I have an idea for a business. I have tried but never gotten a business off of the ground before. This is usually due to over eagerness and rushing into things. So I am looking for some feedback on my idea to see if it would be worthwhile pursuing, or if I should look for a slightly different idea. I believe that execution is more important than the IDEA so i am going to give as much detail as possible.
Here is my thought process so far. I am concerned that the SCALE and TIME aspects are not quite good enough.
IDEA:
Run an online tutoring business (targeted towards math and sciences for high school students up to first year of university).
-Clients would pay for their lessons online and upfront, buying several weeks at once. (Discounted rates for longer amount bought).
-I would pay the tutors that I've hired every 2 weeks for the hours they have taught.
- Lessons taught over skype/teamviewer
- Would charge $45 per hour. Would offer lessons once,twice, or three times a week.
-Tutors would get a reasonible wage ($12ish per hour, more per hour (up to 17ish?) if teaching more students)
-Focus on schools from my local area, 30-40 Secondary Schools.
-Parents are my target demographic.
-Eventually make the process mostly automatic.
NEED:
I live in a city (about 135,000 people) with a university. The competition to get into many universities is very fierce. Parents want their children to be successful and we could give that to them. The difference between a 70% average and an 80% is huge and with a bit of tutoring, anyone can get those great marks.
VALUE:
-I have recently finished a University degree in an extremely intensive Math and Science degree.
-I have contact with the university where I can find many hungry 2nd-3rd year students who would want to tutor instead of work part-time.
-Most importantly, since students in 2nd/3rd year have JUST gotten out of high-school, they know the material, the pressure, and the likely questions a student will have, better than anyone else.
-Don't know of any online tutoring in my city. Nice for parents not to have to drive their kid and wait around while they are tutored.
- E-mail the parents with mark updates made into nice compact info graphics. Would make the parents feel good looking at nice marks. If it was pretty it might get shared around/hung on a fridge for all of the parent's friends to see.
ENTRY:
- I have just gotten out of the school system. I know the curriculum, I know the material. I still know teachers who could give me course information. I could get the resources to have kids in my area absolutely CRUSHING these tests and exams.
CONTROL:
-I would be in control of the business. Hiring tutors.
-Huge potential profit margin.
SCALE/TIME:
*Possible issue!!!*
-I am not sure how many people would sign up for tutoring just in my city alone.
-I can expand to include surrounding big cities.
-HS Students are only free after school, so ALL tutoring hours would be from 3pm - 9pm MON-FRI or on weekends which means very few clients a day per tutor.
-I would need to hire and co-ordinate MANY different tutors due to the lack of daily hours.
-I would need to have MANY different students.
-Students probably don't need tutoring in the summer so 2-3 months of the year are DEAD.
-Each year rotates, and once students graduate/get past 1st year, they never need my service again. So, a constant battle to gain clients and constant loss of valued, loyal customers.
ROUGH MAX $$$ ESTIMATES:
~$30 per lesson.
1 tutor can do 30 lessons per week. ($900) ($3600 per month)
10 tutors can do 300 lessons per week. ($36,000 per month)
I know that good ideas are pretty common, and I'm not married to this idea. It took me one day to think this all up, so I can find another idea pretty easily I'm sure.
Is this a fast lane business? If not, can I make it one? Or should I think of something different?
Thanks so much!
Here is my thought process so far. I am concerned that the SCALE and TIME aspects are not quite good enough.
IDEA:
Run an online tutoring business (targeted towards math and sciences for high school students up to first year of university).
-Clients would pay for their lessons online and upfront, buying several weeks at once. (Discounted rates for longer amount bought).
-I would pay the tutors that I've hired every 2 weeks for the hours they have taught.
- Lessons taught over skype/teamviewer
- Would charge $45 per hour. Would offer lessons once,twice, or three times a week.
-Tutors would get a reasonible wage ($12ish per hour, more per hour (up to 17ish?) if teaching more students)
-Focus on schools from my local area, 30-40 Secondary Schools.
-Parents are my target demographic.
-Eventually make the process mostly automatic.
NEED:
I live in a city (about 135,000 people) with a university. The competition to get into many universities is very fierce. Parents want their children to be successful and we could give that to them. The difference between a 70% average and an 80% is huge and with a bit of tutoring, anyone can get those great marks.
VALUE:
-I have recently finished a University degree in an extremely intensive Math and Science degree.
-I have contact with the university where I can find many hungry 2nd-3rd year students who would want to tutor instead of work part-time.
-Most importantly, since students in 2nd/3rd year have JUST gotten out of high-school, they know the material, the pressure, and the likely questions a student will have, better than anyone else.
-Don't know of any online tutoring in my city. Nice for parents not to have to drive their kid and wait around while they are tutored.
- E-mail the parents with mark updates made into nice compact info graphics. Would make the parents feel good looking at nice marks. If it was pretty it might get shared around/hung on a fridge for all of the parent's friends to see.
ENTRY:
- I have just gotten out of the school system. I know the curriculum, I know the material. I still know teachers who could give me course information. I could get the resources to have kids in my area absolutely CRUSHING these tests and exams.
CONTROL:
-I would be in control of the business. Hiring tutors.
-Huge potential profit margin.
SCALE/TIME:
*Possible issue!!!*
-I am not sure how many people would sign up for tutoring just in my city alone.
-I can expand to include surrounding big cities.
-HS Students are only free after school, so ALL tutoring hours would be from 3pm - 9pm MON-FRI or on weekends which means very few clients a day per tutor.
-I would need to hire and co-ordinate MANY different tutors due to the lack of daily hours.
-I would need to have MANY different students.
-Students probably don't need tutoring in the summer so 2-3 months of the year are DEAD.
-Each year rotates, and once students graduate/get past 1st year, they never need my service again. So, a constant battle to gain clients and constant loss of valued, loyal customers.
ROUGH MAX $$$ ESTIMATES:
~$30 per lesson.
1 tutor can do 30 lessons per week. ($900) ($3600 per month)
10 tutors can do 300 lessons per week. ($36,000 per month)
I know that good ideas are pretty common, and I'm not married to this idea. It took me one day to think this all up, so I can find another idea pretty easily I'm sure.
Is this a fast lane business? If not, can I make it one? Or should I think of something different?
Thanks so much!
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum:
Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
