Teaching maths online in France and looking for ways to break a plateau and scale-up

[Anthares]

Hello to everyone,

I am 32 and became a private maths tutor 3 years ago and have been self-employed since then. I give online lessons to high school students in France. I live near Paris.

I actually didn't plan to work in that field but regularly gave lessons to pupils as a side hustle or pocket money since high school. I eventually graduated from a business school and discovered that I couldn't feel good in the various jobs I got. I wanted more freedom. After several years working in the banking sector I decided to work in fruit trees cultivation or in a job in nature and studied again, while doing internships.
Although there were great moments, I didn't enjoy this work more than my corporate jobs, which was a very depressing realization. My dream job was not actually one.

The only work I could do for long periods and really enjoy was teaching.
So I decided to become 100% focused on that track instead of scattering in all directions. I told myself, aim for "good enough" for the time being, and figure out things from there.

At first I taught many different subjects, but in France, the one with the most demand is maths, because the French public school system has major trouble and the overall level is declining sharply. Yet, most universities and schools selection in France is based on maths. As a consequence most pupils in high school take lessons.

The irony is that maths was my worst subject. I was minoring maths during high school and my business studies and eventually improved and enjoyed maths late in my studies.
Because of maths not being natural for me, I can put myself in my students shoes and know better how to help them. Also the maths resources online are great and free. Nowadays with good practice and method everyone can become good in maths.

A bit before Covid, I switched from in-persons to online lessons.

This is working really well and I get lot of customers.

My goal is that my students get the best possible grades in order to access the top universities and schools, and I would say I have been pretty successful in that regard. I would say I'm one of the best private teachers for high school in terms of results, and am solidifying my teaching system every year.


BUT I am facing several challenges that I find overwhelming, and I feel like I might take a too-slow approach that will take years to bear mediocre results.
So I really need your help !



I am currently stuck at around 80K Euros/Year in total revenues, and I would like to develop my revenues further.

I know that the best teachers in France do between 300 to 500K/euros per year.
In Asia like Singapour or Hong Kong, some teachers make more than 1million euros/year in total revenues.
My goal is to reach at least 300K euros in revenues in 3 years.



However I have major obstacles hindering me and I need your advice:

-First of all, I teach well but my maths level in itself is not great. I teach the high school level very well. But am rusty with university level. This level is much more demanding, but there is also less competition and the hourly rate is slightly higher. It gets really good if I become one of the best university private tutors. Some of them make like 800 euros/hour, teaching to a few students at a time. The most expensive individual lessons can reach 150/200 euros/h. (I am currently charging 100E/h and increasing incrementally)

Becoming really good teacher for university level will take me 3 to 4 years in my opinion. I almost have to start from scratch.

I think it's worth it to try to get this level, to get better skills, and at least be able to teach the first one or two years at university level. This way I could keep some of my students for a longer time and build step by step my knowledge. It's not an all or nothing scenario.

I have a friend of mine who is a doctor in computing science and maths. He is teaching me for free several times a week, to help me do it faster.
What is your opinion on that ? Is it worth it to climb this high mountain ? Is it the priority or should I just get super good for high school and settle for that ?

A side thing about it, is that I think about teaching worldwide in English, and knowing other school systems. I would like to not be dependant only on French customers. I sometimes teach to students from Dubai, Switzerland, Singapore..

-My second problem is France. I mean its tax system. As a self employed small company, I pay only 25% in taxes. If I get over 80K, I will pay more than 50% in taxes. Also I have a fiscal advantage for my company. French State pays half of the lessons I give. My customers only pay 50 Euros for a lesson. I get payed half by the State and half by my customers. Maths lessons are already pretty uberized/commoditized. It's only a small niche of wealthy customers who are interested in getting the best tutors.
Because of that situation I get comfortable hourly rates, but it's completely artificial. I can't scale my revenues with my current company structure and if I move abroad, I instantly lose half my revenues.

I would love to move broad, but first I want to increase both my hourly rate and my total revenues, to make it worth.

-My last problem is the difficulty to separate time from money. As a teacher I get paid only while I teach. I occasionnally think about ways to generate "passive incomes", but so far nothing seems especially promising. This is why I want to fine tune my tutoring/ get the best I can and design a great teaching system.
But I would like to scale and get a way to explode revenues.

I don't know if I can find this idea, and even less if I have the knowledge to pull it off. The market seems pretty saturated of content creators, platforms etc..



So I come to you, asking what I am missing. I am looking for some perspective. I got some from great books like the Fastlane Millionnaire that I just finished reading, some by talking to more successful teachers than me. But these days I feel trapped in my way, having difficulties to find the way to break past this plateau quicker.

I believe if I continue for a few years, and give small group lessons and have more high earning customers, I could reach 300K/year. If I reach that stage, it will be already great, since I don't have major financial goals yet and it would enable me to live okay in any country. I just want to have a comfortable stream of income to pursue my hobbies and be 100% financially free.

What matters to me is to free up my time and get good at some of my hobbies faster, throughout my life, and not be hindered by financial matters/ working too long hours forever.

I hope this thread was not too confusing. And I will really appreciate your insights. I don't have people who are in the Fastlane mentality in my social circle, so it will help me a lot !

Looking forward to participating and reading on this forum

 

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[MakeItHappen]

First, you have to decide what you want. Do you want to build a business that works without you having to work in it or do you want to increase the money you make per hour as an expert.

You could build a business where you sell for example digital courses / assets. Or you could hire other (math) teachers to work for you. That's how you could build a business in your vertical without having to rent your time for money. However, your day-to-day work will look a lot different than right now. If you want to continue to teach you have to raise your hourly rate and you are already doing that. You can teach multiple pupils as well. Maybe you could try to become "the solution" for high net worth families?

I guess you don't have to reinvent the wheel here. What people or businesses in your niche are making the kind of money and provide the kind of value that you want? What are they making different?

As an entrepreneurial-minded person, I can't imagine trying to double the hourly and investing multiple years to do that.... as an employee it probably sound nice.

Have you read the books from MJ? He takes about the problem you are facing in detail.

Good luck

 

[Cano]

First, you have to decide what you want. Do you want to build a business that works without you having to work in it or do you want to increase the money you make per hour as an expert.

i would also say you need to decide first what you want but keep in mind you cant scale hourly rates.

if you choose to go the business route you need to build a system for you and your students.

Here is one example of a guy who built an online tutoring company which im a customer from:
icanstudy.com

his topic isnt math but learning to learn but maybe you could do something like this too:

with a monthly subscription to
- math mentoring classes (1 on 1, groups)
- fast live student support for school homework
(i would have probably paid for it, because it is really painful in math homework not to get ahead and then the constant searching on google, sometimes the calculator does not work or i am too stupid to enter the formula correctly...this are some problems the students dont tell the teacher and being quite about it)
- easy explain videos on simple topics
(example: calculate fractions, sometimes students just forget how it worked!)
- discord community where students can help students and learn together
(why discord? you teaching the younger generation! you need to be where the students are!)
... here is the point where you need to find ways to provide a lot of value to your student for a subscription.

get creative!

you need to ask the students (well you customer) for feedback on what they want/need.

keep also in mind that you can hire someone for the tutoring and live support.

in the end there are many ways how you can approach the business route.

i hope i could help you out! good luck!

 

[Ing]

A friend did similar. But he hired a student to teach. And than another student. And... He now allways has about 150 Students working for him.
Guess, if that’s scale?

 

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[Practic]

Hello to everyone,

I am 32 and became a private maths tutor 3 years ago and have been self-employed since then. I give online lessons to high school students in France. I live near Paris.

I actually didn't plan to work in that field but regularly gave lessons to pupils as a side hustle or pocket money since high school. I eventually graduated from a business school and discovered that I couldn't feel good in the various jobs I got. I wanted more freedom. After several years working in the banking sector I decided to work in fruit trees cultivation or in a job in nature and studied again, while doing internships.
Although there were great moments, I didn't enjoy this work more than my corporate jobs, which was a very depressing realization. My dream job was not actually one.

The only work I could do for long periods and really enjoy was teaching.
So I decided to become 100% focused on that track instead of scattering in all directions. I told myself, aim for "good enough" for the time being, and figure out things from there.

At first I taught many different subjects, but in France, the one with the most demand is maths, because the French public school system has major troubles and the overall level is declining sharply. Yet, most universities and schools selection in France is based on maths. As a consequence most pupils in high school take lessons.

The irony is that maths was my worst subject. I was minoring maths during high school and my business studies and eventually improved and enjoyed maths late in my studies.
Because of maths not being natural for me, I can put myself in my students shoes and know better how to help them. Also the maths resources online are great and free. Nowadays with good practice and method everyone can become good in maths.

A bit before Covid, I switched from in-persons to online lessons.

This is working really well and I get lot of customers.

My goal is that my students get the best possible grades in order to access the top universities and schools, and I would say I have been pretty successful in that regard. I would say I'm one of the best private teachers for high school in terms of results, and am solidifying my teaching system every year.


BUT I am facing several challenges that I find overwhelming, and I feel like I might take a too-slow approach that will take years to bear mediocre results.
So I really need your help



I am currently stuck at around 80K Euros/Year in total revenues, and I would like to develop my revenues further.

I know that the best teachers in France do between 300 to 500K/euros per year.
In Asia like Singapour or Hong Kong, some teachers make more than 1million/euros in total revenues.
My goal is to reach at least 300K euros in revenues in 3 years.



However I have major obstacles hindering me and I need your advice:

-First of all, I teach well but my maths level in itself is not great. I teach the high school level very well. But am rusty with university level. This level is much more demanding, but there is also less competition and the hourly rate is slightly higher. It gets really good if I become one of the best university private tutors. Some of them make like 800 euros/hour, teaching to a few students at a time. The most expensive individual lessons can reach 150/200 euros/h. (I am currently charging 100E/h and increasing incrementally)

Becoming really good teacher for university level will take me 3 to 4 years in my opinion. I almost have to start from scratch.

I think it's worth it to try to get this level, to get better skills, and at least be able to teach the first one or two years at university level. This way I could keep some of my students for a longer time and build step by step my knowledge. It's not an all or nothing scenario.

I have a friend of mine who is a doctor in computing science and maths. He is teaching me for free several times a week, to help me do it faster.
What is your opinion on that ? Is it worth it to climb this high mountain ? Is it the priority or should I just get super good for high school and settle for that ?

A side thing about it, is that I think about teaching worldwide in English, and knowing other school systems. I would like to not be dependant only on French customers. I sometimes teach to students from Dubai, Switzerland, Singapore..

-My second problem is France. I mean its tax system. As a self employed small company, I pay only 25% in taxes. If I get over 80K, I will pay more than 50%. Also I have a fiscal advantage for my company. French State pays half of the lessons I give. My customers only pay 50 Euros for a lesson. I get payed half by the State and half by my customers. Maths lessons are already pretty uberized/commoditized. It's only a small niche of wealthy customers who are interested in getting the best tutors.
Because of that situation I get comfortable hourly rates, but it's completely artificial. I can't scale my revenues with my current company structure and if I move abroad, I instantly lose half my revenues.

I would love to move broad, but first I want to increase both my hourly rate and my total revenues, to make it worthwhile.

-My last problem is the difficulty to separate time from money. As a teacher I get only paid while I teach. I occasionnally think about ways to generate "passive incomes", but so far nothing seems especially promising. This is why I want to fine tune my tutoring/ get the best I can and design a great teaching system.
But I would like to scale and get a way to explode revenues.

I don't know if I can find this idea, and even less if I have the knowledge to pull it off. The market seems pretty saturated of content creators, platforms etc..



So I come to you, asking what I am missing. I am looking for some perspective. I got some from great books like the Fastlane Millionnaire that I just finished reading, some by talking to more successful teachers than me. But these days I feel trapped in my way, having difficulties to find the way to break past this plateau quicker.

I believe if I continue for a few years, and give small group lessons and have more high earning customers, I could reach 300K/year. If I reach that stage, it will be already great, since I don't have major financial goals yet and it would enable me to live okay in any country. I just want to have a comfortable stream of income to pursue my hobbies and be 100% financially free.

What matters to me is to free up my time and get good at some of my hobbies faster, throughout my life, and not be hindered by financial matters/ working too long hours forever.

I hope this thread was not too confused. And I will really appreciate your insights. I don't have people who are in the Fastlane mentalities in my social circle, so it will help me a lot !

Looking forward to participating and reading on this forum

A simple way to scaling is to teach groups of students by topics. To increase number of students introduce some sort of a referral or revenue sharing program to your students.

 

[Anthares]

First, you have to decide what you want. Do you want to build a business that works without you having to work in it or do you want to increase the money you make per hour as an expert.

You could build a business where you sell for example digital courses / assets. Or you could hire other (math) teachers to work for you. That's how you could build a business in your vertical without having to rent your time for money. However, your day-to-day work will look a lot different than right now. If you want to continue to teach you have to raise your hourly rate and you are already doing that. You can teach multiple pupils as well. Maybe you could try to become "the solution" for high net worth families?

I guess you don't have to reinvent the wheel here. What people or businesses in your niche are making the kind of money and provide the kind of value that you want? What are they making different?

As an entrepreneurial-minded person, I can't imagine trying to double the hourly and investing multiple years to do that.... as an employee it probably sound nice.

Have you read the books from MJ? He takes about the problem you are facing in detail.

Good luck

Ideally I would like the business to at least work partially without me at some point. But I'm fine becoming an expert and teaching more first, maybe for a couple years.
I will focus on becoming "the solution" for high net worth families.

I will try to contact the most successful teachers in my field. the problem is that it's hard to reach them and get info. They don't want to have competition and didn't answer me, when I tried to contact them.

My tax lawyier has a customer who is a maths teacher and who makes 300K/year, so I will ask my lawyer if he can share me the contact of his customer. I also don't like reinventing the wheel. It makes it much easier to develop the company, to get inspiration

I just finished reading the Fastlane Millionaire and this book is breaking my mental barriers for growing a business. I took lots of notes and implemented ideas, but I wanted to get some insights and take a step back.
I first chose my activity as a way to escape from traditional jobs and "be my own boss". It's not necessarily the best vehicle for scaling. But I think I can tweak it to make it more efficient.

I agree for the return on investment on my time. It's probably not worth it.

-I will work my maths a lot for a few months (not years), just to get good level for the transition between high school and university. It will bring lot of value for my students, and enable me to keep them for half a year more (usually my students in the last year of high school leave in April, and I redirect them to colleagues. If I get good, for the beginning of university, I could keep them until the next autumn, and build my maths level from there).

-Then I will try to see how I can increase the influx of students and have good structure for teaching group classes regularly. It's the most important first step to scale, if I teach, and should be treated as my priority to expand revenues.
Also in France, the Internet really sucks (in most of my flats and I tried all Internet providers). One of my biggest fears is having common Internet problems while I teach to a group.
I think giving group classes to something like 4-6 students online is pretty doable and can 4X my revenues pretty fast (and much faster than just working on improving my maths level and hoping that high net students come in a few years).


-I will also think about how I can build a business system. It's not my thing. I'm not sure I would enjoy the process of building one. But having one would be extremely confortable while it's up and running. I will need to break my limitations about that, at some point I think. It would be the easiest kind of company to process and scale, and free my time, or at least not get paid hourly anymore.

Thank you very much for your points

 

[Andy Black]

Hello to everyone,

I am 32 and became a private maths tutor 3 years ago and have been self-employed since then. I give online lessons to high school students in France. I live near Paris.

I actually didn't plan to work in that field but regularly gave lessons to pupils as a side hustle or pocket money since high school. I eventually graduated from a business school and discovered that I couldn't feel good in the various jobs I got. I wanted more freedom. After several years working in the banking sector I decided to work in fruit trees cultivation or in a job in nature and studied again, while doing internships.
Although there were great moments, I didn't enjoy this work more than my corporate jobs, which was a very depressing realization. My dream job was not actually one.

The only work I could do for long periods and really enjoy was teaching.
So I decided to become 100% focused on that track instead of scattering in all directions. I told myself, aim for "good enough" for the time being, and figure out things from there.

At first I taught many different subjects, but in France, the one with the most demand is maths, because the French public school system has major troubles and the overall level is declining sharply. Yet, most universities and schools selection in France is based on maths. As a consequence most pupils in high school take lessons.

The irony is that maths was my worst subject. I was minoring maths during high school and my business studies and eventually improved and enjoyed maths late in my studies.
Because of maths not being natural for me, I can put myself in my students shoes and know better how to help them. Also the maths resources online are great and free. Nowadays with good practice and method everyone can become good in maths.

A bit before Covid, I switched from in-persons to online lessons.

This is working really well and I get lot of customers.

My goal is that my students get the best possible grades in order to access the top universities and schools, and I would say I have been pretty successful in that regard. I would say I'm one of the best private teachers for high school in terms of results, and am solidifying my teaching system every year.


BUT I am facing several challenges that I find overwhelming, and I feel like I might take a too-slow approach that will take years to bear mediocre results.
So I really need your help



I am currently stuck at around 80K Euros/Year in total revenues, and I would like to develop my revenues further.

I know that the best teachers in France do between 300 to 500K/euros per year.
In Asia like Singapour or Hong Kong, some teachers make more than 1million/euros in total revenues.
My goal is to reach at least 300K euros in revenues in 3 years.



However I have major obstacles hindering me and I need your advice:

-First of all, I teach well but my maths level in itself is not great. I teach the high school level very well. But am rusty with university level. This level is much more demanding, but there is also less competition and the hourly rate is slightly higher. It gets really good if I become one of the best university private tutors. Some of them make like 800 euros/hour, teaching to a few students at a time. The most expensive individual lessons can reach 150/200 euros/h. (I am currently charging 100E/h and increasing incrementally)

Becoming really good teacher for university level will take me 3 to 4 years in my opinion. I almost have to start from scratch.

I think it's worth it to try to get this level, to get better skills, and at least be able to teach the first one or two years at university level. This way I could keep some of my students for a longer time and build step by step my knowledge. It's not an all or nothing scenario.

I have a friend of mine who is a doctor in computing science and maths. He is teaching me for free several times a week, to help me do it faster.
What is your opinion on that ? Is it worth it to climb this high mountain ? Is it the priority or should I just get super good for high school and settle for that ?

A side thing about it, is that I think about teaching worldwide in English, and knowing other school systems. I would like to not be dependant only on French customers. I sometimes teach to students from Dubai, Switzerland, Singapore..

-My second problem is France. I mean its tax system. As a self employed small company, I pay only 25% in taxes. If I get over 80K, I will pay more than 50%. Also I have a fiscal advantage for my company. French State pays half of the lessons I give. My customers only pay 50 Euros for a lesson. I get payed half by the State and half by my customers. Maths lessons are already pretty uberized/commoditized. It's only a small niche of wealthy customers who are interested in getting the best tutors.
Because of that situation I get comfortable hourly rates, but it's completely artificial. I can't scale my revenues with my current company structure and if I move abroad, I instantly lose half my revenues.

I would love to move broad, but first I want to increase both my hourly rate and my total revenues, to make it worthwhile.

-My last problem is the difficulty to separate time from money. As a teacher I get only paid while I teach. I occasionnally think about ways to generate "passive incomes", but so far nothing seems especially promising. This is why I want to fine tune my tutoring/ get the best I can and design a great teaching system.
But I would like to scale and get a way to explode revenues.

I don't know if I can find this idea, and even less if I have the knowledge to pull it off. The market seems pretty saturated of content creators, platforms etc..



So I come to you, asking what I am missing. I am looking for some perspective. I got some from great books like the Fastlane Millionnaire that I just finished reading, some by talking to more successful teachers than me. But these days I feel trapped in my way, having difficulties to find the way to break past this plateau quicker.

I believe if I continue for a few years, and give small group lessons and have more high earning customers, I could reach 300K/year. If I reach that stage, it will be already great, since I don't have major financial goals yet and it would enable me to live okay in any country. I just want to have a comfortable stream of income to pursue my hobbies and be 100% financially free.

What matters to me is to free up my time and get good at some of my hobbies faster, throughout my life, and not be hindered by financial matters/ working too long hours forever.

I hope this thread was not too confused. And I will really appreciate your insights. I don't have people who are in the Fastlane mentalities in my social circle, so it will help me a lot !

Looking forward to participating and reading on this forum

I used to do Maths grinds to prepare Irish students for their leaving certs. Without Maths they don't pass, and I'm proud of helping a few people get to college or apprenticeships they wanted.

I didn't scale it as I find it very hard work tutoring people, but I think it's a great undertaking and mission.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend you study more advanced Maths so you can help a different market 1-2-1. You already said it's not your favourite subject, and you intimated you want to divorce your time from your income. Also, I've a degree in Maths and it's not needed in everyday life like school level Maths is.

Figure out how to serve more of the people you already serve.

Maybe record videos of common problems and solutions? Put them on YouTube and/or social media for free and let parents, teachers, and students share them.

This could generate more demand for your 1-2-1 tutoring which could allow you to increase fees.

It could also grow those channels/audiences which can open other doors for you, including other income streams.

 

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[Anthares]

i would also say you need to decide first what you want but keep in mind you cant scale hourly rates.

if you choose to go the business route you need to build a system for you and your students.

Here is one example of a guy who built an online tutoring company which im a customer from:
icanstudy.com

his topic isnt math but learning to learn but maybe you could do something like this too:

with a monthly subscription to
- math mentoring classes (1 on 1, groups)
- fast live student support for school homework
(i would have probably paid for it, because it is really painful in math homework not to get ahead and then the constant searching on google, sometimes the calculator does not work or i am too stupid to enter the formula correctly...this are some problems the students dont tell the teacher and being quite about it)
- easy explain videos on simple topics
(example: calculate fractions, sometimes students just forget how it worked!)
- discord community where students can help students and learn together
(why discord? you teaching the younger generation! you need to be where the students are!)
... here is the point where you need to find ways to provide a lot of value to your student for a subscription.

get creative!

you need to ask the students (well you customer) for feedback on what they want/need.

keep also in mind that you can hire someone for the tutoring and live support.

in the end there are many ways how you can approach the business route.

i hope i could help you out! good luck!

Great ideas. I agree for the hourly rates. I can just teach group classes, but I personally prefer one on one classes, especially online. I will do it nonetheless.

But your ideas are really good, and plenty more can be brainstormed. It's about providing value, while also having the necessary people helping me maintaining the system.

I will ask my students about what they want or need. I don't ask that questions often enough.

I will check out Icanstudy.com to get inspiration. Their free webinar about how to get perfect grades is already of interest to me^^

Thank you very much.

 

[Anthares]

A simple way to scaling is to teach groups of students by topics. To increase number of students introduce some sort of a referral or revenue sharing program to your students.

Yes I already give lessons to two students "groups" occasionally. Having big influx of students is key, because most parents would prefer in-person single lessons.

But some students who like my lessons ask friends in their class to join and that I give them group lessons. This is how it happened so far. If I were giving group lessons on a more regular basis, I would do it by high school level.

I get almost all my students by word of mouth. I offer free lessons to customers who recommend me, but most of the time my schedule is full. And I just redirect those students to colleagues.

I really have to think of a way to benefit from this. Because my weekday is limited, I would say I refuse more than 80% of customers.

I will work on the referral program anyway.

By the way, all my new customers come from one single platform based in France or from word of mouth.
I need to work on that, because if I get banned for any reason from the platform, my business is over, or close to it.

I had a website, but it was really primitive, and I didn't put much effort in it. I feel like it's maybe outdated, and I didn't want to work on something useless.

What are more efficient ways to get customers ? Especially high net worth ?

What I tried so far was only:
-Charging higher prices to have higher earners customers and focus on providing as much value as possible, and trying to get word of mouth from them naturally

 

[Anthares]

A friend did similar. But he hired a student to teach. And than another student. And... He now allways has about 150 Students working for him.
Guess, if that’s scale?

Yes it works to hire teachers. Not sure if it's the kind of business (people systems) I want to grow though. I would prefer something content/value based. But I never know. It's one route.

A colleague of mine is doing precisely that. He created a small community of teachers and a platform with banks of exercices that these teachers can use for their own students, giving them more professional resources.
They also share excess students between them, in order for all teachers to have enough work. Most students are also willing to pay higher prices than the market, so it's a good way for new tutors to get students who pay more than average.

The teachers can also use the platform for charging their students (I think they can edit invoices).

In exchange for that, the other teachers pay between 10 to 1 euros per hour to use the service, which is taken from their hourly rate. The more hours they use, the cheaper it gets.

My colleague gave me access to this platform for free. So I guess I should get some inspiration and maybe see if I can provide value differently / what needs are not covered.

I think he created this platform a few years ago, but it brought little income (maybe 20K a year of revenues). But I guess it can become exponential, if well done

 

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[Practic]

Yes I already give lessons to two students "groups" occasionally. Having big influx of students is key, because most parents would prefer in-person single lessons.

But some students who like my lessons ask friends in their class to join and that I give them group lessons. This is how it happened so far. If I were giving group lessons on a more regular basis, I would do it by high school level.

I get almost all my students by word of mouth. I offer free lessons to customers who recommend me, but most of the time my schedule is full. And I just redirect those students to colleagues.

I really have to think of a way to benefit from this. Because my weekday is limited, I would say I refuse more than 80% of customers.

I will work on the referral program anyway.

By the way, all my new customers come from one single platform based in France or from word of mouth.
I need to work on that, because if I get banned for any reason from the platform, my business is over, or close to it.

I had a website, but it was really primitive, and I didn't put much effort in it. I feel like it's maybe outdated, and I didn't want to work on something useless.

What are more efficient ways to get customers ? Especially high net worth ?

What I tried so far was only:
-Charging higher prices to have higher earners customers and focus on providing as much value as possible, and trying to get word of mouth from them naturally

"What are more efficient ways to get customers ? Especially high net worth ?"

Instead of word of mouth or simple referral programs (1st generation) use the 3rd generation of referral program (they reward your students for direct and indirect referrals).
The benefits are:
-it attracts new students and keep them loyal because they will have stable income streams from you (active and passive);
-your students will get real money/income for direct and indirect referrals and this encourages them to refer high net worth clients to increase their income;
-their income may be comparable with income from employment and this may create a viral effect;
-your students will see the real application of mathematics in business (and this increase value of your service to them).

 

[MakeItHappen]

Because my weekday is limited, I would say I refuse more than 80% of customers.

Keep raising your hourly even more

 

[Anthares]

"What are more efficient ways to get customers ? Especially high net worth ?"

Instead of word of mouth or simple referral programs (1st generation) use the 3rd generation of referral program (they reward your students for direct and indirect referrals).
The benefits are:
-it attracts new students and keep them loyal because they will have stable income streams from you (active and passive);
-your students will get real money/income for direct and indirect referrals and this encourages them to refer high net worth clients to increase their income;
-their income may be comparable with income from employment and this may create a viral effect;
-your students will see the real application of mathematics in business (and this increase value of your service to them).

I really like this idea and it could become really efficient to get tons of new customers. Thank you

 

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[Anthares]

I used to do Maths grinds to prepare Irish students for their leaving certs. Without Maths they don't pass, and I'm proud of helping a few people get to college or apprenticeships they wanted.

I didn't scale it as I find it very hard work tutoring people, but I think it's a great undertaking and mission.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend you study more advanced Maths so you can help a different market 1-2-1. You already said it's not your favourite subject, and you intimated you want to divorce your time from your income. Also, I've a degree in Maths and it's not needed in everyday life like school level Maths is.

Figure out how to serve more of the people you already serve.

Maybe record videos of common problems and solutions? Put them on YouTube and/or social media for free and let parents, teachers, and students share them.

This could generate more demand for your 1-2-1 tutoring which could allow you to increase fees.

It could also grow those channels/audiences which can open other doors for you, including other income streams.

Yes this job can be hard, especially because it's hard to control all variables. All students are unique, and some recurring problems occur like lack of motivation/ the fact that they don't work enough, have touble memorizing etc..
But it's also a chance, because every teacher faces these same exact problems, so finding ways to solve those gives a strong edge over the competition.

I still feel like I need to polish my maths level alittle, to at least better position my students before their studies starts and to prepare the transition. But becoming an expert on maths level at university is probably not worth it.

After a few months of intense working on my maths level, I will refocus all my energy into serving more customers.

I also think I will create a platform to store all my exercises and probably register videos. This way it will be more confortable for my students to work, and I can probably monetize it too.

But thank you for your commentary. I think it's the biggest priority, that I should tackle as soon as possible, instead of just building skills for years.



One last point, I'm quite concerned about is privacy, and I would prefer to stay quite anonymous, which is one reason I didn't do youtube videos and so on. Maybe just adding a few presentation videos on my platform would be enough. But is it realistic ? It's much more engaging to create a connection by being visible

 

[MakeItHappen]

Because my weekday is limited, I would say I refuse more than 80% of customers.

BTW how do you acquire your customer's atm? Is it all by word of mouth or do you advertise in certain ways?

Could you acquire 10x more customers (if you had the ability to fulfill all the customer's needs?)

How do the big players in your niche acquire customers?

One last point, I'm quite concerned about is privacy, and I would prefer to stay quite anonymous, which is one reason I didn't do youtube videos and so on. Maybe just adding a few presentation videos on my platform would be enough. But is it realistic ? It's much more engaging to create a connection by being visible

If you don't become the business owner with employees (experts) and indeed build your business in a way that YOU are the expert then trying to stay anonymous should indeed hinder your growth. But maybe you could still grow enough to be satisfied with the results even if you leave some more growth on the table.

 

[Anthares]

BTW how do you acquire your customer's atm? Is it all by word of mouth or do you advertise in certain ways?

Could you acquire 10x more customers (if you had the ability to fulfill all the customer's needs?)

How do the big players in your niche acquire customers?


If you don't become the business owner with employees (experts) and indeed build your business in a way that YOU are the expert then trying to stay anonymous should indeed hinder your growth. But maybe you could still grow enough to be satisfied with the results even if you leave some more growth on the table.

I advertise only on one platform, which is the only one, that has worked for me so far (others were full of scammers/ had very few serious student profiles).

I can get around 4 new students contacting me per months. But since I keep my students for around 2 years at least, I don't need that demand (apart from end of school year, when approximately one third of students graduate from high school). I mostly share these excess students to my colleagues.

I don't like being only on this platform because it's hard to be more visible than other big competitors at some point. (the algorithm doesn't favor anyone in particular, once some parameters are maxed out. Having big number of referrals is capped out in terms of algorithm visibility etc.).

This platform has other branches in Switzerland and Belgium for example, and I'm planning to create accounts on these countries too. (it's like separate platforms). So that could bring extra demand.

I can also increase word of mouth.

I feel like competitors get most of their customers from word of mouth after working for a long enough time. Most of them have little success on the platforms (apart from the ones with the best visibility and selling skills).

And finally there are teachers teaching in high schools/correcting exams for example. Or teachers that put videos online. I guess it gives them good visibility, especially online content.
Ah and finally some teachers share their students to each other.

I have helped several people getting their students faster and make a leaving teaching.

I think having resources online should be the most efficient way. It would add also increase my resilience if there are problems with that one platform.


Yes I agree for being anonymous or not. I guess in the short term, I will stay anonymous, or just share the content on my platform. And I will see if the results are satisfying or not

 

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[Andy Black]

BTW how do you acquire your customer's atm? Is it all by word of mouth or do you advertise in certain ways?

Could you acquire 10x more customers (if you had the ability to fulfill all the customer's needs?)

How do the big players in your niche acquire customers?


If you don't become the business owner with employees (experts) and indeed build your business in a way that YOU are the expert then trying to stay anonymous should indeed hinder your growth. But maybe you could still grow enough to be satisfied with the results even if you leave some more growth on the table.

Have you seen Khan Academy? I don't think he shows his face.

 

[Anthares]

Have you seen Khan Academy? I don't think he shows his face.

Yes he doesn't. Like half of the good maths youtubers don't I would say.

 

[Practic]

I really like this idea and it could become really efficient to get tons of new customers. Thank you

"I really like this idea and it could become really efficient to get tons of new customers."

In addition to attracting new customers it make them loyal and select "good" customers.

" Thank you"

You are welcome!

 

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[Anthares]

"I really like this idea and it could become really efficient to get tons of new customers."

In addition to attracting new customers it make them loyal and select "good" customers.

" Thank you"

You are welcome!

 

[Anthares]

Hi, i wanted to give a quick update about these last months. This summer will be very quiet (all my students are on holiday at the end of the month).

I décided to start giving group lessons for 3 students at a time in september. I will focus exclusively on last 3 years of high school, where I deliver the most value (these are crucial years for university and career choices).
I am currently looking on best software option on how to do it. I currently use Discord, but some of my students have connection problems with it, so I will switch to Zoom or Skype maybe as a backup plan.
I will make sure that everything works fine technically.
My flat has very poor internet connection, so I use my 5G Phone connection which works good but not perfect. (In France I struggled with good internet in most flat I lived in).

I have improved my online visibility on the platform for getting students and will be in the top15 most visible in France (first page of profiles). I will also créate à brand name and an instagram page

To get customers quickly I will do the 3 levels referrals program mentioned above

I am a bit afraid because I will have less than 8 students next year, but I'm sure I will mange to refill quickly.
I will try a pricetag of 40E/hour for each student. Then I have a fiscal advantage in France where the state doubles my hourly rate. It will mean 80 euros/h/student x3, so 240 euros per hour if I teach group lessons to 3 students at a time.

Lastly I'm still a bit anxious about cancellations and schedule management with so many students. I think I will make them pay a monthly fee of 640 euros per months (320 after the State pays half). This way, if à student misses the class, i will still get paid.

Finalement I will try recording the lessons and making vidéos on a platform or youtube to have my students learn independantly


I hope it willl work

 

[Practic]

Hi, i wanted to give a quick update about these last months. This summer will be very quiet (all my students are on holiday at the end of the month).

I décided to start giving group lessons for 3 students at a time in september. I will focus exclusively on last 3 years of high school, where I deliver the most value (these are crucial years for university and career choices).
I am currently looking on best software option on how to do it. I currently use Discord, but some of my students have connection problems with it, so I will switch to Zoom or Skype maybe as a backup plan.
I will make sure that everything works fine technically.
My flat has very poor internet connection, so I use my 5G Phone connection which works good but not perfect. (In France I struggled with good internet in most flat I lived in).

I have improved my online visibility on the platform for getting students and will be in the top15 most visible in France (first page of profiles). I will also créate à brand name and an instagram page

To get customers quickly I will do the 3 levels referrals program mentioned above

I am a bit afraid because I will have less than 8 students next year, but I'm sure I will mange to refill quickly.
I will try a pricetag of 40E/hour for each student. Then I have a fiscal advantage in France where the state doubles my hourly rate. It will mean 80 euros/h/student x3, so 240 euros per hour if I teach group lessons to 3 students at a time.

Lastly I'm still a bit anxious about cancellations and schedule management with so many students. I think I will make them pay a monthly fee of 640 euros per months (320 after the State pays half). This way, if à student misses the class, i will still get paid.

Finalement I will try recording the lessons and making vidéos on a platform or youtube to have my students learn independantly


I hope it willl work

>I am a bit afraid because I will have less than 8 students next year

There is a method, called cross-selling to increase sales from existing customers by selling them new products/services they may be interested in. For example, your clients may be interested in protection of their physical or digital assets. The fact is that about 80% of data/cyber breaches is due to weak or compromised passwords (see Learning password security jargon: data breach) Traditional password managers also not secure and are hacked every year. In addition they are not easy to use for majority of users.

New methods of passwords management are more secure, because they do not store passwords in any place and are easy for users, because they do not require installation of software, synchronization, updating, etc. You can teach them the new methods as well as selling them tools and this will generate two additional income streams to you.

 

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[Anthares]

>I am a bit afraid because I will have less than 8 students next year

There is a method, called cross-selling to increase sales from existing customers by selling them new products/services they may be interested in. For example, your clients may be interested in protection of their physical or digital assets. The fact is that about 80% of data/cyber breaches is due to weak or compromised passwords (see Learning password security jargon: data breach) Traditional password managers also not secure and are hacked every year. In addition they are not easy to use for majority of users.

New methods of passwords management are more secure, because they do not store passwords in any place and are easy for users, because they do not require installation of software, synchronization, updating, etc. You can teach them the new methods as well as selling them tools and this will generate two additional income streams to you.

For that, most of my students are interested in physics lessons. But so far, I prefer just being the best tutor in maths in France first before spreading to new directions.

My niche is that I focus on the two last years of maths in high school and make sure that the students get the studies choices that they want. I train them to interviews and different maths/logic tests that are required for business and engineering schools for instance.

 

[Anthares]

Dear readers, I really need some advice/feedback about my plan:

I feel like running in circles and struggling to get started.
Some realization struck me yesterday, that I feel a bit overwhelmed about teaching group classes next year.
I feel like some important tasks are not fully in place yet.
I feel tired of repeating the same lessons over and over again, and feel sometimes disappointed about my students investment outside of my lessons. Finally some students take only a minimal number of lessons, because my hourly rate (100/ 120E/hour) makes it barely affordable for them.

The problem is that the quality of my teaching and the level of my students suffer from that. They don't practice hard enough without me, and I can't train them to their full potential.

And I feel like group lessons will exacerbate the decline of overall quality of my teaching. It will be harder to give individual feedback and motivation to students and their parents, if I have 30/40 of them.

So I want to use the summer for a few things first:
1): Create videos of the most important lessons, so that students can watch them without me. And then I will be able to focus more on exercises. It will be also convenient for group lessons in case one student misses a lesson. He can watch it, instead of being lost. It could also help me finally having peaceful holidays. I could send videos to students and take one or 2 week breaks more often. (the problem is that I know really nothing about creating quality videos, so I will take a few lessons and get some help for producing my first videos next week. I don't like producing videos and know nothing about it, but I need to learn).

2):I created some "best of" folders with my favourite exercises and tests from the previous years. It helps me having all my ressources organized at one place. BUT my students almost never use them between lessons. The major problem is that there are often 40+ files, which is very distracting and intimidating for my students. So I will select only the best of the best, and put all of them in high resolution, in one single printable file. This way, my students can print the exercises and do them without being on the computer. Thus reducing distractions.

I want your feedback on that ^^ Am I thinking in the right way ? I feel very overwhelmed about the way of scaling my business. I want my business to grow, but it still seems like I miss some skills for videos production and giving quality group lessons. So I will use the summer which will be more quiet.

If I happen to be late, when autumn comes (new wave of students), should I stay small (focus on individual lessons) and get the skills I need first, or should I get bigger and go all-in, starting group lessons ?

I feel torn between the two directions. Maybe I'm searching excuses, procrastinating.. I always find it hard to push through the unknown

If you have any recommendations don't hesitate

Thank you a lot for all your help so far. I am pushing past my mental barriers and facing my limits, but it's stimulating, and I know I will manage. I'm just a bit impatient, and don't want to waste time by having the wrong mindset and strategy

((Edit: How I see my company in the mid and long-term:
-In the next 3 years I want to stay a "freelancer" and stay "small", increasing my hourly rate and giving group lessons, while producing content and increasing quality, making sure that my method gives consistent results.
-In 3 years, I want to have an online learning platform, and occasionally teach some individual students for very high fees, or group students for moderate fees). I will also move abroad and leave France before 3 years.))

 

[Andy Black]

Dear readers, I really need some advice/feedback about my plan:

I feel like running in circles and struggling to get started.
Some realization struck me yesterday, that I feel a bit overwhelmed about teaching group classes next year.
I feel like some important tasks are not fully in place yet.
I feel tired of repeating the same lessons over and over again, and feel sometimes disappointed about my students investment outside of my lessons. Finally some students take only a minimal number of lessons, because my hourly rate (100/ 120E/hour) makes it barely affordable for them.

The problem is that the quality of my teaching and the level of my students suffer from that. They don't practice hard enough without me, and I can't train them to their full potential.

And I feel like group lessons will exacerbate the decline of overall quality of my teaching. It will be harder to give individual feedback and motivation to students and their parents, if I have 30/40 of them.

So I want to use the summer for a few things first:
1): Create videos of the most important lessons, so that students can watch them without me. And then I will be able to focus more on exercises. It will be also convenient for group lessons in case one student misses a lesson. He can watch it, instead of being lost. It could also help me finally having peaceful holidays. I could send videos to students and take one or 2 week breaks more often. (the problem is that I know really nothing about creating quality videos, so I will take a few lessons and get some help for producing my first videos next week. I don't like producing videos and know nothing about it, but I need to learn).

2):I created some "best of" folders with my favourite exercises and tests from the previous years. It helps me having all my ressources organized at one place. BUT my students almost never use them between lessons. The major problem is that there are often 40+ files, which is very distracting and intimidating for my students. So I will select only the best of the best, and put all of them in high resolution, in one single printable file. This way, my students can print the exercises and do them without being on the computer. Thus reducing distractions.

I want your feedback on that ^^ Am I thinking in the right way ? I feel very overwhelmed about the way of scaling my business. I want my business to grow, but it still seems like I miss some skills for videos production and giving quality group lessons. So I will use the summer which will be more quiet.

If I happen to be late, when autumn comes (new wave of students), should I stay small (focus on individual lessons) and get the skills I need first, or should I get bigger and go all-in, starting group lessons ?

I feel torn between the two directions. Maybe I'm searching excuses, procrastinating.. I always find it hard to push through the unknown

If you have any recommendations don't hesitate

Thank you a lot for all your help so far. I am pushing past my mental barriers and facing my limits, but it's stimulating, and I know I will manage. I'm just a bit impatient, and don't want to waste time by having the wrong mindset and strategy

((Edit: How I see my company in the mid and long-term:
-In the next 3 years I want to stay a "freelancer" and stay "small", increasing my hourly rate and giving group lessons, while producing content and increasing quality, making sure that my method gives consistent results.
-In 3 years, I want to have an online learning platform, and occasionally teach some individual students for very high fees, or group students for moderate fees). I will also move abroad and leave France before 3 years.))

Having a library of videos and lessons will really help you divorce your time from the results you can get students, and the revenue you can bring in.

Videos are easy enough to do. You can record yourself writing on a flipchart or on a pad of paper. Edit after to make the video shorter.

Be careful overwhelming yourself, but maybe don't let the fear it prevent you from trying it. Do a group class and see how it goes.

The beauty of doing the 1-2-1 and group classes/coaching is that it gives you endless material for your videos and lessons. Maybe you can even record and edit those videos for your on-demand courses?

A lady called Laurel Portie uses that model. She has consulting clients, then teaches what's working for them to her group coaching clients. She records those group coaching calls and puts some of them into her lowest tier courses.

Some call that "selling the sawdust". If you have a timber mill you end up with a lot of sawdust. Some businesses may pay for that sawdust. It could be the same for you. If you record your 1-2-1 and/or group coaching then some may pay for the recordings.

 

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[Practic]

For that, most of my students are interested in physics lessons. But so far, I prefer just being the best tutor in maths in France first before spreading to new directions.

My niche is that I focus on the two last years of maths in high school and make sure that the students get the studies choices that they want. I train them to interviews and different maths/logic tests that are required for business and engineering schools for instance.

"For that, most of my students are interested in physics lessons. But so far, I prefer just being the best tutor in maths in France first before spreading to new directions."

The advantage of cross-selling is that you free your time. Other people work for you. You only make references.
For example, in your case contact the best physics teachers in France and make agreements with them that they pay you % from fees of referred by you clients and vice versa.

In this way you will have additional income from them, additional clients from them and more time to spend on what you want.

 

[svekk1]

In my home country there is a guy who is focused on elementary school and highscool topics and started doing TikTok videos about useful math tricks (like x percent of z number is the same as z percent of x number).

Don't know his numbers ofc, but I think he does really well, he had lots of 10 thousands views/video and the market is lot smaller compared to France... He also does some live preparatory 3 day live event for the final highschool math exam, which fills a big university room and it's not cheap.

Most recently he started his own online course platform where he explains topics in a tiktok style way but somehow kids love it. I think its succesfull due to the shorter attention spans of kids and his really good explanation technique and style.

If you are interested shoot me a message and I'll send his TikTok and stuff for inspiration.