Today is supposed to be the first day of spring. Next week we are supposed to have snow here again. I had a great weekend. Our family went to the Winter Jam concert in Lexington and had a wonderful time. By the way, like I always do I was thinking of ways to get some more tutor clients if I had a business in Lexington. You can do it for any large even that you have in your hometown. I’ve included some ideas for that in a section below.
We’re working on revamping our Online Tutor Guide, we should have that finished in the next month or so. Also I know this has nothing to do with tutoring but I’ve just finished writing my ninth book – it’s a Christian Thriller – details if you’re interested can be found here.
Tutor Business 101 – Part 5
If you’ve been following our series, you should now have at least one tutor student. If you don’t take a step back and review those past blog posts / newsletters. You should also have created a Facebook page, have a posting schedule and have a few friends on your site.
You have probably spent less than $100 so far. The next thing I would recommend would be to build a website. We want to do this for a few different reasons:
- New clients – this comes from clients being able to find out more about you. They go to your url on a business card to ‘check you out.â€
- Expand your advertising – see above, including your website on all your advertising gives you a few extra moments with a prospective client. When they reach the website they’ll know more about you, what products and services you offer and how much you charge (helps to filter potential clients).
- It’s an asset – a website is worth something, when / if you decide to sell your business, or get a loan to expand it.
- Allows you to connect with your customers and future customers much easier.
Building a website isn’t as hard as you think. We’ll be talking more about each of the steps in the weeks and months ahead. Your first step, if you haven’t done it yet is to get your first tutor client. Beginning with our next issue we’ll be talking about building one. Today’s lesson will be about doing some research.
- You should already have a list of your competition. Check out to see if they have a website. Those that do you’ll want to get as much information from it as you can.
- Check out other tutor’s websites. Just go to Google and type in “math tutor†or “your area tutorâ€.
- If you don’t have a logo yet, you’ll want to work on creating one, remember it is the branding part of your business. There are many different ways to create a logo. You can do it free, or you can hire someone to create a logo for you. When I started my business I used a free logo creator and I’m sure you could to, if you wished. One of my favorites can be found here – http://www.logomaker.com/
But there are many others online. Just do a search.
As always any questions, send us a note, or post a comment on Facebook.
Finding tutor students at large events.
First you need to find any big events in your town or city. I’ve already talked about being involved with any school functions. A great way to find out future events is to watch your local newspaper and websites. You’ll want to pay particular attention to events that you think students you tutor would attend.
Example – for the event I went to, there were a ton of high school students. If you tutor grade school a good example would be a circus or something similar.
You’ve found an event, now what?
Directly sponsor – this could be very expensive. Like all forms of advertising you want to think about what your return on investment would be. The concert I talked about gave most of the attendees a goodie bag. If I had a product in the goodie bag, what kind of thing would I want to give them.
For any of these types of advertising you want a chance to get their name / phone number / email address / find out if they would be a fit for your business. If I tutored math, I would have included a postcard with the most difficult math formulas to remember. On the card I would have said somelike – For more free tips make sure to check out mywebsite.com. We’re giving away a (list your awesome prize).
Use your imagination. If you don’t want to spend the money on a sponsorship there are still ways you can promote your business – you’ll just want to make sure you aren’t doing anything illegal.
Reminders –
Tax day is coming soon. You should by now have a good idea on what you’ll be owing (or getting back). Don’t forget you’ll need to pay what you owe and your first of four payments for next years taxes.
Useful URLs –
Logo tips – http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/pro-guide-logo-design-21221
Some branding basics – http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/marketing/a/brandingks.htm
Quote - The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it. – Debbi Fields
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