14 years ago, I went to the home of the first person I ever worked with.

It was probably one of the most terrifying events I have encountered through work.

I’ve told the story many times about the first lesson I ever went to. I was told go to the crossroads, turn left, keep going and the cottage was right at the end of the lane.

Simple.

I followed the directions and pulled up outside this large house. A lady came marching out and asked what I wanted.

I explained that I was there to see her daughter. I was the tutor, Dawn.

She told me I had the wrong house and I apologized profusely, as she clearly wasn’t impressed that I was there.

I was already a bag of nerves. Now I just wanted to cry. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to tutor anyway. What if I wasn’t good enough? What if they shouted at me for not delivering what they wanted? What if…?

As I pulled out of their drive, I noticed a small cottage tucked away behind some trees. That must be it.

Should I knock or just drive home and forget the whole stupid idea.

I got out of the car. Grabbed my bags from the boot, put a smile on my face and knocked.

I often wonder where I would be if I’d just driven home.

Instead, for 14 years I have been working at being the best tutor I can be. I know I’ve improved in some ways but there are other things that I used to do that I know longer do (personalising every single playing card for every single student, spending 4+ hours preparing a lesson into the early hours of the morning because I thought that if I created a board game on the computer it would be taking short cuts and I wanted to provide the best support that I could and if I was taking short cuts, surely there were things I should be doing better…?

(I have strange conversations with myself at times).

14 years trying to perfect the craft, now the goal is to take it all out of my brain and create hard copies of the systems so that they can be shared. For the 14th year of the business, I am hoping to celebrate with the rebirthing of the franchise.

We changed the name from Starr Tutoring to Clara James in 2019 to start the franchise process,

but I didn't have the confidence then to push through. A lot has changed since then and this seems right.

When I look back over the past 14-years and consider how the business has grown it’s incredible. I am so proud, but more importantly, I must give so much credit to the amazing tutors I have working with me. Hand on heart, I can honestly say I have loved just about every second of it.

Thank you to everyone who has been there on the journey with me.

If you are interested in joining us as a Clara James Tutoring Franchisee please do get in touch: info@clarajamestutoring.co.uk