Really Practical Tips on Tutoring English

I just read a good blog post about freelancing as a programmer over at: http://typicalprogrammer.com/tips-for-successful-freelancing and I noticed almost everything he says there can be adapted and applied to working as an English tutor or a freelance teacher.

What you see in the following is how I would adapt his post to apply to freelancing and personal tutoring:

Do what you know how to do
Clients pay you to solve their problems. They aren't interested in how cool a particular teaching style is, but knowing when and where to apply different methods or approaches to particular learner needs will definitely help you as a tutor. You don't need to be able to teach everyone either. Find something you are good at (and like, if possible) and teach that. It might be that teaching children phonics and singing songs is just what you love to do. Personally I prefer teaching an older and more professional age group.

Stay with the herd
If you have an exotic in-demand skill by all means use it. But if you decide to learn Montessori because you see Montessori tutors making top dollar, think hard about how you will compete with them. Sure, there are lots of English teachers out there, but most of them are amateurs you can easily compete with, and there’s more than enough English teaching work to go around. If you look in the right markets. Obviously, it’s much harder to compete with skilled and experienced experts for a small number of jobs (that's why the university positions in Korea are getting harder and harder to get these days.. unlike a few years ago, but that's another story). You want to do what everyone else is making money at, but better, so you’re playing basketball against a team of sixth graders, not trying to join the NBA.

Don’t try to do everything
Be careful you don’t get buried doing too much, like homework support, software recommendations, curriculum design, etc. Stick with your competencies. Find other tutors who specialize in the things you don’t do and send them business, and they will do the same for you.

Avoid bad clients
If the student seems angry, bossy, stingy, greedy, abusive, too demanding, too controlling, etc. step away. You will find other clients. If you can’t imagine a professional and rewarding relationship with your client, or if you feel uncomfortable with whatever it is they are doing, say no.

You will get most business from referrals
Do a good job, leave your clients happy, work with other teachers and develop a network of people who will recommend you and send work your way.

Don’t bother trying to look like a “real” business
Plenty of new tutors think that they are entrepreneurs and they can get caught up accumulating the trappings of a big company. You don’t need a fancy web site, letterhead, office, etc. You probably don’t even need to form a corporation or LLC. Unless you have employees or manage to bill for 72 hours every day you won’t make enough money to justify anything elaborate or supposedly “professional.” Your clients won’t care that you work from home and don’t have all the trappings. A simple blog will work and maybe a few business cards. That's it.

Keep track of your time and bill regularly
The best way to get paid is to keep track of your time accurately and bill your clients regularly. I prefer to work hourly and send invoices every four weeks. You don’t need a full-blown accounting system, there are hosted time tracking and invoicing solutions like BlinkSale that do most of the work for you.

Don’t subcontract
I recommend working with other teachers, but I don’t like subcontracting work out. Chances are you will spend almost as much time explaining the project and reviewing the work as you would spend doing it yourself. Any teacher as good as you will cost as much anyway; if you think you are getting a bargain with a $15/hour teacher you found online good luck with that. If you take on more work than you can handle try referring it to another tutor who will return the favor.

Use consistent feedback and development techniques
Clients like to see progress. Misunderstanding requirements is the most costly mistake you will make. Short-term deliverable goals and frequent reviews will keep your student happy and keep you from going off in the weeds. Just tell them how you do things and what you need from them.

Keep your clients informed
Learning a new language is mysterious enough to most people, so let your students keep your work and make your materials visible to parents so clients feel comfortable with you.