.
You started a tutorial business already so what now?
The first thing of course is to wait for students to come. Your students are your basis when proceeding to your next plan.
Always take into consideration the ability of your students.
When I started tutoring, I experienced teaching a child who doesn’t know how to read and also doesn’t listen. This could be the most daunting part of teaching because how can you teach someone who doesn’t or refuses to listen?
I learned to handle this type of student early in life in my first year of teaching. One way of handling them is to be stern. Tell the child that you will not teach a child who doesn’t like to listen. Tell the child that you are being paid to teach and if he doesn’t like to listen then the money is all yours all the same.
I usually tell this to my students who think they can go without doing their worksheets. Sometimes if the child doesn’t listen, I put the worksheet in front of him them say; “Alright, if you don’t want to work then you have to stay here until you finish all the worksheets.” It always works because no child would want to be left alone in the classroom.
As years go by, more and more children are difficult to handle so you have to think of ways to make them work without hurting their ego and without physically hurting them. This can be a long learning process in your part as a tutor because if your business is tutoring, there will always be new students to come; and new students mean new character traits, new behaviors and new adjustments to make.
Determine if you can tutor the students in groups or one on one.
During my first years of teaching, I usually tutored one on one. When I decided to tutor at home, I found it a better choice because I can do group tutoring.
I usually do one on one tutorial when the child needs special attention; that is if the student could hardly cope with his or her lessons and needs more time for his home work and worksheets. This is a case to case basis and depends on how you gauge the student.
Tutoring is not like the regular school where students all enroll then start school at the same time so every time a student comes, I set the first day as assessment day in order to determine if the child needs more time to study or no.
In our case, we don’t do one on one tutoring now since our students come from the same school with the same schedules. So, we do it by groups. The first session is for grade 1, then the next is grade 2, then grade 3 and the last session is for grades 4-5. We don’t get so many higher grades. Usually, parents do not let their grades 5 and 6 have tutor because they already know how to study on their own.
How much should you charge the students?
In the Philippines, tutorial services have different rates. It sometimes depends on the geographical setting and the family status of the students. If you are tutoring in the countryside, the fee is cheaper than in the city.
If you are tutoring the children of those in the upper-class families you can charge higher but if you are tutoring students who belong to the middle class then you have to adjust the payment.
Some tutors charge per hour, some daily, some weekly and some monthly.
Some tutors charge as high as Php600 or Php500 per hour.
We only charge Php200 per hour and Php3000 monthly. This is so far one of the cheapest fees in our area.
I know a teacher who charges her student only Php1500 per month because it is only her part-time job after her class in school.
Fees differ from one teacher to another but if you are putting up a tutorial business, ask around your area how much they are charging so that you can arrange for the best offer.
Source: www.discover.hubpages.com
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