Staring A Tutor Business – Figuring out your competition

It’s been super hot here. Not just the heat but the humidity. When you walk outside it feels like you’re stepping into a jungle. Our weatherman keeps reminding us that it isn’t any hotter than it was last year… but he can’t convince me it isn’t.

It won’t be long until back to school sales start appearing. This is a great time to get any supplies that you need. I think probably our next issue will give you some tips on finding some great prices. If you follow us on facebook we’ll also work on posting good deals when we find them. Here’s our facebook url – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tutoring-Business-Help/186004714761452

Notes and Reminders –

1.  We’ve been working hard on getting the next piece of our guide completed. This portion will focus on online tutoring. One thing we’ve found it’s not as expensive as you may think it is. This guide will focus on videos – with worksheets and mindmaps. One reminder – if you purchase (or have purchased our guide) you’ll get these free. You need to make sure you place your order before August 1st. You can use this link to order.

http://www.cleverapple.com/howtostartatutoringservice.html

2. Here’s our upcoming schedule of what we’ll be talking about… want some different please let us know.

7-21 – Shopping for tutoring supplies.
August – Starting your tutoring business (getting your first student)
Sept / Oct – Tutoring your Students
November / December – Growing your business
Jan / Feb – Online tutoring

Last time we talked about how to see if you have a market. If you have schools near to you then I think you have a market for tutoring. Today we’re going to start thinking about your competition.

A reminder of the question we got. We love questions by the way.

Here was the question –

I was curious…I am a teacher and I would love to start tutoring in the summer time, but how do you get kids to want to tutor in the summer or even during the year when kids are already staying after school for free?  My sister wanted to tutor, but no one was interested in her small town due to the fact that kids often stay after school to get tutored.  I would love to tutor kids on how to type, write documents such as resumes, cover letters, create presentations on PowerPoint, etc.  Any ideas?  Is there really a demand?  Thanks so kindly.

From the research you did from last week you should have a good list of tutors where you live.

You can find that issue here if you need to review it.

http://www.cleverapple.com/blog/is-there-a-market-for-tutoring-where-i-live/

Take some time and think about the kind of tutoring service you will be offering. Here are some things you have going for you (and you should highlight) compared to some other options people have.

Schools – obviously your tutoring won’t be free. You could highlight – time options that are different, you could go to the students home, highlight the expertise you have, you will be individually tutoring their student (many times at school extra help comes with many people in the same room with one teacher).

You could offer extra help before a test, you can focus on problem areas, highlight the experience you have.

If you’ve been tutoring for a while, highlight successes you’ve had.

Big Tutor Centers – the reason not everyone shops at Wal-Mart is because some people like the small stores, because they seem to care more. Stress individual, personal attention. Highlight you only tutor x number of people each year.

If you have any situations you’re struggling with in finding why you’re the perfect choice, let us know and we’ll be happy to work with you.