How to Become a Tutor

Lily Sweeney, writer

Published at 01/09/2021, Updated on 23/10/2024 , Reading time: 6 min

How to Become a Tutor — Photo © How-to-Become-a-Tutor.jpg

Unlike most industries, online tutoring enjoyed a real boom during COVID-19. Parents across the UK saw the benefits of a good tutor, and even as schools return to business as usual, many of these parents will keep their kids’ tutors on. If you’d like to try running your own business in the world of franchising, becoming a tutor is a great, profitable option.

Do you enjoy working with children? Do you enjoy teaching and flexing your creative muscles to explain things in new ways? If so, you might be the perfect tutor. But what does an online tutor do and how can you become one? Find out below.

What does a tutor do?

Tutors have a range of duties aimed at furthering the knowledge and learning skills of their students in order to help them progress with their education or pass a specific exam. Tutors can be employed to teach a wide range of subjects and specific duties and responsibilities vary depending on the subject being taught. - Indeed

Before we dive into how to become a tutor, it’s important to understand what a tutor actually does. A tutor is like a teacher in many ways, but rather than directing a lesson at an entire class, they usually work one-to-one or in a small group with their pupils. Tutors can teach any subject, from classic subjects covered by the curriculum like History to more niche specialisms like Piano.

Tutors used to work primarily in the homes of their pupils, travelling within an operational area to provide their services. Since the pandemic, however, video teaching software now means many tutoring sessions are conducted online. This makes lessons more accessible, and 77% of students surveyed expressed a desire for online tutoring to continue post-COVID [Bramble]. A day in the life of a tutor might include the following:

Teaching
Providing feedback and assessing pupil progress
Lesson planning and reviewing tutoring materials pre-session
Providing tech instructions
Administration and scheduling

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How to run a tutoring business

If, now that you understand the role and its responsibilities, you’re more ready than ever to make a career change with a tutoring franchise, here’s how to become an online tutor and set yourself up for franchise success in three simple steps...

1. Assess your skills and identify your specialism

While every job comes with its own set of skills that would make you best suited for the position, this is even more imperative in teaching and tutoring. If, for example, you have little to no computer proficiency, you likely won’t find your place in a specialist franchise like ComputerXplorers.

Stage one of making a successful investment in a tutoring franchise is doing your research, and figuring out your own skills: Where will your abilities shine? What would you like to be teaching each working day? Regardless of the subject you choose, however, there are certain transferable skills that will set you up for success as a tutor. Skills like:

Communication
Patience
Empathy
Active listening
Leadership
Planning and time management

2. Evaluate franchise opportunities and narrow it down

When you know you’re well-equipped to become a tutor, and you’ve determined what specialisms might suit you, it’s time to start evaluating the franchise opportunities that appeal to you. The most important grounds on which to evaluate opportunities will be things like cost of investment and available operational territories. Or, in other words: Can you work in an area you want to work in, and can you afford to get your business off the ground?

When considering costs, don’t just think about the initial investment. Look into ongoing costs and fees, too. Don’t overinvest. The average cost of starting a franchise in 2018 was £42,200 [British Franchise Association], but as you can imagine, this figure can change a lot depending on industry, brand name and a million other facts. Here are a couple of price examples from the tutoring sector:

Clara James Tutoring - To become a Clara James Tutoring franchisee, you’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £9,995.
Tutortoo - To become a Tutortoo franchisee, you’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £4,000, with franchise fees of £4,000 and a total investment cost of £24,950.

3. Do your due diligence

Having found the opportunity you’d like to invest in, it’ll be time to do your due diligence prior to entering into a legal agreement. Due diligence is extremely important at this juncture, as it ensures you’re actually getting what you pay for. Make sure you cover:

The financial situation of the franchise
The history of (and future plans for) the franchise
The track record of the franchisor
The franchise’s reputation with customers AND franchisees
The ways in which your franchisor will support and train you
The responsibilities you’ll have and the guidelines you’ll need to follow
The specifics of the franchise agreement (which you should have reviewed by a legal professional)

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Franchise opportunities in the tutoring industry

Here are a few examples of highly profitable opportunities in the tutoring sector…

1. Choice Home Tutoring

Choice Home Tutoring is a provider of one-to-one tuition to kids across the UK. The franchise is trusted by thousands of students to deliver first-class, personalised teaching sessions.

Becoming a Choice Home Tutoring franchisee: You don’t need a teaching background, but you will need to be intelligent, driven and self-disciplined, with a true passion for your work and a strong desire to make your business successful.
How much you need to invest: You’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £17,500, with a total investment cost of £23,500 (plus operating, advertising and royalty fees charged on an ongoing basis).
What you get for your investment: You’ll receive initial training covering all aspects of the business, along with plenty of advice and guidance pre-launch to help you hit the ground running. Post-launch, Choice Home Tutoring will continue to fully support you, offering ongoing training on a quarterly basis.

2. Mathnasium

Mathnasium changes lives with the power of maths, and the UK branch of the global franchise offers its tailored maths tuition services to kids up and down the country.

Becoming a Mathnasium franchisee: You don’t need any teaching experience, but you will need passion for the work, confidence dealing with parents and a desire to be hands-on with your investment, particularly early on.
How much you need to invest: You’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £30,000, with franchise fees of £29,500 and a total investment cost of £100,000.
What you get for your investment: You’ll be provided with a full programme of training and plenty of ongoing support as you build your franchise business.

Running a franchise and working with kids could be the beginning of a rewarding new career

You should now know exactly how to become a tutor, and have a good idea of whether that’s something you’d like to do. If it is, don’t wait - the world of franchising is calling! Browse the wide range of available tutoring franchise investment opportunities on Point Franchise.