My journey into tutoring started out last summer when I looked at a #franchise opportunity imparting Math & English #Tuitions to students from age of 7 to 15 years old.
Its been now 6 months since inception and 5 weeks since our first tutoring session. It has required much research, planning, compliance & co-ordination. From negotiating initial fees, coping with an investor pulling out at the last-minute, almost losing out on our preferred venue and having to postpone & rethink Open days due to external factors were just a few important challenges.
To work with children, one needs appropriate DBS-Enhanced Certificate. To secure a venue, you need the above & also a public liability insurance as a pre-requisite. Ensuring all accounting is updated daily or regularly and in a transparent manner is important.
Working out a business plan with adequate working capital is essential as is sufficient investment of time & resources in marketing. Use of ‘leafleting’ regularly & use of #Facebook facility to reach desired target audience is highly effective. Where a business is not restricted by territory constraints, use of twitter & FB pages are a great way to reach a much wider audience and also create a captive audience respectively.
There is an old saying – “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Time & again reminding this helped me reach my tactical goals whilst hopefully laying foundation for a strong business over the next 3-5 years.
Another equally crucial element is to stand out and be different. ‘Why should someone choose you or your services?’ For instance, at our centre, we ensure small groups of 3-4 students per mentor. We ensure that the mentors are highly motivated, knowledgable and skilled. At First Class Learning, we provide opportunities for personalised learning whilst following the National curriculum. There is a feedback process involving all stake-holders to ensure any gaps in concepts are flagged up and cleared immediately. We aim to focus on the child, their potential and how we can effectively support parents & children in achieving & unlocking their potential.
On a personal level, this move away from equity trading was a win-win, much more ethical and an absolute no-brainer for someone who wishes to make a difference in another person’s life and leave behind a ‘legacy’.
I have realised that having my own business allowed me to implement my own standards & discard a few others. For instance, my tutors are paid a decent wage and I hope to pay a premium on the #LivingWage soon to ensure business is an extension of my own inner moral code. I also hope to make a positive difference in the lives of the students & their family. Partly it will be achieved through our modular curriculum to suit the pace of each student & family circumstance; partly it will be achieved through greater listening to & collaboration with the parents. This crucial mix of ‘head and heart’ is incredibly important. Performance does not need to be sacrificed to up hold values and vice versa!
Working alongside smart tutors including my older son Jash & other QE boys, working with parents to create a bespoke plan for their children and see them & their child smile has been hugely rewarding. Kids are after all our future. Here in lies the potential for an artist or a doctor, an architect or a poet, an engineer or a great being, waiting to be unlocked & inspired.
Reminiscing I soon realised that seeds to become a tutor were sown a long time ago. Whether it was helping my cousins or friends with school work, mentor younger kids on a one to one basis as a 6th former, explaining aspects of economics to my friends at Brunel, training Asda staff on an internal computer based training program or becoming one of the 30 field trainers for Cadbury’s, life perhaps was conspiring & nurturing me to take up this responsibility.
It is often in silence, in absence of a doubting, judgmental & procrastinating mind, we hear clearly the whispers of the heart.
I wish you all this moment of reflection & silence, wherein you too start to live your dreams & start making the difference you are capable of!
Gaurang Morjaria
( Director of Lotus Tutorial Services trading as FCL Cockfosters EN4 )
Satyagraha Media 