# Developing a small business doing private tuition / grinds



## berlininvest (5 Dec 2008)

Because of a lack of opportunities in my work field where I am in the west of Ireland, I am thinking of starting to do grinds as a source of revenue.

I would like to describe some ideas about how I would do this, and would love to get some feedback, especially from anyone who has done grinds or is a teacher or both, and any tips on how to do it better.

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[As background, this is something I did before in Northern Ireland, about 15 years ago.  I have never been a teacher in a school.]

I would be teaching maths / science in my own home in a dedicated office space.

I would be targeting second level students.

The plan would be to build up slowly, give a quality service, and eventually get enough business to justify not being in full time employment, bearing in mind that I would be parenting during the daytime, and as such saving money on daycare.

I would be doing this on a legitimate basis and paying tax through my limited company.

In addition I was thinking of offering my services to teach people how to use their home computers.  

I believe there are lots of people who have computers who do not know how to really get what they want out of them, e.g. practical stuff like managing your digital photos, e-mail, booking the cheapest flights etc.  
Also wordprocessing and spreadsheets if anyone wanted.  

I know this is literally child's play in most homes, but there are other people for whom this is a closed book, and who might be willing to pay someone to get them going.

I would offer this in my home office or at their home, likewise for any other tuition.

I have a degree but not a HDip.

I would need to buy the relevant text books, past papers, and also possibly the teachers book as well, if that is possible?

My plan would be to have an initial consultation with the student and parents, identify weaknesses, set goals in terms of learning, and keep a file of progress to date.

I would like to focus on teaching the actual subject in the areas of weakness, to bring the student up to scratch in that area.

Realistically I would have to give quite a bit of focus to exam papers, although I would not be trying to second guess which questions will come up - I would plan to leave that to the teachers.

I would plan to offer 50 minute sessions, so that I can start on the hour and allow for a bit of overspill / handover without impacting the next student.

I would advertise in local shop windows and maybe in a local freesheet, but would be hoping that word-of-mouth would be the best advert after a while.

I have been told that people are charging between 20 and 35 euro per hour for grinds, this is in a small town in the west.  I was thinking in terms of 25 to 30 euro per hour.

I am not looking to build this up into becoming a crammers business with employees etc - just a one-man-band that can eventually provide roughly the equivalent of a 40 hour week at the minimum wage, based on me working a few hours in the evenings and maybe saturdays.

I would hugely appreciate any help that anyone can give.

Many thanks.


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## Complainer (5 Dec 2008)

It may be difficult to compete with those who provide this service for cash and don't pay tax. Maybe you'll need to report a batch of your local teachers to the taxman first, to level out the playing field?


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## MaryBe (5 Dec 2008)

Complainer said:


> It may be difficult to compete with those who provide this service for cash and don't pay tax. Maybe you'll need to report a batch of your local teachers to the taxman first, to level out the playing field?


 

It really doesn't matter on the tax issue (unless as you say 'report them' which gets them out of the net).  I employed a teacher for private tuition for my son this year at 35.00 per hour and was not very happy with the outcome.  At the time I didn't know anyone who could give me a recommendation.  Berlininvest, I do believe, if you are a good teacher/educator you will get the business.  You seem very focused and determined.  You will have to know the curriculum and update yourself on what is expected from the student etc.  Good luck, I wish we had someone like you in the east because I feel (from recent exp) that the tuition received is from someone who just wants the extra cash _ TAX FREE


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## DavyJones (5 Dec 2008)

It is very difficult to compete with cash only competitors, actually it is impossible.

MaryBM, out of interest, how do you know for sure that the teacher was at fault and not the pupil?


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## MaryBe (5 Dec 2008)

DavyJones said:


> It is very difficult to compete with cash only competitors, actually it is impossible.
> 
> MaryBM, out of interest, how do you know for sure that the teacher was at fault and not the pupil?


 
Very good question as I know all our own children are the best!!. Call it feminine intuition.  However, bear in mind that (it's a long story) I got the teachers name from another (very young) teacher and not knowing her performance record rang and arranged tuition.  It was a last minute hasty decision.  I have since asked a number of students in the school what they thought of that particular teacher and the feedback was negative.  She was the only available teacher to give private tuition in that particular subject so I suppose I'm to blame for being too impulsive.  What I do know now is that I will not recommend her to my friends who have children coming through the exam process.  I will in future (if I have to) prepare in time and only go with recommendations and a proven track record. As they say "we live and learn"


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## berlininvest (5 Dec 2008)

Thanks for the responses.  

As regards the tax issue, I hope that potential customers will respect the fact that I would be operating within the tax system, and would see that as a positive factor.

I guess plumbers and other tradespeople also have to decide whether to be inside or outside the official economy, or somewhere in between.  That decision is for the individual I suppose.

Keep the feedback (on any aspect of the idea) coming please, I need to get this idea clarified as much as possible before I commit to it, thank you.


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## Clairio (9 Dec 2008)

Best of luck with your idea berlininvest, I think its a great idea. I think your rates are pretty spot on with what a teacher without a hdip can charge. another possibility might be to teach two children at a time where they each pay a bit less - if they're in the same class there might be similar weaknesses (if the teacher wasn't great on a particular area). 
Focus on ideas of advertising and the best ways to target your market - either students/ parents or community areas for the computer classes. 
I recently heard of a class being set up to educate parents in school subjects so that they're better able to help their kids with their homework; also parents are increasingly wanting to know more about social networking sites such as bebo, facebook so they know what they're kids are up to, and how to set up protection on their home computer for various sites. 
Best of luck with your new venture, C


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## ubiquitous (9 Dec 2008)

berlininvest said:


> As regards the tax issue, I hope that potential customers will respect the fact that I would be operating within the tax system, and would see that as a positive factor.



Hmm...

Never underestimate the willingness of consumers to abandon all notions of ethics/legality/morals etc when a "bargain" is at stake


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## DeeFox (9 Dec 2008)

I give grinds as a sideline (third level subject) and I really enjoy it but I can never rely on the income from them.  Particular times of year will be very busy and then I wouldn't hear a peep from anyone for six months.  I get calls though word of mouth but have in the past put up a sign in the College.  I charge €50 for an hour and a half - this is what I say on the phone but it will often stretch to two hours (for which I would not charge anything extra).  I have had students postpone or cancel at the last minute too so that is something to be aware of.  But I really enjoy doing one on one tuition - there is a great sense of satisfaction in helping someone and letting them go away with more confidence in their own abilities with the subject. Btw i have a degree but no hdip - although this is something I am considering doing in the future.


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## patspost (21 Dec 2008)

Best of luck with the project, you seem focused which is a good start.
You could if possible try some sub teaching work, this would help acquaint you with the syllabus, and acquaint you with the text books.

A friend tried the pc training gig a long while back and it wasn't really a runner. People would get the first lesson and after that things would get messy, people would cancel etc etc.
 May be worth advertising as welll as trhe grinds but don't expect much from it, = my tuppence FWIW.

As regards paying tax, people won't care, once your price is competitive.
The main thing is keep your expenses down to a manageable amount.

Once you are confident you know the curriculum you could start offering your service, but as previously stated it may be seasonal.
The fact you don't have a Hdip shouldn't hold you back, if you know your area and can communicate the info, belt away with it.

best of luck


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## mosstown (21 Dec 2008)

my daughter is in primary school in London in year 5 aged 9 (equivalent to 4th class in ireland) and i pay £20 for an hours tuition in maths.  this is pretty much the going rate in my area and i really wouldn't want to pay any more as feel that is more than enough.


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## berlininvest (28 Dec 2008)

Thanks for the interesting and useful replies - lots to think about!

Any more viewpoints would be most welcome.


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## dontaskme (1 Jan 2009)

Advertising in universities for maths & stats grinds might be an idea, especially just before exam time. Social science students e.g. psychology often have to do statistics, commerce students often have business math with standard return on investment formulas, compounding interest etc. The stats is usually just understanding the question and getting the numbers from the tables.   You can charge more than secondary. If you go into the college you can arrange to meet someone at the noticeboard. Tell them to bring past papers. If you're not sure whether you know enough about a subject, tell them you'll meet them and look at the papers and tell them in 5 minutes whether or not you can help them.


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## cole (2 Jan 2009)

I would offer grinds to both individuals and groups. There's a market for both. Don't undersell yourself. People have a habit of thinking that the more expensive option is the best.

Just a few thoughts....

(a) You could post a timetable showing the topics you intend to cover in the next 4 weeks leading up to the Mocks. Do the same for the Junior/Leaving cert exams in the summer.
(b) You can download past exam papers and marking schemes . Useful for going over past questions and seeing where students go wrong.
(c) Students (and parents) love good quality notes.
(d) Get a website where you can post homework, revision questions etc. How about being available for email enquiries (at an additional cost). Or you could also post video grinds.

Found this and [broken link removed] which might help.

Best of luck wih it, I hope it works out for you.


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## Sandals (2 Jan 2009)

Would you pay doctor's fee and be seen by a nurse. Having a qualified, experienced, up to date trained teacher is vital, considering one is talking about a child's education.  Parents are paying for a service that they feel will make a difference in their child's life. I wouldn't advise any parent to pay for a grind from a person who doesn't have either Higher Diploma or B. of Ed, even if it was only €5 an hour.  

I am a qualified teacher with five years experience.  I attend ATHE meeting monthly UNPAID in the evenings to receive extra material/plans etc. I spend hours reseaching etc to give my pupils the best to achieve their A1 (or as close as their potential will allow), what with curriculum changing yearly etc.  

Why would one spend four years in college to train as a professional if i could just learn myself.  I am shocked at the amount of people who feel they can TEACH........can i just train myself to administer a drip or draw up legal papers etc.

I really do wish you well, however I feel qualifications are everything (yes everyone don't jump on the band wagon, there are poor, unmotivated qualified teachers out there but these are in every professions). Every student will relate different to different teachers. 

I "do" grinds, basically by word of mouth I have few students a week. I wouldn't rely on it as a source of income just it suits me and because the kids are local you hate to say no. Also parents see your fee as huge. I had a phone call asking what did I charge for a third year student, along came the second year old sister to "listen in". Imagine the father's shock when I asked for double the fee minus €10. Group rate, he paid it but I didnt see him back.  Also forget the time limit, you are teaching a topic etc. Plus the parents can be late etc. 

Also the amount of qualified computer teachers out there at the moment is huge, JEB, ECDL tutor etc it would be difficult. Alot of teachers have been awarded the JEB out of their own expense and hard work to plumb up their CV for promotion or in today's world fight for their job is amazing but hey, God loves a tryer.......


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## ontour (2 Jan 2009)

If you look at the financial side of the business, doing 3 hours of grinds 4 evenings a week and 8 hours on a Saturday would give you an income of approx. €500 from which you would take costs such as insurance, books, materials, cost of company returns etc. etc.  This would not be year round, at best it would probably be 5-6 months of the year.

To give good grinds you would have to be very familiar with the curriculum for the subject, the difference between honours and pass topics etc.  There would be a substantial up-front time investment.

If a student has a problem in a specific area and can articulate their confusions or misunderstandings then there are many people who do not work as secondary teachers that can help them such as PHD students.   The reality is that, IMHO, most students do grinds as they are quite lost and need to be taught a subject rather than filling in specific knowledge gaps.  This teaching requires an in-depth understanding of the subject scope and the exam.

I believe that the real opportunity for grinds is giving very exam focused tuition to groups of students with notes that summarise the content and answer and explain past questions.  Teaching in schools focuses on learning rather than optimising your performance in the exam system. Providing exam focused tuition to groups yields potentially €300 for the two hours in class.  The other advantage is that this can be done for a week at Christmas or Easter or weekends in March / April / May so there is no long term commitment.


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## dontaskme (3 Jan 2009)

Sandals said:


> Would you pay doctor's fee and be seen by a nurse. Having a qualified, experienced, up to date trained teacher is vital, considering one is talking about a child's education.  Parents are paying for a service that they feel will make a difference in their child's life. I wouldn't advise any parent to pay for a grind from a person who doesn't have either Higher Diploma or B. of Ed, even if it was only €5 an hour.



With all due respect to the HDip, it's not exactly difficult.


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## dontaskme (3 Jan 2009)

ontour said:


> The reality is that, IMHO, most students do grinds as they are quite lost and need to be taught a subject rather than filling in specific knowledge gaps.


  My experience of giving grinds was that this was true for younger students, but with the pressure on for points, Leaving Cert students were a mixture - some very good looking for A's, some weak struggling to pass, and some middling e.g. trying to get a good pass or C in honours.  





ontour said:


> Teaching in schools focuses on learning rather than optimising your performance in the exam system.



 Yep. Focusing on the exams is important. If you work off the exam papers and try to give the student the confidence that they can do the exam questions, they will feel good about it.  Also exam technique:- students should know how long (to the minute) to spend on each part of each question and specifically for maths/science, when to give up and move on to the next question.


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## Sandals (4 Jan 2009)

Having a B. Ed myself I can only comment on having experience of having freshly qualified teachers taking up sub work or mat leaves and not being aware of them getting on with their jobs.  On two occasions the school couldn't find temp teachers so took on one a degree holder and the other a computer tutor (and a parent) for a few days. Both were out of depth from the start. No better humans to complain or laugh than the students themselves.  


The non exam years are about learning and how to learn with an approach to gearing this material learnt to class tests, large exams. The final exams years are always geared towards the exams and how to get the most marks for your learning. Why does every JC or Lc have exam papers, even teachers give syllabus of the subject to them or a checklist etc.


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## eamonn123456 (18 Jan 2009)

.......


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## berlininvest (18 Jan 2009)

Some really excellent points made in the above posts.  Thanks in particular to Cole.

I am still determined to go ahead and my first advert will appear on Tuesday.

Any other advice will be gladly received.

In particular I was wondering if anyone had any views on how to plan each lesson in terms of topic to be covered?

I guess the aim would be to cover all topics during the course of the year, so in one way it would make sense to do revision of topics covered to date.

However I can also see the merit in covering any current problems the student is having with this weeks school classroom material.

Could be difficult to try to cover both within an hour i.e. potentially 2 different topics.

Any good suggestions please?


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## DeeFox (19 Jan 2009)

berlininvest said:


> In particular I was wondering if anyone had any views on how to plan each lesson in terms of topic to be covered?
> 
> quote]
> 
> I always have a chat with the student before meeting and ask them what they would like to cover.  At the end of the session I ask them what they would like to cover the next time.  There is an argument for "starting at the start" but the student might be in the middle of another area and may be very hazy about something that was covered last September.  Or they nmay have a good handle on it in which case it is a needless expense for the student/parent.


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## berlininvest (23 Jan 2009)

Makes sense.

Just wondering how you make sure that the course gets covered?  or do you leave that to the student ( I am thinking not).


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