The secret to making money teaching for yourself is to have lots of students to teach. Everyone knows that. What most people don’t know is how to find those students.
Almost every teacher I meet who is interested in teaching or tutoring as a business asks me how we find our students. It’s a fair question; however, I think it is the wrong question. Here is my best advice: Stop looking for “students” and start looking for “a student.”
For our first 2 years in business, we could trace almost every one of our students back to one individual. He was our first student. He liked our teaching style. He told his friends. His friends told their friends, and so on. Today, we still have students we can trace back to him. More importantly, however, we have learned that this is the rule, not the exception. A very large percentage of our business still comes from referrals from other customers. This is word-of-mouth marketing. It is the best — and the cheapest — way to grow your business.
There are ways to improve your word-of-mouth marketing. There are ways to encourage your students to refer their friends. Down the road, I will give you some suggestions for doing this. When you are starting out, however, your focus should be on finding just one student. This is easier than you think. Tell everyone you know what you are teaching and what kind of students you are looking for. Don’t push. Don’t talk too much. Just mention it. Let all of your friends, family, and other contacts know what you are doing. If they ask you questions, answer them. Be polite. Be helpful. Be visible. You will be surprised how quickly you find your first student.
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