Zero for 20-plus solicitations at WyzAnt!

Chris (admin)

It's really unfortunate that you've had this experience, and as an administrator here, let me give you some tips on how to drum up business that I've seen work for many of our tutors.

First, check the handy "Advertise" section - there you will find many helpful tools, such as an HTML builder that you can use to advertise on other services to flyers and business cards you can download and edit easily to post around your community.

Second, give a very detailed introductory message to your prospective student, detailing the services you provide, how a standard tutoring session would go, and even offering your first "introductory" lesson for free, just to make sure the student is comfortable.

And lastly, be available - respond quickly and promptly to any inquiries. We have many tutors who have found huge success just doing all of these steps.

Once you get a couple of sessions in, you'll start getting reviews and your rating will go up, which will make you a more desirable prospective tutor as well. I also welcome you to call us if you have any questions, our staff would be more than willing to speak with you and help you in any way.

Good luck!

Diana G.

Hi Timothy, You have a most impressive background, and I am sure parents and students would be happy to have you as a tutor, but your fee might be what is causing parents to think twice. I charge less then you, and even at that, I have lost a few jobs because of the cost. Then as soon as the student seems to be progressing, they cut off services. Word of mouth is the best advertisement, start off with a lower rate and build up from that. Good Luck!

Timothy V.

Diana G, thanks for the advice. So, reduce your rate then drop your geographic range since they expect you to drive round-trip to their home while gasoline coasts $5.00+ per gallon. teh fact is that there are many decisions that mist be made. I actually increased my rate but had the same trouble at even $10/hr lower. To a certaine extent finding an optimal rate takes data points, and thus far I have zero data points. Tutoring at any cost-structure so that I can build a clientele in the long-term is simply not a viable option for me right now. I'm afraid WyzAnt is a great looking business model with absolutely no revenue potential to make it viable for themselves, tutors, or their customers who are ostensibly seeking titors! I appreciate your comment, however, it is something I have considered.

Jacob B.

Hi Timothy, I think that it may be a bit early to analyze the Wyzant business model. I was in the same place as you just a couple of weeks ago. I had communicated with multiple parents of students (I initiated communication) and it had gotten nowhere. Only 1 of the 9 people I contacted eventually set up billing info in the Wyzant system and they must have used another person. Fortunately, it all turned around last week when I was actually contacted by 4 students/parents. I have now worked with 3 of the 4, and 1 of those sessions was with 3 students which meant a higher hourly rate for me. My rate now is $40 per hour, and I have not changed it to get more clients. My rate for the study group was $75 per hour, and they were happy with that rate. One of my students was ACT Math prep, one was 2000 level college statistics, the group was MBA level business statistics. I hope this information helps you in your quest for a tutoring income. Some tips would be to try a profile picture that is up close, so people can see your face. Making your profile more personal helps. Check out some of the top tutors on Wyzant, most have close up pics or pictures with their kids. Also make sure that your writing is flawless when communicating with potential clients. You want to present yourself as well as possible. Good luck!

Antonia C.

Hi Timothy.

I don't believe pricing is the problem. My rate has increased from $30/hr to my current rate of $55/hr. over the 3+ years that I have been a tutor with WyzAnt. There are several variables that factor in to my pricing, but it has not deterred prospective parents/students from contacting me for help. As a matter of fact, this past school year, I did not actively respond to student/parent posts. All of my business this past year came from direct inquiries, and at our first session they all said the same thing - they connected with my profile. Also, you have a large travel radius. If your area is anything like Houston, 30 miles translates in to an hour commute one way. That turns a one-hour tutoring session for the student to in to a 3 hour session for you. That's huge. It's not profitable for you and from personal experience, you will not have that client very long.

From the tone of your profile, I can tell that you are attempting to convey your affinity for your content area and your desire to help others, but the wording is rather verbose and sentence structure is rather complicated (the 3rd paragraph is one sentence). You are "firehosing" them with information. You have to remember that prospective parents/students are going through pages and pages of tutors. They are not going to take the time to read all of what you have written for those that do, I believe that they are intimidated by your knowledge (your resume in the 3rd paragraph will make the typical person feel a little math inept; I know I do) and potentially feel that you would not be able to convey the information in a clear, concise, and simplistic manner. You don't want to come off as the teacher/professor that they currently can't understand. Keep it simple. Include specifics that directly relate to the content areas that you want to tutor, and don't shoot down the dry, dull, boring statistics books, as they are what the students are using in their classes. It sounds as if you are going to attempt to teach them things that won't correlate with what they are expected to learn in class. You should present they real world models as an enrichment to and not as an alternative to their syllabi.

Finally feedback is HUGE. Don't you read reviews online for products that you are considering purchasing (i.e. tv's, computers, etc.)? I know I certainly do. Well parents are doing the same thing with us. Contact any prior students and request feedback (of course only contact those that will give positive feedback), even if it's only the "stars". Your current ratings are hurting you.

I hope these suggestions help.

Much success to you.

Antonia

P.S. I think your profile pic is fine. It shows a laid-back, cool dude. It just doesn't match up with your profile. Have your profile match the cool dude in the pic and you should see better response.