3 things to do when you start a training or tutoring business
You’ve recently started your teaching/tutoring business. You are working day and night to put the final touches on your work and get more customers through the door. Congratulations on ticking off endless tasks in your to-do list to make it happen. There are often so many things to do that there is not enough time. the trick is to prioritise. There’s a lot more to running a training organisation or language school than you can imagine.There are 3 things you need to do when you start.
The reality: What it feels like when you are a startup
It seems like you have no free time at all. And the chances are you probably don’t.
Until you get your schedule fully booked, you will probably be spending a lot of time trying to promote your business. As a teacher/trainer all you had to do was just prepare lesson plans, attend meetings, show up to class and give feedback on assignments and assessments. Now you have to wear a lot more hats. If you are feeling overwhelmed now, it’s nothing compared to how you will be feeling once your schedule is full. And as if that was not enough you have to keep doing everything else you are doing at the moment.
While working hard to make your training business take off: Be Proactive!
You have to take action and start things οn the right foot. Put aside some time nowand set everything up properly from the beginning even if you feel like it’ll be a while till you will need everything. Trust Me! Being organised is one of the factors that will determine if you will sink or swim.
What to do before you get fully booked by students
1. Do a P.A.R.O. on your files
P.A.R.O. stands for PURGE, ARCHIVE, RENAME, ORGANISE. It may sound strange that as a new business starting out you would need to do this but most new entrepreneurs are so excited they dive straight into getting things done but have not laid out the foundations of their systems. This ends up on files all over the place as you try hard to document the “storm in your brain”. Every business needs a well-organised file system.
- Purge anything you no longer need
- Archive business-related fields you are keeping for your records but not currently using
- Rename according to your naming conventions for easy access in the future
- Organise your files making sure everything has a place
2. Keep updating your competitor info
You have conducted a competitor analysis before you started your business but that is not enough. There is a lot to learn from competitors and you need to make sure your services are up-to-date with what the market is looking for. Where do you stand in the market? Is your pricing in line with standard rates? Are you charging average prices for a premium service? What are other businesses offering? Visit their websites, follow them on social media and update your analysis regularly.
3. Document everything!
You can’t improve what you don’t measure so make sure you track all progress. Create files to keep track of the information that is important to you. For example, you need to know where each new customer heard from you, which advertising has been most successful, parents’/students’ feedback and more. Feeling overwhelmed? The Lectimo Team can help you set up your documentation files to make sure you are keeping track of what matters most in your business.
As you already know, there are many more things you need to do but we have chosen to highlight these as they are sometimes overlooked at the beginning. Some of you have the time and knowledge to put all systems in place but sometimes we all need a little help.
Knowing what you don’t know can help you grow your teaching business!
Want to pick our brains? Contact us to schedule a call.