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Full Time Tutoring: At what point does the financial benefit outweigh the job's disadvantages?

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  1. #1

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    Full Time Tutoring: At what point does the financial benefit outweigh the job's disadvantages?

    I've seen a lot of discussion on this forum regarding English tutoring in its various forms and its advantages and disadvantages.

    What I have not seen much discussion about is this : When does the financial benefit of full time private tutoring outweigh the disadvantages of the job (no sick leave, no paid leave, no insurance, income fluctuation, lack of job security etc etc)? 50K per month? 60K? 70K? 80K? More? Never?

    I know several tutors split their time between working at a centre or a school (which provide some normal job benefits) with private tutoring on the side in order to address this issue. Problem is, most of the time splitting their work in this way does restrict their income. Hence my question! I would be interested to get some input on this.




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  2. #2

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    1. Figure out what average income income you want for your own expenses and saving. You are the only one who can make this decision.

    2. Add business expenses - sickness/ disability insurance (specially if your students are paying by the month or by the term, in which case you will need to employ someone else to make up lessons if you are incapacitated), tax, materials, rent of premises, the occasional "fees uncollectable", whatever else you can think of. Add up the amounts for 1. and 2. for a full year.

    3. How much vacation time do you want to give yourself? Do you assume your students will be
    taking that time off too, or will you need to find (and maybe pay) someone else in order to keep students (more likely, their parents) from switching loyalty to another tutor? How many working days in a year days that leave? Oh, and remember to factor in half a dozen typhoon/ black rain days (if they don't happen, the income from those is your bonus )

    4.How much are you planning to charge?

    5.Divide total needed/ aimed for income by number of working days. How many hours work per day will be needed to reach that target?

    And there is you answer, at least financially speaking. Job satisfaction is another matter entirely.

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  3. #3

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    Unless you're full time, you're unlikely to be getting benefits such as sick pay, holiday pay, typhoon pay, etc.

    My top four reasons to do at least a couple of days teaching in a proper school:

    1.) Keep your EDB registered or permitted teacher status. The fact that you are a registered or permitted teacher is a great selling point to parents.

    2.) Access to parents and students. Parents will naturally ask if you do private lessons, tutors will often source most of their students from the classrooms of the schools where they teach.

    3.) Keep your C.V. looking good. English teacher at Leung Cheung Primary School 2010 - 2014 sounds a hell of a lot better than private tutorials only.

    4.) Keep your eye in. Tutorials, especially one to ones are a completely different game from teaching class. You never know what the future holds. Keep your skills up. Keep learning from your colleagues. Keep an eye on the latest ideas and materials. Private tutoring can be very isolating.

    In addition:

    Depending on the relationship you have with the principal, they may let you borrow books. Most schools allow teachers to borrow any books/CDs/DVDs and usually have a sign out/in book somewhere for this purpose, just ask!

    Money's money! There's less private tutoring about during the day. Even if you're only making $1500 for a day's teaching in a school, eight of those a month is $12k, that's your rent sorted.


  4. #4

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    Some very good points made here. Definitely full time private tutoring isn't for everyone!

    Some of the issues such as finding students during daytime hours can be handled, there are always students taking afternoon classes that are available in the mornings, shift work adults are also sometimes available during these hours.

    Also, once a tutor gets beyond a certain number of students, it becomes self-sustaining as referrals become very common.

    However, there are still very real downsides which have been noted, I would still be interested in hearing from teachers / tutors at what point does it become interesting to consider switching to FT private tutoring as I believe there is a considerable income gap between PT and FT tutoring.


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  5. #5

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    It does depend on what you earn in your other work. As about half of my total work, I have a part time job with the salary tied to the net scheme pay scale. This means I work 4 hrs a day, and am paid 50% of what a full time NET earns, leaving the rest of the day free for tutoring. This includes the housing allowance (halved), end of contract bonuses, and the salary increases due to time of service etc. Next yr this salary will be 22k, but it will keep going up.

    With all the paid holidays, typhoons, sick leave etc, that works out to be a pretty good deal. For one thing it means I have income when I go on my annual trip to England with my family.

    And of course, during the school holidays this salary keeps coming in but I have the option of significantly increasing my tutor work.

    Then we have the CV and other benefits mentioned. I think the only way I would drop this job is if I rented or owned a language centre of my own and needed to maximise its success.

    PS I also get to use their excellent printer, and plan most of my tutor classes in their staff room, but please don't tell the principal

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    Last edited by justjoe86; 26-05-2014 at 10:40 AM.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by justjoe86:
    It does depend on what you earn in your other work. As about half of my total work, I have a part time job with the salary tied to the net scheme pay scale. This means I work 4 hrs a day, and am paid 50% of what a full time NET earns, leaving the rest of the day free for tutoring. This includes the housing allowance (halved), end of contract bonuses, and the salary increases due to time of service etc. Next yr this salary will be 22k, but it will keep going up.

    With all the paid holidays, typhoons, sick leave etc, that works out to be a pretty good deal. For one thing it means I have income when I go on my annual trip to England with my family.


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    The paid holiday is a big financial benefit - no doubt. But doing some basic calculations, even taking paid holiday leave into account, you are looking at an hourly rate of around $300 or so (correct me if I'm wrong). A good private tutor would be earning at least $400 - $500 / Hr, sometimes more.

    Let's take an average of $450 / hr for arguments sake - that would work out to be an extra $13,200 / month (based on 88 working hours) extra IF the tutor could fill their schedule with students.

  7. #7

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    It is the getting the ball rolling with regard to student numbers that is the issue...

    I have no idea if there is any such kind of group here, but back 30+ years ago in Australia, I joined a sort of community tutors' co-op, which referred students in my specialist field. They took a small cut of my pay, but in the beginning it was worth it as the number of referrals really set me up within one term. Within a year I had a waiting list and was able to command a premium price.

    Not knowing what subject(s) or level(s) you're offering, I don't know about demand or market saturation in your case, but agency work could still be a good option for a first step.


  8. #8

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    chingleutsch , that sounds a little bit like tutorgroup where the first couple of hours worth of tuition costs go to the company, in exchange for the referral.

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  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by chingleutsch:
    It is the getting the ball rolling with regard to student numbers that is the issue...

    I have no idea if there is any such kind of group here, but back 30+ years ago in Australia, I joined a sort of community tutors' co-op, which referred students in my specialist field. They took a small cut of my pay, but in the beginning it was worth it as the number of referrals really set me up within one term.
    Yes accumulating students (in a short time period at least) can be tricky. There are agencies in HK that offer a similar service to what you mention. Also, aggressive marketing in terms of leaflets, flyers and online ads can help.

    I'm assuming a person contemplating this move would already be a PT tutor and so would be able to judge for themselves when they had reached a sufficient student load to make the change.



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  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by jmbf:
    The paid holiday is a big financial benefit - no doubt. But doing some basic calculations, even taking paid holiday leave into account, you are looking at an hourly rate of around $300 or so (correct me if I'm wrong). A good private tutor would be earning at least $400 - $500 / Hr, sometimes more.

    Let's take an average of $450 / hr for arguments sake - that would work out to be an extra $13,200 / month (based on 88 working hours) extra IF the tutor could fill their schedule with students.
    22 hours of private tutoring week in week out will be difficult to achieve IMO. I'm not saying it can't be done I'm just trying to inject some realism.

    To that 22 hours you need to add:

    'Talk time' - Time spent briefly chatting to your student (or their parents) at the end of the lesson.

    'Planning time' - Time spent planning lessons!

    'Travel time' - Travelling all over the territory!

    Student turnover...timings that don't work, juggling rearranges and last minute cancellations. Plus, if your rate is $450, and you're low on numbers, would you take on a $350er? What about $350 for a four hour a weeker, etc, etc.

    You might be right that $40k or $50k or $60k or $xk is the time to go for it but I would argue that it's extremely difficult to achieve, realistically.

    The other point, if you're that good at getting students, it might be time to open a small centre so you can spread your risk/increase income with groups.

    Hmmm....let me put it another way OP. I think you'd have to go backwards to go forwards! You'd have to have the confidence to quit your part time teaching job in the belief that you'd quickly fill that time with private tutorials.
    Last edited by Prefab Sprout; 26-05-2014 at 12:43 PM.

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