Real-life advice from ten remarkable women who have built their own successful tutoring businesses.
When I left teaching just 2.5 years ago, the tutoring world seemed like a relatively untapped niche. However, even in the past year I’ve noticed a real shift in the landscape of tutoring – it’s fast becoming an industry which is booming & brimming with thousands of teachers who want to pursue it as a full-time career option.
I think that teachers make fantastic entrepreneurs. We have so many skills that we have harnessed and developed from working in the classroom, which are ideal for business. That being said, I find we often lack confidence in our own abilities & feel apprehensive about ‘selling ourselves’ and charging parents money for our tutoring services – as we are naturally quite an altruistic bunch!
‘Showing up’ on social media also feels a bit alien to us to begin with, as we are so used to keeping our social media accounts private & hidden from students. As a result, it can take a huge leap of faith to ‘bite the bullet’ and start your own business. But as you’ll find out in this article – it can be one of the best decisions you will ever make!
Here are the stories of 10 amazing women that I have helped & worked with, as part of The Tutor Toolkit. We will take a look at their struggles with leaving the classroom and also their successes.
Read on to gain some realistic & thought-provoking insights into what it’s really like to start your own tutoring business.
Inspirational Woman #1: Nicola Hayes
Business Name: ‘ACW Education’ – A Specialist Dyslexia Tuition Service
Nicola says that the best thing about running her own business is definitely the freedom and flexibility it provides. She can choose who she works with and when. She now gets to do every school run and school event for her own children and no longer feels that she has to choose between work and family life – she can do both!
However, she says that one of the hardest things about setting up initially was knowing that she was pitching everything right for her audience, such as pricing and availability. Additionally, she had the pressure of knowing that it ‘had to work’, because there was no plan B.
Her advice to others?
“Just go for it. I know that makes it sound easy (and I know it isn’t easy), but it’s never going to feel like the ‘right time’. Cross bridges when you come to them, allow yourself the grace to make mistakes (as we all inevitably do), connect with other tutors and take one step at a time. Business isn’t built in a day, but it’s the best career move I have ever made”.
Inspirational Woman #2: Adrianne Tomatas
Business Name: ‘AT Primary Education’ – Tutoring Primary Children
Adrianne says that the most difficult thing about starting her own business has been the never ending to do list! She’s often felt overwhelmed and unsure if it will work out. However, she says that seeing how other tutors do it and how successful they are is one of her main motivators.
She now loves being able to support children on a more personal level with the time and opportunity to effectively meet their needs & teaching the subjects she loves the most. Being able to determine her own hours and holidays has also been a game changer, as she can now take advantage of cheaper times to travel!
Her advice to others?
“Believe in yourself, tell everyone you know and take it one step at a time”.
Inspirational Woman #3: Joy Murphy
Business Name: ‘JEM Chemistry Tuition’ – Tutoring Secondary Children
Joy is a fellow science teacher. She says that leaving the security of a full-time teaching salary and the worry of not getting any students that want to work with you was always at the top of her mind.
Just like Nicola, she loves being able to tailor her business to match her own needs. She has also really enjoyed learning exactly how to run her own business and now sees herself as both a tutor & a business woman.
Her advice to others?
“Even though my business is in the early stages, I say just go for it! It is easy in the beginning to compare yourself to other tutors, but I have come to realise that everyone provides something slightly different and the tutoring community is incredibly supportive”.
Inspirational Woman #4: Sarah Brouner
Business Name: ‘SB Tutoring’ – Tutoring Maths & Science To Secondary Children
Sarah says that the hardest thing about running her own tuition business is keeping up with all the social media feeds & posting schedules. She feels that she is not a ‘salesy’ person and therefore finds it unnatural to try & sell what she does.
Despite this, she loves being self-employed & says it has given her the ultimate control of her work life. She says that tutoring is a wonderful profession which enables her to work with teenagers in a more personal way – which gives her immense satisfaction.
Her advice to others?
“Go for it – but know what you want to achieve first. Who do you want to work with? How much will you charge? Have a clear goal of what you would like to do. It can be daunting, so I tackle one year at a time and review in the new year what I would like to do for the following academic year. I then spend some time in the spring and summer term working towards making it happen”.
Inspirational Woman #5: Narinder Hardawa
Business Name: ‘NH Expert Chemistry Tuition’ – Tutoring Secondary Children
Narinder is a true entrepreneur at heart! She has set up a few different business ventures, one of which is her Chemistry tuition business. As a fellow mum of 2 small children, she says that the hardest thing is the lack of time & all the different factors you have to think about when setting your business up.
However, she loves the flexibility she now has in terms of the hours she works and has also learnt a lot about herself during the process.
Her advice to others?
“Just get started and if you can, invest in a great mentor with the knowledge and skillset to get you started, like I did with The Tutor Toolkit”.
Inspirational Woman #6: Sarah Isaacs
Business Name: ‘Sarah Isaacs Tutoring Services’ – Team Of English Tutoring Services
Due to ill health, Sarah decided to start her business in 2020. She was apprehensive about going from a £40K teaching position to almost no salary, but through focused determination she now runs a successful business.
She is about to branch into group tuition this September & now loves that she is able to ‘just teach!’. She is no longer a slave to staffroom politics, or tight school deadlines.
Her advice to others?
“Take the step! There’s so much help and support out there. Ill health pushed me into it but I’ve managed to make it work”.
Inspirational Woman #7: Zorica Kovacevic
Business Name: ‘Maths Tutor KT’ – Tutoring Secondary Children
Zorica has been tutoring and trying to build up her business since September 2021. Initially, she used someone else’s template as a franchisee, which didn’t work very well for her. It wasn’t until she moved away from the franchise and started to do her own thing last September that things began to improve. Although she is not yet where she wants to be, things are now moving in the right direction.
She says that the best thing about starting her own business is the realisation that she can apply the same techniques she has learnt and also develop other ideas into new business ventures. Right now she’s developing something that will help other tutors to understand what they need to do with their taxes and accounts when they start working for themselves – utilising her additional skills as a fully qualified accountant!
Her advice to others?
“Number 1 – Decide what is your thing, what is it that you enjoy doing and are good at and just go for it! Number 2 – Don’t be afraid to invest in yourself. Do your due diligence & find out who resonates best with you and with what you want to build. You will find that it will help you get where you want to be much faster than if you did it on your own”.
Inspirational Woman #8: Juliet Lee
Business Name: ‘JDL Science Tuition’ – Tutoring Secondary Children
Juliet says that initially getting started has been one of the biggest barriers in starting her own business. She has found that it has taken a lot of courage to start becoming more visible online but she knows that it is an essential part of the process, if she is to gain the trust of new clients.
She has already come a long way in a short amount of time and now loves making a difference to her tutees lives. A recent tutee has just been offered a place to study Medicine, which was a real highlight for her!
Her advice to others?
“Go for it! You won’t regret it!”
Inspirational Woman #9: Beata Inskip
Business Name: ‘Tutor In Your Pocket – English’ – Tutoring Secondary Children
Breaking through mindset blocks such as fear of visibility online & fear of judgment have been some of Beata’s greatest hurdles. She has had to ‘break free’ from her old teacher persona and learn to think of herself as a business owner.
She has loved learning new things & gained a real sense of pride with all that she has achieved since starting her business. She says that after years of sitting in insets that didn’t interest her, she is now back to being her enthusiastic self. She loves how much she is learning and growing. It makes her feel alive!
Beata says that The Tutor Toolkit was instrumental in starting her on the journey of growing groups. When she started her business, she knew that she wanted to tutor groups of students but she didn’t know where to start. Now she runs them with great success!
Her advice to others?
“Work on your mindset – especially your ‘money mindset’. Surround yourself with people who are on the same journey as you, or who are where you want to be. Leave the ‘classroom mindset’ behind!”.
Inspirational Woman #10: Daisy Hotopf
Business Name: ‘Wellbeing Tutor’ – Holistic Tutoring & Coaching
Daisy combines her coaching certification with English tutoring, offering a unique service to students struggling with both the emotional & academic side of school.
Social media was a real source of frustration for Daisy. When we first met, she had no social media accounts & then procrastinated on posting on them, due to a lack of confidence. She says that this was the biggest mindset shift she had to overcome. She also found making some decisions really tricky & would often find the process of starting her business overwhelming.
After provided her with guidance on how to run her social media pages, we also worked on boosting her confidence. She now posts regularly, without the same level of anxiety and is starting to really enjoy having a social media voice!
Her advice to others?
“Start! I put it off for many years and I wish I had started sooner. It’s a rollercoaster ride but it pays off in the long term. I also highly recommend networking with other tutors – I was tutoring solo without a network for a very long time, and connecting with other tutors was a game changer for me. I also recommend always remembering a love for tutoring and the lasting impact you have on students. This thought is always my motivator during challenging times”.
So, there we have it – 10 inspirational stories, from 10 inspirational women! These true accounts show you that while starting a tutoring business is not without its struggles, the numerous rewards far outweigh the negatives.
I certainly wouldn’t change a thing & I have personally never regretted leaving the classroom in 2022. I now earn more money from my Simply Science Tuition business than I ever did in the classroom. I have more free time to myself and I get to look after my own young children in the way I had always wanted to, but couldn’t – due to the intense nature of teaching.
If you need some help or advice on how to get started, please feel free to get in touch!
Rysia Connolly
