Gotta get money

[amj]

The present is important to me. Taking advantage of time is important to me. Accomplishing goals are important to me.

I am struggling because I have so much time on my hands and I am not doing things that are very productive. Right now, being productive means making money or taking steps that will lead to making money. I want to make money without having to rely on a job. I make roughly $24 per day doing personal tutoring. I want more money but I am not sure how to get more. I post ads on craigslist daily but that hasn't got me anywhere. I don't have a trade and I don't have a service to offer that people are willing to pay for.

Right now, a part time morning job would be better for me than what I am currently doing. If places were hiring out here, I would consider it. I know things will improve but I live in the present and presently I need money. I guess I just have to sit back, be patient, and hope for the best.

[JustinPopovic]

You do have a service to offer....tutoring!!

I would stick with that and focus on learning how to market your personal tutoring services!

Start a tutoring blog. Network with other tutors and tutoring company business owners.

What is your speciality? Math, science, language, etc...?

Craigslist is only 1 of about 100,000 places to advertise yourself. Assuming this is somethingyou enjoy doing, I would really make a determined effort to ramp this up!

[Tanja]

Originally Posted by amj

I am struggling because I have so much time on my hands and I am not doing things that are very productive. Right now, being productive means making money or taking steps that will lead to making money. I want to make money without having to rely on a job.

If you have so much time on your hands I'd try increasing the tutoring lessons.
As the poster before said, establish contact with other tutors or companies offering that services.
Best advertising is also by word of mouth, you could offer a discount to your current students if they get you more people to tutor (of course without being aggressive about it, just mention it as a possibility).
I'm not sure how it works where you live, but here tutoring services are mostly advertised through flyers, they put them into your mail box or some place designated for those purposes in apartment buildings.

[amj]

Originally Posted by JustinPopovic

You do have a service to offer....tutoring!!

I would stick with that and focus on learning how to market your personal tutoring services!

Start a tutoring blog. Network with other tutors and tutoring company business owners.

What is your speciality? Math, science, language, etc...?

Craigslist is only 1 of about 100,000 places to advertise yourself. Assuming this is somethingyou enjoy doing, I would really make a determined effort to ramp this up!

I have a service to provide but if people aren't showing an interest, then I can't make money. I've beein using craigslist because it is the most popular place to post an ad but I haven't had any luck there.

I don't really have a specialty. I started tutoring because a kid that I used to coach needed someone to help with his English. Then his cousin needed help so I began helping him as well.

I'm willing to take this tutoring thing further but I'm not sure what else I can do to attract customers. I wouldn't even know what to put on a tutoring blog. How can I tutor someone by using a blog?

[amj]

Originally Posted by Tanja

If you have so much time on your hands I'd try increasing the tutoring lessons.
As the poster before said, establish contact with other tutors or companies offering that services.
Best advertising is also by word of mouth, you could offer a discount to your current students if they get you more people to tutor (of course without being aggressive about it, just mention it as a possibility).
I'm not sure how it works where you live, but here tutoring services are mostly advertised through flyers, they put them into your mail box or some place designated for those purposes in apartment buildings.

Both you and JustinPopovic have suggested networking with other tutors or companies. What would I tell them?
Putting up flyers at an apartment building? Hmmm I could try that.

[Tanja]

Originally Posted by amj

Both you and JustinPopovic have suggested networking with other tutors or companies. What would I tell them?
Putting up flyers at an apartment building? Hmmm I could try that.

If you don't feel like looking for people to tutor, you could offer your services to those tutoring companies, they would refer people to you, and of course it means they would take part of your earnings.
However, you could also agree that you would, for example, refer people to them for the tutoring that is not your specialty field (math for example), and they would refer to you people who need help with English.
Do you already know someone who is also tutoring? You could do the same thing as with the companies.

You could put up flyers around schools, not only apartment buildings.
That's at least how people do it here.

And I see only now that JustinPopovic mentioned a blog, that sounds like a good idea too.

[BrettAshlee]

Networking is definitely one of the best ways to get the word out about who you are and what you can do for others. Public schools, community colleges, and after-school programs might be good starting points, as well as any church or social organization you belong to.

Consider what other related services you have to offer others, as well as what types of odd jobs you are willing to do - then get the word out. Decide what your specialties are, create some business cards and flyers and begin networking. Find out what types of networking groups might be in your area.

[AGBourne]

Originally Posted by amj

The present is important to me. Taking advantage of time is important to me. Accomplishing goals are important to me.

I am struggling because I have so much time on my hands and I am not doing things that are very productive. Right now, being productive means making money or taking steps that will lead to making money. I want to make money without having to rely on a job. I make roughly $24 per day doing personal tutoring. I want more money but I am not sure how to get more. I post ads on craigslist daily but that hasn't got me anywhere. I don't have a trade and I don't have a service to offer that people are willing to pay for.

Right now, a part time morning job would be better for me than what I am currently doing. If places were hiring out here, I would consider it. I know things will improve but I live in the present and presently I need money. I guess I just have to sit back, be patient, and hope for the best.

Stop focusing on making money and begin focusing on providing and creating value.

Tutoring = value to another person. That value to another person you provide, they in return will pay you for your time. Begin providing the BEST possible tutoring that you are able to provide.

Another thing, do more then you would be getting paid for. If you are currently getting paid $24, provide $2400 worth of value in tutoring that the other person thinks they are getting a deal and getting away with it.

Stop focusing on yourself. To generate income from tutoring you must focus on the other person.

If you really get this, you will be on your way to better income. But if you don't then you will be chasing "money" for the rest of your life.

[SimonKincaid]

Originally Posted by AGBourne

Stop focusing on making money and begin focusing on providing and creating value.

Tutoring = value to another person. That value to another person you provide, they in return will pay you for your time. Begin providing the BEST possible tutoring that you are able to provide.

Another thing, do more then you would be getting paid for. If you are currently getting paid $24, provide $2400 worth of value in tutoring that the other person thinks they are getting a deal and getting away with it.

Stop focusing on yourself. To generate income from tutoring you must focus on the other person.

If you really get this, you will be on your way to better income. But if you don't then you will be chasing "money" for the rest of your life.

This is by far the best response imho - it seems that you need to be doing a little tutoring on yourself to raise your belief that you can make it happen (which you can!). In a service industry, people pay for value in proportion to how valuable it is to them.

[E4Ad]

Hey there, I know your feeling. I have a photography studio and finding the time and money to market the studio was tough. I found an opportunity at educate4adifference.com that has given me the money and time freedom to keep the studio afloat, while making a great living. My best advice is to just keep plugging along..

[amj]

Originally Posted by AGBourne

Stop focusing on making money and begin focusing on providing and creating value.

Tutoring = value to another person. That value to another person you provide, they in return will pay you for your time. Begin providing the BEST possible tutoring that you are able to provide.

Another thing, do more then you would be getting paid for. If you are currently getting paid $24, provide $2400 worth of value in tutoring that the other person thinks they are getting a deal and getting away with it.

Stop focusing on yourself. To generate income from tutoring you must focus on the other person.

If you really get this, you will be on your way to better income. But if you don't then you will be chasing "money" for the rest of your life.

That's good advice. My challenge is getting more kids to tutor.

[ar81]

If you get 10% of people to be interested, you'd be outstanding.
If you get 1% of people to use your services, you are successful.
It means you need to reach 1000 people, to have 100 people saying how good you are, and you'd have 10 students.

[amj]

Originally Posted by ar81

If you get 10% of people to be interested, you'd be outstanding.
If you get 1% of people to use your services, you are successful.
It means you need to reach 1000 people, to have 100 people saying how good you are, and you'd have 10 students.

You're absolutely right. I think I know what I need to do now.

[ar81]

Originally Posted by amj

You're absolutely right. I think I know what I need to do now.

Those are average sales figures.

[JustinPopovic]

The response from AGBourne says it all. Fantastic feedback!

In terms of getting more kids to tutor I would recommend a combination of online and offline marketing.

Online - Do you have the ability to do a video blog? You could grab a cheap flipcam and tape yourself teaching the way you would in person. Then promote this blog to as many educational portals as possible

Offline - Check out my friend Kevin at Orangeville Math Tutor | Kitchener/Waterloo Math Tutor | Barrie Math Tutor | Mind Over Math - He has tried every form of offline marketing and built a very large tutoring business. I'm sure he would be happy to help if you email him

[rocksupreme]

I have made a full time income as a tutor in two different countries. It's very possible if you have a solid system and learn to market a bit.

Consider building your expertise in a very specific niche. I began as a general SAT tutor but refined my system and eventually began teaching group lessons in SAT test taking strategy. I could then teach more students at the same time while charging more. After scores started coming back, word of mouth took off like crazy.

I also leveraged this to provide college application/entrance consulting to some families. I helped with everything - choosing schools and applying, essays, testing, organizing related extracurricular activities, scholarship application... Parents can be extremely grateful for helping get their kids into the college of their dreams.

You can use a lot of tools besides Craigslist for getting students. Someone mentioned a blog, and that could work, if you are clever with specific and local keywords. The more narrowly you target, the better your chances would be of attracting clients that way.

You can also call up schools, churches, and after school programs in your area and offer a free presentation on study skills. Be sure to have your name and number printed on any materials you send home with the students.

[Talkofthatown919]

networking with other tutors is the key.

[alekseykravtsun]

You need to become the best tutorian in the world, set the contribution to environment, like free tutorian lessons on line or live, build your own image and own concept which is openly shared, bring more people in to your life, increase cost of your service as you grow up. Make your own school, relax and have passive income by the end of your life.