Today we’re going to start our series on starting an online tutoring business. This is a little different than a traditional business because you can tutor to students anywhere in the world. When you start a traditional tutor business you need to make sure you have a market – otherwise there is no use to get started. Since the world is your prospective clients, we won’t need to worry about if there is a market (because there is one).
First you’ll need to decide on exactly what you’ll be tutoring. Besides the obvious (you need to be knowledgeable about the subject), you’ll also want to choose something you enjoy doing. You’ll also want to narrow your prospects down a bit, this will help when we work on ways to advertise and market your business. So you don’t want to tutor Math (or just Math) because that subject is too broad. You could decide to tutor College Calculus, or High-School Algebra, or Jr-High Math.
One other note is you can decide to tutor almost anything. It doesn’t have to be a school subject, but it also can be a skill, craft, study skills, ESL, languages, how to do something etc. It is only limited by what you’re good at. Don’t believe me – let’s do a little research so we can make sure (and you can get some confidence in your decision).
We need to do some preliminary work to get things ready. Here is your To DONE list for today.
- On your computer you’ll want to make a folder so you can keep everything in one place, especially all of the important stuff. You’ll also want to get either a binder / notebook with pockets and/or a flexible file folder. As you build your business you’ll want to keep track of everything you spend and everything you earn. We’ll be giving you some tips along the way, but we aren’t an accountant or a CPA, so you really should talk to someone who knows.
- To help you keep track of your expenses, without spending a dime you can use – http://outright.com/learn-more/pricing/ so today sign up for a free account. They do offer a paid account for $9.95 a month but I don’t think you’ll ever need it.
- If you don’t already have one you’ll want to sign up for a Google account. We’ll be using this for a number of different things, and it’s free. An easy way to set things up is by going to www.gmail.com.
- During the days and weeks ahead you’re going to be a busy bee. You’ll need a schedule or calendar to make sure you remember things you need to do, schedule appointments when you need to and remind yourself when things are due (like taxes). You can buy an appointment book or you can use to do ist. Â Here’s the link – http://todoist.com/.
That should be enough to get you started for the day. We’ll talk some on Thursday about choosing your subject and narrowing it down, till then we hope you have a wonderful day.
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