5 reasons to start tutoring (and 2 reasons to not start)
Elton Rodrigues 3 min read
Exploring opportunities beyond the classroom or workplace can enhance your overall learning experience and set you on a path towards personal and professional growth. One such opportunity is tutoring, where you can share your knowledge and help others while benefiting yourself. We’ll outline five compelling reasons why you should start tutoring and two reasons why tutoring might not be the best fit for everyone.
If you’re still making up your mind, consider reading our post on 4 essential skills for online tutors to supplement this discussion
📝 Reasons to start tutoring
💸 Supplement your income
A little extra cash can go a long way and tutoring is one of the best ways to supplement your income. As a private tutor, you can earn 2-3 times more per hour than you would in a part-time job and while choosing your own hours. The high rate also comes with the satisfaction of knowing you’re helping other students. As a private tutor, you can easily earn $50/hour. If you tutor for 4 hours a week that’s $200, which over the course of a year can add up to $10,000. You can also significantly increase that while saving time by switching to small-group tutoring and going online first
🔊 Improve communication and interpersonal skills
Soft skills such as communication and emotional support are equally important as adequate knowledge when it comes to tutoring. Effective tutors require excellent communication skills, to break down and explain complex ideas in a clear and concise manner. As you constantly interact with different students, you can practise and improve your communication skills. Once you start taking on more students, you’ll also learn to adapt your communication style to different situations, which is an invaluable skill in any career
🧪 Gain valuable teaching experience
Teaching is an important skill for everyone, not just educators. Whether you’re an electrician mentoring an apprentice, a doctor explaining medical information patient, or a teacher guiding a classroom, the ability to break down complex concepts for others is a crucial skill in life
Tutoring can be a great way to develop these skills and get fast feedback from your students. You can practise communicating difficult concepts and creating educational materials, while continually learning to adapt your teaching methods to cater to individual student needs
🏅 Develop leadership skills
Tutors are expected to take initiative and lead their students through solving complex problems. This position of leadership teaches you how to manage the responsibility and trust of your student. You’ll learn to set realistic expectations, encourage your student and help them through successes and setbacks, all of which are critical skills in any leadership role
🚅 Improve your own mastery of a subject
Teaching others is one of the best ways to learn. Trying to teach a concept quickly highlights any gaps in your own understanding, allowing you to seek help and fill them faster. Explaining concepts to others also reinforces your own knowledge and makes you more skilful in the areas you teach
🛑 Reasons you should not start tutoring
🏥 Heavy workload or busy schedule:
If you have a busy schedule, taking on tutoring can add to your workload, making it overwhelming. As a tutor, you have to create materials, manage your time, and guide your students through their academic journey. While this effort can be seen as an investment that can benefit more students in the future, it still requires your time and energy. Before starting, consider if you have enough time to balance your own studies and personal life while also fulfilling your tutoring responsibilities
😠 Lack of patience
When you tutor, you need to be patient and adapt your teaching methods for different students. Sometimes, it can be frustrating when you try your best to explain something, but the student still doesn’t grasp the main concept. Other times, it can be discouraging when you ask your student to do homework or other tasks outside of tutoring sessions, but they don’t follow through, expecting you to solve all their problems in just one hour a week. In these situations, it’s important to take a step back, reevaluate the situation, and approach the problem with a collaborative mindset. It’s also crucial to be able to communicate your expectations to your student without being confrontational
Some of us just aren’t the patient type, and that’s okay. If you find it difficult to explain complex ideas or lack the patience to work through difficulties with students, tutoring may not be the best choice for you
👍 Conclusion: Is tutoring worth it?
Tutoring is worth it if you want to earn money while reinforcing your knowledge, developing life skills, and positively impacting others. If you are patient enough to help struggling students and can fit it into your schedule, take the first step and get started, you won’t regret it
📈 Where to from here?
If you’re ready to get started you should check out our comprehensive guide on how to start a tutoring side-hustle, and our discussion of the best subjects to tutor online
We advocate for an online first approach, and have posted about the multiple benefits of tutoring online, especially if you use an education focused platform like Kedyou (it’s free forever and you can get started in less than 5 minutes). If you’d like to read more about this - I’ve written a whole post about why Kedyou is a great platform for online tutoring
Best of luck! Go forth and educate 🤘
