Hello everyone! I hope you're all doing well (despite the heat...but I'm not complaining because I've been looking forward to summer for a LONG time). Just so you know, I think I'm going to start writing blog posts every other Thursday from now on because Wednesdays have been really busy...sorry about that! And sorry I waited three weeks for this one. I've been really busy in general, and I'm going to tell you why in today's post.
I wanted to share a quick update on my post entitled "the s word" first, though. I have continued to meet with my physical therapist, and she has seen a lot of progress, which has been super encouraging. Peter has been incredibly patient through it all as I try to train my muscles to listen to me as opposed to reacting on their own lol. I had actually mentioned that blog post to my PT, and when I visited her last week, she asked if she could have the link for it because she'd like to share it with some of her other clients, as a way to encourage them and to affirm the fact that they aren't alone in this. What a blessing that was to hear! I do truly hope that it's helpful for others, in addition to being cathartic for me.
Well, I recently started my own tutoring business, as you can see! Throughout the spring semester, I noticed a decrease in the number of students I had through Wyzant, and it got to a point where I could no longer say I was working full-time. I realize my line of business is finicky in that way, but I love what I do, I love keeping busy, I love being able to make some sort of financial contribution to my family. Well, I ended up joining a Facebook community for online tutors, and that's where I discovered how many tutors are ditching businesses like Wyzant altogether and flying solo instead. I wondered if that was something I could do too. I still had several students through Wyzant, though, so I just wanted something to supplement that work. I did a ton of reading and watched YouTube videos by other tutors who had managed to create a name for themselves, and back in April, I finally decided to try it. I made my own website and a Facebook page and an Instagram account (@racheltutorsonline). I even had a logo created for my business! I didn't really start promoting it until earlier this month though, after Peter and I returned from our trip, because I didn't want to tell potential clients, "By the way, I'm on vacation for the next two weeks." That would've been very unprofessional lol.
Not gonna lie - it's been a wonderful and incredibly challenging experience so far. I have no personal experience with advertising whatsoever, so I took other people's suggestions about having a website and taking advantage of social media. I recently tried creating my own ads for Facebook and Instagram, and both ads have brought in a lot of traffic. I've also made a couple of posts on Craigslist, and I've made a flyer that I plan to put up basically anywhere that will let me. However, it's a long waiting process. Most of the tutors I've been following took a solid six months to a year to fill their schedules, so I know I have to be patient. I DID acquire my first student through Instagram a couple of weeks ago, though! That was incredibly exciting. She's from Morocco, so through our conversation classes, I've been learning a lot about her culture, which is one of the many reasons why I LOVE working with international students. I'm hoping to use her as a reference soon. ; ) I have two potential clients as well, one that plans to begin with me later this summer and one that plans to begin with me in September.
The woman who began the tutoring community on Facebook once challenged us to do one thing that scares us every day, as far as our tutoring business is concerned. Advertising scares me. Why? Because rejection scares me. I'll admit, while the two ads I put up on Facebook and Instagram lasted 5 days (I didn't spend too much on them because I wanted to know whether or not they were a good investment) and reached about 6,000 people in total, no one has reached out to me to ask about my tutoring services. I've been reminding myself that I can't take it personally. Lacking enough students to make me a full-time tutor once again doesn't mean I'm a bad tutor. I just haven't reached the right students yet. I had hoped the ads might lead to conversations, but it's okay that they didn't. The biggest takeaway from these ads is the fact that I was able to reach 6,000 people with them. 6,000 people!! That's NOT a small number! If I was able to get 6,000 people to see my ads, how many more might I be able to reach? Overall, I'm trying to remain optimistic but realistic, to work hard at completing uncomfortable business-related tasks, and to keep my head up. We'll see where this leads!
This is going to be an ongoing process, but it's one that I'm very excited about, and I love sharing exciting things with you all! If you have any advice, please don't hesitate to share it with me. I'm a sponge, ready to soak up all that I can! =D
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