Online Literacy Tutoring Proves Profitable

Notes from Chris

Episode 1879

If you're a K through 12 teacher, the idea of making multiple six figures as an educator might sound impossible, but for Joanne Kaminiski this is her life. And she's still pinching herself. Because it’s hard to believe, but the journey to get here was one that took her twelve years.

So how did she seize the day? To find out, we need to go back to school.

In 2010, Joanne left her long-standing job as a literacy teacher because she no longer wanted to work where she felt undervalued. She wanted more flexibility, more money, and it didn’t help that her job duties back then were 20% teaching-related (what she enjoyed) and 80% “everything else”—meetings, observations, and conferences, which contributed to stress as well as taking up so much time.

After walking away from the role, Joanne then made a number of earnest attempts at starting her own business before things started to pay off.

One night, lying in bed, her best idea yet popped into her head. "Maybe I can teach kids how to read online," she recalls. No more eBay. No more jewelry. Back to her first love, teaching.

Now, this was the pre-Zoom era, before the days of widespread remote learning. In fact, the only common platform was Skype. Would the kids even be able to see the words on the screen? Joanne was skeptical. So she tested it out in her living room with two computers. It worked just fine!

To start, Joanne's rate was $40 an hour. One that she believed to be a good one. It wasn't long before a combination of bandit signs and good old fashioned word-of-mouth helped Joanne to completely book out her work week. So she raised her price. And, before she knew it, she was booked up again. So she raised her prices again. And again, until eventually her rate was $100 dollars an hour.

Before long, Joanne had another bright idea. "I should teach other teachers online to tutor their kids online!" Like a Russian doll, Joanne was able to spawn a side hustle within her side hustle. She called it Online Tutor Coach.

Today, Joanne spends half of her time coaching adults and the other half teaching children. She recalls one of her first adult students who ended up earning $30,000 in their first three months, a landmark that took Joanne almost a decade to achieve.

Today, Online Tutor Coach hasn't stopped evolving. When imagining what it will become, Joanne's description is reminiscent of one of her past missed steps: online travel teaching. Except this time it's 2022 and technological advancements in virtual reality mean that this concept might be possible.

Anything is possible, with the right idea and the hard work it takes to bring that idea into reality.

 

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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Joanne and her online tutoring school at her website, OnlineTutorCoach.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Father of 9 Starts “Uber for Tutoring” Hustle: After being frustrated in his search for the right tutors for his many children, a busy father creates a directory that has generated more than 100,000 user profiles.
• English Teacher Writes His Way Into All-Star Tutoring: An English teacher becomes New York City’s #1 writing tutor, as judged by Yelp reviews. How does he thrive in this crowded market?
• Peace Corps Alum Tutors U.S. Military Recruits: When a returned Peace Corps volunteer uses his teaching skills to help a friend, he discovers that many military recruits need help preparing for their entry test.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,