The Private Tutoring Handbook

THE PRIVATE TUTORING HANDBOOK

a practical guide to setting up as a private tutor 2023 EDITION

The Private Tutoring Handbook a practical guide to setting up as a private tutor

Copyright © The Tutor Website, 2023 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Published by The Tutor Website Address: 1 & 3 Kings Meadow, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 0DP Telephone: 01865 208 440 Email: enquiries@thetutorwebsite.co.uk Web: https://thetutorwebsite.co.uk

contents An Overview of the Private Tutoring Industry What Qualifications?

Obtaining a DBS Check as a Private Tutor What Skills/Qualities Make a good Private Tutor Tutoring at Home or at Students’ Homes The Legalities of Working as a Private Tutor Insurance for Private Tutors Tax Matters Tutoring at 11 Plus Level The Challenges of Starting Classroom Teaching vs Private Tutoring Registering with Tutoring Agencies Online Tutoring How to Improve a Student’s Confidence Keeping up with Industry Trends A Practical Marketing Strategy How to Set Your Tutoring Rates Market Positioning Branding Your Tutoring Business Registering with Tutor Directories Online Tutoring Platforms Marketing with your own Website Google Ads & Search Engine Optimisation Gathering Testimonials and Reviews Social Media Marketing for Tutors Private Tutoring Directories Interviews with Private Tutors Appendices & Checklists

4 12 14 17 21 22 22 24 28 30 32 35 39 42 47 53 57 59 63 75 77 79 81 86 88 99 116 129

Sponsored by:

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for Tutors What is Doddle?

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Doddle is one of the leading interactive teaching and revision resource platforms for Year 7 - 13.

Some of the advantages of using Doddle are: • It's used by some of the top UK schools, so you are restassured you are using high quality teaching resources.

• A tutor can add up to 15 students, who you can assign homework, revision and exam practice tasks.

• You can also run reports or give your parents access so they can keep track of their child’s tuition and progress.

Set tasks or assign homework for all your students

How much does it cost?

How do I subscribe to Doddle?

It’s easy! Simply, visit www.doddleacademy.co.uk, click on Shop, and select the tutor package you want to subscribe to.

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01865 208 440 Page 4

An overview of the tutoring industry Private tutoring is one of the most popular modern-day learning enhancements to increase students academic performance. Ever-rising competition to enter selective institutions such as medical schools, Oxbridge, Russell Group and Ivy League universities, top companies' degree apprenticeships, and the subsequent rise in student admissions at selective (11Plus) schools and colleges continue to drive the demand for private tutoring. In the five years, the private tutoring marketplace has experienced what can only be described as an ‘exponential boom’, increasing by a record 20%.

The Sutton Trust confirmed that nearly a third of school children in the UK increasing to 45% in London) use private tutors and 30% of secondary school students in the UK have have used private tutoring in one form or another.

The UK private tuition market is valued at around £2 billion and is expected to grow significantly in the next decade. Globally, the £100 billion private tuition industry looks set to continue on an upward trajectory, and is projected to reach a staggering £250 Billion by 2030.

The Tutor's Association estimates that there are over 100,000 private tutors in the UK, and over 500 agencies operating in the UK. Further, the Sutton Trust has estimated that nearly half of teachers (200,000) are either currently tutoring or have previously tutored.

The Private Tutoring Handbook

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• According to a poll of parents, carried out by advice website elevenplusexams.co.uk, 62% of 11 Plus students regularly use private tutors to help them secure places at the UK’s most prestigious private schools.

• In terms of subjects, the Sutton Trust found that students are most likely to receive tuition in Maths (77%), followed by English (55%) and Science (30%).

• Our studies also suggest that around 27% of kids use private tutors during the school holiday periods.

• The Sutton Trust also suggest that affluent families are most likely to use private tutors, with 25% of children having tuition compared with 15% of children from lower income families.

'Tutoring Trends 2005 - 2022' - IPSOS Young People Omnibus / The Sutton Trust

'Tutoring by Year Group' - IPSOS Young People Omnibus / The Sutton Trust

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Benefits of Private Tuition • Improving the pupil's educational outcomes, boosting their confidence and reducing risks of stress, anxiety or demotivation.

• Tutoring enhances progress and improved attainments, particularly in more challenging subjects • Providing targeted and in-depth preparation for key exams, including exam coaching and practice-paper support.

• Giving tailored guidance and support to an individual student, including those with struggling with a particular subject, those with special educational needs and even the gifted and talented students.

• Support with homework and ensuring the student is keeping up with what they are learning in class and are not falling behind.

• To enhance performance and skills in a subject of interest or a future careerrelated subject.

• Providing replacement teaching on a subject not being offered at the student's school, college or institution.

'Main reasons for private tutoring' - IPSOS Young People Omnibus / The Sutton Trust

The Private Tutoring Handbook

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Tutoring Fees The average tutor in the UK charges around £20 - £40 per hour, with rates significantly increasing among specialist Level subject tutors, and particularly those in London, who often charge in excess of £100 per hour.

• Richer neighbourhoods and bigger towns tend to be generally more expensive.

London and the South of England are generally more expensive than the rest of the UK. The majority of Northern and Midlands counties average between £20 and £30 per hour, whilst London and Southern counties are generally in the £30 to £40 bracket.

• A-Level / IB Diploma / Scottish Highers' tutors can be more expensive than GCSE / MYB / N5, KS3 and primary school tutors.

• Online tutoring is generally more affordable than in-person tutoring.

• The tutoring fees may vary depending on the subject required. Subjects on demand such as Maths, English and Science tend to cost more than other subjects. Subjects requiring a rare skill or higher levels of expertise can generally cost more. For instance, top-grade music or piano lessons, modern foreign languages, 11+ Entrance Exams or A-Level / IB / Scottish Higher Maths or Science Subjects may generally cost higher than average due to the skills, knowledge and qualifications required to provide the tutoring.

• Qualified and experienced teachers and tutors with advanced qualifications in their taught subjects often charge more than, say, undergraduate students who are still completing their own studies.

Top Ten Average Hourly Rates by Location Page 8

The tutoring professional body The leading tutoring industry's body is the Tutor’s Association, who aim to professionalise the industry by encouraging tutoring organisations and registered tutors to sign up to the Association's Code of Practice for Organisational and Individual members and the Code of Ethics for Individual Tutors

‘The Tutor’s Association aims to professionalise the industry’

The Tutors' Association's main purposes are to: • To create a community for members of the tutoring profession, where they can: o Exchange knowledge and experience o Get access to information and services that assist with their day-to-day work o Provide mutual support and encouragement • To provide a unified and coherent voice for the tutoring profession so that it can: o Engage constructively with all the other stakeholders in the provision of education o Help ensure that the profession is perceived accurately and positively o Create mutually beneficial partnerships within the wider educational landscape • To provide reassurance to parents that the tutor they have selected: o Has committed to professional standards by signing up to a Code of Practice o Presents no known risk to their child by having been successfully DBS checked o Has proven their competence by providing testamentary evidence of the successful completion of tutorial engagements Membership annual fees range from £30 for undergraduate students to £99 for freelance / individual tutors. More information about the professional body is available at: https://thetutorsassociation.org.uk/ The Private Tutoring Handbook

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Benefits of joining The Tutors Association Tutoring is an unregulated industry and it is not mandatory for one to be a member of the TTA for them to provide tutoring services. There are, however, several benefits of membership, which they have summarised as:

The Association has a number of key initiatives and facilities available to members: • Jobs Posting Board: This is a facility where tutoring job opportunities are posted by Tutors and Tutoring Companies alike. It’s a direct route to new business opportunities.

• Searchable Directory of tutors/tutoring companies: The Directory of Members is searchable by anyone seeking a Tutor or Tutoring Company. They can search by subject, level, and location and then contact you directly.

• Continuous Professional Development (CPD): a comprehensive free-tomembers CPD platform and learning management system. This currently contains more than 50 courses across topics as diverse as tutoring SEND students, latest advances in pedagogy and marketing advice on how to grow your business. New courses will be added regularly.

• DBS Check support: TTA can assist you to obtain, and maintain, your up-todate DBS check.

• Fantastic events: including Webinars and Community Hub meetings as well as the annual National Tutors’ Conference. Great ways to network and stay right up to date with topics of interest.

• TTA's Members' Collaboration Forum on Facebook, where participants can share ideas, ask questions, help each other and encourage debate.

• Discounts: Access to many valuable discounts (exclusive to TTA members) on offer through our Affiliate Partners Page 9

Choosing what subjects and levels to tutor Based on statistics and research, it is clear that some subjects are more popular than others when it comes to private tutoring. However, don’t worry if you don’t have expertise in any of the ‘popular’ subjects. If a subject is popular, the marketplace for tutors in that subject tends to be more competitive, so if you have expertise in something a little more niche, as long as there’s demand for tutoring in the subject, you could be in a better position to market yourself in that area.

Here are some questions to consider before deciding what subjects you’ll tutor: 1. In which subject do you hold your highest qualification? The more qualified

you are in a subject, the more appealing you’ll be to students and parents.

2. What other subjects have you studied academically (ideally at university level)? You may have enough knowledge to tutor additional subjects at a lower level.

3. Up to what level do you feel confident in tutoring each of your subjects? If you’re confident that you understand the course content well, in most cases, that’s all the experience you need to start tutoring.

4. What’s the marketplace like for tutoring in your subject? This one can be tricky to determine but a simple Google search for private tutors in your local area should give you an idea of how many tutors already offer your subject.

Private tutor jobs boards and Gumtree can also provide you with a good indication of how popular specific subjects are.

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What Qualifications do you Need to Become a Private Tutor?

There are no standard qualifications for private tutors in the UK, so in theory, anyone who has good knowledge in a specialist subject can become a tutor.

• Some tutoring websites and agencies prefer tutors to be educated to a certain level.

• Having a Bachelor's degree, it's equivalents or higher in a subject area gives you a significant advantage.

• Having a teaching qualification and experience massively enhances chances of getting more business or charging higher fees.

• Undergraduate students make a significant portion of the tutoring industry. Most undergraduate students tend to tutor the subject area they are currently studying at university level. They also often tutor subjects they excelled in their A-Level / IB Diploma / Scottish Advanced Highers. Undergraduate students studying at top universities tend to have more demand and charge higher fees than their lower ranking counterparts. Similary, those with top-flight A-Level / IB Diploma / Scottish Advanced Higher grades are better placed to appeal to customers.

Private tutoring isn't just limited to teaching school kids either; there are lots of tutors out there who specialise in music, arts, business, marketing, computer coding and professional services.

Generally speaking, private tutors are likely to be seen as valuable in the eyes of a student or parent if they have first-hand experience in the subject they're tutoring.

As far as academia goes, qualified teachers often decide to become tutors and offer their services to supplement their full-time teaching job. Newly qualified or retired teachers also offer their services as tutors and are sometimes the preferred choice of educator as their previous experience clearly shows their expertise.

On the other hand, many students and parents consciously decide to choose a tutor who isn't a teacher, who may have a slightly different approach to learning. Out with educational establishments, those who tutor in more specialist subjects like online marketing, web development, html coding etc. tend to have experience of working in those specific industries. How qualified these tutors need to be is generally at the discretion of the student using their services.

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Find out how qualified other tutors are in your area Because there are no standard qualifications for tutors, the existing marketplace tends to dictate how qualified you need to be. One way of determining whether you’re qualified enough to be a tutor is to find out how qualified other tutors in your area are. Are most qualified up to A Level or beyond? How many appear to be qualified teachers? How many don’t have any formal qualifications at all?

You should also put yourself in your students’ shoes. If you were looking for a tutor in a specific subject, how qualified would you expect them to be? How does this compare to your own qualifications?

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Obtaining a DBS Check as a Private Tutor In 2013, The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) merged together to form the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

As a result of this merge, old CRB checks are now called DBS checks.

DBS checks are required for certain jobs or voluntary work. For example, someone may need to undergo a DBS check in order to work with children, work in healthcare or to apply to foster or adopt a child.

To work as a private tutor, you don’t need to have a DBS check. However, it is recommended that you try to obtain one, which is often more difficult than it sounds.

In the UK, individuals can’t apply for DBS checks on themselves, so self-employed tutors who haven’t previously worked in childcare through a school or company, often find it difficult to get one.

In most cases, tutors who do have a DBS check have obtained one through a previous employer.

For those who don’t have one but wish to obtain one, there a few (less than ideal) options.

1. Apply for one through an umbrella body like a recruitment company (who will probably expect you to register for agency work).

2. Register with a private tutoring agency who will apply for one on your behalf.

3. Become a member of The Tutor’s Association, who arrange for members to have a DBS check for a small fee (in addition to TTA’s membership fee) It’s generally acknowledged by tutors and the industry in general that these options are far from ideal and there has been talk on other websites of the Government making it easier for tutors to obtain DBS checks.

If your students are primarily adults over 18 years old, there is perhaps, less of a need to have a DBS certificate, although having one will give your tutees piece of mind.

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Who Can Ask to see Your DBS Check?

As a tutor, you’re likely to be asked about DBS checks by parents. Although it’s not essential to have one, many parents specifically look for tutors who have been DBS checked.

From an employer’s perspective, companies aren’t usually allowed to ask job applicants about any previous convictions; however, for jobs that specifically require a DBS check, employers are allowed to enquire about spent convictions.

For more information on which roles require a DBS check, the DBS eligibility guidance lists most roles that are eligible for a check. However, the guidance isn’t comprehensive, and it’s advised that you should contact the DBS if you’re unsure.

Who Can Apply For a DBS Check?

Employers can apply for a DBS check on behalf of potential or existing employees.

However, individuals can’t apply for a DBS check on themselves and must be over 16 years of age.

A ‘basic disclosure’ is available for people who want to apply for a check on their own, which provides details of any unspent convictions.

Types of Criminal Records Check There are 3 types of criminal records check. The employer or organisation requesting the check should provide the applicant with more information about what level of check is required.

1. Standard DBS Check A Standard DBS check details spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings. It normally takes about 2 weeks for a standard check to process.

2. Enhanced DBS Check Enhanced checks cost moreand include all details outlined in a standard check plus any additional information held locally by police forces that is considered relevant to the post applied for.

3. Enhanced DBS with list checks

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An Enhanced DBS with list checks costs include all details outlined in an enhanced check plus a check of the appropriate DBS barred lists.

Further Information on DBS Checks DBS checks for volunteers are free of charge. This includes anyone who spends time helping people and: • •

isn’t being paid (apart from travel and other approved out of pocket expenses) isn’t only looking after a close relative

An employer can only apply for a check if the job or role specifically requires one.

Employers must tell the applicant why they’re being checked and where they can get independent advice.

DBS checks don’t have an official expiry date. Any information included will be accurate at the time the check was carried out. It is up to an employer to decide if a new check is needed.

Applicants and employers can use the DBS update service to keep a certificate up to date or carry out checks on an existing certificate, for example, for a potential employee.

For more information on DBS checks, visit Gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service Action – Consider the three options above for obtaining a DBS check Although it’s not essential to have a DBS check, it is highly recommended, especially if you intend on tutoring students under the age of 18. Take a look at the three options for obtaining a DBS check above and decide which is the most practical for you. Although the current system is far from ideal, a DBS check can help you secure more work as a tutor.

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What skills/Qualities Make a Good Private Tutor?

If you're considering becoming a private tutor, it's important to ask yourself if you have the personal qualities needed to work with students. Generally, tutors should be friendly and approachable yet maintain a professionalism that reassures students and parents that they're good at what they do.

It's important to have patience and to have a genuine interest in working with younger people or those looking to learn a new skill. If you have the ability to motivate people and approach new challenges with enthusiasm, then working as a private tutor can give you great job satisfaction.

At least once a week, we receive an email from someone asking whether they have the knowledge and skills to become a private tutor.

In most cases, it's clear that they already have the knowledge but knowing over email whether they have the skills to work one-to-one with students is pretty much impossible.

Having good subject knowledge is one thing but having the skills to explain complex theories and processes is another.

Classroom teachers for example, may have all the skills needed to manage a class of 20+ students but an entirely different skillset is required to tutor in a one-to-one environment.

Similarly, someone new to private tutoring may already have all the practical knowledge needed to tutor but having the soft skills required to explain things clearly may be another matter. This post aims to act as a response to all those emails I receive every week about what skills are needed to be a successful private tutor.

Adaptable Communication Above all else, having strong communication skills will serve you well as a tutor.

Anyone can make learning sound complicated but it takes someone with good communication skills to explain complex theories in simple terms.

As a tutor, it's part your job to be able to identify your students' learning styles and adapt your teaching methods to suit. For example, some students are visual learners and tend to remember information that's presented in tables or charts.

Whereas other learners feel they're more effective when using technology.

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In any case, a private tutor should be prepared to adapt their communication style to suit their students, not the other way around.

Patience Just as learning a new subject can be challenging, so can having the patience to explain new concepts and processes.

Rarely do we completely understand new ideas the first time round and sometimes it takes several different types of explanation for us to fully grasp a concept.

As a tutor, it's important that you set your expectations about how long it might take students to get their heads around new ideas.

Although it can to be tempting to push forward with your lesson plans regardless, your students will ultimately benefit more in the long run if you take the time to address any issues as they arise.

Interpersonal Skills Whereas tutors need to deliver information clearly and accurately, they need to do so in a personable way if students are to feel relaxed enough to ask questions.

One way to help students get on board with your teaching is to share bits and pieces of personal information with them. Sometimes breaking down the teacher-student barrier is necessary to get the best out of your learners Showing your human side can help students relate to you and what you're teaching.

It shows them that if you can do it then they can do it too with a little practice.

It's easy for students to assume that because you're a tutor that you must have an increased capacity for learning. By using your interpersonal skills, you'll help your students realise that their ability to learn is actually about how much they commit themselves to what they're studying.

Organisational Skills Being organised in your lessons reassures students that you have the ability to help them achieve their goals. Like classroom teachers, tutors should always have a lesson timetable and individual lesson plans to help map out what needs be studied, when.

The following information is more relevant if you are growing your tutoring business and are looking after multiple tutors.

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‘TutorCruncher – a useful organisation tool for tutors’

One of the most commonly overlooked aspects of working as a private tutor is how much organisation it takes to keep on top of administration. Not only do you need to have lessons plans and schedules but you also need to be on top of student invoicing and reporting.

‘TutorPanel– a great way to keep track of your lessons’

The last couple of years have seen an increase in the number of work scheduling software tools for private tutors and they really do make all the difference. For a small fee each month, tutoring software can help organise your lessons and handle the administration involved in running a private tutoring business.

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Two of the UK'S leading tutoring software providers are TutorCruncher and TutorPanel.

Information Technology Younger students in particular, are generally well up to speed when it comes to technology, and as a tutor, you should be too. Being able to send emails, use apps, work on mobile devices and use virtual classrooms is all par for the course as a tutor nowadays.

Students expect lessons to be transferrable to digital devices, so they can learn on the go, whenever it's convenient for them. Where possible, try to create digital versions of all your materials and lesson notes to make them easily accessible to students whenever they need them.

Action – Get yourself organised Although this book may not be able to help you develop all of the qualities above, it certainly can help you get more organised in your approach to tutoring. Take a look at the free resources that we’ve included with this book and modify them as you see fit. Each resource will prove really useful as you secure your first student and should save you hours of time creating your own paperwork and resources from scratch.

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Tutoring at Home, Online or Travelling to Students’ Homes Tutors usually offer their services directly from their own homes, online or they travel to student’s houses. In some cases, you might teach from a student's workplace or from a public place like a coffee shop or library. Working as a travelling tutor opens up your options in terms of the areas you can cover and it often pays to have the flexibility of working this way.

However, you should also consider your travel costs if you decide to be a travelling tutor. Make sure that you’re prepared for those extra overheads such as petrol or public transport costs and consider whether they'll be reflected in how much you charge for your services.

Have a think about where lessons will take place. Is there enough space in your home to provide a stimulating learning environment? Do you have the right broadband/internet service to provide the service if doing it online? You should also consider your utility bills and whether the cost of your utilities will increase as a result of your business. If you're a private tenant, you should check if you're permitted to run a small business from your home. Some tenancy agreements have clauses in place that restrict the type of business you can operate.

Consider what you'll do about students who cancel at the last minute. Will you decide to use a cancellation policy?

Action – Decide whether your business will be mobile or fixed Consider the following questions to help you decide whether you’ll travel to students’ homes or whether they’ll come to you: • • • • •

Do you have immediate access to transport?

Is there enough demand for tutoring in your local area or will you need to travel further afield?

Is your home accessible for students to travel to using public transport?

Does your tenancy/mortgage agreement have any restrictions on running a business from the property?

How much extra will you need to charge per hour to cover the cost of travel?

Take a look at our free cancellation policy template included with this book and modify it to suit your needs.

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The Legalities of Working as a Private Tutor Most tutors start out as sole traders and keep their own financial records. A simple income and expenditure spreadsheet should be fine to help you keep track of your earnings. As a sole trader, you need to complete a self-assessment tax return every year after the 5th April and the easiest way to do this is online. You have 3 months from when you begin your self-employment to inform HMRC of your status and obtain your Unique Tax Reference (UTR) number.

As your business expands, you may wish to consider hiring other people to work for you or you may want to set up your own tuition agency, in which case you'll need to change your legal structure and become a Limited Company. You'll also need to adhere to employment agency law and should seek appropriate advice from relevant qualified bodies.

Insurance for Private Tutors As with any self-employed occupation, it’s important to know what your options are when it comes to insurance. Despite your best intentions, insurance claims can arise from the most unlikely of circumstances and at the most unexpected moments.

Should such a claim occur, a good insurance policy can save you a significant amount of money in the long-term. We should say that The Tutor Website isn’t affiliated with any insurance providers and tutors should always shop around for quotes from a variety of providers.

Generally speaking, there are two types of insurance that tutors tend to have: 1. Public liability insurance 2. Professional indemnity insurance Now, there’s no legal obligation for you to have insurance as a tutor and a lot don’t.

However, far from it being our job to scaremonger tutors, if you plan to make a fulltime career out of the profession, we’d suggest that it’s worth thinking about.

Public Liability Insurance for Private Tutors Whether you tutor at your home or at the homes of students, public liability insurance protects you against legal liability following an injury to a student (through a trip or fall, for example) or damage to third party property (spilt coffee on a laptop, for example).

If an incident does occur and you find yourself subject to a claim for compensation, public liability insurance would cover the costs in defending these

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claims. It would also cover the cost of any legal fees or compensation that you would have to pay in the event that your defence was unsuccessful.

Professional Indemnity Insurance for Private Tutors Professional indemnity insurance covers you against any claims that you made a mistake in your work, or failed to provide an adequate service. For example, you may be working with a student to help them achieve a Grade A pass to enable them entry into university. If the student didn’t achieve the grade and the parents were unhappy with your service, you could be subject to a claim.

Professional indemnity insurance would cover the costs of defending your claim and like public liability insurance, would cover the cost of any compensation you’d have to pay if your defence was unsuccessful.

How Much Does Insurance for Tutors Cost?

We’d always advise shopping around for the best deal, but in general, you could find public liability and professional indemnity insurance for less than £10 per month each, with potential discounted rates for taking both together.

In recent years, more and more insurance companies have started offering insurance specifically for tutors, Hiscox and Endsleigh are among two companies that have dedicated tutor insurance packages.

The Tutor’s Association has also negotiated discounted insurance rates for their members, which could be worth considering.

What to Look For in a Tutoring Insurance Policy With public liability insurance, it's important to know what level of cover you have.

Most small business insurance policies have you covered up to £1 million, which should be more than sufficient. You should check what your level of excess is as a cheap insurance policy may look good on the surface but expect you to meet huge outlays on each claim. You should also check what business activities you're covered for to make sure that 'teaching' is actually listed on the policy.

For professional indemnity insurance, you should check that you're covered against damages like errors and omissions as well as failure to meet deadlines. Your professional indemnity insurance policy should also clearly explain the procedure, should a claim arise and map out exactly what the insurer will do.

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In summary, it's important that you take the time to consider whether you feel that you should take out public liability or private indemnity insurance as a tutor. If you decide to take out a policy, make sure that you do some shopping around and get at least 3 quotes from reputable companies.

Action – Registering your business with HMRC Most private tutors start out as sole traders and handle all their income and expenditure details by themselves. As a sole trader, there’s no legal obligation to use the services of an accountant to handle your paperwork, however, you do need to declare your new status as a self-employed person to HMRC. The following checklist should help you make sure you have all the correct legalities in place: 1. Contact HMRC within 3 months of your first lesson with a student. Have all of your personal and business details ready (more details in the next chapter).

2. Register for Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance (more details in the next chapter).

3. Take a note of your Unique Tax Reference Number (UTR) once it’s sent to you. You’ll need this to complete your tax returns every year and you’ll need it when speaking with HMRC in the future.

4. Consider whether you need to take out public liability or private indemnity insurance and choose a suitable policy.

Tax Matters Please note that the information below is only general. For concise information on paying tax as a private tutor, please contact Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, HMRC or an accountant.

From the moment you become self-employed as a private educator, you need to register as self-employed with HMRC within 3 months, as you would with any other form of self-employment. Technically, as soon as you receive your first payment for your private tuition services, you need to declare those earnings. Failing to register as self-employed can result in you being fined.

How To Register As a Self-Employed Tutor The easiest way to register with HMRC to give private lessons is to do so online. By completing a registration form, you are making HMRC aware that you are now working for yourself and you then become responsible for keeping track of your income and your expenses.

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Once you are registered as self-employed, you will be sent a Self-Assessment Tax Return every year after the 5th April which will instruct you on how to declare your

earnings for the previous year. This form will also highlight your deadline dates for when you need to return the form. If you choose to complete the form online, you are normally given an extended deadline to do so. Once you have submitted your form, you will then be contacted by HMRC and told how much income tax you owe for the period in question.

Paying National Insurance Contributions Being self-employed also means paying your own Class 2 National Insurance contributions and if you earn over a certain threshold, you also need to pay Class 4 contributions. It is possible to defer your National Insurance payments and depending on your earnings, you may also be exempt from paying National Insurance altogether. In order to find out if this applies to you, please contact HMRC for further guidance and information.

Paying Value Added Tax (VAT) The supply of private tuition is exempt for VAT purposes if it meets the following criteria Section 6 of VAT Notice 701/30, Education: • The tuition is provided by a sole practitioner or member of a partnership, and • The subject is one taught regularly in a number of schools or universities.

Private tuition is standard rated for VAT if it is • Provided through a limited company (because the individual teacher is not acting independently of an employer); • Provided by employees or subcontractors on behalf of a business; and • A subject not commonly taught in schools or universities.

It is also worthwhile noting that you will only need to worry about registering for VAT if you have regisitered and are trading as a limited company and your VAT taxable turnover is more than £85,000. If you however want to voluntarily opt to register even if your turnover is less than £85,000, you are allowed to do so.

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Completing Your Self-Assessment Form In order to ensure that the process is as stress-free as possible, it’s a good idea to gather all the information that you need beforehand. It’s important to check that all your relevant paperwork is up to date. Legally, everyone who is self-employed needs to keep records of their income.

Here’s a brief outline of some of the information that you may need before you begin completing your Self-Assessment form:

•

Records of your income and anything you can claim as expenditure like teaching materials.

If you are both employed and self-employed, you'll need to know your PAYE earnings.

Information on ‘other income’ including investments, savings and pensions.

Details of any capital gains that you might have.

Your P60.

Your bank statements or access to your online banking account.

•

A cheque book and paying-in book.

• • • • •

Will I File My Return Online Or By Post?

Filing your tax return by post is the traditional method for declaring your earnings although there are several advantages to filing online. By filing over the internet, you are normally given a longer deadline and are able to save your application as you go.

Am I Self-Employed Doing More Than One Job? If you have more than one self-employed job you'll need to fill in some additional pages on the tax return form. The supplementary pages - SA103S or SA103F – provide a space for you to declare any earnings you have gained from other jobs where you are self-employed.

What Form Do I Fill In? The form that you need to complete is called SA100. There are guidance notes to help you throughout the form and they tell you which parts you need to complete depending on your circumstances.

HMRC normally send you the forms you need and the guidance notes by post, however, you can also download the forms from the HMRC website.

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When is My Tax Return Deadline?

The tax year starts on the 6th April and lasts until the 5th April the following year.

If you’re returning your completed form by post, your deadline is 31 October. If you’re completing your forms online, you have until 31 January the following year. Missing these deadline dates can incur a £100 penalty, regardless of whether you have taxes to pay or not.

Additional Advice For Filing Online Don't leave it until the last minute. In order to file online, you first need to register your login details on the HMRC website. You are then sent a password by post, which allows you to access the forms online. Sometimes this password can take a couple of weeks to be sent so make sure you leave plenty of time before you start the process of filing online.

If you're employed as a PAYE employee as well as a private tutor, keep your P60 safe when your employer sends it to you. If you lose you P60, you can't obtain a new one, you will have to ask your employer for a Statement of Earnings document instead, which shows similar information.

If in doubt, use HMRC’s Self-Assessment helpline or read their guide to filling in your tax return (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/self-assessment-tax-return-sa100) As always, if you are not sure on anything tax-related, check with your accountant, if you have one. On Google you can find loads of 'cheap tax accountants' who charge £100 £300.

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Tutoring at 11 Plus Level According to a poll of parents, carried out by advice website elevenplusexams.co.uk, 62% of 11 Plus students regularly use private tutors to help them secure places at the UK’s most prestigious private schools.

‘ElevenPlusExams.co.uk – a fantastic resource for 11 Plus tutors’

If you enjoy working with younger students, then specializing in Eleven Plus tuition can be a very rewarding career move. Helping students gain entry to the UK’s top grammar schools is a challenging job but one that can command a significant fee.

There are several counties in the UK that still use Eleven Plus testing and there are 163 remaining grammar schools in various parts of England, and 67 in Northern Ireland. These schools generally have a reputation for performing consistently well in secondary school league tables.

What is the 11 Plus?

The 11 Plus is an exam that a select group of children sit, usually in their last year of primary school. The exam is used by schools in certain areas of the UK as a means of selecting for grammar schools. Some children start preparing for the 11 Plus as early as Year 5 and as such, demand for private tutoring is extremely high.

Although the 11 Plus exam varies from county to county, each exam usually tests for Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Typically, students are expected to sit three papers:

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1. Verbal Reasoning (VR) 2. Non-Verbal reasoning (NVR) 3. Mathematics (MA) What’s the Market Like for 11 Plus Tutoring?

According to a report published by the Sutton Trust , students in Year 7 and Year 11 are most likely to receive private tuition, so this suggests that a lot of children receive tutoring when they’re aged 11 and 15. Furthermore, 23% of state-school pupils aged 11-16 said they have had private tuition at some time. In London, it’s estimated that this figure rises to around 50%.

11 Plus Resources As an 11 Plus tutor, you’ll need to have a bank of resources that you can use with your students. Practice papers and other subject specific exercises are particularly useful in preparing children for the 11 Plus exam.

GL Assessment and CEM are the two main exam boards that administer the 11+ exams throughout the UK. Good sources of teaching resources and practice materials include: • https://11plus.gl-assessment.co.uk/ • https://www.cem.org/entrance-assessments • https://www.bond11plus.co.uk/ • https://www.cgpbooks.co.uk/info/preparing-for-the-11-plus-with-cgp/ • https://www.11plusguide.com/ • https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/free-11-plus-practice-papers

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The Challenges of Starting a Private Tutoring Business Working as a private tutor can be very rewarding. The opportunity to improve people’s learning whilst being your own boss is an appealing prospect for many.

However, there are a number of challenges that go with the territory of being a private tutor, some of which, we’ve outlined below.

Finding Enough Work Possibly the biggest challenge for tutors, finding enough work to sustain a long-term career can be difficult at first. For many, Tutoring is often a seasonal occupation, with busy periods dictated by upcoming exams. It can be challenging to remain pro-active during quiet periods but rest assured, there are many tutors out there who manage to maintain a steady stream of students all year round. Considering that 1 in 4 students in the UK now use or have used private tutors, the demand is definitely there, it’s just a case of marketing yourself in the right places.

When it comes to promoting your services, it’s important to cast your net far and wide to see what works well for you. In today’s industry, the first place students and parents turn to find a tutor in their local area is the internet, so make sure that you’re making the most of your online profiles.

Working Alone One of the biggest differences between working as a teacher (or almost any other job) and working as a private tutor is the absence of your peers on a day-to-day basis. One aspect of private tutoring that some people find difficult is the lack of interaction with colleagues.

Whilst part of your working week is spent interacting with students, tutoring can mean spending a significant amount of time working alone, preparing lessons, marking assignments or marketing your services. Such feelings of isolation are common among people who work from home on a freelance basis but there are ways you can make yourself feel a part of something bigger.

Giving your day some structure can really help combat feelings of isolation. For example, you may want to plan to leave the house at certain times during the day when you start to feel demotivated and interact with people. Arranging lunch dates with friends who work nearby or spending a couple of hours in a cafe can help make times when you're alone more productive and enjoyable.

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Managing Student and Parent Expectations There's a lot of responsibility that goes with being a private tutor. Not only do you need to ensure that what you’re teaching is relevant to your student’s coursework, but you need to make sure that they’re progressing as a result of your help. As a tutor, it’s important to manage both students' and parents' expectations from day one. You can’t be expected to achieve the impossible; however, with a little cooperation from all parties and some understanding, you can help improve a student’s learning over time.

Finding a Work/Life Balance Sometimes, the biggest challenge for tutors is knowing when to say 'no'. The very nature of being self-employed means that you won't always know where your next pay packet is coming from, however, it's important to recognise when you've reached your limitations. Many tutors are lured into private tutoring with promises of less work and more pay, and for some, this turns out to be true. Others, however, sometimes find it difficult to switch off from their work, given the irregular, often unsociable hours of the industry.

At such times, it helps to look back on the reasons you became a tutor in the first place. For many people, becoming a tutor means having more control over your workload and the flexibility to choose when you teach. Remember, being selfemployed has lots of advantages but you need to allow yourself the free time to enjoy them.

Action – Consider how you will overcome each of these challenges The challenges listed above will be significant to some tutors more than others.

However, each of them are very real and most tutors will face them at some point in their tutoring career. The following thinking points may help you find practical solutions to overcoming these hurdles: • • •

• •

How much money will you need to make from tutoring in order to sustain a comfortable lifestyle?

How much savings will you need to help see you through slow months?

Are there other tutors in your area that you could make contact with to ask for help and advice? Are there any meetup groups in your local area for freelancers that you could join?

How will you handle difficult students/parents? Will you outline your expectations in your contract document?

How will you ensure that you take enough time off from work?

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The Differences Between Classroom Teaching and Private Tutoring The UK continues to play host to a fierce classroom teaching vs. private tutoring debate. During the last year, there have been accusations that falling levels of teaching are contributing to pupils’ stagnant performance. In turn, some have suggested that it's the supposed decline in teaching standards that has been the catalyst for the huge rise in the number of private tutors.

However, not everyone agrees. Observers such as Emma, a novelist from North London express an opposing view. She believes that it's actually due to the need for her children to ‘keep up with the Sophies and Jacks who are all doing really well’, that has driven the boom in private tutors.

The debate shows no signs of easing up, but just what are the differences between the role of teacher and private tutor? And why is there often reluctance for parents to admit that they use private tutors?

The most prominent difference between the role of a teacher and the role of a private tutor lies in the numbers of students being taught.

With private tutors tending to work with individuals one-on-one, sessions are tailored to suit the ability of that student. A private tutor’s main aim is to build on areas where a student may lack knowledge or understanding and to help them become more proficient. This could be in preparation for an exam or could be a focus towards a particular module.

A teacher on the other hand, is responsible for setting lesson plans that are attainable for a whole group of students. In addition, classroom teaching isn’t always as flexible in terms of the teaching methods used.

It’s no secret that large numbers of schoolteachers make the switch to private tutoring, seeking higher pay and fewer hours. A poll by The Tutor Website showed that 53% of qualified teachers considered private tuition a feasible alternative income to classroom teaching.

Mr Chris Battle is one such example. A self-employed maths and science tutor, he highlights a key difference between the two occupations.

‘It was a revelation to have a teaching job in which the main focus is on the learning of the students, not managing their behaviour.’

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When questioned on the advantages of private tuition over classroom teaching, he said: ‘you have more time, especially if you want to do other things, such as write books, or pursue other ventures. You spend a lot more time in contact with parents so the great institutional divide between parents and teachers isn't as apparent. A lot of teachers get very anxious about parents' evenings, which I never quite understood. As a private tutor, it’s your role to communicate with parents and to be accountable for the material covered during lessons.’

The opportunity to work one on one with students and to see their improvement at close quarters is seen as another advantage.

‘Tutoring is essentially all the positive aspects of teaching - I can really get to know my pupils. It is incredibly rewarding to see a pupil make progress and see their face light up when they master a certain topic that they thought was impossible. I feel like I'm really making a difference.’

Janette Wallis, senior editor of The Good Schools Guide, hints at the reluctance that parents have towards discussing tutoring. If large numbers of parents are using private tutors, why doesn’t anyone want to admit it?

Barry Sindall of the Grammar School Heads Association offers one theory. 'The vast majority of heads are not in favour of private tuition. It creates pressure for children and is really about parental anxiety.’

Whilst parents want their children to keep pace with their peers, there is evidently reluctance from some to admit to having to call someone in. However, this is not a view shared by those working within the industry. Marketing Manager of Fleet Tutors, Deborah Hogarth said the following:

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‘I remember when hiring a tutor was considered an indication of failure. These days it's seen as positive, about children achieving potential. There's been a sea change in attitudes, and in private tuition itself.'

‘Tutoring agency Fleet Tutors have reported a change in attitudes towards private tutoring’

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Registering with Tutoring Agencies According to the Good Schools Guide's Tutoring Agency Review, the best tutoring agencies in London know their tutors personally and interview every one before recruiting them as part of their team. To take this point further, we’ve put together a list of the common traits that set the best tutoring agencies apart from others in the industry.

‘The Good Schools Guide offer honest reviews of tutoring agencies in London’

A Rigorous Recruitment Process As echoed by The Good Schools Guide, a credible tutoring agency will meet every tutor face to face before recruiting them. Tutors should undergo an interview where they’re asked questions about their teaching methods, their experience and their approach to learning. Meeting tutors face to face, enables agencies to make more informed recruitment decisions. A thorough recruitment process, might look something like this: 1. Safety check. Before offering a tutor a place, agencies should also request a disclosure certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), which will highlight any criminal convictions.

2. Verify qualifications. Because there aren’t any recognised qualifications for private tutors in the UK, it’s important that agencies make the effort to check that candidates have given the correct information. Qualification checking services like Qualification Check can be useful for verifying such details.

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‘Qualification Check – a useful tool for tutoring agencies to verify qualifications’

3. Follow up references. References are another aspect of the tutor recruitment process that shouldn’t be overlooked. Tutors should be able to provide agencies with full contact details of referees and agencies should contact each one to verify the tutor’s suitability.

4. Training. Even the best tutors may need to brush up on certain elements of their subject or teaching methods. The best tutoring agencies will offer training opportunities to tutors when they first take up their positions and throughout the year thereafter.

Student-Focused Learning A good tutoring agency will put their students in the driving seat. By its nature, private tutoring requires a student-centred approach if students are to benefit from extra learning outside of the classroom.

It was the philosopher Carl Rogers who brought the idea of student-centred learning to prominence in 1951, through his belief that students do not learn effectively through direct teaching and only the student themselves can facilitate their learning.

In order for tutors to find the correct balance between student-focused learning a teacher-led learning, the following process may be useful: 1. Assess each student’s ability. In order for a tutor to gauge a student’s current ability, they’ll need to identify the areas in which they need to improve. This can be done by setting students the task of completing practice exam papers, in-house

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assessments or simply by reading feedback given by classroom teachers on their work.

2. Agree on the best approach. Once tutors have identified where a student needs to improve, the next logical step is to look at how they can improve. It’s important that students are involved in this process so that they feel they’ll be benefiting from the most effective approach. At this stage, tutors may want to consider what resources, materials and technologies will be the most effective for the student’s learning.

3. Set goals and study schedules. The best tutoring agencies will encourage their tutors to be organised and create clear action plans for each student. Plans should include a detailed breakdown of exactly what needs to be studied and within what timescale.

Industry Credibility The best tutoring agencies gain credibility in their area through word of mouth. If you want to verify how good an agency is, it’s always a good idea to ask former students and their parents about their experiences. Searching for online reviews can also be a good way of determining an agency’s standing. Bear in mind however, that customers are more inclined to leave reviews if they’ve had a bad experience, so don't only rely on online review websites as your source. A credible tutoring agency should display the following qualities: 1. Strong customer service. The best agencies know that happy students and parents are the best form of marketing. A good agency will do everything they can to accommodate a student’s needs and will maintain regular contact with parents.

2. Quoted in the Media. Agencies that are regularly quoted in the media are generally considered industry authorities. It shows that their opinions are valued in the marketplace.

3. Industry involvement. Many good tutoring agencies are involved in educational projects outside of their immediate business. Some are involved in organizing conferences; others act as educational consultants to schools.

A Proven Track Record Any tutoring agency worth its salt will be able to demonstrate a proven track record when it comes to getting results. The best agencies are proud to display testimonials from students and parents on their websites and should be happy to provide you with relevant statistics on how many students achieved their personal goals, how many passed overall and how many received A grades.

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They should also be able to provide you with contact details of previous students and parents (who have given consent) so you can verify any information.

Clear Communication Channels A good tutoring agency will take the time to answer any questions you may have over the phone, by email or face to face. The best tutoring agencies encourage parent involvement and should keep them informed of their child’s progress through regular updates.

They should also be available to discuss any student concerns and provide direct access to tutors. A good agency will also keep their staff informed of new developments, industry news and internal changes.

Action – Know what tutoring agencies are out there Whether you decide to tutor through an agency or directly with your own private students, it definitely pays to be aware of what options are out there. Who are the big tutoring agencies in your local area? How might you benefit from using their services?

Tutoring agencies are also a great resource of information about what’s happening in the industry at a national and local level.

Maintaining a good relationship with agencies in your area can benefit you in a number of ways, not simply for finding work. Why not reach out to tutoring companies in your area and introduce yourself?

TOP 10 TUTORING AGENCIES

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Online Tutoring Online tutoring involves teaching students within a virtual learning environment. It allows students to learn without being face-to-face with a teacher. There are several online tutoring platforms out there that offer the latest technology as well as a safe, secure learning environment. Some tutors also teach via platforms like Skype.

Typically, in order to tutor online, you’ll need to have a laptop, a webcam, a headset, and a fast internet connection.

The Marketplace for Online Tutoring An article published in the Telegraph interviews some of the UK’s leading online tutoring service providers and asks them to share their views on the rise of online tuition. One of the largest online learning platforms, reported a 500% growth in demand over the previous 12 months, across every subject imaginable.

Another major tutoring provider launched its online learning platform in 2013 enabled 3,500 tutoring sessions within its first year. Robert Grabiner, the website’s founder, credits the website’s success with enhancements in technology and broadband over the last few years.

Of course, there are benefits to improving your education by traditional means but for some, the benefits of online education outweigh traditional methods. The information below details some of the advantages of online tuition and should hopefully enlighten you to the options available for online learning.

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Convenience One of the main benefits of e-learning is its convenience. We live in a world where information and education is available to us at the click of a mouse and many online learning platforms are taking advantage of this. We tend to think of secondary school education when we speak of private tuition but online tuition can also be useful for adults looking to learn new skills. The great thing about online tutoring is that you choose when you have your lessons, you choose how long the lessons last and you can even choose where your lessons take place.

Demand The e-learning industry is said to be worth £8 billion in counting so expect to see a huge increase in the number of private tutors offering their services online in the future.

Flexibility Another huge benefit of online tuition is its flexibility. As already mentioned, you can literally choose where your lessons take place: at home; in a coffee shop; on the beach (perhaps only in the summer) and all you really need is a laptop and a headset. Times are changing and people no longer need to sit in a classroom five evenings (or days) a week in order to learn a subject. Those with the motivation can learn from the comfort of their own homes.

However, online learning doesn’t mean that you won’t have to work as it takes just as much effort to learn from someone over the internet as it does face to face and there’s still the revision and assignments to work on afterwards. What it does mean though is that you can choose when to put the effort in. Perhaps you’re a morning person who prefers to work at first light? Or maybe you’re a night owl who gets inspired of an evening? Either way, e-learning definitely gives you that freedom.

By signing up to an online tutoring platform, you automatically increase your client base. Online learning means you’re no longer restricted to teaching students within a few miles radius of your home, the world, quite literally, is your oyster.

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Example of a ‘virtual’ classroom used by online tutoring platforms With virtual classrooms being used as an alternative to real ones, students and tutors can talk, swap messages, share files and draw diagrams all at the click of a mouse. And in most cases, at the end of each lesson, pupils can play everything back to reinforce their learning.

Although the future of learning is definitely online, it’s worth bearing in mind that there will always be a market for face-face tuition.

Action – Be aware of what online tutoring platforms are out there Online tutoring isn’t for everyone but there’s no denying that a significant part of the future of private tutoring is online. Having an awareness of what online tutoring platforms are out there, how much they cost and what benefits they offer tutors, will help you make an informed decision about whether you’ll offer online as well as face-to-face tutoring.

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How to Improve a Student’s Confidence Some people believe themselves to be naturally unconfident doing certain tasks.

Confidence however, is a skill that can be learned like any other, through practice.

People who consider themselves to be confident in a certain situation, have at one point, embraced their uncertainty.

Through practice and taking action, it is possible for someone to change their perception of how they perform and to achieve their goals.

Feeling in Control If a student feels they are in control of their learning, they feel more confident in their ability to succeed in their studies. One way of improving a student’s confidence is to create an agreed structure for future lessons. Familiarity and repetition can help a student adopt a resourceful mind-set and aid their learning. The structure of lessons will vary according to the subject and the level being studied.

Positive Language During your lessons, try to use positive language as much as possible, even when correcting a student’s errors. Try reframing the idea of ‘mistakes’ into something more encouraging.

If you highlight an error, give a constructive explanation that leaves the student feeling enlightened rather than deflated. By the same account, it’s important not to be overly-positive and to praise mediocrity. By using positive language honestly and effectively your student will know when they have genuinely achieved and will respect your feedback.

Replacing Limiting Beliefs As an educator, it’s important not to accept the word ‘can’t’ as a reason for a student’s shortcomings. If your student is struggling with a particular concept or process, break it down into small, manageable chunks and take the time to explain the minor details. It is often the minor details that make all the difference. Ask your student to explain exactly what they don’t understand about what they are studying and give a clear, concise explanation of the practice.

Self-Expression Encourage your student to express their opinions on everything relating to their studies including your suggestions. After a day of classroom learning and being Page 96 42

taught mostly through a one-way system, encourage your student to ask questions that they may not otherwise get the chance to ask in the classroom for risk of embarrassment or due to time constraints.

By letting a student know that their opinions are just as relevant as yours or their teacher’s, they will develop a stronger sense of self-worth, knowing that their thoughts are valued.

The Confidence Effect When a student starts to see an improvement in their learning, their confidence grows and often they find that the techniques they have learned from one subject can be transferred to another. This can have a knock-on effect and students often see their grades improve in other subjects too.

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How to Motivate Students At some point in a teacher or student’s career they will be faced with the challenge of teaching an unmotivated student. Such challenges can be frustrating for both teacher and student so we’ve written a brief guide on the most effective ways to put the spark back into a student’s learning.

Everyone has felt demotivated at some point in their lives whether it be linked to learning or not, but very often the thing that makes the difference is approach and perspective. In short, the most effective way to motivate a student is by engaging their interest.

How Do You Know If a Student Is Motivated?

You can tell if someone is motivated from their body language and their verbal responses. If someone is sitting up straight, pen in hand, notebook on table and eyes fixed to the speaker, then they’re generally engaged with the content.

Verbal responses might take the form of reinforced language – if a student repeats what a teacher is saying, it’s generally a sign that they’re taking on board what is being taught and thinking about the task at hand.

Positive Reinforcement A little praise can go a long way. By reassuring students that they’re doing well, you let them know that their hard work is paying off and they’ll soon see the results of their efforts. Learning is a process and not everyone picks things up first time so by celebrating small successes along the way, students will be more likely to commit to learning in the long term.

Acknowledge a student’s good work during lessons and let others know about their successes too – class teachers, parents etc. Be careful not to over praise however, as this can create false hope and lead to disappointment in the future. Be honest with your praise and constructive with your criticism.

Setting Short-Term and Long-Term Goals When you give something your full concentration day in day out, it can be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. By creating short term ‘check points’, you give students an opportunity to reflect on what they’ve already achieved and to allow for any adjustments to be made before moving forward.

Even if each individual short-term goal isn’t achieved, don’t necessarily view this as a bad thing as there will still be time for things to come together before the Page 96 44

most important goal approaches. Set the barrier high but remember to be realistic.

It’s important to set expectations early on during a course of lessons and to make students aware that you can only take their learning so far – the rest is up to them.

Showing Your Enthusiasm Enthusiasm as they say, is infectious. If you’re passionate about what you’re teaching, then your students are more likely to be engaged with the content. By using positive and empowering words, you can often gain a reaction from students.

Make sure your students can relate to your examples – tell them a personal story and relate it to what you’re teaching, this gives the content an extra layer of intrigue as it becomes a real-world experience.

Keeping Things Fresh There’s nothing more demotivating than covering the same points over and over or using the same teaching strategies all the time. Variety is the spice of life so by adapting your teaching style to fit the content your students will feel that they’re approaching something they already know from a new angle.

By using a variety of different teaching methods, you cater to all types of learners and increase the chances of students achieving their goals.

Becoming Student-Centred By focusing more responsibility on what your students think, you encourage them to form their own opinions and set their own work schedules. By giving a student more ownership over their work, you’re giving them less opportunity to find fault in the teaching method or content.

By enforcing the idea that they are responsible for their own learning, they may come to the realisation that blame doesn’t lead to results. By asking your students what they enjoyed about a particular lesson, you’re giving them a chance to say what they feel and at the same time, they’re summarising the work that you’ve just covered.

Taking an Interest in Your Students’ Interests Everybody needs some down time so why not use the opportunity to get to know your students a bit better. What are their interests outside of school? What are their hobbies? Knowing more about the person you’re teaching allows you to tailor lessons according to their individual needs. You may discover a good way of tying in their interests with what you’re teaching.

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Involving Friends and Parents • Keep parents up to date with what you’ve been teaching during lessons and encourage them to ask questions.

• Given the opportunity, everybody likes to impress with knowledge so having a parent ask about lessons when you, as a teacher or tutor are present, gives them the chance to impress both parties.

• Why not suggest students form a study group? If you have several students who live close by, you could suggest they arrange to meet to discuss lessons and to share thoughts on coursework.

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How to Keep up With Trends in the Private Tutoring Industry Private tutoring is one of the oldest professions there is, but thanks to an everchanging curriculum, new technologies, and a constant quest for better results, keeping up-to-date has never been harder. That's why we've compiled a handy list of ways to stay at the cutting edge of your industry.

Read the Curriculum For any tutor, making sure you are teaching the right materials is vital. However, for those who don’t teach regularly in a school, finding out how curriculum changes affect you can be tough.

In the past year alone, there have been major changes to A-Levels / IBs / Scottish Highers and GCSEs/MYBs/N5s, with further changes scheduled for the next few years. The government and Exam Boards do a reasonable job of recording major curriculum changes and present these changes in a more easily digestible format.

Get Involved in Social Media People use social media for a reason: it's a great way to stay informed about what people are talking about. You can follow Education thought leaders on Twitter and LinkedIn. If you have an existing tuition business, setting up a Facebook page lets you hear from your own clients and respond to their questions and feedback.

Follow Industry Blogs The blogosphere contains a wealth of information on every topic imaginable, and tuition is no different. Following blogs such as The Tutor Website are of course a must, but smaller, less well-known bloggers can often be a goldmine for useful information on more niche topics. If you need help getting started, try Google a list of Education blogs.

Embrace New Technologies The best way to stay current with new technologies is to try them out first hand. The two technologies making waves today are online tutoring and interactive resources.

Online tutoring can be a great way to teach students who may live too far away for you to travel to in person. And all you need to get started is registering with a tutoring platform and have a Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet account.

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account. Similarly, there are dozens of free resources online that can complement one-to-one tuition.

Platforms like the Doddle platform allow tutors to set homework for their pupils and track their progress over time, in addition to providing teaching resources. Similarly, websites like TES has an exhaustive list of resources for teachers and tutors, covering everything from creative exercises to practice exams.

Attend Events For those who like to travel, going to tuition industry conferences and events can be a great way to hear from those at the cutting edge of the tutoring industry and they also gives you an opportunity to mingle with like-minded professionals. The Tutors Association is the UK's premier tutoring event provider.

Use Google Alerts

'Receive tutoring updates straight to your inbox as they happen.'

Scouring through dozens of blogs and online newspapers can be time consuming, especially if you're only interested in one or two topics. Instead, try out Google Alerts.

This is a handy little tool that tells you every time certain keywords are mentioned in news articles or forums on the web. So, if you're interested in "Secondary Maths", set up an alert for that term and Google will keep you informed of all the relevant articles that mention those terms.

Participate in Forums and Discussion Boards

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What better way to keep up with what's going on than to hear it from parents directly. The forums on sites such as Mumsnet, Netmums and Facebook groups regularly host discussions from parents. You can browse through as a guest, or if you have something to contribute, then you can get involved directly by becoming a member (usually for free).

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FAQ’s About Private Tutoring These FAQs are the 'best of' of all the tutoring questions we get asked through The Tutor Website. Hopefully, this section will help answer any questions you might have about private tutoring.

How Much do Private Tutors Charge?

The cost of private tutoring varies. Where you live and how experienced the tutors are in your area are the two main contributing factors.

In 2023, the average tutor in the UK charges between £20 - £40 per hour, depending on qualifications, skills and experience. However, I've seen tutors charge as low as £10 and as high as £100+.

Agencies tend to charge a fixed fee per lesson, which again varies but the average seems to be around £30 - £50 per hour.

Those that tutor online and aren't subject to charging within the platform's fixed prices, tend to charge slightly lower or the same as face-to-face freelance tutors.

How Qualified Does a Tutor Need to be?

There are no specific qualifications for tutors in the UK, so qualification levels tend to vary from tutor to tutor. In general, tutors tend to be educated to at least degree level or working towards one but this isn't a hard and fast rule.

Some students find reassurance in hiring tutors who are highly qualified, whereas others believe that experience and a proven track record of getting results is more important.

Many private tutors have qualified teaching status although you don't need to be a qualified teacher to be a private tutor. Some teachers tutor as a side-line to their classroom teaching job and some become private tutors after retirement.

Where Do Parents Search for Private Tutors?

It can be surprisingly difficult to find a private tutor in the UK. Top level tutors in London tend to be so much in demand that they're booked up months, sometimes years in advance.

Generally, students and parents tend to find tutors through word of mouth recommendations and some of the most sought-after tutors find work through recommendations alone.

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Because it can be difficult for freelance tutors to market themselves online in such a competitive marketplace, most decide to register with private tutor directories, like the one we have on The Tutor Website. These directories are a good place to look for tutors in your local area.

Other tutors choose to register with private tutoring agencies or tutoring platforms such as 'The Tutor Website'.

How Long Does an Average Lesson Last?

Normally, private tutoring is priced by the hour and lessons tend to take place in hourly blocks. With younger students at 11 Plus level or primary level, lessons are sometimes shorter than 1 hour.

The frequency of lessons varies from student to student, depending on their needs and whether they're studying for exams or not.

Freelance Tutor or Tutoring Agency?

There are advantages and drawbacks to using both types of services. Freelance tutors are self-employed and take care of all their own lesson scheduling, invoicing etc. They deal with students and parents directly and tend to charge slightly less than agencies although not always.

Tutoring agencies on the other hand, are more process-orientated and generally have high standards with some of the top agencies only employing tutors from the UK's top universities. Many tutoring agencies also provide tutors with training, which can help ensure high standards of teaching.

What is Online Tutoring?

Online tutoring is essentially teaching over the internet. Many private tutors who teach face-to-face also offer their services online via real-time communication (RTC) platforms like Zoom, Teams, Google Meet or Skype.

Over the last few years, there has been a rise in online tutoring start-ups. Most offer purpose-built virtual classrooms where students and tutors can chat via webcam and share resources. Some of the leading online tutoring platforms in the UK include MyTutor and TutorHub. Is Online Tutoring Safe?

Generally, reputable online tutoring platforms tend to be very safe and most offer students the ability to record lessons in video and audio. Some online learning platforms also require all their tutors to have up-to-date DBS certificates.

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Is Online Tutoring More Effective than Face-to-Face Tutoring?

In some cases, online tutoring can serve as an effective alternative to classroom teaching for students who are unable to attend school. Online tutoring offers students flexibility in their lesson times and often gives them more control over their learning.

Action – Use your free checklist for starting a tutoring business Included towards the end of this eBook, is a checklist for starting your tutoring business. Use it as a reference for making sure that you have everything prepared for starting work as a private tutor. The checklist summarises all the action points throughout the book.

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Marketing your tutoring business Just a reminder - it’s a guide specifically for self-employed private tutors. And for that reason, we hope it’s the main marketing information source you’ll need if you want to grow your tutoring business.

The single most challenging thing about growing a business is marketing. And the single most challenging thing about marketing is knowing which advice to follow. In this digital age, information overload makes it difficult for us to separate good advice from background noise.

To begin with, we’ll look at how to create an effective strategy, because without a plan, your marketing efforts will go undocumented and you won’t know what strategies have been the most successful for you. We’ll then look more closely at the most effective ways you can market yourself offline and online without breaking the bank.

Remember, the secret to effective marketing isn’t in the quantity but in the quality.

And that’s exactly what you’ll get in this guide.

So, in such a competitive environment, how exactly can you ensure that you stand out from the crowd and find those 1 in 4 students who are now using private tutors All will be revealed in this marketing section.

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE DOING TUTORING PART-TIME AND ARE MAINLY GOING TO USE TUTORING AGENCIES OR TUTORING DIRECTORIES TO ATTRACT NEW CUSTOMERS, A LOT OF THE INFORMATION IN THIS SECTION MAY NOT NECESSARILY APPLY TO YOU.

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A Practical Marketing Strategy for Your Tutoring Business The key to successful marketing as a private tutor is having a plan.

Marketing your services all guns blazing is all well and good but what you may have in enthusiasm, you also need to match in strategy. What you need is a plan that outlines how your marketing will consistently work for you in the long term.

Think of your marketing strategy as a combination of your online and offline efforts. If you strike the correct balance between digital and traditional marketing, you’ll start to see the fruits of your efforts. Having a strategy is all about organising your ideas into actions, so here is our 5 step guide to creating your marketing strategy.

1. Goals – What Are You Trying to Achieve?

From a marketing perspective, most tutors want two things – more students and more money.

Now, consider what timescale you’re working to. How quickly do you think you can realistically start to see an increase in student enquiries from your efforts? It’s probably best to look at your strategy in quarterly chunks.

Whereas it doesn’t take long to market yourself in the real world, it can take some time to market yourself online – especially if you’re new to the idea of online marketing.

2. Who Do You Think You’re Marketing to?

Sounds like a question with an obvious answer, right?

Your target audience is students.

Well, maybe.

In actual fact, most enquiries for tutoring come from parents or other family members so they should be the ones you’re pitching to. Ask yourself where your prospective customers are likely to hang out, and then go there.

Offline, it may be local meet-up groups, the town hall, the library etc. and online it may be parenting forums, educational websites or tutoring platforms.

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To help you refine your audience better, try customer profiling. Write down who your ideal customer is. What age are they? Where do they live? How much are they willing to spend on your services? Customer profiling can be an effective way of identifying exactly who your audience are and where you’re likely to find them.

3. Raising the Bar - Who Are Your Pacemakers?

Keeping a watchful eye on the competition provides you with useful insights that you can use in your marketing.

Which tutors in your local area seem to be generating the most business? How are they marketing themselves? Using other tutors’ marketing efforts as a benchmark can help you focus yours more effectively.

4. Where Exactly Will You Market Yourself?

If your initial answer to this question is ‘in my local area’, then perhaps you need to think outside the box a bit more.

With your marketing strategy, you’re looking to gain as much exposure as possible from your efforts so you’ll want to be selective in where you do your marketing.

Perhaps your offline marketing efforts will be better served in areas near schools, where you know there’ll be families living nearby?

And how about social media - have you considered which platforms your marketing will be best suited to in terms of exposure?

There’s a whole lot more information about online marketing methods for tutors later in the guide.

5. How to Measure Your Progress Your marketing efforts can be tricky to measure.

To help you decide on the best way to measure your marketing success, have a look back at your goals to remind yourself what you were trying to achieve in the first place.

For your offline marketing, it may be the number of phone calls you receive over the course of a month. And for your online efforts, it may be the number of emails you receive.

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If you have your own website, Google analytics is a great place to start for gaining insights into your marketing success and it can really help you quantify your online marketing goals.

Google Analytics – the best way to track your online marketing efforts

For the tech savvy, metrics like unique visits, individual page views, organic search terms, bounce rates and direct referrals can help you work out which particular elements of your online marketing are working well. For example, if you feel that the number of student enquiries you’re receiving aren’t reflected in the amount of visitors your website receives, then you know that you need to improve your sales pages.

Action – Complete Your Marketing Strategy Template Create your own documented marketing strategy by answering the questions set out in our Marketing Strategy Template that comes with this guide. This is the basis upon which you’ll approach your marketing. Even if this is the only action from the guide that you follow through on, it’ll still prove beneficial in the longterm.

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How to Set Your Tutoring Rates According to the data that we’ve compiled from every tutoring rate survey conducted over the last 6 years, the average tutor in the UK charges between £20 and £40 per hour. However, based on reports of what parents are willing to pay for a good private tutor, many charge £100+ for an hour of their time. These ‘so-called’ super tutors tend to be based in London and big cities and offer their services to wealthier families.

A private tutor is worth as much as the value they add to a student’s education. Most private tutors in the UK work part time to supplement other sources of income and charging £25 an hour for ‘extra money’ doesn’t sound too bad.

But what about those of you who want to make a full-time career out of tutoring?

How much should you charge?

Freelance Rate Calculator One way of determining how much you should charge as a full-time tutor, is to use a freelance rate calculator like Your Rate.

YourRate.co, a great tool to work out how much you should charge as a tutor

This simple tool enables you to calculate how many hours you typically expect to work in a day, how many holidays you expect to take and provides you with an hourly rate suggestion.

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Manual Rate Calculation To work out your ideal rate manually, you can also use the following method: -

There are 253 working days in a year and let’s assume you want to take an additional 15 working days holiday on top of that (3 weeks including weekends), so you’re left with 238 working days a year.

-

Now, decide how much you’d like to make in a year and divide that number by 238. This is your daily rate.

-

Divide this by the number of hours you expect to work every day and voila, this is the hourly rate you need to charge in order to reach your annual income goal.

When you consider that you’ll also have some overheads on top of this (books, materials, travel expenses etc.) then you’ll probably need to increase this figure a bit to accommodate expenses.

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Market Positioning If you’re serious about earning an income from tutoring, then you need to think about how your business is positioned in the market. Your tutoring business’ ‘brand’ should be a reflection of your personality and your approach to tutoring.

Some things to consider when deciding on a brand for your business include: • • •

What’s your tutoring style? Are you laid back, assertive, quirky?

How do you approach lessons? Are you organised, student-focused, or tutor-focused?

What type of students are you targeting? Those that are struggling, highachievers, those that want to improve?

Once you’ve considered these questions, you can decide how your tutoring approach might be translated into a brand that positions you in the industry: • • • • •

Who is your target audience, where do they live and how much do they earn?

What is your business’ tone of voice? i.e. how do you sound when you communicate with parents and students?

What colours reflect your business?

What themes or metaphors would show your business’ personality?

How about imagery? What visuals will help you attract your ideal students?

Based on the Sutton Trust and Ipsos Mori’s report on the tutoring industry, here’s some key information that could help you position yourself in the tutoring marketplace: •

•

•

One in four 11-16-year olds in England and Wales have received private or home tuition, a figure which has risen by half since the Trust began collecting the data in 2005.

Pupils in London are substantially more likely to have received private tuition than the rest of the country, with two in five pupils from London (41%) having had tuition at some point.

Almost half (47%) of students that have a tutor say that the principal reason is to help with their work in general. One third (33%) say it’s to help them perform well in a specific GCSE exam and just over one in four (27%) say it’s to help them do well in a school entrance exam.

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And according to a similar study conducted by the Sutton Trust in on tutoring and social mobility…

•

Privately-educated students are about twice as likely to receive private tuition as state-educated pupils, according to multiple estimates.

•

Poorer students are less likely to receive private tuition. Of those aged between 11-16, 17% of students who receive free school meals (FSM) have ever received private tuition, 26% of students who do not receive FSM. Nearly half (43%) of state school teachers have tutored outside of their main teaching role at some point during their lives.

Students in Year 7 and Year 11 are most likely to receive private tuition.

There is very little variation in tutoring uptake between girls and boys.

Asian children are most likely to use tutors at 42%, followed by black children at 38%, those from ‘other’ racial backgrounds at 29%, those of ‘mixed’ race at 22% and white children the least at 20%.

• • • •

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The Student Referral Strategy For an industry worth an estimated £6 billion, finding a tutor in the UK is notoriously difficult. Private tutoring is still somewhat of a hushed subject outside school gates and many parents find it difficult to make contact with tutors in their local area.

Despite this, personal referrals are still the lifeblood of the tuition industry and a tried and tested way of finding more students. Long before social media existed, tutors would tell their friends and family, in person, that they were looking for new students and you know what? It worked. And it still does.

Simply telling people that you’re looking for new students will help you drum up interest in your services in no time. Just because parents don’t outwardly talk about it, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t looking. Remember, if you don’t spread the word, no-one will.

Reach Out to Other Tutors Although local competition can be high, it’s worthwhile reaching out to other tutors in your area who teach different subjects from you. One-to-one networking with other tutors can be a great way of establishing a referral system.

For example, you may be an English tutor who knows of a student looking for a maths tutor. You happen to have a maths tutor in your network and you pass their details to the student. And in the future, that maths tutor returns the favour.

Tell Your Existing Students Sometimes your best marketing resource is your existing students. Assuming you already have a small student base, tell them that you’re looking for new students and ask if they know anyone who needs your help. Likewise, tell your students’ parents and ask if anyone they know needs a tutor. By tapping into your existing resources, you can expand your student base quickly and easily before you’ve even spent a penny on marketing.

Kill a Dozen Birds with the One Stone Even a suggestion of the word ‘public speaking’ is enough to make the most experienced teachers and tutors hide behind their laptops. And I understand. The thought can be scary. But that’s all it is - a thought. The reality of public speaking is often very different, especially when you consider where you’ll be speaking.

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We’re not talking podiums and microphones here. We’re talking evening classes and local community groups. Five minutes at the end of your local writing group, is all you need to tell a dozen people that you’re looking for new students. Make sure you bring your business cards with you and leave some behind after your talk. By doing so, you’ll improve your marketing outreach significantly.

Actions – Word of Mouth Referrals 1. Speak face-to-face with ten of your friends or family and tell them that you’re looking for new students. Develop an elevator pitch that last no longer than 20 seconds. Then tell them to tell their friends.

2. Introduce yourself to other tutors in your local area. Tell them about your referral strategy.

3. If you have existing students, tell them that you’re looking to take on new people.

4. Arrange to speak for 5 minutes at a local group of at least 10 people and bring business cards with you.

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What Does Your Branding Say About Your Tutoring Business?

Your brand is what people say about your business when you’re not in the room. The way you present yourself to students and parents can have a big impact on the type of customers you attract.

Think about your ideal student. What age are they? What level are they currently studying at? What school do they attend? Once you have a clear idea of what type of student you’d like to teach, you can create your brand to align with what they might look for in a tutor.

What’s in a Name?

Usually, the first thing that a student recognises about your business is its name. The simplest way to name your tutoring business is to use your name and place the word ‘tutoring’ or ‘tuition’ after it, e.g. ‘Jane Smith Tuition’. If you specialise in only one subject, you may want to add the subject into the name too, e.g. ‘Jane Smith Maths Tuition.’

However, there are a few downsides to trading under your own name as a tutor. The first being, that if you ever expand and decide to contract work to other tutors, your name and reputation is quite literally on the line. It may also confuse customers if someone other than Jane Smith turns up for lessons.

If you hope to run a tutoring business long-term, then a brandable name could be the best option. You can still use the word ‘tutoring’ or ‘tuition’ in the title, but you may want to consider something more holistic as the prefix, e.g. ‘London Maths Tutoring’, ‘Ace Tuition’, ‘Elite Tutoring’ etc.

You should also think about how you want to be perceived by students. Are you ‘Shiny Happy Tuition’, the happy-go-lucky tutoring business, or are you ‘Clayton-Wickes Education Consultants’, who specialise in tutoring for Oxbridge?

Your Business Logo Anyone serious about running a tutoring business needs a logo, even if it’s only to display on business cards. If you’re good with graphic design, you could create one yourself using photoshop. Or, if your design skills only stretch as far as Microsoft Paint, you should consider paying a professional to create one for you.

The cost of logo design can vary widely. You can easily have a logo created for a few pounds on freelance platforms like Fiverr but the quality will likely vary too. If you’re after a professional, well thought-out logo that reflects your business and your students, then a professional graphic designer is the way to go.

There are also wonderful free or cheap logo design websites such as: looka.com; wix.com; logomaker.com; adobe.com; logo.com; canva.com and freelogodesign.org.

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Your Tone of Voice Tone of voice is the ‘personality’ of a brand as communicated through writing. It guides the things you say, and how you say them. From the words on your business cards, to the email reports your send parents, the way that your business sounds, matters.

The easiest way to consider the tone of voice for your tutoring business is to ask ‘if our brand was a person, what kind of person would it be?’ Think about your brand’s personality and values and consider how they translate into language. For example, ‘Shiny Happy Tuition’ might be more colloquial and relaxed in how it communicates.

Whereas ‘Clayton-Wickes Education Consultants’ will probably be more formal.

The more specific you can be in your word choice, the better you’ll be able to set yourself apart from the competition.

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Business Cards Business cards may be old school but they’re a tried and tested way of spreading the word about your tutoring business.

You can get 100 basic business cards made online for as little as £10 (excluding delivery and VAT) from most printing providers like VistaPrint, Helloprint, Solopress or local suppliers, which will set you on your way to having a mini advertisement of our services in your pocket.

The essential information your business cards should include are: • Your business name • Your contact details including email, telephone number and website • The subjects you tutor • Your Unique Selling Point (USP) a sentence or two about what makes you different When it comes to designing business cards, simplicity is key. Make sure the font you choose is legible and your essential information is clear and not hidden behind distracting graphics or logos.

The great thing about business cards is that they’re portable. You can carry half a dozen at a time in your purse or wallet and they provide all the essential information about your tutoring services that a prospective parent would need to know.

You should give a business card to every prospect that you meet. Anyone who mentions that they know someone who may be looking for a tutor is a potential lead, so ask them to pass your business card on.

If you already have a student-base, your existing clients should be your first port of call for distribution. Give each of your students 2 or 3 of your business cards and ask them to pass them on to anyone they know who may be interested. Your existing students are often your best source of new work.

You should also consider attaching business cards to any flyers or leaflets that you display as they’re often an easier way for people to remember your details.

You can even use business cards as an alternative to flyers and leave a handful in public places where parents or students may be interested in your services. Ask yourself this: ‘Where are my customers likely to hang out?’

Once you’ve identified the places that your target audience are likely to be, you can start to think about where you might want to display your cards. Try local notice boards, shop windows, public libraries, community centres, town halls and local cafes. You can even ask local shops if you can leave a pile on their counter for customers to pick up. Better still, place a sign next to your cards with the word Page 96 65

‘free’ written on it – you’d be amazed at how many more people will take one just because they feel like they’re getting a freebie.

You could also consider posting your business cards through a few letterboxes in your area to test the water for interest.

For those of us who aren’t as forthcoming when it comes to self-promotion, remember the phrase ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’. Give your business cards out to everyone, including your friends and family, and give them out two at a time – remember, one for you, one for your friend.

Be sure to ask for a referral once you’ve given your card out. Tell someone: ‘if you know anyone who’s looking for a tutor tell them to give me a call’. You’ll usually find that their response is something like ‘well I don’t need a tutor myself, but I know someone who might be looking for one.’

And remember to follow up on your marketing. How many people did you give your business cards to last week? How many of those people will you see again soon or have contact details for? A simple text or email can be a great way of reminding people of your services, try asking if they managed to give your other card to anyone. The chances are that that they haven’t really given it a second thought since you met them initially, but now you’ve firmly planted the seed, your business card will be further toward the forefront of their mind.

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Flyers and Leaflets If you're willing to put the effort in, leafleting can be a great way to promote your business.

Distributing leaflets door to door is one of the most popular marketing strategies for new businesses on a tight budget. Although posting flyers requires a lot of physical effort, and doesn’t produce as many responses as more modern methods, it can be a great way of targeting your market by placing your information straight into their hands.

With a response rate of around 2%, leaflet distribution may not be the best option for everyone but if you’re up to the challenge (and the walking) it may well prove to be an untapped resource.

Defining its Purpose Perhaps the most important aspect of leaflet distribution is the strategy itself. Every piece of marketing material you create should have a well thought out purpose and have a clear call to action to encourage people to pick up the phone and contact you. Your aim is to attract the attention of your audience, keep their interest, sell your product and then prompt them to take action.

It may be an idea to offer a promotion on your service in order to increase your campaign’s success, if people think they’re getting a good deal, they’ll be more likely to make initial enquiries.

Choosing the Size of Your Flyer There are a variety of different options when it comes to deciding on what size of leaflet to use. The most common sizes are A4, A5, A6 and A7. Consider where you’ll be distributing your information. If you’re planning on handing out leaflets on the street, you may want to consider printing smaller sizes of A7 – handy for people to keep in their wallets or purses.

Designing Your Leaflet The first thing to consider when designing your leaflet is which software to use. It’s probably best to stick to a package that you’re already fairly familiar with as it can take some time to master new design software. Whichever software you use, at the very least, you want to be able to print your final version and use texts and images in the design.

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Some popular design and layout packages include Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, Publisher and InDesign. If you’re new to the idea of creating a flyer, it could be a good idea to base your design on a ready-made template (we’ve included a few with this eBook).

Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to design but considering the type of manual distribution you’ll be doing, it’s a good idea to keep your design simple and consistent. Begin by choosing the font you want. Be sure to choose something which is easy to read like Arial or Times New Roman. Create an intriguing headline for your flyer – something that will grab the reader’s attention and make them want to read on. Finally, make sure that your contact details are prominent on the advert.

Think About What You Want to Say Sometimes it’s not necessarily what you say, it’s how you say it. Think about the tone of your advert. Do you want it to be professional, friendly, lighthearted? Keep in mind your target audience – the words you would use for targeting younger customers would differ from those you would use if you wanted to appeal to older customers.

Write in paragraphs and in small, digestible sentences. Make sure you highlight the benefits of your services – why is your service better than the rest? How are you able to solve their problem or meet their need? Have you had any previous customers? If so, ask them for a testimonial and put it on your flyer – this reassures customers that you’re reputable and already fairly established. Finally, try not to get too technical. Avoid using too many jargon words that might confuse your reader.

Get it Proofread The last thing you want is to come home from a hard day’s marketing only to find that you’ve missed a digit from your contact telephone number, so make sure you double check your leaflet first or better still, have someone else read over it for you.

Check for spelling mistakes and grammar errors and triple check that your contact details are correct.

Where to Distribute Your Flyers Here are some places you might want to consider distributing your flyers: • • •

Through letterboxes, delivered by you or a group of friends Shared distribution alongside other leaflets.

As part of a newspaper of magazine insert

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• • •

On the street, handed to people as they pass by (prepare yourself for a few rejections) Placed underneath car window wipers Left in public places like a library, for people to pick up

Judging the Success of Your Leaflet Marketing If you’re committed to this type of marketing strategy, you may want to experiment with different content and different headlines, or even different promotional offers.

By identifying the types of leaflets and the local areas that produce the best results, you can begin to tailor your marketing more effectively.

The easiest way to monitor the success of your campaign is to ask people where they found your details when they contact you.

Actions – Use Our Tutoring Flyer Templates We’ve included three flyer templates with this eBook, created in Word, so you can easily edit them to suit our needs. Each one offers a slightly different, so you may want to choose the one that provides the best representation of your business, or, use all three and see which one brings you the most success.

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Registering with Tutoring Agencies Although being self-employed and doing your own marketing gives you the potential to earn more in the long-term, registering with a tutoring agency can be a great way to guarantee yourself regular income - and they’ll do most of the marketing for you.

According to TES Connect, some tutoring agencies have as many as 10,000 tutors on their books. Although these are likely to be ‘virtual’ agencies like those mentioned in the ‘tutor directories’ section of the book, most physical agencies do have large numbers of tutors registered with them as well.

Tutoring agencies don’t just hire anyone. Most require tutors to have a university degree and an up to date DBS. However, some agencies do partner with umbrella bodies and recruitment agencies and can apply for DBS checks on tutors’ behalves, which is a big plus.

Working with an agency can help establish your credibility as a tutor, as their recruitment processes are usually thorough, which can help you stand out in the industry as being reliable and trustworthy.

It’s worth noting however, that tutoring agencies do charge commission on their services. They’ll either add a mark-up price on your hourly rate when quoting parents and students, or they’ll take a commission directly from your hourly rate, typically between 20–40%.

The Good Schools Guide and the Tutors Association have a list of recommended tutoring agencies that may be useful for tutors who are considering applying to one.

According to the Good Schools Guide's Tutoring Agency Review, the best tutoring agencies know their tutors personally and interview every one before recruiting them as part of their team. To take this point further, we’ve put together a list of the common traits that set the best tutoring agencies apart from others in the industry.

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The Good Schools Guide offer honest reviews of tutoring agencies

How to Find a Good Tutoring Agency to Register With?

As echoed by The Good Schools Guide, a credible tutoring agency will meet every tutor face to face before recruiting them. Tutors should undergo an interview where they’re asked questions about their teaching methods, their experience and their approach to learning. Meeting tutors face to face, enables agencies to make more informed recruitment decisions. A thorough recruitment process, might look something like this: 1. Safety Check. Before offering a tutor a place, agencies should also request a disclosure certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), which will highlight any criminal convictions.

2. Verify Qualifications. Because there aren’t any recognised qualifications for private tutors in the UK, it’s important that agencies make the effort to check that candidates have given the correct information. Qualification checking services like Qualification Check can be useful for verifying such details.

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‘Qualification Check – a useful tool for tutoring agencies to verify qualifications’

3. Follow up References. References are another aspect of the tutor recruitment process that shouldn’t be overlooked. Tutors should be able to provide agencies with full contact details of referees and agencies should contact each one to verify the tutor’s suitability.

4. Training. Even the best tutors may need to brush up on certain elements of their subject or teaching methods. The best tutoring agencies will offer training opportunities to tutors when they first take up their positions and throughout the year thereafter.

Student-Focused Learning A good tutoring agency will put their students in the driving seat. By its nature, private tutoring requires a student-centred approach if students are to benefit from extra learning outside of the classroom.

In order for tutors to find the correct balance between student-focused learning a teacher-led learning, the following process may be useful: 1. Assess Each Student’s Ability. In order for a tutor to gauge a student’s current ability, they’ll need to identify the areas in which they need to improve. This can be done by setting students the task of completing practice exam papers, in-house assessments or simply by reading feedback given by classroom teachers on their work.

2. Agree on the Best Approach. Once tutors have identified where a student needs to improve, the next logical step is to look at how they can improve. It’s important that students are involved in this process so that they feel they’ll be benefiting from the most effective approach. At this stage, tutors may want to consider what Page 96 72

resources, materials and technologies will be the most effective for the student’s learning.

3. Set Goals and Study Schedules. The best tutoring agencies will encourage their tutors to be organised and create clear action plans for each student. Plans should include a detailed breakdown of exactly what needs to be studied and within what timescale.

Industry Credibility The best tutoring agencies gain credibility in their area through word of mouth. If you want to verify how good an agency is, it’s always a good idea to ask former students and their parents about their experiences. Searching for online reviews can also be a good way of determining an agency’s standing. Bear in mind however, that customers are more inclined to leave reviews if they’ve had a bad experience, so don't only rely on online review websites as your source. A credible tutoring agency should display the following qualities: 1. Strong Customer Service. The best agencies know that happy students and parents are the best form of marketing. A good agency will do everything they can to accommodate a student’s needs and will maintain regular contact with parents.

2. Quoted in the Media. Agencies that are regularly quoted in the media are generally considered industry authorities. It shows that their opinions are valued in the marketplace.

3. Industry Involvement. Many good tutoring agencies are involved in educational projects outside of their immediate business. Some are involved in organizing conferences; others act as educational consultants to schools.

A Proven Track Record Any tutoring agency worth its salt will be able to demonstrate a proven track record when it comes to getting results. The best agencies are proud to display testimonials from students and parents on their websites and should be happy to provide you with relevant statistics on how many students achieved their personal goals, how many passed overall and how many received A grades.

They should also be able to provide you with contact details of previous students and parents (who have given consent) so you can verify any information.

Clear Communication Channels A good tutoring agency will take the time to answer any questions you may have over the phone, by email or face to face. The best tutoring agencies encourage Page 96 73

parent involvement and should keep them informed of their child’s progress through regular updates.

They should also be available to discuss any student concerns and provide direct access to tutors. A good agency will also keep their staff informed of new developments, industry news and internal changes.

Action – Know What Tutoring Agencies Are Out There Whether you decide to tutor through an agency or directly with your own private students, it definitely pays to be aware of what options are out there. Who are the big tutoring agencies in your local area? How might you benefit from using their services?

Tutoring agencies are also a great resource of information about what’s happening in the industry at a national and local level.

Maintaining a good relationship with agencies in your area can benefit you in a number of ways, not simply for finding work. Why not reach out to tutoring companies in your area and introduce yourself?

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Registering with Tutor Directories Despite the number of tutors in the UK, many don’t market themselves through their own website. And tutor directories could be one of the reasons. There are so many tutoring platforms out there that it’s difficult for tutors with a limited knowledge of website design and digital marketing to compete with the larger platforms in terms of organic search results.

For many tutors, it’s a case of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them.’

The reason that there are so many tutor directories out there is that they work. Or, at least the best ones do. The ones that occupy the Google top spots are those that deliver results and keep on top of the search engine’s ever-changing algorithms.

Generally speaking, there are three types of online directory model within the tuition industry.

1. The ‘agency’ model – where tutors create a profile for free and the directory charges a commission on every lesson arranged through the site.

2. The ‘finder’s fee’ model – where tutors create a profile for free and the directory charges the parents a fee for releasing the tutor’s details.

3. The ‘Yellow Pages’ model – where the directory charges a yearly fee for tutors to create a profile and parents can contact the tutors for free. Any lessons arranged are done so privately and there are no commission fees.

The best type of directory to advertise on is entirely dependent on how well the directory performs in search engines. Figures suggest that the number one position in Google gets 33% of search traffic. That means that the most effective directories are those that appear on top for search terms related to your services.

Other than focusing on search results, you should also consider how easy directories are to navigate. If the website is poorly designed and difficult to use, then having a high search engine ranking doesn’t really matter. No-one will find you on the site anyway.

In most cases, private tutors tend to advertise on several different sites at the same time. Why not contact some tutors through these sites directly and ask how effective they find the platform?

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Note: Although our Tutor Directory List isn’t exhaustive, all those included are reputable. They’ve been online for several years and are the most popular (because they’re the most effective) directories among tutors. There are many more completely free tutor directories out there but these aren’t listed because they tend not to be as effective.

Actions – Use Our Free Tutor Directory List (at the back of the guide) 1. Write down a list of the main keywords you think students and parents will use to find a tutor like you in your local area.

2. Search for each of these terms and write down all the directory websites that appear on the first page.

3. Use our free Tutor Directory List that comes with this guide to find out more about each directory, i.e. their business model, their costs and their overall effectiveness. Decide which ones will work best for you and register with them.

TOP TUTOR DIRECTORY WEBSITES

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Online Tutoring Platforms An online tutoring platform provides an online classroom for students and tutors to interact in real-time. They work in a similar way to Zoom, Teams, Google Meet or Skype and provide additional features to make online learning accessible. Some of the most popular online tutoring platforms include MyTutor, Skooli, Udemy, Wyzant and WizIQ. By signing up to an online tutoring platform, you automatically increase your client base. Online learning means you’re no longer restricted to teaching students within a few miles’ radius of your home, the world, quite literally, is your oyster.

Perhaps the best thing about online tutoring platforms for self-employed tutors is the ability to market yourself within the confines of one website. Many online learning providers encourage their tutors to participate in chatroom sessions, forum discussions and to share their knowledge by writing blog posts as a way of marketing themselves within the site.

Example of a ‘virtual’ classroom in the Skooli platform With virtual classrooms being used as an alternative to real ones, students and tutors can talk, swap messages, share files and draw diagrams all at the click of a mouse. And in most cases, at the end of each lesson, pupils can play everything back to reinforce their learning.

Although the future of learning is definitely online, it’s worth bearing in mind that there will always be a market for face-face tuition.

An article published in the Telegraph, interviewed some of the UK’s leading online tutoring service providers and asked them to share their views on Page 96 77

the rise of online tuition. The online learning platform TutorHub, who at the time had more than 5,000 students and 700 tutors on their books, reported a 500% growth in demand over the previous 12 months, across every subject imaginable.

TutorHub – one of the fastest growing online tutoring platforms in the UK

Similarly, MyTutor (known as MyTutorWeb at the time), who launched its online learning platform in 2013 enabled 3,500 tutoring sessions within its first year.

Robert Grabiner, the website’s founder, credited the website’s success with enhancements in technology and broadband over the last few years.

Improvements in broadband services make online tutoring more effective than ever

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Marketing with Your Own Website As we mentioned earlier, very few private tutors have their own websites due to high competition from online directories and other tutoring platforms. However, if private tuition is a long-term career goal for you, then it’s definitely worth investing in your own corner of the internet.

Generally speaking, there are two options available to tutors who want to create their own websites.

1. Pay a web designer to build one for you.

2. Learn some basic web design skills and build your own.

Of all the website builders out there, the best long-term choice for flexibility is WordPress. If you’re looking to create a website on a shoestring budget, then you can choose from many of their free templates and you’ll only need to pay for hosting and the initial purchase of a domain name.

A well-designed tutor website - this one belongs to Victoria Olubi aka The Tutoress However, if you want your website to look a bit slicker and have added functionality, then you can choose to buy a premium theme which will enable you to create a website precisely as you want it.

One of the great things about WordPress is that it caters for most levels and abilities. Whether you’re a web design pro or completely new to the idea of building a website, WordPress has something to offer everyone.

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WordPress – the No.1 choice for DIY website design Seeing as this guide is all about marketing, we won’t go any further into the technical side of creating a website although it is worth mentioning the importance of choosing a suitable domain name.

If you plan on keeping your tutoring business within your local area, it can be worthwhile from an SEO perspective to buy a domain name that includes the word ‘tutor’ and your local area, e.g. ‘mathstutorlondon.co.uk’. Given how competitive the tutoring industry is however, you may need to settle for more of a ‘branded’ name as the keyword rich domains are often already taken.

Using Website Templates Another way of quickly coming up with a website is using Website Builders such as Wix. Wix has diffferent packages include free and paid options. Wix provides customizable website templates and a drag-and-drop HTML5 web site builder that includes apps, graphics, image galleries, fonts, vectors, animations and other options. Users also may opt to create their web sites from scratch. Wix also has a mobile editor to allow users to adjust their sites for mobile viewing. Users must purchase premium packages to connect their sites to their own domains, remove Wix ads, access the form builder, add e-commerce capabilities, or buy extra data storage and bandwidth.

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Paying for Online Advertising: Google Ads If you’re looking for a ‘quick fix’ to your online marketing efforts then you may want to consider using Google Adwords, of ‘Google Ads’ as it’s now known. Although it can take a little time to get your head around the intricacies of setting up a Google Ads campaign, here, we provide a brief overview of the benefits of using Google’s paid advertising platform.

In a nutshell, Google Ads are a good way to promote your tutoring services if you: a) Have a website b) Don’t have much of an online presence Google Ads essentially let you pay for top advertising space in search results, so that you show up above all the ‘organic’ results. It can be a great way of ensuring your site appears on Google’s first page for some of the most commonly searched phrases that relate to your services.

You can spend as much or as little money as you like on AdWords because it operates on a pay-per-click model and you’re only charged when a user clicks on your ad. Here are our top tips for implementing a successful AdWords campaign.

Choosing Your Keywords You should think carefully about which keywords you want your ad to target. For example, if you’re a Maths tutor in London, you’ll likely want to include keywords. like ‘Maths tutor London’, ‘London Maths tutor’, ‘Maths tutoring London’ etc.

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The keywords you decide on will be used to determine which searches your advert will appear under.

The more popular the keyword, the more expensive the cost-per-click of the ad. And the more specific your keywords, the more effectively you’ll be able to target your audience. Although shorter tail keywords like ‘London tutors’ can have high costsper-click (due to there being more competition), you should also try to target some long-tail keywords as well using longer sentences or phrases. People often search using several different combinations of words, so make sure you have those covered too.

You can use the keyword planner within the Google Ads interface to help you find more keywords when you’re stuck for ideas.

Target Your Audience Geographically Google Ads also enables you to target specific locations. For example, if your agency is based in Central London and you only tutor within this area, you probably don’t want to appear in results that relate to Edinburgh.

You can target your audience based on postcode, city or by choosing a specific radius around your local area, e.g. within 5 miles of your town. Geotargeting your AdWords campaign is a clever way to improve your conversion rates and ensure that people who click through to your site are actually interested in using your services.

Device Targeting With Google Ads, you can also adjust your ads for specific devices, i.e. desktops, mobile devices or tablets. Think about which devices your audience are likely to be using. Parents, for example, may be more likely to search for your services on desktop devices while they’re at work, or in the evenings on a laptop. Students on the other hand, may be more likely to search for tutors on mobiles and tablets.

Remember that with Google Ads, you only spend as much as you want. You’re able to set your daily budget and change it at any time. Although your daily spend might vary, you won’t pay more than your monthly charging limit.

Paying for Google adverts can be a good introduction to paid advertising and is a low risk way of discovering whether paid advertising will work for your tutoring business or not.

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An Introduction to SEO for Tutors SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it’s the art of ensuring that your website ranks well for specific keywords in search engines. Whether you intend on creating your own website or not, it’s important to understand how the tutoring platforms that you advertise on optimize their websites to ensure your listings are found by students and parents.

Developing a high ranking website is a creative process that blends art and science in a balanced mix and contains many different elements. This blend has to satisfy both people and search engines, which can be a tricky combination.

A well-optimized website should be: • • •

Highly readable by visitors Highly visible to search engines, and therefore Commercially successful for you

One of the most common traps websites owners fall into is ‘keyword-stuffing’ whereby they try to fit as many keywords into their content as possible in the hope that Google will reward them kindly for it. Websites must always have the reader as priority, which makes good SEO sense as well as good business sense.

SEO specifically targets the words and phrases people use when searching for a product or service on the internet. It’s every webmaster’s dream to rank number one in Google and with properly targeted, keyword-savvy content, search engines are more likely to index websites generously.

Internet search engines are developing new technologies and algorithms all the time in order to make search methodologies smarter and more astute. Following Google’s Penguin and Panda updates, Google robots no longer give significance to the repetition of words throughout a website. Instead, they focus on content which has meaning, makes grammatical sense and provides genuinely useful information.

These updates have forced webmasters to improve their website content or suffer the consequences of a dramatic drop in traffic.

Here are our top tips for creating highly optimized web pages: Research your Keywords and Phrases Use keyword analysis tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner or paid tools like SEMRush, you can focus on specific keywords you want to rank for. Keyword analysis tools are easy to use and give you a good idea of what search terms people are using to find private tutors in your local area. These tools also tell you how Page 96 83

much traffic each search term generates. Here’s an example of how Google’s Keyword planner displays keyword information:

Google’s Keyword Planner is the perfect tool for researching your keywords Researching your keywords is a great way to plan how you will optimize your website for search engines. You should use keywords in your page headlines, meta information and occasionally in your website content. Don’t go crazy with this though as there is such a thing as over-optimizing by keyword stuffing and this won’t do you any favours in search engine rankings.

Action – Do Keyword Research for Your Local Area 1. Using Google’s Keyword Planner, or similar tools, search for keywords that people in your area might use to find a private tutor.

2. Filter the results by monthly search volume and export the list as a CSV excel document.

3. Make use of these keywords in your website copy, landing pages and blog posts but be careful not to overuse them as keyword stuffing is viewed negatively by Google and could get your website penalised.

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On-Page SEO On page SEO, means optimizing particular web pages for search engines from a technical and semantic perspective. Some of the things you can do to improve the SEO of the pages on your website include: • • • • • •

Updating your meta titles and descriptions to accurately reflect the keywords and content of each page Having keyword rich headlines (that are still readable) and using synonyms of these keywords within the sub headings of your pages Structuring your pages correctly by giving your main headline a ‘headline’ h1 tag, your subheadings and h2 tag and any other sub categories, h3 tags etc.

Internally linking your blog posts by using anchor text to direct people to other articles of interest within your blog Making your posts as comprehensive as possible so that Google sees them as authoritative Making use of images on your blog and giving them the appropriate image attributes and alt text.

One of the best articles I've read about page ranking factors is on the Moz website http://moz.com/learn/seo/on-page-factors. Although it gets a bit technical at times, everything you need to know about on page SEO can be found here.

Action – Revise Your Old Website Content 1. If you already have a website, spend some time working on each landing page and blog post and implement as many of the elements mentioned above as you can.

2. Identify opportunities within each piece of content to internally link to another page. This encourages Google to crawl your website - more info on this below.

3. Apply these on-page SEO techniques to every new piece of content that you create on your website and create internal links in appropriate places within your posts.

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Building Links to Your Website Content If you choose to have a website, you should also make use of a blog. After publishing your blog posts, start building links to your content.

Share your post on social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Each backlink you build to your pages will result in a greater chance of your website being placed high in search engines.

Also consider the fact that if your content is good, other websites will link to it naturally.

Action – Identify Backlinking Opportunities 1. Using a backlink checker tool like the one on the Ahrefs website, enter your website URL and export all your site’s current backlinks.

2. Choose three of your competitors and do the same with their websites. This will present you with a list of backlinks to pursue that your competitors have already secured.

3. Decide on the best way to pursue these backlinks whether it be through guest blogging, name checking in articles, sharing infographics or simply asking to be added as a resource on their site.

Point to Existing Content in New Articles If your newest article covers a topic that falls within the content of an existing article then take full advantage of anchor links by pointing back to the previous post. Not only will you give your readers additional value through the linked content but search engines will be able to dig deep into your website and apply a higher value to your post.

Always Create Valuable Content Although the value of your content isn’t directly understood by search engines it is valuable to other website owners. When others start linking back to your content from their own websites, you’ll want your content to provide real insight. Likewise, social media interaction is quickly becoming a major relevancy factor on the web; valuable content is more likely to be shared by other people.

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Guest Posting on Other Websites Any online marketer with more than 6 years’ experience under their belt will remember the days when creating backlinks to your website (or any online profiles) was as simple as asking for an exchange – you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.

Fast forward to the present day and Google now takes a dim view of any so-called ‘black hat’ linking strategies. Google’s aim is to rank websites based on their value and authority, not necessarily on how many links they have, so nowadays the best way to gain backlinks is to have great content.

The better the content on your website, the more natural backlinks you’ll gather. The only problem with this strategy is that it takes time. So, what the savviest of marketers do is write content for other people’s websites. This has two clear marketing benefits: 1. Your services get exposure to a whole new audience 2. The author bio in your post will provide you with a link back to your website The best way to find websites to guest post on is to search for people offering similar services to yours, and in the case of private tutoring, the closer they are to you geographically, the better, as their website visitors are likely to be local to you (unless you’re marketing yourself specifically as on online tutor).

Simply asking a fellow tutor (who teaches different subjects from you) if you can write a post for them is usually all it takes to gain you a valuable, targeted backlink that Google will reward you for.

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Gathering Testimonials and Reviews One of the best ways to attract more students is to demonstrate how you've helped students in the past. Writing case studies, gathering student and parent testimonials and encouraging people to leave reviews of your services are all great ways to show your expertise.

Case Studies If you have your own website, you should consider writing short case studies about how you’ve helped your previous students. The most straightforward way to structure a case study is to explain the student's problem, describe how you helped and explain the outcome for the student. Of course, you'll need to change the names of your past students to protect their identity. And remember, you can often use your case studies as part of your profile on online tutoring platforms.

Testimonials Some tutoring platforms automatically request testimonials and reviews from students and parents on your behalf and use as part of their 'tutor rating system'.

Some tutoring platforms also allow you to include your own testimonials on their site.

If you have your own website, you should make a habit of actively requesting testimonials from students once they've completed their series of lessons with you. A simple email is all it takes to request a few sentences about what it was like being taught by you. Displaying testimonials on your own website shows that you have a good track record. It also demonstrates your professionalism and shows that you take your business seriously.

Reviews You may also want to encourage students and parents to leave star rating reviews of your services on third-party websites, particularly if they show up high in Google search results. Websites like FreeIndex, Yelp and Trust Pilot all tend to appear on Google's first page for local searches, so it could be worth gathering reviews on one of these sites.

Case Studies, testimonials and reviews are all great ways to make your tutoring services stand out. They provide social proof and encourage potential students to contact you over your competitors.

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Social Media Marketing for Tutors There are a countless number of social media websites out there. Wikipedia lists hundreds of them, but there are undoubtedly many more. But are you really expected to be active on each one of them?

Of course not.

Choose a few.

Whichever social media sites you feel most comfortable using, start with those ones.

As far as marketing as a private tutor goes, the three most effective websites are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Here’s why: Facebook for Tutors When it comes to social media, Facebook is still top dog. Facebook has over 2 billion active users and generates more than one billion search queries a day. So what does this mean? Well, it means that people are using Facebook like Google. They’re using search terms like ‘private tutor London’ to find people like you who can help them.

As with all social media platforms, it’s always a good idea to keep business and pleasure separate, so set up a business page for your services and encourage your friends to like and share your page on theirs. That’s the great thing about Facebook; it can provide you with localised advertising in a matter of no time if you’re already active on the platform.

Once you have a business page, be sure to promote yourself regularly, whether advertising that you have capacity to take on new tutors or posting content from your website or guest posts.

Note: Following Google’s latest Penguin algorithm update, the search engine now places increasing emphasis on social media shares when it comes to determining website rankings.

Twitter for Tutors The holy grail of social media marketing, Twitter is fantastic for promoting your tutoring services. With its strong business focus, a lot of people on Twitter are there for the very same reasons as you – they want to connect with people and find new clients. This makes it easier to reach your intended audience.

Remember to follow people who you think will be influential in putting you in contact with parents and students - parenting websites, local schools, communities, local churches. One of the advantages that private tutoring has in terms of marketing over other niche industries is that everyone knows someone who has a child of school age, Page 96 89

and every parent wants their child to do well at school.

Think of Twitter as an extension of your customer service and show people that you’re interested in their thoughts and opinions. One of the best ways to find conversations to join on Twitter is by searching using hashtags.

At the moment, some of the most popular hashtags in the tutoring industry are: #tutoring

#privatetutoring

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#ukedchat

LinkedIn for Tutors As a social media site, LinkedIn tends to be geared towards ‘business-to-business’ marketing. However, it does present opportunities for tutors to make connections with other tutors, agencies, education centres, schools and colleges with scope to generate referrals.

Connect with tutors and agencies through your profile and initiate conversations through LinkedIn’s private messaging system. Introduce yourself and say hi and see where the conversations lead.

What to Post on Social Media and When Knowing what to post and when is often the biggest hurdle that tutors face when using social media. So, in order to help you make the most of your time spent creating content and blog posts for your website, I’d like to share my idea of the perfect content posting schedule: Personally, I suggest following this posting schedule with every new blog post you write on your website:

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Okay, I know that it looks like a lot of effort, but people’s social media feeds move quickly. Even a second away from the screen can result in someone missing your post.

So the trick is to post regularly.

However, it’s important to bear in mind, that you can’t simply use the same post several times over; you need to vary the text used to deliver your message.

Personally, I’ve found the following structural pattern to be the most effective at encouraging likes and shares across all channels: • • •

1 headline-based post 1 question-based post 1 quote-based post

Other than publishing your own content, you should also bear in mind the three C’s of social media as part of your strategy: 1. Create. Establish yourself as a thought leader by sharing great content and value created by you.

2. Curate. Gather great content from around the web within the education niche and be recognised as someone who is an established service provider.

3. Chat. Engage in conversations based on your shares and develop relationships which can then be taken outside of the social sphere.

By following this structure as closely as you can, it won’t be long before your website starts to get noticed by search engines and potential customers.

Top Tip – Social Media Automation Don’t have enough time to make all these social media posts? Don’t fret, neither do the professionals. More often than not, they use social media automation tools like HootSuite to schedule their posts in advance. Just remember that when it comes to social media engagement, there’s no substitute for having actual conversations with people.

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Video Marketing for Private Tutors Another increasingly popular way to market your tutoring services online is through video marketing.

Short videos usually perform very well on social media and if you target the correct key phrases, they can appear high in Google searches too.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of video in the tutoring industry is that it gains students' trust. Short promotional or informational videos provide a snapshot of your personality and all you really need to get started is a smartphone and video editing app.

English tutor and voice coach Jade Joddle, uses video marketing to great effect Getting Started Find a well-lit room with a plain background you can film against and prop your phone in landscape mode at the correct height. You can buy smartphone tripods to make things easier but with a little trial and error you'll soon find a good height and angle.

Alternatively, you could invest in a professional video recorder that will improve the overall quality of your videos but the initial investment isn't essential. If you plan to post short videos regularly, a smartphone is ideal - it's portable, lightweight and modern devices produce great visual and audio quality.

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Sharing Your Videos Online When it comes to promoting your videos, the first place to embed them is on your own website. Regardless of where potential students find your details, if you have a website, rest assured it will be the first place they go to gather more information.

One of the best things about video is that it can be repurposed for a variety of different platforms.

YouTube remains the most popular video streaming site with over 5 billion daily video views. Uploading your videos to YouTube with the appropriate metadata is also a good way of gaining traction in Google search results.

On social media, people watch more than 100 million hours of video on Facebook and 82% of Twitter users engage with videos.

A good strategy for video marketing is to cast your net far and wide initially and then focus in on one or two platforms once you know how they're performing.

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How to Get Press Coverage for your Tutoring Business One of the best ways to generate publicity for your tutoring services is to think bigger.

Media coverage is a great way to spread the word about your business and it’s not as difficult as you think. Having worked as a freelance journalist for both national and local newspapers in Scotland, I know a thing or two about how to get your name printed in black and white.

For Local Media – Give Them a Good Story with Local Interest Getting your business mentioned in the local press is all about having an interesting story to tell. Here a few ideas for stories that you could potentially pitch to your local newspaper: 1. A success story about one of your students. Perhaps you helped a student go from a C grade to an A grade, which helped them secure a place at university?

2. Business is booming. Maybe you’ve seen a significant % increase in demand for your tutoring services over the last 12 months. What could be the potential reasons for this surge?

3. Expanding your services. Perhaps you’ve just created jobs in the local area by becoming a limited company and hiring your first part time employees?Or maybe you’re now offering tuition in a new subject?

4. Local industry trends. Have you noticed more requests for tutoring younger/ older students? Is there a common reason that students are seeking your help? Is there a local issue that should be addressed here?

5. A New partnership. Maybe you’ve just formed a new partnership with another company? What impact will this have on the local community? How will your students benefit from this development?

For National Media – It’s Not Only What You Know For private tutors, getting column inches in national newspapers is harder, but my no means unachievable. Some of the best known tutors in the UK have achieved their status by reaching out beyond their typical audience.

Of course, the first thing you’ll need is a story that has national interest, which isn’t always the easiest thing to create when you’re mostly operating in your local area.

However, being an industry insider, perhaps you have an inclination of what would be an interesting story for a national newspaper to cover?

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If you do, then why not pitch your story idea to a journalist, citing any potential sources they could use to develop the story and say that you’d be interested in being quoted in the article?

Journalists are always on the lookout for new story ideas and are always keen to expand their list of contacts.

In order for this strategy to work however, you’ll need to choose your pitch carefully.

From my own research, the media outlets that cover the private tuition industry regularly are: • • • • • •

The BBC (a difficult one to pitch to) The Guardian The Independent The Telegraph (requires a subscription to read) The Huffington Post The Times Educational Supplement (TES)

Before you approach any of these publications, the first thing you should do is some research. Search on the websites of these newspapers and make a list of journalists who regularly cover the private tuition industry. Then, one at a time, pitch your story idea to them directly.

Most journalist details are readily available on newspapers’ websites but if they aren’t, a quick google search for the journalist’s name will bring up their personal website, directory profiles or at the very least, their Twitter page.

It’s important that you mention in your email that your idea is a sole pitch to them and that no-one else intends to publish your story. If they run with your idea, great, but if not, move on to the next person on your list. A sample email pitch to a journalist might go something like this: Subject: Article Pitch – Private Tutoring Hi Jane, My name is John Smith and I really enjoyed reading the article you had published in the Guardian/Telegraph/Independent (delete as appropriate) last week on…(mention article headline) and I think I may have a related story idea that readers would be interested in.

As a private tutor myself, I’ve noticed…(mention your idea in no more than two sentences) and I think people would be interested in hearing more about this trend/event/statistic.

Some useful sources could be…(be as specific as possible and include URL’s to content that will actually be useful).

If you think this story has potential, I’d be interested in being quoted in the article.

Regards, John Smith

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Don’t get me wrong, pitching an idea to a journalist and being mentioned in the press isn’t a piece of cake, and it will probably take you a few attempts to build up proper relationships with journalists and find good enough story ideas, but the results can be very effective for your marketing.

Action – Create a Media List 1. Using Google’s news stream, start to compile a list of all the journalists who have written about the private tutoring industry over the last few months.

2. Identify websites that may be interested in publishing your news and gather the contact details of their news editors.

3. Write a tailored email using the template above to alert these people about your news story and encourage them to get in touch for more information.

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Conclusion I hope the information in this book has provided you with a framework for marketing your tutoring services. By following through on each action, you’ll be casting your marketing net far and wide to see which methods work best for your business.

There isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ approach to marketing a tutoring business but once you find what’s working, stick to it. However, don’t put all your eggs in one basket and rely too heavily on one particular strategy. Diversifying your marketing efforts helps future-proof your tutoring business.

If your aim is to grow your tutoring business into a full-time venture, my best piece of advice would be to buy your own domain name and create a website. Marketing yourself on third-party sites like tutoring platforms and social media is all well and good, but if you truly want to be in control of your own marketing outcomes, then having your own website lets you own your content.

Every successful marketing campaign begins with a documented plan. If you follow through on the very first action point in the guide and record your answers to our five-step strategy, you’ll have a solid foundation for moving forward with your marketing.

Action – Use Our Tutor Marketing Checklist To help you put all that you’ve learned into action, we’ve created a handy Tutor Marketing Checklist, which we’ve included in the zip file of your eBook. Tick each action off the list as you complete them and use the checklist as a reference for your ongoing marketing efforts too.

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The Tutor Website brings tutors and tutees together in a safe and trusted environment to teach, learn and achieve success.

We help tutors establish and grow their private tuition business whilst giving parents and students a choice of tutors to choose from covering a vast range of subjects.

Why choose The Tutor Website?

Since our inception in 2011, we have established ourselves as a leading hub for tutors and students in the UK. Over 400 registered and verified tutors meet the needs of over 600 enquirers per month.

Organic Google rankings place us on page one of search results for common search terms and we enjoy an average of 18.5K website visits per month.

Our private tutor directory generates over 600 enquiries a month for our tutors and is the most effective way for private tutors to find new clients. https://thetutorwebsite.co.uk/

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Tutor Directory Reviews Directory Name: First Tutors Website: https://www.firsttutors.com/ Business Model: Finder’s fee Cost: Free for tutors, £4.99 - £24.99 for students/parents to receive tutor details Number of tutors: 60,000+ Trustpilot rating: 8.9/10

First Tutors first appeared online in 2005. To date, it’s one of the oldest directorystyle websites on the internet. The website was founded by an educational entrepreneur Anita Moss under the name EduNation Limited and was sold to U.S. tutoring company Varsity Tutors in 2017. As a result, the website has expanded into other countries and now operates in the U.S., New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Ireland, South Africa and Italy.

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First Tutors has consistently good organic website rankings and appears in Google’s top positions for almost every local search term relating to private tutoring. The website does use some paid advertising but doesn’t really need to given its good organic search presence. With 60,000+ UK tutors registered on the site, competition within the platform can be high. Tutors who take the time to complete their profiles in full generally benefit from the most enquiries, subject to rate, location etc.

The website is relatively easy for students and parents to navigate and the directory set-up means all relevant tutors show up in local searches. First Tutors has a good reputation in the tutoring marketplace, which looks set to continue following its acquisition. The website currently has a rating of 8.9/10 from 3,478 on Trustpilot.

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Directory Name: Tutor Hunt Website: https://www.tutorhunt.com Business Model: Finder's Fee Cost: Free for tutors, £24 for students/parents to receive tutor details Number of tutors: 50,000+ Trustpilot rating: 9.4/10

Tutor Hunt was established the same year First Tutors, in 2005. It’s one of the oldest directory websites online and is operated by a company called Irrox limited.

It’s unclear who founded the site although Mr John Underhill is frequently named as the website’s point of contact on third-party websites. Tutor Hunt also has an international presence and currently operates in 22 countries, including Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, India and Brazil.

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Tutor Hunt has consistently good organic search rankings and typically appears in Google’s second position (under First Tutors) for local search terms relating to private tuition. Traditionally, the website hasn’t made much use of paid advertising but has started to use Google’s ad services in the last couple of years, increasing its general online presence.

It’s unclear exactly how many tutors are registered on the website but an educated guess would be somewhere in the region of 50,000, similar to First Tutors. Given the large volume of tutors on the site, competition to attract parents is high.

However, the site does have a lot of old or incomplete profiles on the site, so tutors who are active on the platform should do well.

The website isn’t as intuitive to navigate as First Tutors and searches often display tutors in completely different locations, possibly as a default when none match the search criteria. The website generally has a mixed reputation in the marketplace with some tutors reporting very good results and others highlighting a lack of service and transparency over who runs the site. Tutor Hunt currently has a rating of 9.4/10 from 1,171 reviews on Trustpilot.

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Directory Name: Tutorful Website: https://tutorful.co.uk/ Business Model: Agency model Cost: 15-25% commission of hourly rate on every lesson Number of tutors: 10,000+ Trustpilot rating: 9/10

Tutorful was established in 2015. The website changed its name from Tutora in 2017. Founded by a teacher, Scott Woodley and a technology analyst, Mark Hughes, Tutorful are one of the newer kids on the block. The company has secured significant crowd funding and has grown rapidly since its inception.

The website has a strong presence in organic search results and generally occupies Google’s third position in local search terms relating to private tuition. Tutorful has made increasing use of Google’s paid advertising since the website’s launch, which has helped to increase its reputation in the tutoring marketplace.

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Tutorful has over 10,000 tutors registered on the site, which given its search rankings would imply that the site generates a significant number of enquiries for its tutors. Tutorful uses an agency business model, whereby it takes 15-25% commission on every lesson booked through the site. Tutorful’s algorithm works based on tutor reviews, with those with the highest scores appearing top in the platform’s searches.

The website is easy to navigate and well-designed, which helps attract students and parents. It generally has a good reputation in the tutoring marketplace and has close connections with UK universities. Tutorful has a 9/10 rating from 1,387 reviews on Trustpilot.

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Directory Name: Tutorfair Website: https://tutorfair.com Business Model: Agency model Cost: 20-25% commission of hourly rate on every lesson Number of tutors: 2,800 Trustpilot rating: 5.9/10

Tutorfair was founded in 2012 by Andrew Ground, a former school governor and Edd Stockwell, an entrepreneur with three previous startups.

The website operates an agency-style model, whereby a 20-25% commission is taken on every lesson that’s booked through the site. The company also makes a small donation to their own foundation, The Tutorfair Foundation, which provides tutoring volunteers to UK students. To date, the company has given free tutoring to 9108 students, involving 991 tutors, over 42 schools.

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There are over 3000 tutors registered with Tutorfair, which is significantly less than the two largest operators, First Tutors and Tutor Hunt. The website’s organic traffic has been steadily increasing in recent years and the site has reasonably good search placement, appearing around position 7 for local search terms relating to tutoring.

The website is reasonably easy to use and is well-designed. Finding a local tutor on the site is relatively easy. Tutorfair currently has a 5.9/10 rating based on 71 reviews on Trustpilot.

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Directory Name: Superprof Website: https://superprof.co.uk Business Model: Finder’s fee Cost: £29 introductory fee to contact tutors Number of tutors: 6 million + (globally) Trustpilot rating: 6/10

Superprof was founded in 2013 in Biarritz, France by Wilfried Grainer and Yann Léguillon. The website started operating in the UK in 2016 and is now active in 22 countries across the world.

In 2017, Superprof acquired the UK website The Tutor Pages, which had a good reputation in the UK tutoring industry. The acquisition was met with frustration from UK tutors as part of the deal was that tutors wouldn’t be informed of the takeover until after it happened. There were also issues with insecure passwords being sent to tutors and tutoring rates being lowered despite the tutors’ previous rates on The Tutor Pages. The somewhat controversial takeover was widely reported on social media and IT news websites.

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The website performs fairly well in organic searches considering it has only been operating in the UK for 3 years. It currently occupies an average position of 8 in Google searches for local tuition. The site’s website traffic has been steadily increasing in the UK over the last couple of years. The site doesn’t currently use paid Google advertising in the UK.

The number of UK tutors registered on the site is unknown. The website is fairly easy to navigate and is well-designed. However, there is no mention of the student introductory fee anywhere on the site. Tutorfair currently has an average rating of 6/10 from 85 reviews on Trustpilot.

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Directory Name: MyTutor Website: https://mytutor.co.uk Business Model: Agency Cost: 37-57% commission on every lesson booked through the site Number of tutors: Unknown Trustpilot rating: 9.4/10

MyTutor is an online-only directory and was founded in 2013. It was one of the first successful online tutoring websites in the UK. Previously known as MyTutorWeb, the company selects tutors from UK universities and claims to interview every one, only accepting 1 in 7 applicants. To date, the site has secured £10 million of funding through angel investors.

MyTutor uses an agency model and takes a large 37-57% commission on every lesson – the largest in the industry. Tutors can’t set their own fees. Instead, they need to choose from seven different pricing tiers.

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Although the website is exclusively for online tutoring, it still targets local searches in Google. It has an average position of around 23 for local searches relating to private tutoring. The website’s organic traffic grew quickly from February 2017 to February 2018 and has maintained fairly well since. The site has also started paying for google ads in the last year.

It’s unclear how many tutors are registered with the site although the company has been used by over 300 UK schools. The website is easy to use and is very well designed. MyTutor currently has an average rating of 9.4/10 from 398 reviews on Trustpilot.

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Directory Name: childcare.co.uk Website: https://childcare.co.uk Business Model: Yellow Pages Cost: £24.99 a month/£139.99 a year (Gold membership) Number of tutors: Thousands (exact number unknown) Trustpilot rating: 9.6/10

Childcare.co.uk was founded in 2009 and is operated by a team of entrepreneurs under the name International New Media Limited. The website provides free and paid access to childcare providers and private tutors in the UK. In 2013, Childcare.co.uk acquired the directory Tutors4You, which started its rise in Google rankings.

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The website performs consistently well in Google searches and occupies the 8 th position (on average) for local search terms relating to tutoring. The website generates a large amount of traffic, which peaked around 2017 and then started declining. Since January 2019, the site’s organic traffic has started to rise again.

Childcare.co.uk used paid Google ads regularly when they first launched but have reduced their paid Google spending in recent years. The website advertises regularly on Television.

The website is relatively easy to use although its success rate is difficult to gauge.

Childcare.co.uk currently has an average rating of 9.6/10 from 1278 reviews on Trustpilot.

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Directory Name: Home Tutors Directory Website: https://www.hometutorsdirectory.co.uk/ Business Model: Yellow Pages Cost: £20 per year Number of tutors: 1,000 (approximately) Trustpilot rating: N/A

Home Tutors Directory was founded in 2005 and is run by biomedical scientists Jayne Thomas and Emlyn Price. The website is one of the few remaining directories that uses the Yellow Pages model of charging tutors a yearly subscription fee.

The website has relatively consistent website rankings, with an average position of around 30 for local search terms relating to private tutoring. The website’s traffic

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peaked around 2012 and has been in decline ever since. Home Tutors Directory doesn’t use paid Google ads.

The site has approximately 1000 tutors registered. It isn’t the easiest website to navigate and the design is in need of updating.

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Interviews with Private Tutors To help you carve your own path, we’ve interviewed some of the UK’s most established tutors, asking them how they got started, the challenges they faced and what advice they have for new tutors.

Victoria Olubi is a private tutor in Ealing, London.

How long have you been a private tutor?

7 years What subjects and levels do you teach?

I specialise in helping children to pass the 11+ school entrance exams. I teach English, Maths, Verbal and Non-Verbal reasoning to students aged 8-12.

What qualifications do you have and how much do you charge per hour?

BA Hons from Durham University and I charge £50ph.

What circumstances led you to working as a private tutor?

I fell into it by accident. Someone asked me to teach their child and I initially did it because I enjoyed teaching and working with students on a one-to-one basis. I quickly realised that I preferred it to traditional teaching and decided to start a tutoring business rather than go into the teaching profession.

What skills and qualities do you believe are needed to be a successful tutor?

I believe that you need to be incredibly passionate about teaching and education.

You have to be a lover of learning. It’s important for tutors to be excellent at breaking complex subjects down and have the ability to communicate with students and be patient and understanding.

What do you enjoy most about being a private tutor?

What I enjoy most is the fact that my career allows me to make a great impact in the lives of hundreds of children each year. Hearing the incredible success stories of my students never fails to astound me and I’m extremely proud of their accomplishments.

What do you think is the most challenging aspect of running a tutoring business?

I think juggling all of the elements is the most difficult thing. For instance,

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running a tutoring business isn’t just about teaching students, you have to also handle new enquiries, manage existing client relationships, teach students and continually market the business. There’s a lot to do and it means that you sometimes have to wear many hats.

What advice would you give to someone starting out as a tutor?

I would definitely advise aspiring tutors to choose a subject(s) that they are passionate about rather than simply teaching a subject because it seems to be more in-demand or more lucrative. It’s easier and more enjoyable to run a tutoring business when you’re genuinely passionate about what you do and the subject(s) you teach.

It can take time to find your first few clients so be patient. Don’t be afraid to teach a few students for free or at a reduced rate when you’re just starting out so that you can build a portfolio of testimonials and get feedback on your lessons.

Can you tell us about how you market your tutoring services? How do you find most of your students?

I do a variety of things. I am active on social media and share both my own content and content that I feel might be relevant to parents who are looking for a tutor. I also have a blog where I write and post content that appeals to parents. Although I’m very active online, most of my students come through word of mouth recommendation. Once you have a few students who’ve done well, their parents will usually tell other parents about you which attracts new students.

What websites and resources do you find most useful as a tutor and why?

The Tutor Website is a great resource and I highly recommend it as it’s packed with information that’s beneficial for tutors. I also find The Tutor Pages to be great as they have a really supportive community.

Is there anything else you’d like to add about becoming a private tutor and running a tutoring business?

Don’t be afraid to reach out to other tutors and connect with them. I speak to and work with other tutors and it’s given me the opportunity to make collaborations, promote other people’s services and make friends in the industry. Connecting with other tutors is a great thing to do.

Do you have a personal website?

Yes, it’s TheTutoress.com. You can also reach me at thetutoress@gmail.com

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Ted Higham is a private tutor within a 25-mile radius of Westcliff on Sea. How long have you been a private tutor?

I first tutored in 1976.

What subjects and levels do you teach?

I work for the county of Berkshire, tutoring students who are unable to attend school for extended periods of time. I cover school subjects in general, and I mentor.

What qualifications do you have and how much do you charge per hour?

I have a Certificate in Education from St. Luke’s College in Exeter. In addition, I have First, Main B.Ed qualification in Physical Education, awarded by Exeter University, as well as a First Main Degree in History, also from Exeter. While teaching, I worked on an external, post graduate Advanced Diploma in Educational Theory and Practice and was awarded my diploma by the University of London.

What circumstances led you to working as a private tutor?

In the first place, I supplemented my teaching salary with evening and weekend work. More recently, I have been tutoring to pay the monthly bills, while using the finance from my travel business to pay off the last part of my mortgage.

What skills and qualities do you believe are needed to be a successful tutor?

The most important quality for a tutor is to be ‘nice’. You need to get on with students and parents of all ages in a friendly and professional manner.

What do you enjoy most about being a private tutor?

I love to see students realise that they have the ability and to help them achieve their goals that they felt were beyond their reach. Having run my own travel business for many years, it is good to receive reward soon after working. Running a travel business, you are open to all sorts of problems, from a dramatic fall in the value of the pound, to terrorist attacks in Paris, from volcanic ash to coach breakdowns. Teaching gets into your blood and is the best job you could ever have.

What do you think is the most challenging aspect of running a tutoring business?

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It’s easy to cover one or two contracts, but when you have 10 or more, it’s very demanding. Each requires individual preparation and attention, with each student looking to you to achieve something special.

Compared with running a travel business it is relatively straight forward. Of course, a challenging aspect is getting established. In addition, one has to handle a great variety of topics and clients. This requires a lot of preparation and careful planning.

What advice would you give to someone starting out as a tutor?

I would advise them that preparation is of vital importance. Get to know what is required and what the student’s abilities are. Then work out a programme that will achieve more than what is actually expected.

Do your homework before you start work, so you have a clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve and the steps that you need to employ to gain success.

Can you tell us about how you market your tutoring services? How do you find most of your students?

By recommendations from those who know me through word of mouth.

What websites and resources do you find most useful as a tutor and why?

I gain information on previous exam results and the syllabus published by each school. Websites also help me to check and gain information for lesson content.

Is there anything else you’d like to add about becoming a private tutor and running a tutoring business?

I have long had an idea how to promote a tuition service. I’d be interested in helping other tutors with this aspect, having run two successful businesses myself.

Do you have a personal website?

I don’t have a website for tutoring but my email address is tedhigham@aol.com.

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Lucy Parsons tutors from home in a Northamptonshire village, over the internet and at the houses of local students.

How long have you been a private tutor?

I started tutoring in the spring of 2015. I had four years teaching experience in secondary schools prior to that.

What subjects and levels do you teach?

My specialism is coaching students to develop their study skills. I have one-onone coaching packages aimed at helping students to unlock their motivation as well as revision planning and accountability packages. I sell a digital book called The Ten Step Guide to Acing Every Exam You Ever Take through my website which outlines the steps I took to get 5 A Grades at A-Level.

I also have a digital guide to writing personal statements for university applications: 3 Easy Steps to a Killer Personal Statement. Students have the option of getting one-one-one feedback about their personal statement when they buy this digital guide.

I also tutor students in geography, the subject I studied a university and that I taught in secondary schools.

What qualifications do you have and how much do you charge per hour?

I have 5 A Grades at A-Level (Geography, English Literature, Biology, Chemistry and General Studies). I have an MA in Geography from Cambridge University and a PGCE in teaching Secondary level Geography, also from Cambridge University.

What circumstances led you to working as a private tutor?

I left teaching when my daughter was born. When she was only a few months old we moved away from the area where she was born and I had been working so I never returned to work after my maternity leave. I wanted to work part-time in my new location as a teacher but couldn’t find a role that suited family life.

Whilst I love geography and became a geography teacher because I missed thinking about it every day when I had a corporate job, I realized that my true passion was helping other young people to achieve their academic ambitions.

I decided at the age of nine that I wanted to go to Cambridge University and spent

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the following nine years pursuing my dream. I achieved it by working out for myself how to get the top grades and make a successful application.

I want to pass this experience along to similarly ambitious and passionate young people. It also enables me to work from home most of the time, rather than having to go out to work, which is more family friendly!

What skills and qualities do you believe are needed to be a successful tutor?

For my core work, you need to be a good listener and to be very perceptive. You need to have a creative problem-solving mind to help young people with their road-blocks and problems. You also need to be able to easily come up with intellectual frameworks.

For tutoring an individual subject, you need to be able to identify a students’ problem areas quickly. You need to quickly perceive how they prefer to learn and adapt your teaching style to their needs. You need a solid grasp of your subject and to be able to readily and clearly explain any aspect of your subject. You also need to be able to critically evaluate written work and give clear advice about how a student can improve.

What do you enjoy most about being a private tutor?

I am energized by the one-to-one contact with young minds. I love helping young people, giving them solutions to their study problems that work and seeing them make progress. I also love thinking about my subject, geography, and helping students make break-throughs in their understanding. The best thing is getting messages of thanks for the work that I do because I truly know I’m making a difference when I receive them.

What do you think is the most challenging aspect of running a tutoring business?

Finding new clients who you really click with and fitting it around family life – the hours are quite anti-social!

What advice would you give to someone starting out as a tutor?

Make sure you know your stuff. Find out which type of work energizes you e.g. is it working with high-achieving A-Level students looking to collect the final few marks or GCSE students on the C/D borderline. Once you know what you love seek that work and become an expert in it.

Can you tell us about how you market your tutoring services? How do you find

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most of your students?

For my study skills students, I market myself through my website. I write a weekly blog post which I email to my newsletter subscribers. I am also on twitter (@LucyCParsons) and Facebook. For geography students, I’m listed on a tutoring website.

What websites and resources do you find most useful as a tutor and why?

Google and YouTube! I mainly rely on what I already know and use textbooks when I can’t remember some aspect of my subject. For my study skills students, I read a lot of self-help books and relate them back to my own experiences to generate new ideas and new perspectives. I read a lot of blogs too – too many to list!

Do you have a personal website?

Yes! www.lifemoreextraordinary.com. You can also email me at lucy@lifemoreextraordinary.com. I’d also like to invite tutors to sign-up to my newsletter for teachers, tutors and schools.

They will receive my weekly blog post which is full of study tips that would be great to share with their own students either on social media or by email – hence adding value to their clients. They can sign-up here: http://www.lifemoreextraordinary.com/teachers/

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Natasha Saednejad is a Spanish tutor in Cobham, Surrey.

How long have you been a private tutor?

I’ve been a private tutor for a year and a half now.

What subjects and levels do you teach?

I teach French, Spanish and ESL for all levels and ages.

What qualifications do you have and how much do you charge per hour?

I have a degree in French and Spanish, and experience working in both schools and summer camps, alongside my private tuition. I charge £35p/h.

What circumstances led you to working as a private tutor?

After finishing my degree, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do, so I did a few translation internships before a friend suggested tutoring – initially just as a way to fill some time whilst I decided which path I wanted to take. I fell in love with it instantly, and even when I had an offer to do my teacher training at my old high school, I continued on as a tutor. The wide range of people I get to meet, and the flexibility in my working hours was a real draw for me.

What skills and qualities do you believe are needed to be a successful tutor?

People skills and patience are key! You are going to meet a huge variety of people, and you have to be very adaptable to their needs and abilities.

Moreover, a massive passion for your subject is highly important, because it is what will keep you going through both the quiet times, and the days when you’re working till 9pm!

What do you enjoy most about being a private tutor?

The chance to meet people of all ages (my youngest student is 6 and my oldest 65), and to be in charge of how I teach my subject, as opposed to the more regulated, restrictive nature of school teaching, is great. Private tutoring has also given me the ability to work for myself and be solely in charge of my time, which is a huge benefit.

What do you think is the most challenging aspect of running a tutoring business?

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I would say at the start, marketing the business and getting new clients was quite tricky, but beyond that, being able to keep your income steady through the much quieter summer months and holiday periods can be hard. You quickly have to learn how to diversify your student base to help you through that.

What advice would you give to someone starting out as a tutor?

If you can get some experience beforehand – even teaching a niece or nephew – then it will definitely help. Do some research as to other tutors teaching your subject in your area, for example what they charge, the hours they work, and see if there is a niche you could fit into, or USP you could bring to your service.

Can you tell us about how you market your tutoring services? How do you find most of your students?

I’ve found that social media has actually given me the best platform to find students – I’ve had lots of leads through Facebook and Twitter for example. In addition, flyers and leaflets around my local area, in places such as coffee shops, have definitely helped too. I also started to get a lot of students through word of mouth and recommendations once my business had been established.

What websites and resources do you find most useful as a tutor and why?

In terms of business, social media and websites such as LinkedIn are a great way of both finding new clients, and connecting with other tutors. When it comes to teaching material, I take inspiration from websites such as BBC English, or Study Spanish – they have great grammar information and ideas for exercises.

Is there anything else you’d like to add about becoming a private tutor and running a tutoring business?

Be patient in the beginning, and know that it will take some time to build up a strong client base. In addition, be prepared to put in work outside of your lessons to create educational material for your students, and to prep for your lessons. The more effort you put in, the more rewards both you and your students will reap.

Do you have a personal website?

Yes – www.tutorinsurrey.co.uk. You can also email me at natasha@tutorinsurrey.co.uk

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Ian Fisher is a Business Studies and Economics tutor in Rotherham and online.

How long have you been a private tutor?

Having taught in schools and colleges for over thirty-five years, I became a private tutor in 2014.

What subjects and levels do you teach?

GCSE and A Level Economics and Business Studies.

What qualifications do you have and how much do you charge per hour?

I have a BA (Hons) in Economics, an MA in Economics and Business Studies, and a Certificate of Education (QTS). I charge £30 per hour usually.

What circumstances led you to working as a private tutor?

Having retired from teaching, I wanted to continue my passion to educate. I love my subjects and had a desire to keep abreast of new developments.

What skills and qualities do you believe are needed to be a successful tutor?

You need to be very versatile and have an excellent subject knowledge. Every individual is different and tutees can often start a session by asking you to cover something that you have not prepared. The ability to engage your students in the session along with an infinite patience is essential.

What do you enjoy most about being a private tutor?

The fantastic one to one experience, which really allows me to witness the improvements in confidence, ability, understanding and to evaluative the skills my students demonstrate over the months. Many of my students start in Y12 and continue to the end of Y13, which allows me to really get to know them and occasionally keep in touch when they go to University.

What do you think is the most challenging aspect of running a tutoring business?

Being selective. I only want to tutor a relatively small number of tutees. As the academic year progresses, the number of enquiries gets larger. Sometimes the desperation of a parent or student can be very persuasive.

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What advice would you give to someone starting out as a tutor?

Be very clear what your objectives are. There is more to life than earning money by having a vast number of tutees every day. Try and be selective, so that you only offer your services to those who you can realistically help.

Can you tell us about how you market your tutoring services? How do you find most of your students?

I use several online sites, such as Tutor Hunt, First Tutors, The Tutor Pages and My Tutor. I will often pay for the premium service if it is likely to yield a larger number of enquiries. The best sites are those where I pay for the advert and the students can contact me without paying, such as Home Tutors Directory.

Online, I use Evotuition which is a very well organised and effective site. For those students wanting online tuition and contacting me directly, I use Skype for both domestic and international tutoring.

What websites and resources do you find most useful as a tutor and why?

As I tutor Economics and Business subjects I particularly like Tutor2u, which specializes in my area. I also use Google Scholar, YouTube and the specialist and general press websites. I also ensure that I have the latest specifications from all the examination boards alongside any relevant material they supply. I think it is essential to have a copy of leading textbooks that specialize in each of the exam boards and courses I am tutoring.

Is there anything else you’d like to add about becoming a private tutor and running a tutoring business?

It is useful to have a DBS check. Keeping clear accounts of fees and relevant expenses received for tax purposes is important. Being very organized is important as you need to be punctual and able to deliver a really excellent session at all times.

Do you have a personal website?

No, but you can contact me at ian.brooms@mail.com

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Don’t Just Take Our Word for it…Here’s What Other People Say About This Guide…

‘This eBook is very thorough and full of good information.

It’s ideal for tutors who want to change their marketing strategy or increase the number of students on their books.

I liked the section about how to decide what to charge; as it’s something I’ve always struggled with.’

John Pickles, English as a Foreign Language tutor, Hull

‘This Guide really is what it says on the tin! Especially for any private tutor who wants to get the word out about their services and doesn’t know where to start. Individual tutors have a document here which really breaks down and signposts how to get up and running. Even agencies like our own can learn something from The Tutor Website’s approach.’

Wesley Sanders, Chairman and Director, Athena Tuition

‘This Guide is a highly comprehensive and informative resource for tutors who want to learn the ins and outs of marketing a tutoring business. I think the section on measuring your progress will come in handy for tutors who are keen to learn more about tracking their marketing efforts using online marketing tools. I would definitely recommend this book to tutors who want to grow their businesses and reach more students.’

Victoria Olubi, Tutor and Founder, The Tutoress

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Don’t Just Take Our Word for it…Here’s What Other People Say About This Guide…

‘This Tutoring publication is an indispensable guide for those starting out in tuition, and one I wish that I had when I began! From starting line advice on choosing your subject and level, to the more in-depth information on legal issues such as insurance and tax, this is really informative.

Helpful reading to all tutors beginning their career in the industry.’

Natasha Saednejad, NMS Tuition, Surrey

‘I read this guide with real interest. This book will be very helpful to those starting out in the industry.’

Ian Fisher, Business Studies and Economics tutor, Rotherham

‘This eBook gives really good advice and guidelines about starting a tutoring business. Highly recommended.’

Naomi Hodgkins, Naomi Tutoring, Bury

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Tutoring Cancellation Policy Cancellation of Lessons by the Tutor The Tutor may cancel lessons with 24 hours prior notice to the student and no prepaid fees will be refunded. In such cases, the Tutor will reschedule the lesson. If the Tutor cancels a lesson with less than 24 hours’ notice, the student can request a refund for that lesson if pre-paid.

Cancellation of Lessons by the Student The Student may cancel tuition by giving at least 24 hours prior notice to the Tutor in which case no tuition fees will be incurred. Lessons not attended by the student without giving 24 hours prior notice to the Tutor shall be charged at the full rate.

If lessons are pre-paid, and the tutoring agreement assumes that the Student will attend all lessons as stipulated in the schedule, then no discount or refunds shall be given in respect of lessons not attended by the Student.

Late Arrival Fees are calculated on an hourly basis by the Tutor according to the times stipulated in the tutoring agreement. In the case that a student arrives late for lessons, no adjustment to fees shall be made for time lost.

In the case of late arrival by the Tutor, the Student shall be compensated by a lesson extension until the lost time is accounted for. This time shall be added to the lesson in question or carried over to the next lesson, as agreed in advance by both parties.

Declaration Signed by Tutor _________________________Date______________ Signed by Student _________________________Date______________ Signed by Parent/Guardian _________________________Date______________

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Your Tutoring Company

Private Tutoring Contract This contract will serve as the basis for all tutoring arrangements between Tutor and Student for the entirety of lessons until the termination date as agreed by all parties.

The parties subject to this agreement are: Name of Tutor: _________________________________________________ Tutor Address: _________________________________________________ Contact Number(s): _________________________________________________ Email Address: _________________________________________________

Name of Student: _________________________________________________ Student Address: _________________________________________________ Contact Number(s): _________________________________________________ Email Address: _________________________________________________ Name of Parent/Guardian: ________________________________________________ Parent/Guardian Address: _________________________________________________ Contact Number(s):__________________________________________ Email Address: _________________________________________________ 1 The Private Tutoring Handbook

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Your Tutoring Company

The Tutor will provide support to the Student in the following subjects: _________________________________________________ Lessons will take place at the following address unless otherwise agreed by Tutor, Student and Parent/Guardian: _________________________________________________

Fees payable to the Tutor: Fees shall be calculated at a rate of £______per hour of tutoring, which is inclusive of travel fees and any preparation time required for lessons.

The Tutor may adjust their fees at any time and will provide the Student with _____days written notice in such cases.

Terms of Payment Payment shall be made at the end of each lesson or payment shall be made weekly/monthly in advance (delete as appropriate).

Accepted methods of payment:     

Cash Cheque BACS transfer PayPal transfer Other _________________

Name of person responsible for the payment of fees: _______________________________________ Lesson Schedule Tutoring shall commence on the __________________ and continue thereafter at the following times: _________________________________________________ 2 The Private Tutoring Handbook

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Your Tutoring Company _________________________________________________ Obligations of the Tutor The Tutor agrees to carry out all necessary research prior to each lesson so as the maximise the Student’s learning time.

The Tutor agrees to keep all information regarding the Student’s education confidential unless written permission has been granted by the Student to disclose.

This includes any work that the Student has produced during or out with lesson times.

The Tutor agrees to carry out all lessons in person unless a prior arrangement has been made to conduct lessons online. The Tutor shall not sub-contract to another tutor for lessons that are intended to be conducted by him or herself.

The Tutor shall not complete homework or any other classroom assignments that are intended for completion by the Student.

Obligations of the Student The Student agrees to attend all scheduled lessons and be pro-active in making suggestions about their own education.

The Student agrees to complete any homework or classwork assignments set by the Tutor in a timely manner as agreed prior to the task being set.

The Student understands that it is not within the Tutor’s remit to complete homework or classroom exercises on behalf of the student and that the Tutor’s role is one of support.

Termination of Tutoring Contract This tutoring contract can be terminated by Tutor, Student or Parent/Guardian at any time with ______ days prior notice.

The agreed date of termination is _______________ Or Tutoring shall commence on the __________________ and continue thereafter on an ad hoc basis as agreed by Tutor and Student.

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Your Tutoring Company Declaration Signed by Tutor _________________________Date______________ Signed by Student _________________________Date______________ Signed by Parent/Guardian _________________________Date______________

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Private Maths Tutor Available in London Do you need help with your GCSE or A Level Maths?

I’m an experienced Maths tutor in the London area with a 100% pass rate. Whether you need help with algebra and equations, or whether you need to sharpen your numeracy skills, I can improve your confidence.

I have a BA in Mathematics from the University of London and I have a full disclosure check from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

I currently have capacity to take on new students and can tutor at your home or in a public place of your choice.

References available on request.

Contact Jane Smith on 01234 567 899, or email jane.smith@tutor.co.uk.

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Improve Your GCSE Maths Scores With help from an experienced Maths tutor in London  Experienced tutor with 10+ years’ experience  BA in Mathematics from the University of London  Tutoring at your home or in a public place  References available on request  Fully DBS checked  First lesson free Contact Jane Smith on 01234 567 899, or email jane.smith@tutor.co.uk to schedule your free lesson.

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Get the Grades you Need for University With an experienced Maths Tutor in London I’m Jane Smith, a Maths tutor in the London area with 10+ years’ experience teaching students at A Level. I can help you achieve the Maths grades you need to secure a place at your first-choice university. Whether you need help with algebra and equations, or whether you need to improve your exam technique, I can help boost your confidence.

I have a first-class honours degree in Mathematics from the University of London and I have a full disclosure certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

I’m currently taking on students for the new school year and can tutor at your home or in a public place of your choice.

References available on request.

Contact Jane Smith on 01234 567 899, or email jane.smith@tutor.co.uk.

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Enhance Your Exam Technique With a Successful A Level Maths tutor in London Hello, my name’s Jane Smith and I’m a Maths tutor in the London area. I specialise in helping students improve their exam technique in the lead up to their A Level exams.

My thorough yet friendly approach has helped many students pass their Maths exams and achieve the grades they need for further education.

Whether you need help with time management, or whether you need experience in answering questions under exam conditions, I can give you the confidence boost you need.

I hold a BA in Mathematics from the University of London and I’m fully DBS-checked with the Disclosure and Barring Service.

References available on request.

Contact Jane Smith on 01234 567 899, or email jane.smith@tutor.co.uk.

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Tutor Marketing Plan

Goals and Objectives What are you hoping to achieve from your marketing? What timescale are you working to? I recommend planning your strategy over a 6-month period and reviewing your progress every two weeks. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Audience Hangouts Make a list below of all the places you can think of that parents in your area are likely to ‘hang out’ online and actively have a presence there/engage them in conversation. Find out what the hot topics of conversation are and interact with them directly. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Your Competitors Search online and make a list below of other tutors who operate in your local area. Have a look at what subjects they offer. Can you gain any useful insights from their blog posts or testimonials that could help you tap into a gap in the market? What do they do well and what could they do better? Once, you’ve researched the competition, approach them and ask if they’d be interested in setting up a referral system with you. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Your Marketing Focus What strategies will you employ over the next two weeks? Is your focus on distributing business cards or embracing social media? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Quantifying

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How will you know if your marketing efforts have been successful? Make a list of ways you can measure your strategy’s success. E.g. Google Analytics, telephone calls, emails.

You may want to look back at your goals to remind yourself what you were initially hoping to achieve. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Results Which of your marketing efforts have paid off most in the last 2 weeks? If one particular strategy seems to be working, increase your focus on it and reduce the time you spend on anything that isn’t working. If you have still have a few strategies to try, make them an additional focus over the next 2 weeks. __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

Once you have your marketing strategy in place, you’ll want to revisit your plan regularly and make adjustments as your business grows and your goals and objectives change. Having updated versions of your plan can be a great way to see how your business is progressing and can act as a record of your marketing efforts.

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Becoming a Private Tutor Checklist - Actions After reading the guide, use this checklist as a way of making sure you have everything prepared for starting work as a private tutor. The checklist summarises all the actions mentioned throughout the book.

Getting Started  Choose the subjects and levels that you will tutor  Find out how qualified other tutors are in your area and how much they charge  Research other tutors in your area and approach them about setting up a referral system  Explore the three options you have for obtaining a DBS check The Preparation Stage  Organise your resources using the free templates included with the book  Decide whether your business will be mobile or fixed. Will you travel to students’ homes or will they come to you?  Arrange public liability and professional indemnity insurance if required  Use our cancellation policy template to create your own terms and conditions The Final Stages  Work out how much money will you need to make from tutoring in order to sustain a comfortable lifestyle  How much savings will you need to help see you through slow months?  Are there other tutors in your area that you could make contact with to ask for help and advice? Are there any meetup groups in your local area for freelancers that you could join?  How will you handle difficult students/parents? Will you outline your expectations in your contract document?

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 How will you ensure that you take enough time off from work?  Register your business with HMRC within 3 months of starting your business  Start to set aside money from every lesson to go towards paying your income tax and National Insurance contributions Onwards and Upwards  Research what tutoring agencies are out there  Be aware of what online tutoring platforms are out there As this is a paid resource, please don’t distribute this checklist online.

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Tutor Marketing Checklist - Actions After reading the guide, use this checklist as a way of keeping track of your marketing efforts. The checklist summarises all the actions highlighted throughout the book.

Getting Started  Complete your free marketing strategy template included with the guide  Calculate your hourly tutoring rate using the Your Rate freelance calculator tool  Research other tutors in your area and approach them about setting up a referral system  Tell your existing students and their parents that you’re looking for new tutees Taking it to the Next Level  Arrange to give a 5-minute talk at a local community group, promoting your services  Consider registering with a tutoring agency  Use our free Tutor Directory Reviews document and decide which websites to register on. Supplement this with local keyword research to help make your decision  Consider registering with an online tutoring platform Getting Online  Create your own website using WordPress or pay a web designer to build one for you  Optimize your website and apply proper on-page SEO  Build links to your blog content and create internal links within your articles  Identify websites to guest post on. The higher their PR rating, the better Increasing Your Online Presence

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 Become active on online forums  Engage with people on social media/share your website content/spread the word about your services  Consider pitching a story to a local or national newspaper and asking to be quoted in the article Future Proofing Your Marketing  Consider how you will position yourself in the tutoring marketplace  Create a profile on The Tutor Website and become actively involved in the community

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