How Much Should I Charge For Tutoring?
How much should I charge for tutoring?
Providing tutoring services is a great way to supplement a teacher's income. What to charge for those tutoring services, though, can sometimes leave teacher's scratching their heads. Today we are talking about how to calculate what to charge for tutoring sessions, and how to be confident with your rate.
One of the most requested things I get asked or questions I get asked in general, is: “How much should I charge for tutoring?” I'm going to lay that all out for you and help you be confident and what you end up charging, and stop doubting yourself. There's a lot of things that go into how much you should charge and I'm going to break that down today with five tips. So get a pencil and paper and be ready to take some really good notes.
Start with the end in mind: How much do you want to earn each month?
Start with the end in mind: How much do you want to earn each month?
My first tip is to start with the end in mind. I always tell my students this inside of Tutorpreneur Academy®, that reverse engineering what your income goals are for the month to know how many kids you need to tutor starting with the end in mind. It helps you have a clear image of what your month is going to look like. So let's say you're like me, a full time teacher, and your goal is $1000 extra dollars a month. It's pretty easy to get there with just a handful of kids. That's why I talk about that number a lot because it's what my goal always is as a tutor and a full time teacher. Can you make more? Absolutely, it just depends on how much time you want to give. So figure out that number: what's your monthly income goal and start there, and write it down.
Decide on your hourly rate
Decide on your hourly rate
My next tip is to decide on your hourly rate. Once you know how much you're going to make each month, you need to figure out how much you need to charge to get to that point. This is a really tricky part because it depends on where you live. I've worked with tutors who live in the Midwest, I've worked with tutors on the north or the east and west coast and they charge a lot more. A good starting point - if you're a highly qualified teacher, is $1 to $2 per minute. If you're looking for a formula, you can also use my tutoring income calculator. It is absolutely free to use and it does all the math for you. $1 to $2 per hour is a great place to start. It just depends on where you live. I also recommend reaching out to other tutors in Facebook groups and get a guesstimate of what they charge. But honestly… just figure it out on your own and be confident with it. You're going to feel more confident when you tell a parent or a client your rate.
Charge what you're worth
Charge what you’re worth
Charge what you're worth! I've worked with lots of tutors, and many times they will be under charging. Let's say they have a master's degree or two master's degrees (I have two master's degrees, myself and I have countless certifications). I truly believe you can't doubt that you're a highly qualified teacher because if you do, then you're not going to be charging enough. Then tutoring is not going to be worth your time. If you're not meeting your monthly income goals, you're going to get burnt out quickly and stop tutoring. Tutoring should be something that reinvigorates you, makes you like teaching even more while giving you that one to one with students that you don't often get in the classroom. Charge what you're worth.
Factor in the time you’re spending tutoring and prepping
Factor in the time you’re spending tutoring and prepping
Factor in your time that you spend tutoring, prepping, and driving (if you're going to people's homes). Think about what a half hour session is worth for you based on the effort that we're putting into it. You really do need to think about the time that you take to prep. Prepping does get easier over time. If you start to streamline your business and tutor pods, then it could make it easier on you to charge a higher rate and tutor less over time. Just think about the time that you are prepping and driving and actually tutoring and make it worth your while. Like I said before, you don't want to get burnt out.
Don’t doubt yourself and be confident with your rate
My last tip is don't doubt yourself. If you are telling a client your rate, you need to be confident with it because they can feel your lack of confidence and it's not going to come across like you know what you're doing. Confidently tell them your rate and definitely don’t say “Is that ok?!” after you say your rate! This is why I recommend having a services page on your web site as well as a survey to fill out so that if someone is going to the step of filling out your survey to work with you, you could have an option that says: I charge blank for this amount of time and another question that says “Do you feel this is worth the investment?” If they check “No”, then I would not make a discovery call with that person because they're just gonna waste your time. If they say yes, then it's worth it. So remember that you need to be confident with your rate.
Those are my best 5 tips for figuring out how much you should charge for tutoring.
Let me know if you are happy with your tutoring rate in the comments below OR if you're ready to level it up and charge more!
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