The honest answer is yes, but it isn’t always easy, and it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, commitment, and hard work.
There are often adverts popping up on social media explaining how you can tutor from anywhere in the world and make thousands of pounds in the process, but to be honest I would treat promises like these with caution. My story, my experience, is very different.
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What does a “full-time income” actually mean to you?
Everyone’s idea of a full-time income is different.
You might be coming from a senior corporate role with a high six-figure salary, or you might be looking to replace a more average wage. Understanding what you’re trying to replace is important, because it will shape your expectations around time, growth, and reality.
It may also affect how much you’re able (or willing) to invest financially in the early stages, particularly when it comes to promoting your services and building awareness.
When I started tutoring, I had just moved into a part-time job. I worked out that I only needed ten regular students to be able to leave that role and focus fully on tutoring. I achieved that in under six months with very little marketing (largely because, at the time, I didn’t really know how to market). Instead, my reputation grew quickly through word of mouth and my beliefs about how children learn.
Within eighteen months, I had more work than I could manage alone and needed to bring in additional tutors. That pattern has continued fairly consistently since.
Location, subjects, and demand
Another important factor is what you choose to tutor and where you are based.
I initially focused on supporting primary-aged children with maths and English, particularly those who were neurodiverse, in their own homes.
This was partly because primary education was my comfort zone, but also because we had an open plan house at the time and my children who were teenagers would have had to have been banished to their bedrooms each time I wanted to do a lesson which didn’t seem fair on them. However, I also felt that if a child was in the comfort of their own home, it would be easier for parents and give the child the confidence of being in a familiar environment.
That choice turned out to be quite niche, but there was a real demand for it. Over time, the business grew to include GCSE maths and English, and during lockdown we expanded into online tutoring.
From that point, the business grew significantly.
Had I chosen a subject with less demand such as a more specialist or niche academic subject, I suspect growth would have taken much longer.
I also felt that if I offered to drive to them it would make their lives easier, especially on days when it was cold, wet, dark...
Income, lifestyle, and time
Another consideration is how many hours you’re willing, and able, to put into your business.
If you’ve previously earned a high hourly rate but found the stress, pressure, or commute unsustainable, you might decide that replacing your lifestyle matters more than matching a previous salary.
When thinking about income, it’s also worth factoring in hidden time costs. A role might pay well on paper, but if it comes with a two- or three-hour daily commute, the true value of that income looks very different.
What is your personal goal?
Looking longer term, are you aiming to build a business that consists solely of you, or do you see yourself eventually taking on other tutors?
If you plan to grow beyond yourself, there is the potential to earn commission from the work of others, which can increase income over time. However, this does not happen quickly and requires patience, systems, and support.
It’s important not to anticipate this income too soon.
The biggest factors that affect income
This might sound like common sense, but it’s the part many people underestimate. There are a handful of key factors that will directly determine whether tutoring becomes a side income… or a sustainable business.
• How many hours you tutor
If you are only willing to sacrifice a couple of hours on a weekend to tutoring, your business may never provide you with the income that you want from it. If you are looking for it to become a full-time wage you will have to expect it to be a full-time commitment. Although more children are being home-educated now, meaning there is more tutoring work available in the day, you will find that the highest demand is still after school on an evening or on a weekend. The hours you are willing to work will inevitably be directly proportional to your income.
Put simply: if you want full-time income, you need full-time availability, especially during peak hours.
• Your hourly rate
What you charge to a degree will be representative of your experience and your reputation. There will be people who from day one will tell you to charge more. Then there will be others who perceive you as being too expensive. (I had a message the other day stating: “you are the most expensive rate I’ve seen…ever!!!!” I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so I just deleted it. Years ago, I would have apologised and offered a lower rate. These days I am comfortable with what we charge in correlation to the quality of what we deliver and our many years of experience. If we are not what that person is looking for, they will look elsewhere.
Looking back, I’m not convinced I could have charged £30 an hour from day one without experience or a reputation, and that’s an important reality check for new tutors.
If you are interested in tutoring, see it as a marathon rather than a sprint. You need to be in it for the long game.
• The age group and subjects you teach
Some subjects are in higher demand than others. For example, the core academic subjects such as maths and English and to a lesser extent science, have a higher demand for tutors than more niche subjects such as the classics, or Latin. Consequently, there are fewer tutors supporting these subjects which could potentially mean you can charge more as there is less competition. However, you will also have to work far harder to find potential students meaning it will inevitably take longer to replace your full-time income.
This is where opinions differ, but in my experience some tutors of older students charge more because their subject knowledge is more specialised. However, I would argue that these lessons take longer to prepare as they are more interactive, so there shouldn’t necessarily be a discrepancy between the cost of the two age groups. That being said, it will depend on how you present your lessons.
• Whether you tutor independently or with support
If you decide to become a tutor there are several different options available. The first option (which is the option I took) is to jump in and see what happens. The reason I took this option was because I didn’t know there were other options available. I made so many mistakes which cost me time, money and many nights crying trying to work out if I’d made this huge mistake. But I think, looking back now with the benefit of hindsight, I learned something from every mistake that I made, and it has made me a stronger person because of it.
The next option would be to find a job as a tutor. As with everything, there are pros and cons to this. Someone else will find you your students and you won’t have to face the many problems and expenses that most business owners incur, but at the same time, what you can earn will be determined by someone else and your hourly rate will potentially be lower.
A compromise may be to start by yourself but to find a business coach who can guide you through. They can use their knowledge and experience to help you to negotiate many of the pitfalls that you might otherwise experience. This is what I have done at various stages of the business, and it has been hugely beneficial. Sometimes the support was one-to-one whereas other times I found that group support was adequate.
The ultimate support you will find will be as a franchisee. In this scenario, you will follow their tried and tested systems. You get to use their brand name so that you can benefit from their reputation and you also receive ongoing support in differing forms. Having said that, these is obviously a bigger financial implication: a start up fee and an ongoing monthly fee. You may also use their marketing systems which you will again need to be prepared to pay for. Like everything in tutoring, it’s about choosing the model that fits your confidence level, risk tolerance, and long-term goals.
• Your ability to build trust with parents
Although it seems insignificant getting back to parents with a personal response as soon as possible is crucial. An automated response will help to fill an initial void, but they are looking for someone who will fulfil a personal need for one of their children. It is paramount that you build trust and likeability as much as possible and as soon as possible in the “relationship” especially in your early days of business when they don’t know you and have no reason to “hang around and wait for you”. There are quite possibly many other tutors out there that can offer what you are offering may be for less, may be in a way that they deem to be better. You need to convince them that you are the right choice, and a prompt and personal reply is an easy way to do this.
• Retention vs constantly finding new clients
One of the biggest assets of tutoring is that once you start to support a student they will be with you for months, or in some cases, years. This means that you are not having to constantly generate and seek out new work. This makes it considerably easier to build up a substantial income and replace your full-time income.
I will mention though that sometimes when you are with a family for years it becomes harder to put your prices up if you need to and unlike a plumber for example who visits as a one off, people will potentially anticipate a lower price.
Why most tutors don’t replace their income
I have touched on this previously and to be honest it is a miracle the business has grown to the size that it has. When I first started, I didn’t have “systems” in place. I just asked myself what would I expect from a tutor for one of my children? Then I blended that with my many years of learning about different approaches to education and learning.
Lessons would literally take me hours to prepare for because instead of having a system I prepared everyone from scratch. Having said that, I would like to contradict myself and state that every lesson was planned and a copy of the plan was sent to the parents in advance so that they were aware of what we would be covering. This then became my “to-do” list of what I needed to prepare for the lesson.
I believe that I also mentioned that I hugely undervalued myself. Other tutors were charging £30/hr back then. I charged £10 and felt guilty about that. My thought was who am I to ask someone to pay me more than that. What I didn’t take into account was the cost of the resources I was preparing, the time it took. The cost of travelling to their home and the time that took, alongside the time spent in the lesson. (As I arrived at one home the mum would leave to catch the train into London. She would announce that the babysitter would be there in time for me to leave. I was also a babysitter for both children as well as a tutor for the older one!)
Like many tutors starting out, I had very soft boundaries. I wanted to help, always , but I hadn’t yet learned where to draw the line.
I was always brought up to do the best I can for people and to help them out whenever I could. To an extent I still stand by this, however, you do have to remember that this is a business and sometimes the more you give, the more that will be expected of you. That 110% that you give is now just expected as your norm. If like me, you’re someone who’s always early, beware: your consistency can quietly become the new expectation. One day you’re on time, and it’s perceived as late.
I’ve since realised I was thinking like a freelancer, busy doing the work, always chasing the next task, swapping time for money. It was exhausting.
What shifted everything was starting to think more like a business owner. That meant putting systems in place: a way to attract students that didn’t rely on word of mouth, templates and routines for planning lessons, and clearer boundaries around my time.
If you’re hoping to replace your full-time income through tutoring, I can’t stress this enough: build in those systems early. You’ll still be able to show up with 100% focus on the needs of the child, but without burning out in the process.
The difference between tutoring as a side income and a career
When you decide to take a leap in to tutoring decide where you want to do it as a side income or if this is intended as your new career.
There is a huge difference between a side income that offers flexibility, low pressure and extra money.
Or do you want to make this your new career with structure, planning, systems, long-term thinking but the opportunity to make something incredible that can become your legacy.
There is no right or wrong answer here, both offer different options depending on your mindset and your goals. I went into it thinking it would be a side income to pay for a holiday for the kids and I each summer, but over the years it has grown into something much more than I ever anticipated.
Sometimes, you can start with one vision and it changes over time, which thankfully is equally valid.
Just some of the kind words said about Clara James over the years
How long it realistically takes to replace a full-time income
To be honest, it’s rarely instant. It can take months or years depending on your circumstances and the time and money that you have to put into it.
Often it is also down to luck. If you are lucky enough to tutor a family who has a wide network and praises you and your hard work openly, this can be gold-dust to a fledgling business. But you never know if or when it will happen.
Many successful tutors build gradually while working elsewhere, it’s what I did. As it picked up, I gave myself a target knowing that 10 students was what I needed to achieve to be able to financially leave the job I was in.
Even then, many people, including close family, suggested that I went and got myself a “proper” job again.
The role of support
Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to have the support of a lot of people which has come in many forms: the authors of books, courses, 1-to-1 mentors, memberships. As the business has grown and evolved the support I have sought out has evolved with it.
Please can I advise you to find support in some form as it will shorten the learning curve. You’re not guaranteeing success, but you can limit some of the mistakes you might have otherwise fallen into. There are many, I have found that through personal experience!
The support you take will be a personal choice for you. As with most things there is no right or wrong answer. You may decide to consider a mentor or coach, training programmes or memberships or maybe the ultimate support system found in a franchise.
Or keep it simple and read books, listen to podcasts or audiobooks.
Do what is right for you right now.
So… can tutoring really replace a full-time income?
In simple terms the answer is: Yes, it can.
However, it will be most successful if you treat it like a business, not a hobby. As with most things in life, it is those who are consistent, reflective, and supported but most likely to succeed.
Whatever you decide, I wish you all the luck in the world. Tutoring can make life changing differences to so many people and is something you can dedicate to your working life to with pride.
What’s Next?
Take time to think about what you want from tutoring rather than jumping in and taking action. Starting your journey and then realising that you have set off down the wrong road (though you can always turn off at the next junction).
There’s no single ‘right’ way to do this, but there is a right way for you.
I’m presently documenting my journey as I take Clara James Tutoring and franchise it. It is a huge learning experience and so far out of my comfort zone. On one training course someone asked me what’s the worst that could happen? I replied that I made a complete fool of myself. She then asked, what’s the best that could happen? I get to help many, many more children.
It gave me food for thought. Maybe it will for you too.
If you would like to follow my journey as I go click or would like to weekly help and hints on becoming a tutor, click here and I will keep in touch.
Good luck I wish you all the best.
What is are the questions you have about becoming a tutor? Feel free to message me and I will do my best to answer them for you: [email protected]
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