Tutoring online and making money sounds great, right? Online tutoring is generally considered a boring job until online tutoring became mainstream. To be able to tutor at the school or university level was a lengthy procedure as the teachers had to go through many rounds of tests and interviews.
However, online tutoring is relatively easy as it doesn’t involve a lot of procedures, and it’s relatively easy for online educators to establish a career in tutoring and start making money.
Becoming an online tutor is a great way to make extra revenue, either as a side gig or a full-time career. Not just educators, college students, retired teachers, or anyone with a passion for teaching can try out online tutoring.
But starting an online tutoring business is not easy feature, but you can find success if you follow a business plan and avoid rushing into it.
To begin, here is a guide on becoming an online tutor.
Guide to becoming an online tutor
Once you decide to become an online tutor, you need to have a plan and stick to it. Let’s get started.
Decide how you want to interact with your learners
When tutoring online, it is important how you will connect with your learners. For example, you must decide whether you need to teach your learners through a video class or online courses, or a combination of both. Using a tool that can help you connect with your learners in real time can help you engage with them effectively.
Before deciding on the methods of tutoring, ask the following questions yourself:
- Do you want to see your students’ live? Or can you manage with a voice call?
- Are you planning to use the tutoring tool throughout the lessons or just occasionally?
- Are your learners more comfortable over a voice call or messaging system?
- Are the tools you choose are safe and secure?
If you are looking for free video conferencing tools, Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype, etc., can be helpful.
Choose technology that works for you
Once you have decided on what subject you want to teach, you will have to choose an online platform that helps you easily communicate with learners. When it comes to online platforms there are many online platforms to choose from, but the best approach is to build your own online tutoring platform.
One of the most important tools an online tutor must have is an interactive whiteboard to sketch out your ideas and learning concepts during brainstorming sessions and allow your learners to work on the same board.
Also, you must make sure you and your learners have a laptop, a reliable internet connection, a webcam, and a microphone. Make sure you invest in an online tutoring software like Pinlearn to build your online tutoring website or marketplace. Pinlearn is a ready-made script equipped with features to host live classes and online courses and provide the best learning experience.
During the lesson
When taking classes, make sure you have an alternate plan in case technology isn’t reliable or things don’t turn out to be the way you expected them to be. Working from home also implies there would be more distractions.
Here are some of the things you can be prepared for during your online lessons:
- What to do if the camera of your learners stops working?
- What will you do to solve this issue if a learner can’t access online resources?
How to keep learners engaged throughout your lessons?
Make it a practice to communicate your ideas with your learners. If you are teaching over videos, it’s obvious to expect issues of clarity from time to time, so feel free to repeat important parts of the lesson. Also, ensuring your learners have enough time to think and solve problems will have a rewarding experience.
Be patient and responsive to learners
Online tutoring is a new normal for education, and it is important to be extra communicative with parents and learners about booking online classes and calling classes. Brush up on your communication and technical skills, and never forget to be patient with your learners.
You will have learners of different backgrounds and skill levels in your classes, and being willing to interact with them will give you a head start on your online tutoring journey.
Making money with online tutoring
Online tutoring doesn’t just come with the satisfaction of teaching students the subjects you are passionate about and knowledgeable about; it also makes a good revenue source.
Here are some of the different ways by which online tutors can make money.
Host live classes
Conduct one-to-one live classes and group classes with your learners to take lessons on your subject area. Taking live classes can help you interact with your learners directly and give them a real classroom-like experience.
You can conduct live classes via Zoom, or if you are using an online tutoring platform, you can integrate Zoom as an online whiteboard to interact with your learners.
Sell online courses
Creating and selling online courses is another important way by which you can make money. The course selling market is huge, and learners are looking for quality courses to upgrade their skills to excel in their academic and professional spaces.
Sell lesson packages
Instead of conducting single live classes, you can consider creating short and large lesson packages to sell more to your potential learners. Build special lesson packages and sell them by offering discounts.
Subscriptions
If you run an online tutoring platform, you can consider selling subscriptions to your learners where you allow students to access your classes, eLearning packages, online courses, etc., for a recurring subscription fee.
Conclusion
As you can see in this guide, tutoring online is a strategic approach you to follow through proper planning. To succeed in the industry as the best online tutor, make sure you offer the best quality services to your learners to provide the worth of the money they pay out. Provide something extra than your competitors, and you will see things working in your favor.
