Are you a student with good academic background and great grades throughout high school and college? Are you interested in teaching with some experience in local schools or colleges? Can you understand the student’s strengths and weaknesses well? If the answer to all of the questions or any of them is Yes, then the online tutoring business is an ideal money-making opportunity for you.
You can start this business from your home, at your convenience. With greater access to the internet and widespread use of laptops, tablets, and smartphones, online teaching has become easier and reaches more students covering a wide area and multiple time zones.
The prospect and profitability are also very encouraging. According to IBIS World, Online Tutoring Services Industry has grown by 6.9% between the periods of 2014-2019. From 2019 to 2024, this industry is expected to record higher growth.
So, you can easily find that the business of online tutoring is quite profitable.
10 Steps to Start Online Tutoring Business
Now let us find the steps you should follow to start your own online tutoring business.
1. Check out The Options to Start Online Tutoring
Broadly there are two ways to start an online tutoring business. One is by registering with one of the popular online tutoring sites and providing tuition through them. Some of the popular portals are Skooli, Chegg, Tutor Me, Club Z, etc.
The other way is to start your own. Starting your own will require setting up a website, video communication software, payment system, and more.
2. Arrange Proper Tutoring Tools & Software
To teach online, you must have a computer with a good internet connection. The computer must have a webcam attached to a microphone.
In addition, you must have video conferencing software for virtual collaborative presentations. There are plenty of free and paid software platforms you can avail of. Some popular free options are skype, zoom, and google meet.
Another must tool to have for online tutoring is virtual whiteboard software. This type of software helps in freehand writing and drawing sketches and diagrams.
In addition, you will need document-sharing software for sharing and editing documents for classes. Google doc is a free tool and s indeed one of the best in the market.
3. Choose Subjects You Want to Teach
Decide wisely on the subject(s) you would like to teach as an online tutor. Your specialization subject will be best suited for your chosen subject. You can also add some related subjects as your subjects for teaching. For example, if you are a Literature expert, with history as one of your subjects at the college level, you can add History along with Literature.
Teaching experience is a good value addition to this business. Apart from that, certifications for specific subjects are also desired.
The qualifications and certifications will enhance your CV and make you more desired as a tutor both from the points of view of parents as well as students.
4. Have the Plan to Find Students
Before starting your online tutoring business, think carefully, and choose which class of students you prefer to teach. It can be primary school students, middle school students, college students, or students preparing for competitive exams like the GRE, etc.
Select according to your qualification, experience, and exposure. Don’t go by the demand of any subject, because ultimately it’s your teaching skill and expertise that will fetch you more students and help to increase your business level.
5. How to Attract More Students
Once you have started online tutoring, you have to give extra efforts to attract more students to enroll in your classes. Some of the popular ways of attracting more students are listed below:
- Update your profile. Add your teaching experience and add some audio and video messages for the prospective students.
- Make yourself available for teaching online as much as you can. Remember, you can get students from different time zones, so try to make yourself available as much as you can.
- Ask your students to give reviews about your teaching and use them in the profile.
- Try to add some interesting points to your teaching like using colorful graphics, and charts, and sharing notes through messages with your students.
- Give a personal touch to your method of teaching, which will make the students more comfortable learning from you.
Respond instantly to any request from a student for classes or any inquiry regarding doubt clearing.
6. Cost of Starting an Online Tutoring Business
If you decide to do business through any online portal, there are different schemes. Some portals don’t charge the tutors anything, if you get a job, you are paid directly. Some portals charge money from tutors to get jobs. In that case, you have to pay for that.
If you want to start an online tutoring business on your own, you have to invest some money in legal formalities. As for the investment, if you start from your home, there is no cost of the rent. For the set-up like a laptop, internet, web portal, etc, you need to invest approximately $1000.
7. How to Set Price Rates and Get Payment Online
Online tutors are paid $30-40 per hour approximately by the tutoring sites. If you can work for 30 hours a week, your monthly income ranges between $ 3500-4000.
If you want to start your business independently, you have to charge a little less to set your name and fame. In that case, you can charge $30-35 per hour. Working for 30 hours per week, your monthly income will be approximately $3500. In the case of an independent business, you need not pay any charges to the portal.
In your online Tutoring Business, you will get paid online. For this, the easiest option to receive payment is through online accounts like PayPal or Payoneer. Open a PayPal or Payoneer account and start getting your payments directly into your account.
8. Legalities For Online Tutoring Business
If you opt for tutoring through a portal, your profile will be verified by the postal authorities. However, if you want to start your independent business, you need to fulfill certain legal formalities like:
- Name your online tutoring business and get it registered.
- Form a legal business organization.
- Register for Taxes.
- Get the Necessary Permits and Licenses.
- Insure your Business
- Open a Business Bank Account in the name of your Business
9. How to Market your Online Tutoring Business
Good qualifications or a good standard of teaching are not enough to be successful in this business. You have to do good research and market your tutoring business accordingly.
Launch a website in the name of your business and add good reviews, qualifications, and experience to the website. Also, mention the subjects you teach.
Share the link to your teaching website on social networking platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also create a page in the name of yourself or your business on social networking sites.
Make a database of institutions and students or parents through thorough research. Send promotional E-mails to them, mentioning your service.
Take the help of printed leaflets and flyers for mass distribution, advertising your online tutoring service.
Communicate with your friends and family about your business. This will create a word-of-mouth campaign for you.
Give advertisements on radio and television mentioning your online tutoring service, highlighting the classes and subjects you teach.
Make a good relationship with teachers, professors, and parents which will give you a good amount of referral business and important leads.
10. Getting Prepared for Online Tutoring
The first and foremost requirements of online tutoring businesses are a good computer or laptop with stable and high-speed internet. Before starting to teach online, you must be prepared very well to use the online platform to teach the students.
- Try to speak clearly and communicatively, so that the students get the essence of learning.
- Learn to use the digital whiteboard and use them frequently for more clarity in teaching.
- Use charts and graphics as and when necessary.
- Share and upload notes and files according to requirements.
Present yourself in a very cooperative and pleasant way, so that the students feel comfortable and do not hesitate to ask questions or request for more explanation or doubt clearing.
These are the necessary steps to follow in starting your online tutoring business. With the advancement of technology and the busy schedule of students, the demand for online tutoring is on the rise. Try to use this increasing demand and earn good money as an online tutor. The future seems very bright.
About the Author: 99businessideas.com led by Rupak Chakrabarty is committed to helping beginners, entrepreneurs, and small business owners in starting, managing, and growing their businesses.
