About the Seminar

Overview
How to put up a tutorial center seminar focuses on the letters and numbers of starting
the business. The letters tackle the essential concepts while the numbers discuss the
list of start-up requirements and the financial considerations.
During the seminar, the need of concept clarification will be addressed in order to guide
the participants in following the list of start-up requirements vis--vis the projections on
investment and profitability of the business.

Objectives
At the end of the seminar, the participants are expected to:
Understand the different concepts in putting up a tutorial center;
Widen their perspective on the prospects and projections of putting up a tutorial
center; and
Confidently take on the challenge of starting an enriching and rewarding business.

Who Should Participate

Those who are planning to start a tutorial center

Key Topics
Part 1: Letters and concepts in putting up a tutorial center
1. The ABCs of tutorial
A after school academic support; academic assistance
B based on the
C curriculum
2. The Ws for putting up a tutorial center
2.1. What are the concepts in putting up a tutorial center
2.1.1. Concepts clarification
2.1.2. Tutoring concepts
2.2. When do students tutor? (time)
2.3. Where do students tutor? (place)
2.4. Who?
2.4.1. Who avails of the tutoring? (market- needs tutoring)
2.4.2. Who does the tutoring? (tutor)
2.4.3. Who pays for the tutoring (market-parents of the tutees)
2.5. Why
2.5.1. Why put up a tutorial center?
2.5.2. Why do parents avail tutorial services?
2.5.3. Why do students need tutorial services?
2.6. How do you put up a tutorial center?

2.6.1. Steps
2.6.2. Requirements
2.6.3. Time Table
Part 2: Numbers
Number and projections on putting up a tutorial center (center-based)
1. How much profit do you want to make? How much depends on the concept of
tutorial (Part 1)
2. List of start-up requirements
3. Checklist of the qualities of a tutorial center
4. Criteria for site selection
5. Criteria for staffing/hiring the tutorial team
Part 3: Workshop
1. Fill out the projections table to compute for the start-up investment and ROI
2. Sample projections based on three different tutoring concepts
Part 4: Marketing your tutorial center
Part 5: Wrapping up
Points for reflection before putting up a tutorial center

Putting Up a Tutorial Center

Today, it isnt only slow learners that need tutoring. With the amount and difficulty of
the lessons and homework given to todays students, tutoring has become a necessity.
Even students who are very bright and already have high grades in school have
frequently been given tutors by their parents to further increase their chances of
gaining honors.
Another reason tutoring is popular is that parents are usually too busy to teach children
themselves. In the past, it was usually one of the parents who was responsible for
tutoring the children. But with both parents usually now working, there is often too little
time available for them to teach. Adding on to this difficulty is the large amount of new
knowledge that parents do not know and cannot teach their children.
The tremendous demand for tutors has created a thriving tutoring industry. Most of the
tutoring is done at home by freelancers. There is a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs
who want to put up a tutoring business. Here are some tips to make this venture
successful:
Go the franchise route. There are several tutoring companies that are selling
franchises of their system. With a well-developed operating system and a track record
of success, it is very tempting to just buy a franchise especially if they have an
established brand name. For many people who have no experience in this type of
business or are too busy, getting a franchise may be the best option.
Look for a suitable location. Observe where the successful tutorial centers are

located and you will quickly see where the ideal locations are. The most expensive
locations are those in the malls. Nevertheless, the malls have the biggest potential due
to their heavy foot traffic. You can see very successful tutorial centers located there.
More feasible for most is to locate near large private schools. In this case, the rentals
are more reasonable and the market is just nearby.
Register your business name and comply with the legal requirements. For a
single proprietor, get your name from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI); for a
corporation or partnership, you must go to the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC). From there, get your barangay clearance before proceeding to City Hall to get
your business permit. Lastly, register with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and
have your receipts printed.
Decide on a tutorial concept. You must determine the tutorial concept you plan to
offer. This will affect the facilities, marketing, services, etc. needed, as well as the
amount of capital needed to finance the business.
Learn how to market your business. For start-ups, you can only afford to promote
locally. One of the most effective techniques is to send out flyers or brochures to nearby
homes. It is also important to have a professionally designed website with enticing
content since many people now look for tutoring services online. Starting a tutorial
company has less regulatory problems than starting a normal school. Still, there are
many things one must learn to operate this business, and careful study is
recommended.

Start a Tutoring Business: Steps to Success

Starting a tutoring business does not need to be an overly complicated process and it doesnt
require large amounts of money to be spent on advertising or start-up costs. Tutoring is a
business that allows you to start small and expand over time. Despite the relative simplicity of
the business, it is important to do some research and put a plan in writing to guide you through
the process and maximize the success of your business.
The following list covers six essential steps you need to take in order to build a successful and
profitable tutoring business.
1. Determine the geographic area you will cover
If you are not starting an online tutoring business you will need to select a geographic area to
market your services to.
The geographic area your tutoring business will cover is dependent on a few variables. First, if
you are operating from a single location or your own home you need to consider how far
students will realistically be willing to drive. In most cases students wont want to drive more
than 30 minutes so you should calculate an approximate radius around your tutoring center and
focus your marketing in this area.

If you will be providing tutoring services in student homes you have a bit more flexibility and can
probably cover a larger territory, but you must factor in the amount of time that will be spent
commuting and the cost of transportation.
2. Determine what subjects and age groups you will teach.
There are a couple factors you need to consider when determining what kind of subjects your
business will cover.
First, you will want to teach subjects where there is enough total demand to generate enough
revenue for your business. For instance, a subject like math or English will have high demand in
most markets whereas tutoring in a computer programming like Python will have much less total
demand.
Second, you will want to teach subjects for which you specifically have the necessary
knowledge and education to teach or you have access to tutors with this knowledge and
education who can teach for you. Again, it is typically easier to find teachers for subjects that are
more common such as Math, English, Reading, Science, etc.
3. Set the prices for your services.
The pricing decision is an important one when starting a tutoring business and it requires a bit of
market research. Tutoring rates vary widely depending on who youre teaching, which subjects
youre teaching and where your business is located. Some independent tutors charge as low as
$15 per hour and some tutors in big cities can charge as high as $200 per hour. Of course these
are extremes, but it just proves the point that there is an enormous range of prices in the
tutoring market.
If you have already determined the geographic area your business will service and youve
decided on the subjects and students you will be teaching, its pretty easy to gauge the market
price for your tutoring services. Simply find out the rates of other tutoring services in your area
targeting the same types of students. You might be able to find their rates on their website, in
advertisements or you might need to call them and ask what their hourly rates are.
Once you have gotten the rates from a handful of tutoring services you will have a much better
idea of how you should price your own.
The price you set will not only impact the profitability of your company, it will also communicate
the value of your services. If you price too low you may attract a lot of students, but your
profitability will be hurt and you will have difficulty financing further advertising and attracting
high quality tutors. Pricing too low can also cause some people to think your tutoring services
are of low quality.

Pricing too high without evidence of why your services deserve such a high price and you will
generate very little interest. After you have established an impressive track record you can begin
raising your prices.
The ideal starting price is probably slightly above the average rate in your market for your target
students. This pricing is competitive and will generate a large response from potential students
that are not overly price sensitive. It will also allow you to generate a reasonable profit which will
cover your marketing expenses and enable you to pay high enough wages to hire quality tutors.
4. Promote your business
Promotion is probably one of the most important elements of operating a successful tutoring
organization. Providing excellent tutoring services are very important, but without effective
promotion you will be requiring on word-of-mouth to promote your business which builds slowly
over time. This may be fine if you are an independent tutor, but if you are starting a tutoring
business with multiple tutors it is important that you adopt a variety of promotion methods.
Typical methods for promoting a new tutoring business include introducing yourself and your
tutoring services to people in schools who interact with students looking for tutors such as
guidance counselors. You will also want to drop off brochures and put up posters in areas where
a large number of students and young families visit. This includes school guidance and student
services offices, community centers, public libraries, sports arenas and possibly certain coffee
shops if youre targeting university students.
Online advertising is another effective and affordable method for promoting your business. You
should first set up a business website that contains your contact information, information about
the area your business services, the subjects you tutor and a sign up form for interested
students. Many blogging services offer free website hosting and website themes that are
suitable for tutoring businesses.
You will also want to submit your business to online directories such as Google Places which
offers free business listings and appear whenever people search for local results matching your
business.
Tutor Directories are specifically for independent tutors and tutoring agencies. These sites
attract a highly targeted audience of people looking specifically for tutoring services. Some tutor
directories require a fee, but others are free.
Google AdWords is an online advertising platform that allows you to place text adds alongside
search engine results and on websites with related content. The great thing about AdWords is
that you can target people looking for tutoring services as well as target people in a specific
geographic area.

Other forms of advertising include newspaper classifieds, direct mail, telephone directories and
other forms of print. These methods can be a little more expensive, but sometimes they can
produce excellent results if done correctly.
5. Set up the administrative portion of your business.
The four sections above addressed the marketing portion of your business, but you also need to
prepare the administrative aspects of your business. The more organized you can keep the
administration of your business, the more time you can focus on managing and growing your
business.
There are several things you need to keep track of in order for your business to function
smoothly.
Student Records
Its important to keep records of student contact information, subjects, lesson notes, progress
reports, etc. You should keep a file on each student containing all of their information that you
can easily access and update. Tracking this information will improve communication and allow
you to track and share progress with students and parents.
Schedules
As you take on more students and if you are managing multiple tutors, keeping track of
schedules can become confusing very quickly if you arent organized. You should have a
dedicated calendar that allows you to keep track of all student lessons and can easily be
updated when lessons are cancelled or rescheduled.
Billing
You can choose from a variety of billing methods when you operate your tutoring company, but
there are a few methods in particular that will simplify the billing process and ensure that you
are paid for your services. One method is to have the student pay each lesson either before or
after the lesson. This method is good because there is no delay between providing the tutoring
and receiving payment so you dont have to worry about collecting payments for past lessons.
An even better option is for students to pay for 5-10 lessons up front and when they have used
up their lessons they can pay for another block. This method allows you to record the payment
once and then not have to worry about collecting a fee for each separate lesson.
Tracking Revenue and Expenses
Its important to keep accurate records of your lesson revenue and your business expenses.
You will need this information when you complete your taxes and its extremely important
information for evaluating your business performance throughout the year. Lesson fees should

be recorded as the lessons are completed. Expenses can be recorded as incurred or you can
save your receipts and record them once a month.
Invoices
Depending on how professional you want your business to appear you may want to generate
monthly or quarterly invoices for your customers. Invoices should list all lesson fees, additional
fees or credits and payments received.
Depending on the size and complexity of your business you may be able to stay organized with
a regular calendar and excel spreadsheets. However, if you have a larger tutoring business with
multiple tutors you may want to invest in a system specifically designed for tutoring business
administration like TutorPanel. TutorPanel integrates many aspects of your business into one
easy-to-use system and will save you time and make your business appear more professional.
6. Operate and Improve your business
The final and most important part of starting a tutoring business is actually going out and
operating the business. This is the exciting part where you get to finally put your plan into action.
As you operate your business youll find that many things dont work out the way you expected
them to and thats fine. The important thing is that you quickly adapt to find a solution to any
problems you face. Pay attention to what works well and what problems can be eliminated.
Through a process of continuous improvement your business will become more effective and
successful.