How to Make Money Tutoring: Real-Life Story

I love to hear how people have turned their hobbies into incomes (especially since it's one of my suggested ways to make more money). The following story is from Andy, the same guy who blogs at Saving to Invest. He shares the story of how he turned his skills into a nice side business -- something many of us can do if we put in the time and effort.

It's strange how things can sometimes work out in life. For example, how a hobby or part time activity, can lead to a nice financial windfall and provide a huge amount of personal achievement and satisfaction.

This story started when I was in University doing a Mathematics and Finance Degree. I have always had an affinity for numbers and so math related topics were something I enjoyed and was good at. Knowing this a family friend approached me to provide math tutoring to his son, Matthew (Matt), a subject that he was struggling with at school. In fact half way through the school year, Matt had not passed a single math test and was in danger of being held back. Matt's parents tried other tutors but his results were not improving and he was getting more frustrated. Also they were on a budget, so couldn't afford some of the expensive professional tutoring services.

Without going into details about my teaching style, I believe being good at math is about understanding the basics and how each concept from addition to complex derivatives builds on each other. Generally those who struggle with math, don't understand the basics and so get more frustrated and defeated as they move on to more complex topics. This same parallel could just as easily be applied to personal finance, where understanding the basics of budgeting, saving and investing are so important in achieving financial freedom.

Anyway I agreed to take Matt on as a student and my hourly rate was $25 for two, one-hour lessons a week. There was no complex science in coming up with this rate, I just looked around at what other tutors charged and also what Matt's parents could afford. After a month of lessons, eight in total, he had his first major math test. We had prepared hard for this Algebra test and I felt he was more than ready. Matt also seemed confident and while his parents were nervous they reassured him that no matter how he does, they were proud of all the effort he put in to his after school tutoring. Great parents. A week later, he got his results and he passed! The first time for him in a long time and I think his parents and I were happier than he was. By the time the year was up, he was in the top 20% of his math class.

Before I knew it I started receiving calls from Matt's parents other friends who had kids in similar grades. I guess through word of mouth, my name spread and given I was relatively inexpensive (and got results) I was a good option for a lot of parents in the area. Also, I think Matt's parents were great references. Sometimes I felt like they were my agents and biggest supporters, the way they promoted me. Another life lesson - Do what you do well and the rest will follow.

I soon realized that I could make some decent money from this part time job. It is something I enjoyed and I think good at, so it was a perfect situation. My university schedule was not very taxing and so I also had the time to take on more work. As I got serious about tutoring I even put up some fliers at the local community center and mall. At the peak of my tutoring "career" I had 10 students (one to two lessons a week) and factoring in a few cancellations per week I was pulling in about $350 in cash per week. This was about 15 years ago so it was a lot of money at the time. My average hourly rate was about $20 to $30 (depending on grade), which was more than double what my friends were earning. Plus, and most importantly, it was a hugely satisfying job. You are having a direct impact on someone's life and seeing them grasp a concept that was so hard for them previously is a feeling that I cannot describe. It is akin to seeing your child learning new words.

So this hobby or part time job that I fell into ended up funding most of my living and social activities through university. It also allowed me to start investing in the share market (that's another story). Once I started working, got married I had to stop tutoring due to time restrictions. It was really tough to say bye to the students at those last lessons. I still think of it as my first real job and it taught me a lot of skills I use today - effective communication, leadership and mentoring. I met a lot of great people and especially a lot of smart kids, who just needed a little guidance. It was a gratifying experience and I whenever I run into some of "my" kids today (most are working now), they still look at me as their "teacher" and more than one has thanked me for all I did in helping them. That is reward in itself.

Comments

[MonkeyMonk]

I have a good friend and ex-classmate who moved to London a few years ago and started a tutoring service for English children to prepare for the SAT or ACT tests if they were interested in attending top-rated US colleges. Her smartest move was to focus on high-end clients and as a result she makes an obscene hourly rate. It also helps that she scored a near 1600 on the SAT herself.

[Andy]

Thanks for publishing this guest post.

[snow_drops]

Good post! I am currently doing the same thing. At the early days of my "day-time career", this side job actually paid better hourly wage.

Of course, now that I've moved up the corporate ladder, I keep tutoring mostly for personal satisfaction of seeing a kid growing to love Math. ^_^

[Curt]

That's a great story. It's funny how some of the smallest ideas can turn into large money makers. I also helped others in college, but not for money. As an Electrical Engineer, my college math classes were so difficult that if you could get 40-50% of the answers correct you would get an A - because they curved the grades to the highest score. This meant that to pass, it didn't matter how many you got right or wrong, but how many you got right compared to the other students. I found myself teaching my friends at the library every night - just to help them pass the tests. It was a great experience and I of course I was forced to learned the material very well so that I could teach it to my friends.

[peter]

Tutoring is great. I worked via a company, build up a reputation there and was allowed to teach to groups of 3 students after a while. They paid 25 euro per hour each, I got 50% of that. I was making 150 euro per week with only one block of 4 hours (2 groups of 2 hours) of work!

[Shareef]

Online tutoring is also a great option. The pay is much less than regular tutoring, but the convenience of doing it from home can be a nice option. Many of the services, such as Tutor.com, offer nearly 24 hour service.