How does a tutor grow their business once their calendar is full?

Most tutors choose the profession because they want to help people. They have not only a passion for their subject, but also for sharing it with their students. This is so much more than academic support - it covers wellbeing, guidance, life advice, anxiety management, and many more. But this means that good tutors quickly find themselves with a full calendar and turning away clients as there are only so many hours in the day. There is another way and it's with passive income.

What is passive income?

Passive income is defined as income that doesn't required to to sell your time for money every time you make a sale. For an up-front investment of your time and expertise, you can sell the same 'product' several times over without additional effort on your part. This is something that Lisa Johnson is the absolute Queen of, so I'd recommend getting in her audience if you're serious about passive income.

What can I share?

There are lots of different options, but most fall into the brackets of courses, memberships, subscriptions, and eBooks.

For tutors, this could include group classes (like ours here ), online courses, study memberships, online revision guides, and many more.

What you choose to make will be based on what you already know and do well, what you enjoy, and what your existing audience needs right now. (There's no point making it if no one wants to buy it from you.) If you're stuck for ideas, start asking your audience and existing customers questions - what challenges do they have, what do they most value about your service, how can you make the most impact for them?

All of my ideas have already been done

There are very few ideas that have no already been done. Even when Elon Musk was attempting to launch a passenger flight into space, he was in competition with Richard Branson to be the first. But it didn't stop him, and it shouldn't stop you.

There is always someone else who looks like they're offering what you offer, doing it better, and being more successful. They're very likely looking at you and thinking the same thing. Your audience doesn't care. They'll buy from you because they like you, they like what you're offering, and they want what you can give them. They don't care who else is doing it. Just make sure that they know how you can help them, or they'll look for someone else who can!

Wouldn't people prefer a one to one tutor?

In a word, no. There are lots of one to one tutors available. That isn't always the best option for everyone. Generally, the more one to one time in a service, the higher the price - that isn't for everyone. Group work builds a sense of community and accountability around a shared goal. That's not something you can put a price on. Plus it allows you to share your experience and expertise with a lot more people than you could if you were working one to one.

People want what you have to offer, but they won't want it from you if you don't have the energy to deliver it.

Does it mean I don't have to work?

If you've got dreams of publishing your website and then putting your feet up and watching the money roll in, I'm afraid I'm about to burst your bubble. You do still have to work with passive income, but you don't have to do the same things over and over for multiple people. You either do it once and sell it repeatedly, or you do it repeatedly for several people at once. Both of those things involve doing the work.

And even if it's a 'one and done' product you're offering, you'll have to put the work in to grow your audience, market your product, make sales, or even keep it updated. Do not expect things to come easy, even if they are simple.

Passive income offers many more opportunities to talented tutors to share their expertise with a wider, appreciative audience. I hope this has given you ideas of how you can reach more people without selling your time, but I'll be sharing even more and helping you to implement this in the Passive Income Options for Tutors workshop at the end of March. Places are limited so that the session can be interactive, so don't miss out on your spot.