reply to "Questions about math tutoring"

Deodiaus · Guest

The only advice I can offer about no-shows is to have them meet you at
a place that is convenient for you at an activity which you were going
to be anyway. For example, choose to meet at the library. In that
way, if they do not show up, you will make some use of your time by
looking for some information which you might already have planned.
Have them travel to meet you rather than the other way around.
Plumbers charge for travel, so you can ask your clients to meet you.
Don't offer to meet them at their location.

The only other thing I can think of is to get them to pay a $5/hr
deposit a day upfront via PayPal. The only way in which that might
work is if you offer a package deal, e.g. 10 lessons gets you a 25%
discount. However, getting a student to pay for 10 lessons up front is
tough. The student might drop the course or fail out before the
mid-term.

The only people willing to pay for premium services are those who have
money, e.g. in NYC, those who have a place around Central Park or who
have parents with money. Maybe you might ask them for their address
for billing purposes to make up an invoice, and use that as a grounds
to size them up. Most doctors ask for a SSN. Why does a doc need a
SSN? I pay via insurance which they should verify before performing a
service. I even resent having my medical insurance having my SSN. My
auto mechanic ask for my address, even when I pay cash or credit card.
If I were interested in stealing from him, I would not give a valid
address, so why the need for my address. I even resent my mechanic
asking for the VIN. It is not his job to track down stolen cars.
Similarly, if I were a crook, I would forge the VIN. Personally, I
think it is laughable that the auto manufacturer does not stamp on the
VIN (to parts of the car which are durable), but just sticks a sticker
to the parts. Leave it to our "elected officials" to look out for our
common interests.

Kaplan and Sylvan Learning charge around $50/hr offering tutoring
services, so there is a demand for tutoring and supplemental education.
These established tutoring centers spend time and money on
advertising, so you have to as well. Make up some flyers and put them
up at every library, high school, college, university to which you
travel.

Allan Adler · Guest

"Deodiaus" <deodiaus@my-deja.com> writes:

Quote: The only advice I can offer about no-shows is to have them meet you at
a place that is convenient for you at an activity which you were going
to be anyway.

Thanks for the suggestion. It's probably what I will do. It does raise
another issue, however: since it is a place I will be anyway, when the
client shows up an hour or two late, and I'm there anyway, it is a lot
harder to reject the client's sincere apology for being late and, in effect,
offer to meet with me now that they've arrived. In other words, it tends
to make the concept of an appointment meaningless. If I insist on charging
for the waste of my valuable time, arguably I was there anyway and, besides,
it is arguably in my interests to take the bird in the hand instead of losing
the business.

This is all subsumed under "theoretical tutoring", since I don't have any
clients anyway.

Quote: The only way in which that might
work is if you offer a package deal, e.g. 10 lessons gets you a 25%
discount. However, getting a student to pay for 10 lessons up front is
tough. The student might drop the course or fail out before the
mid-term.

This is an idea I've considered: charging by the semester instead of by
the hour, with an upper limit on the amount of work I have to do. The
reason it won't work, apart from the cost, is that students are already
paying the university to provide that kind of access and don't take full
advantage of the opportunities to use the services they have already paid
for. So, they aren't going to pay for more help except in case of emergency.

I decided it is more accurate to describe myself as a consultant and as a
private teacher, rather than as a tutor. I think that suffices to guarantee
that I will never be distracted from my research by getting any business.
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler <ara@zurich.csail.mit.edu>
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and
* comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.

Deodiaus · Guest

I don't think the idea of charging by the semester is worthwhile. If
they need that much help, I doubt that they should be taking the class.
It is funny, but the professionals which I use have no problem getting
money from clients. I had a lawyer who approached me about fighting a
traffic ticket. He said he charged "next to nothing" but took $100/hr,
and I had to meet him at his office beforehand. He gave me a receipt
on a napkin, so I bet he did not declare it the the IRS. I don't know
why I let myself be persuaded by his arguements that he could help. He
got the ticket dismissed, but afterwards, I think I could have
succeeded without help.
I hired two guys to move my furniture and do some lawn work. They were
complete goof-offs, yet I fear if I did not pay them, I would end up
with all the windows in my house broken.
I think the idea of having clients paying $5 upfront is workable. Tell
them that this is to insure that they show up, and that Kaplan charges
$50/hr. If they balk, then they don't value your time or services.
The sort of people who will pay you are kids whose parents are
managers, financial consultants, lawyers and doctors, who want the same
success in life for their kids. The parents know first that their kids
should not go into math, but math is a means to an ends.
My bank is getting to annoy me. The McFinancial consultant keeps
calling me to help me manage my money (and take a commission). I am
polite with him because I might need his services in the future, but
often feel that his advice is not worth all that much. Unfortunately,
I don't have enough money where a 2% commission would be rent me an
astute financial consultant.