5 ways to commanding better tuition fee rates

If you have been in the tutoring line for a while, it isn't all that unreasonable to yearn for a better paycheck. Then again, chances of getting that astronomical raise in rates to most would seem impossible. Make your services real expensive, and you will be left with no interested students/parents. Reality is a bitch.


But is it all that unattainable a goal? Truth be told, over the decade I have worked my way up from $25/hr teaching additional mathematics to earning a far more decent rate, so yes it can be done. Here are 5 things I have discovered along my teaching journey which works for me:


1. Stop relying on tuition agencies.

Take the first step towards true independence. Create your own website. With Blogger, Wordpress, Weebly and other FOC user-friendly blogging platforms made so readily available online today, it is definitely not difficult to set up something.


2. Put up quality content on your site and do SEO.

The "content is king" line has been used to death, but nonetheless it is still very true. Your site is one of the best tools you can use to articulate your competencies and demonstrate proficiency of the subject matter which you help your students with. Don't simply plaster your academic credentials/teaching experience and wait for someone to knock on the door. Demonstrate to readers your expertise by writing useful instructional/learning material; constantly blog and share your personal teaching related insights. When you do all these religiously, you can be sure an interested audience is never too far away.


Then comes the marketing aspect. A good product/service is next to useless if you do not undertake efforts to sell it. Increase your site's visibility through employment of legitimate aka white hat search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. Once your influence starts to manifest itself concretely in the virtual education community, you can be sure the phone calls enquiring about your tuition services will come trickling in.


3. Be brave and venture beyond teaching at the primary and secondary school levels.

That's right. Grow some balls. Help the junior college students, the ones in polytechnics and even first/second year university undergraduates. The tuition market is less elastic in higher levels of education, which means you are in a much better position to charge premium rates and yet not frighten everyone away. A no-brainer: make sure you are suitably qualified to coach them kids.



4. Add value to your tutoring services.

That's right. Provide e-mail/phone/sms answering support after the weekly official lesson(s). Let your students know you are willing to go the extra mile to render them assistance. An SMS dispatched to clarify a doubt during revision will not take you long, but it goes a long way in showing your sincerity to help.


Be willing to spend half an hour (or more) FOC occasionally beyond the stipulated lesson timing (especially during examination periods) to settle any outstanding stuff, because we all know a 1.5 or 2 hour block might not always be sufficient.



5. Don't be a bore.

Nobody likes to attend boring lessons. Yes the knowledge to be imparted may be drier than the Sahara desert, but surely there are 101 ways to make things more lively and engaging. Its about working by trial and error to discover that wacky, interesting teacher within you. Personally for me, injection of humor and peppering learning sessions with the occasional small talk work best.


At the end of the day, it still bubbles down to this one important thing: producing results. That is the yardstick which a tutor's worth is measured against.If your student only manages a weak D grade after a year of coaching, it certainly does not speak well of your ability. Bear that in mind.


Good luck and god bless. Peace.


White Group Mathematics


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Some tuition teachers figured out the system and beaten it, which is why they got so rich.