My Adventures in Online Tutoring
I have launched myself into the world of private online tutoring. It was never my intention to go private, and yet, here I am. So, how did I get myself here?
It all started because I wanted to learn more about the different online tutoring companies out there. There are so many different business models and so many different pedagogical approaches. All of them seem to be successful, but all of them seem to have very different expectations from their tutors. Some required that tutors teach with their own materials while others provided materials for their tutors. Some left pricing entirely up to the tutors while others paid all their tutors a fixed rate, with bonuses. Some sessions were chat-based, some were conducted by phone, and others were conducted via video conference. There are so many different approaches to compare, but more on those later.
The Business Side of Tutoring
I used to do private tutoring when I was in high school and university. In fact, it was my only job throughout my studies. I also tutored for several of the universities where I pursued my studies, but I did have private students who were not a part of the institution as well.
I have also been an entrepreneur and run my own business. I am not unfamiliar with the administrative, operations and back-end of business ownership. Of course, that was a business-to-business corporation and completely different from a solo-preneurship, which I have found myself embarking on right now.
It was never my intention to embark on private tutoring again. I am a graduate student in education, and this was a purely academic exercise. I wanted to practice my teaching skills and learn about tutoring companies at the same time. I also wanted to create my own resources and teaching materials. This was a marriage of theory and practice, an exercise in participatory action research. It all represented a fantastic learning experience.
But then, one of the companies closed down and my students had nowhere to go. It was not my intention to go private, but I've enjoyed working with my students and wanted to keep working with them. So, in the aftermath of the closure and all the key stakeholders finding their footing once again, many of the tutors began developing plans for going private. Would we all band together to form our own company, or would we go alone? How would this all play out?
A Brand New Start
In the end, I decided I would take my existing students from this one company and strike out on my own. I still work for other companies, and the academic exercise still exists, but now I have this added curve to my learning experience. Not only will I be able to keep up with my pedagogy, but I will also be working on the administrative and financial side of tutoring. It is not my intention to develop this into a large company; I only want to keep it as a small, manageable solo-preneurship. I've had the large corporation that consumed my life and am not eager to do it again.
I will not be inviting students from other companies to engage me privately; I will not even mention to them that I offer private tutoring services. Private tutoring will provide me with the same opportunity to develop my own materials, but my focus would be turned towards administrative work as well. My ultimate goal is still the academic exercise of focusing on teaching and developing my own materials while another company handles the business side.
This blog will be focused on discussing my experiences, without revealing private and confidential information, as I learn to navigate the world of tutoring and teaching. Please stay tuned for more of my thoughts and ideas!
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