I love tutoring, it has completely changed my life. Not just financially, but also the confidence I have in myself and my abilities. I’m still not an outwardly confident person but I am no longer the timid, quiet person I was before. Through tutoring I have met some incredible people: children, their parents, other tutors, other professionals.

Would I change the decision to become a tutor? No.

However, are have been aspects of tutoring I would have loved to change? Yes.

When I started to write this, I thought I would struggle to think of anything, but actually… once I got started, it got a whole lot easier!

These were the 3 I decided would make the final cut.

Number 1: Phone calls and messages after 9 o’clock at night- even on a Sunday (when there is no apology, just an assumption you are wanting to engage) from the family of a potential student.

I think the thing with tutoring is for those we tutor it is a personal thing. For us as tutors, it is a job.

As a parent, we tuck our children into bed and they remind us that we promised to find them a tutor, we respond that we will go and sort it out now. We kiss our children on the forehead tell them we love them and to sleep well. We turn the light out and go and settle down for the night. Phone in hand, we message that tutor that we have been meaning to contact for days.

As a tutor, we sit down on an evening proud of the fact we have made it to the end of your evening lessons and collapse in front of the tv. Ping. “Hi, I’m looking for a tutor for my son/daughter”.

We now have two possible scenarios here. You respond and you end up engaged in a conversation. Or you ignore it until the morning and add it to tomorrow’s already mounting list of jobs.

You deliberate whether to respond now so you don’t forget and acknowledge society’s instant response expectations. Or enjoy an evening and save it until tomorrow but know that they may well have gone elsewhere by then and will possibly have noted the poor response time.

You answer and spend the next 45 minutes engaged in a conversation: trying to be helpful but at the same time resenting that they are yet to acknowledge that they are taking up what is left of your evening.

I know the solution is to set firm boundaries with myself and stick to them. Decide that I will only respond to messages after a certain time with a generic message of “Hi, thanks for getting in touch about tutoring. I’ll get back to you first thing in the morning when I get back to my laptop. Have a good evening/ weekend and speak soon”.

Number 2: I think this is a “life rant” as much as it is a tutoring rant.

The way our business is structured is that we offer online lessons or lessons in your home. Driving between families is where my next rant takes place. Cyclists suddenly appearing out of the shadows in the half-dark, and people crossing the road in the dark dressed in black when the lights are on green for the driver, but they still amble over. But I feel if you drive, this is an aspect of life whatever job you do.

Number 3: People paying if and when they feel like it!

A family gets in touch and after the conversation about the support you provide, the costs and the payment terms, they decide to go ahead. The first invoice is posted out. Crickets. You send a reminder. Still no response. You send a second reminder. You get a reply: “haha, I completely forgot to pay that. All paid now” or “I will pay you when I get paid”.

Maybe I am naive, but I am fairly sure that when most companies send out an invoice, they expect it to be paid within the agreed terms not just as and when you feel like it or get around to remembering.

Some families are amazing and I often play a game with myself where I compete to guess who will pay first. Those are the families I love; they make life so much easier.

The ones who see paying as an optional extra make life a lot more stressful than it needs to be.

I need them know this is a business and there are expectations, so consequently I am going to be adding an admin fee for late payers which can be charged at my discretion. Some parents get in touch and let you know that they will be late, but this is when they will pay. Others just leave you guessing/praying that one day they will get around to it.

Are these “peeves” enough to make you want to quit. No. But it is a reminder that although owning a tutoring business is incredible in so many respects, like everything else, nothing is perfect. Before you jump into starting a tutoring business, have a think about what the good, the bad and the ugly might involve. Are there any policies that you need to put into place before you begin, any additions you want to make to the initial contract to ensure that you are paid on time?

Good luck, I wish you all the best. We are starting to rebuild the franchise, so if you are looking for support as you build your business and to bypass many of the mistakes that I have made, get in touch and I will send you more details as it gets closer to going public (there will be a substantial discount for those who are first to join)