Thinking of starting a tutoring business, need help

[discodanman45]

I am having a horrible time finding a teaching job I want. The demand for tutors is always high in Fresno and I want to start a tutoring business. I will be able to charge much cheaper rates then tutoring businesses since I only have to pay myself. Since I live in an apartment I know it would be illegal to tutor here since I can not use it as a business. I was thinking of making an online business and tutor at student's homes. However, the problem is I never attempted anything like this and don't know what to do!!!!!! By the way I have a Masters in Physics and have the ability to tutor a variety of classes. I want to make this legit as possible and would like to know how I would go about starting this. Thanks for any help!

[pam123]

I don't know much about Fresno but if the demand for tutors is as high as you say it is there are probably several large and reputable agencies that specialize in private tutors in your area.
With an MS in Physics you would be a face they'd like to see walk through the door.
Spend a half year or more with them, get all the background checks done ( without them you might have trouble getting anyone who doesn't know you personally to hire you ) and find out what you're letting yourself in for.
A word of advice; before you sign up with anyone check them out carefully. These people will be establishing your bona fides so you don't want to sign up with anyone whose rep is in doubt. They don't have to get all the kids into Harvard but you don't want an outfit that keeps ending up in court for one reason or another either.
Good luck.

[discodanman45]

The agencies here in fresno are a total rip off. They will give me $10 an hour at most. When I was a TA here at Fresno I remember getting offers for $20 an hour at least once a week. These offers were made by people who went out of their way to get into touch with me. The private tutoring places charge close to $50 per hour for someone with my experience. I can pretty much count on 20 hours a week if I charge $20 an hour without trying too hard. I had a friend that did this and he had no trouble getting students.

I am interested in the legal guidelines of this. If I need to declare this as a business, how much money can I make without declaring it as a business, etc....

[piasabird]

You need to investigate this as a Service Industry endeavour. I would think the Service you provide is very hard to Tax other than just income so you would not have to provide Sales Tax unless you were also selling books and materials, which is something elese to look at. If you are offereing turtoring services you may want to research in outfits that offer testing services so you can provide some tests to evaluate students and maybe even some standardized testing. If nothing else you could recommend locations to take an ACT Test or whatever and give out testing packets. There has to be some whay to quantify your work and the students progress.

I have heard of people taking teaching jobs overseas in areas where overseas schools are offerred. For instance it might be feasable to offer services to say Japanese students who wish to take the ACT or entrance exams.

[pam123]

The city of Fresno seems to have a one size fits all business license.
It's here : http://www.fresno.gov/Lic_Permits/
My advice is to call the Finance Dept. first.
You may not be making enough to need one.
The agency scene sounds awful so skip those people.
You appear to have a ready-made market though.
Go find the people who sought you out the first time around and let them know your available also put up some flyers and give everyone an e-mail address or phone number at which they can contact you.
Even if you're no longer a TA the same way you heard about and were contacted for tutoring oppurtunites then should work now.

[discodanman45]

Thanks Pam! That is exactly what I was looking for. I also looked at tax forms and as long as I make under a certain amount I don't even think I need to get a business liscense. It doesn't hurt to ask though. This is what I am planning on doing, tell me if anything I am doing sounds like i could get in trouble for

1) Set up a web-site with a domain name (for about $10 a month it could be quite useful, I could also charge for online tutoring through Instant Messanger, ICQ, yahoo messanger, etc. Also I could charge students to analyze their work, they could send a problem that they had been working on and I could give them tips, suggestions, and tell them what misconceptions they have. However, I will not work out problems or give out solutions for the ethical viewpoint.
2) Post flyers on campuses (do I need permission to do this?)
3) Classified Ads (Is promoting a service ok to do in a newspaper?)
4) I know TA's, which will spread word of mouth
5) Tell the Physics department to contact me if anyone needs tutoring

The website would be nice since it would make it seem professional since I would have e-mails addresses @my-domain.com. I could also offer discounts if students buy tutoring hours in bigger blocks and also charge for group tutoring (students pay less, but I get more per hour)

[pam123]

Since I don't know your campus I don't know what the rules are.
Are there any areas where students routinely post notices ?
Are there any bulletin boards ( or whatever they call them these days ) where various community announcements show up ? These are the area you're looking for.
It's a pretty good bet that either your Physics dept. or the math dept. has an area where notices for tutoring are posted routinely.
Once you know where they are any request to post in that area will probably be agreed to, if you need to ask at all.
Advertising is legal and entirely allowable, just don't do any mass e-mailing
The rest of the plan is all good.
The website idea is a good one.
Try looking through this : http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...toring&spell=1
Remember, you're only one guy, but ideas are not patentable and you may be able to adapt something.