This is not an article about how to make easy cash. It's a guide for people that want to teach about how to reach people that want to be taught. Yes, tutoring can be lucrative—but only if you devote yourself to getting the best outcome for your students. You must try your best to understand their context, their career path and their learning objectives.

The student places a lot of trust in the tutor and you must let them know if you are not able to help them. If you are uncertain whether or not you can help someone, you should agree to help, try your best and then refund them if your best wasn't good enough. Always ask for feedback on your lessons. The demand for tutoring exists because universities are failing to meet the educational needs of students. You must be a part of the solution.

image courtesy of Midjourney AI

How I became a tutor

When I first advertised private tutoring in 2020, I had no idea how great the demand would be. Even though I didn't have a university degree, I had three students within a week of becoming a tutor. As of 2022, I've completed over 500 private lessons.

I had to start working with other tutors and occasionally disabling my listings just to manage the in-flow of lesson requests. My rate increased from $50 to $60, then again to $70. Even once I started billing $85 for the hour, I still had more students than I could reasonably manage.

Put yourself everywhere

Less than 5% of lesson requests come directly through this website. Even less through word of mouth. Almost all my lesson requests come from free listings I've made on various tutoring websites. I haven't spent a dollar on advertising.

Different tutoring websites are going to give you better results, depending on where you live and what you want to teach. For me, SuperProf and StudentVIP are the two best platforms I've found for finding students that need help with software engineering in Australia.

But it doesn't really matter if I tell you where I personally made my listings, because you should make ads everywhere.

They're free, so why not? You have no idea where the results are going to come from, so just go as wide as possible and see what sticks. Scour the internet for every tutoring directory you can find and make a profile on every single one.

Once you've made a profile on every tutoring website under the sun, tell everyone you know that you're a tutor now. Make posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Discord - any social media platform where you have a network. Even if you don't know anyone directly that needs tutoring, there's a good chance that someone they know needs help.

the shameless self-like

Now that you've put yourself out there and you are waiting for people to find you, you can start actively looking for advertisements posted by students. You can find these on websites like Gumtree and Airtasker. I did this a lot when I started, my first few students were people that I reached out to directly on Gumtree.

Make your profile as attractive as possible

So far, I've made it sound easy. If you build it they will come. Well, maybe. In any case you should make your tutoring profile as inviting and professional as possible. There are so many profiles with captions that read like "I am currently completing a Bachelor of XYZ, Majoring in This and That at University of…" -- and you're out of characters.

Keep in mind that most tutoring websites will only display the first 70-100 characters of your listing when you appear in their search results. So make that first sentence count.

superprof results for "Python Tutor"

You should also use a warm, inviting, well-lit and in-focus headshot for your listing. There are so many profiles with dimly lit selfies, blurry cropped images or just otherwise unprofessional photos.

If you don't have any good photos of yourself, you should hire a professional photographer to spend an afternoon with you taking some nice photos. Just like a dating app, first impressions are everything. A quality headshot pays for itself many times over.

Follow up with your students

Once you've tutored a few students, don't forget to follow up with a text or email asking them how they did with their exam or assignment. I can't tell you how many times I've checked in with a student just out of curiosity, and at the end of the conversation, they end up asking to book in another session.

You should also ask them to leave you a review on whatever tutoring website they found you on. Especially if they found you on Superprof, their algorithm loves reviews.

And that's pretty much it. Make a great profile with an engaging caption and post it everywhere. Keep in touch with your students and provide as much value to them as possible.

"Is there any demand for this outside of tech?"

Personally, I tutor software engineering. Your mileage may vary if you tutor a different subject. There's only one way to find out. My partner tutors accounting, and she had lessons booked within days of making her profile. My house-mate teaches private guitar lessons. If you have a skill you can probably find someone who would like to learn it from you.

There is so much demand for good education because the quality of institutional learning has been getting worse and worse. The faculties are neglecting students and so many people need help catching up.

Tutoring is a great way to solidify your knowledge, make extra income, connect with people and do meaningful, rewarding work. There are so many reasons I love tutoring. If you'd like to read more about WHY you should become a tutor, stay tuned for my next article about the pros and cons of private tuition.

Cheers,
Nik