Comments on: “I make $90,000/year on the side tutoring people for standardized tests”

By: Victor Gonzalez

Victor Gonzalez — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 00:09:19 +0000

How are you able to advertise being so proficient in teaching for multiple different exams? And how are you able to portray your advantages over a large company? Each of those exams have different sections of testing and companies like KAPLAN and Princeton Review courses offer a different tutor for each section of the respective exam to give the impression that those tutors only have to focus their skills for their assigned test section. If you are the only person covering all the sections for all those varying exams, how are you able to convince potential students that you are a better option vs. a well established brand name company? I’m not trying to sound pessimistic… I am genuinely curious because that seems like quite a challenge to overcome. I thought at one point that something like this might be a good fit for me, but I am only well versed in areas of basic sciences. My english skills aren’t poor or anything but I’m certainly not confident enough to assure anyone that I could improve their scores in those areas outside of biology, chemistry, and physics…

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 21:23:59 +0000

In reply to Trevor Klee. Hi Trevor, since Wyzant is not great, which do you think would be better platforms? Or should one just strike out on their own from the get-go?

By: Trevor Klee

Trevor Klee — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 20:07:42 +0000

In reply to Mr RIP. Yeah, there are busier times and slower times. I was just trying to speak in averages about my work hours.

By: Trevor Klee

Trevor Klee — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 20:06:01 +0000

In reply to Michael Crosby. Thanks Michael. And I suspect you might be right. That might be my next project.

By: Mr RIP

Mr RIP — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 12:19:17 +0000

Extremely useful post, thanks for sharing it!

A question, 100k means 600-1000 hours of work per year (at the rate 100-160$ per hour), which seems slightly less than 3-4 hours per day 7-ish days per week.

By: Mr. Pop

Mr. Pop — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 11:57:22 +0000

Great hustle…scalability is always an issue for these types of businesses, but if you’re making 6 figures I’d say it’s scaled enough!

By: Mrs. Picky Pincher

Mrs. Picky Pincher — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 20:16:59 +0000

Dangggg. I would almost classify this as a full-time gig with that kind of money! I’ve seen this before; tutoring is incredibly lucrative as a side hustle. And the more specialized, the higher the fee.

By: Michael Crosby

Michael Crosby — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 16:08:36 +0000

Trevor, I really enjoyed your post. Thank you so much.

I had my own appliance-AC business for 30 years so I know what you mean about the loneliness, though I’m an introvert too.

Seems to me, your next step would be how to get good long-term employees.

For me, I never minded the insecurity of running my own business. I actually liked that I was responsible for the money I made. Look at all your negatives as a plus, because they are.

Good luck, you’re an inspiration.

By: Trevor Klee

Trevor Klee — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 14:24:23 +0000

In reply to Joe. Thanks Joe. I have a bit of a small business right now, I think, but scaling it up will definitely require some learning. Fortunately, I've got a fair bit of practice with learning.

By: Trevor Klee

Trevor Klee — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 14:22:33 +0000

In reply to Josie.

Yup, definitely thought about it! Agree on both counts: increasing my earning and also social interaction (sounds a little sad when I put it that way lol).

I’d need to find the right people, and then make sure they didn’t leave after I trained them. Both of those can be a bit tough, but I think would be worth it in the end.

Maybe that’ll be next year’s project :)