Summer can be a great opportunity for tutors to spend some time on professional growth to better serve clients – and orient your business for future success.
School’s out for summer. For many tutors, this affords a chance to focus on building their own practice and business needs.
1. Professional Development for Tutors
Tutors, like any professional educator, need professional development to enhance their skills and knowledge. Independent tutors have to build their own professional development program, or seek out constructive dialogues with other tutors.
Professional development encompasses a range of critical learning areas for tutors:
- Investigate the latest tech – Check out any new EdTech that can complement or enrich your tutoring sessions. For example, explore what Augmented or Virtual Reality tools can do to improve your students’ learning.
- Master new skills or content areas – Summer downtime is an ideal time to bone up on your professional skills and add a few more. Expand your tutoring content areas – or build on existing knowledge to provide your students with a better grasp of the material. Talk to other tutors (including your associates) to see if there are effective teaching methods that you could try in your own practice.
- Stay up-to-date on policies – The education world is constantly evolving – and that’s particularly true when it comes to updates for education policies and practices. Learn more about recent changes to important educational programs such as your state’s learning goals, Advanced Placement courses, and standardized college entrance exams.
2. Focus on the Future
In addition to enriching your current tutoring practice, consider how you could improve and scale your business model for long-term growth. This is especially important for independent tutors, who can weigh the pros and cons of running their own business, compared to benefits of joining a tutoring center.
Take advantage of downtime to reflect on how you’re promoting your business, too – and identify new or improved ways you can advertise your services to new and existing clients.
3. Build Summertime Client Relationships
Summertime isn’t all backend responsibilities. Consider the possibilities of building your client relationships:
- Emails and newsletters – Ensure a strong back-to-school connection with your students and parents by sending regular emails. What should students be learning or doing over summer? Perhaps share a summer reading list or tips for rising seniors. If you have enough material, you can also circulate an email newsletter, providing further details about your services, any announcements (particularly if you’ve enriched your own practice), and your availability.
- Summer offers – Just because school’s out doesn’t mean learning switches off. Summertime tutoring has plenty to offer students, particularly those students who need the extra academic support.
Whatever the level of activity, tutors can make the most of summer months to position themselves and their tutoring businesses for the busy season that lies ahead.
