This is a story I’ve told many times over the years.

I had never really intended tutoring, but I made a friend on a course and after a couple of weeks of chatting and getting to know each other, she suggested I had a go.

I must confess, I really didn’t like the idea, but I am at heart a people pleaser, so I relented and said I’d give it a go.

I had no idea what was expected so I basically put my experience from the different settings I’d worked in, my knowledge from my degree, my expectations as a parent myself into a pot, brain-stormed with a friend and out came what I thought tutoring was all about.

From that stage I just muddled through and made it up as I went along.

The day I got to my first lesson I had been given directions. Continue to the end of the road into the village, turn left at the T-junction. We are the cottage at the end. When I pulled up it didn’t look like a cottage, it looked more like a manor house, but different people have different interpretations of things, so I went with it.

As I got out of the car a lady came storming out of the house. I introduced myself and she informed me in no uncertain terms that they did not live there.

Trying desperately not to cry I got back in the car and drove off.

As I left their drive I saw a small cottage behind some trees.

At this point I had 2 options. Keep driving and give up on this stupid idea. Or wipe my eyes, go and knock. So, that’s what I did. I grabbed my bags out the boot. Plastered a smile on my face and knocked.

Knocking on the door that Friday afternoon has completely changed my life.

A couple of years back I wrote a book: “become a tutor” it’s basically the answers to the questions that I had at the time and there were many…

A few months after I started tutoring, I started to realise how isolating it can be. You have questions, there is no one to ask. You have celebrations, there is no one share them with. You have thoughts, you keep them to yourself.

Sometimes it felt like you were trying to push water up a hill.

I contacted several other tutors in the local area and asked if they would be interested in meeting up every couple of weeks to share ideas, celebrations, problems, etc. The hope was to remove some of the isolation.

Sadly, I was met with a unanimous no. The concept of helping your “competition” just seemed like an inconceivable idea to everyone else.

So, with my tail between my legs I quietly went back to the intense feeling of awkwardness I shuffled back to working alone.

However, that idea has never really gone away and recently I decided that I would once again try to bring it to fruition with an online membership where we can grow a community to support each other and each month, I will offer a new resource to help you to start (or grow) your own tutoring business.

That’s the goal. Let’s see what comes of it.

I believe tutoring is a privilege and something we should do with pride. I was putting my heart and soul into it, and I thought that would be how everyone else would feel as well. So, after I first started and there was more work than I could cope with I started recommending others. I didn’t know anything about them apart from their subject and that they had a clean DBS check. Beyond that I was naïve enough to put my faith in people. (That sounds really superior and I genuinely don’t mean it to).

Whilst my lad was doing his A’ levels he missed a lesson for some reason just before a test. I arranged for one of the chaps I had been recommending, to come and spend some time with him going over that subject. He charged £50/hr plus transport. At the time I charged 20, including transport. He turned up with a pen and asked J what he wanted to talk about. J told him. He asked J what he knew about it and Jamie responded very little because he’d missed the lesson. The tutor said he must know something and tried to coax it out of him. Which was impossible as he’d missed that lesson and there was nothing to coax out.

After the hour he left. J was still non the wiser and I was £50+ worse off. As a parent I was not impressed. But as someone trying to build a reputation, I was even less impressed. I had been recommending this person and as they say you are only as strong as your weakest link!

Yesterday I worked with someone to get my tutor training accredited. Although I am not a qualified teacher or have a business background, I have built a successful tutoring business and helped literally hundreds of children over the years.

The goal is that it will help those who are first starting out have some credibility so that the parent knows that you have qualified to offer support of a certain level of credibility.

I do realise how ironic it may seem though that when I started, I had no idea at all, I just put all of my ideas into a metaphorical pot, mixed them up and muddled through with what came out. But I have learned so much over the years and I hope what I have learned will now be of benefit to others.

And I guess that also leads on to the franchise. I am so proud of what we have built over the past 14+ years and want to support many more children. My goal is that through each of these rungs on the ladder we are getting a step closer to helping tutors at a wide range of levels of experience to expand the ethos that the child should be at the centre of every lesson; their personal strengths, interests and needs.

Fourteen and a half years ago, I didn't even want to become a tutor.

Now I've written a book to help people get started, I'm developing training to help tutors better understand the children they support, and I'm building a franchise to help others create their own tutoring businesses.

And later today, I'm finally opening the doors to something I wanted to create almost from the beginning: a community where tutors can support one another.

I have no idea where this particular chapter will lead, but then again, I had no idea what would happen when I knocked on that cottage door all those years ago.

And look where that took me.

Clara James Tutoring Services