Beth Lewis - How to Start a Home-Based Tutoring Business

Beth A. Lewis has worked in the education field for ten years, as both a classroom teacher and as a home-based tutor. She has taught third grade in an award-winning Title I elementary school as well as high school English, journalism, and SAT preparation at a private institution. Beth now tutors students in a wide range of subjects and grade levels, including second graders who need help with reading all the way up to high school seniors preparing for the SAT. Through her work as the About.com Guide to Elementary Education for the past ten years and counting, Beth supports educators around the world by offering effective classroom-ready solutions through her blog and collection of practical articles. Beth lives in San Diego, California with her husband Daniel.

This book was inspired by my tutoring students and their parents who make my work so fulfilling and fun.

Special thanks to Alexander Kasendorf for his generosity of time and expertise when I needed it most.

Infinite love and gratitude to my husband Daniel, for being my best friend and #1 fan since we were seventeen years old. All I am is because of you and your belief in my every dream.

Business

Biafore, Bonnie. QuickBooks 2009: The Missing Manual. Sebastopol, CA: OReilly Media, 2009.

Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: Free Press, 2004.

Flannery, David A. Bookkeeping Made Simple. New York: Broadway Books, 2005.

Kanarek, Lisa. Home Office Solutions: Creating a Space that Works for You. Bloomington, IN: Quarry, 2004.

Walkenbach, John. Excel 2007 Bible. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley, 2007.

Warner, Janine C. Web Sites for Dummies: Do-It-Yourself. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2008.

Weems, Mandi. Getting Clients and Keeping Clients for Your Service Business: A 30-Day Step-by-Step Plan for Building Your Business. Ocala, FL: Atlantic Publishing Company, 2008.

Teaching

Canfield, Jack, and Mark Victor Hansen. Chicken Soup for the Teachers Soul: Stories to Open the Hearts and Rekindle the Spirit of Educators. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, 2002.

Fried, Robert L. The Passionate Teacher: A Practical Guide. Boston: Beacon Press, 2001.

Goudvis, Anne, and Stephanie Harvey. Strategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement. Portland, ME: Stenhouse, 2007.

Miller, Debbie. Teaching with Intention: Defining Beliefs, Aligning Practice, Taking Action, K5 . Portland, ME: Stenhouse, 2008.

Silver, Harvey F., Richard W. Strong, and Matthew J. Perini. So Each May Learn: Integrating Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2000.

Tutoring Organizations

The Association for the Tutoring Profession: www.myatp.org
National Tutoring Association: www.ntatutor.com
Tutoring associations specific to your state or region

Professional Journals

Education Week : www.edweek.org
eSchoolNews: www.eschoolnews.com
International Reading Association Journals (all ages): www.reading.org/General/Publications.aspx
The Mailbox An Idea Magazine for Teachers: www.theeducationcenter.com
The Teacher : www.teachermagazine.org

Tax Information

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center: www.irs.gov/businesses/small
U.S. Small Business Administration Tax Guide: www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/manage/paytaxes

Small Business Resources

Entrepreneur.com: www.entrepreneur.com/bizstartups
Internal Revenue Service: www.irs.gov
Legal Zoom: www.legalzoom.com
Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE): www.score.org
Small Business Association (SBA): www.sba.gov

Teaching Tools
(Can also be recommended for students to use independently at home)

Elementary

Free Reading Motivation Program: www.bookadventure.com
Language Arts and Social Studies: www.timeforkids.com
Multiple-Subject Games: www.funbrain.com

Middle and High School

Homework High: www.channel4learning.net/apps/homeworkhigh
Math Tutorials and Games: www.mathgoodies.com
Quizzes, Puzzles, and More: www.highschoolace.com

SAT Preparation

Free Online Prep: www.number2.com
Official SAT Question of the Day: www.collegeboard.com/apps/qotd/question
Vocabulary Development: www.freerice.com

Miscellaneous

Graphic Organizers: www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer
Multiple Subjects: www.discoveryeducation.com
Reading: www.beyondbooks.com
Writing: www.webenglishteacher.com

Web-Site Building Tools

Google AdWord Keyword Tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordTool
ExternalWeebly (free Web design and hosting): www.weebly.com
WordTracker Keywords: http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com

Word-Processing and Spreadsheet

GoogleApps: www.google.com/apps
Microsoft Office (Word and Excel): http://office.microsoft.com
OpenOffice: www.openoffice.org

Accounting-Specific (all available in free versions at http://download.com )

BillQuick Lite
Intuit QuickBooks
Microsoft Office Accounting Express

I feel overwhelmed by everything I have to do to start my own tutoring business. What should be my first step?

Besides assessing your personal and professional strengths, its best to start by performing in-depth market research to make sure that you will be able to find enough clients to support your business goals. You can write the best business plan and set up the most polished Web site, but it wont do any good if there isnt a viable market for your skills and services. Knowledge of your surrounding market will help you streamline your efforts as you set up the business and help you tailor your services to what the community really needs. After the market research is complete, you can move on to more concrete steps, such as setting up your home office and filing for your business name and/or license.

What is your favorite part about being a home-based tutor?

On a surface level, I appreciate the flexibility that comes along with working from home and setting my own schedule. But what I really enjoy is forming one-on-one relationships with my students. I love getting to know my students unique personalities, how their brains work, and how I can best apply my skills to meet their educational needs.

What is the most challenging part of starting a home-based tutoring business?

Depending on each business owners individual strengths and weaknesses, the challenges can vary. For many former classroom teachers, it might initially feel foreign to start thinking like a business owner. Tasks like filing for a business name and forecasting a multifaceted annual budget could feel especially challenging at first. But with proper planning, hard work, and a little practice, these business-related tasks will quickly become as easy to perform as presenting an effective lesson plan to a student. None of the tasks associated with starting a home-based tutoring business is particularly overwhelming on its own. Dont focus on what appears challenging; instead, arm yourself with information and dive in with enthusiasm.