Become a Tutor in Six Easy Steps

by LogonTutor.com | Follow on Twitter here

What makes being private tutor rewarding is not just setting your own hours and your own rate, but also getting to watch students grow and develop as they overcome hurdles and increase confidence in school. Being a private tutor is like being the student’s superhero. The good news is that it’s easy to become a tutor. In fact, there are only 6 steps to follow:

1. Find Your Niche

Have you ever notice that there are not many people who tutor in both Math and English? When deciding to become a tutor, it is important to narrow your focus to something that you’re good at and is natural fit for you. Just because you took a class in Chemistry doesn’t mean that you should offer it as your tutoring subject. Then once you identify your tutoring subject, ensure that you are truly well versed and understand the key concepts of the subject you have selected.

2. Define Your Availability

Are you available for in person tutoring? How about online tutoring? This step is important, since it will determine how you will get paid.

For example, if you decide to meet the student in person, then you may choose to get paid by cash, check, or credit card. The decision comes down to what you and your student or the parent is most comfortable with.

If you are interested in online tutoring, then your payment options are narrower. Your transaction will more than likely occur online. Many tutors have found Paypal to be the best payment method. Go to paypal.com and create a “Business” account. After every tutoring session, you can log into Paypal and send an invoice to the student. When the student pays your invoice, your money will be transferred into your Paypal account. From there, you can transfer the money into your banking account.

3. Advertise Your Service

It’s one thing to become a tutor and it’s another thing for people to actually know about you. Ensure that you make it easier for yourself by creating an account with a company that will advertise your services for you, such as LogonTutor.com. They will do all the marketing work for you by listing your profile in the tutoring search. Students will then be able to find you by typing in their desired subject and zip code.

As a quick reminder, make sure that you please take your time while creating your profile. Whether your subject matter is writing or math, ensure that you show up in the very best light to your potential customers.

Also since parents are often concerned about safety, it’s also recommended to get background check. Upon passing the background check, LogonTutor.com will reward you by giving your profile a major ranking boost.

4. Make Yourself Available

After getting your profile approved and listed, please don’t forget to check your email often. Unfortunately, students tend to wait at the last minute before realizing that they need tutoring help. For this reason, their situation tends to be urgent. So you as a tutor should be ready to jump into action to help them. A student or parent should not have to wait more than 24 hours to hear a response from you as the tutor.

5. Schedule a Tutoring Session

When scheduling a tutoring session, you and the student need to agree on the location beforehand. Meeting in public places such as libraries and coffee shops are best. However, many students like to be tutored at home. If you agree to conduct home tutoring sessions, for the safety of you and the student ensure that another adult is present in the home.

As for online tutoring, you need discuss with the student what tools are going to be used. For example, you might ask them if they have a scanner or a webcam available. From there, you plan your session(s) accordingly. If you are not sure how to perform online tutoring, LogonTutor.com can make online whiteboard software available for both you and the student.

6. Get Paid and Follow-up

After completing a tutoring session, ensure you request payment with an invoice. Then a few days after the lesson, talk to the parent to make sure everything is going well. It’s a good practice to do this as parents appreciate that you are showing genuine concern about their child’s success. Also it may increase the likelihood that you will be asked to do more tutoring or just as good, be referred to other students and parents.

Best of luck in becoming a tutor and helping a student become successful with their academic studies!