How to Tutor on Wyzant
For years, I have been teaching on Wyzant—-a site that connects students and tutors for online and in-person lesson tutoring. Private tutoring is a rewarding and flexible way to earn some extra income doing something you truly love, and Wyzant has been catalyst for my tutoring career.
Here are some of my insights from time teaching on Wyzant!
Parents and prospective students read your profile. In almost every lesson, a parent or student has mentioned a specific qualification or note from my profile, so I am glad I took the time to carefully craft a thoughtful Wyzant bio. Clients want someone who is prepared, professional, qualified, and caring, so take your time to write a bio that showcases your expertise and personality. It will pay off!
Reasons for tutoring vary. Adult learners are usually there because they truly want to be. Oftentimes, this is true for children as well, and other times it is because their parents want them to have a tutor. Talk to your students and try to find out their reasons for being in tutoring, so that you can best design their learning experiences to suit their needs. If a child does not really want to be there, you might have to work a little harder to make the experience more exciting and engaging for them. One way to do this is to find out what they are passionate about, even if it is outside of your subject area, then try to bridge their interests to your tutoring topics. You might also share information about your life, and how the subject you are tutoring has improved your life in unexpected ways. This could make it more appealing to a young person who hasn’t necessarily chosen tutoring for themselves.
Parents who hire tutors care deeply about their child’s success. It is no secret that tutoring can propel a student’s learning beyond what they could do on their own or with regular classroom learning. That is a big part of its appeal—-more progress in less time. For this reason, tutoring is an invaluable gift parents give their children. These parents are to be valued and supported, because they are in a bit of a vulnerable position where they want to support their child’s interests, but can’t provide that support on their own, so they have to pay someone else to do it. This might mean they have many questions, concerns or ideas about their child’s sessions. This is all normal and to be expected! While parent questions can take up a lot of time outside of actual tutoring sessions, remember that the parents have the same goal that you do—for the child to learn as much as they can. A parent is always to be valued as an integral member of the child’s learning team, so try to be patient and available to answer parents’ questions.
You can ask for reviews and referrals. At first I was a bit shy about this, but then I remembered that I am adding value to my students’ lives and providing a high quality service that is hard to find! If you treat your students very, very well by preparing challenging and thoughtful lessons, delivering energetic and engaging lessons, and offering specific, actionable feedback on their work, you should feel empowered to ask for reviews and referrals! Wyzant has a simple review process, where you can easily request a review with a pre-written email, and you can even click a button to ask students to refer you to their friends and family.
If you bring new clients to Wyzant with a referral link, you keep 100% of your fee. Normally, Wyzant takes a 25% cut of all earnings. This seems like a lot, but it is actually much lower than other sites, and is a small price to pay for connecting you to clients around the country who you otherwise would not have had access to. If you bring new students to Wyzant (by posting your referral link on social media, or printing out flyers and posting them around your neighborhood) you can keep your entire fee, while enjoying the perks of working through Wyzant—you have access to their integrated online meeting platform, you can contact Customer Support if any problems come up with students, and you have easily accessible records of lessons and earnings.
Setting your own rate is empowering and motivating. This is an incredible feature because you can charge a fee that is reasonable and appropriate for your skill level and experience. If you have advanced degrees, lots of teaching experience, a teaching license, and/or years of being an active contributor to your field, you could consider charging a higher rate for your tutoring services. Wyzant is one of the few sites I have seen where tutors can set their own rates, and where clients consistently pay tutors at higher hourly rates. This indicates quality and preparedness of the tutors, who are working for fair pay. Some tutors raise their rate each time they take on a new student, because the more clients you have, the less time you have, so that time becomes more valuable. At the beginning, a tutor might set their rate lower so they can build their reputation with reviews and hours logged.
Wyzant provides invaluable access to a global audience. Finding students on your own is possible, but not easy! You will be working hard to get your ads and posters in front of the right people, and it could potentially cost a lot to do this. Your Wyzant profile is visible to students around the country and around the world. Set aside time each day to browse through the available jobs in your subject area and apply to any that seem like a good fit. Take your time to tailor a personal message to each prospective student. Some write back and most don’t—-be prepared to apply for many, many positions. When the right student comes around, it will all be worth it! I have had students stick with me for years, all because of a simple application sent on Wyzant. Parents and students can also reach out to you directly on the app.
I hope these tips help you get started earning a side income on Wyzant while enjoying the convenience of teaching from home. Let me know about your tutoring experiences in the comments!
Book an art lesson with me today by visiting my Wyzant profile, and browse the many talented and dedicated tutors on the site!