If you’d like to provide a service where you tutor students in their homes and earn $25 to $35 per hour but don’t know how to get clients, Wyzant.com offers a complete online prospecting and scheduling service.
It might be just what you’e looking for.
Be sure to check the Terms of Service carefully to be sure they’re to your liking. Also, carefully review the “No-Compete Clause” with an attorney if necessary.
It’s one thing for Wyzant to want to protect the clients they bring to you. They don’t want you telling the customer … “You pay WHAT? I only get ____… Let’s split the difference!”
It’s another thing to say you can’t get clients on your own.
Make sure you understand all the terms and conditions when you sign.
Update 10/23/2006: Wyzant.com writes to offer this information about their “no compete clause” and how they interpret it. “My name is Michael Weishuhn and I am a co-founder of WyzAnt.com. I am writing to say thanks for your post about us back in May and I also wanted to clarify things a bit about the no-compete clause in the agreement. We do not expect any tutor that signs up with us to only do tutoring through us. They can tutor with whoever they want, whenever they want. The purpose of the no-compete cause is just to ensure that no tutor will take a student that WyzAnt refers to them.” Thank you for this clarification Mr. Weishuhn.
Realize you’ll have the opportunity to “sell yourself” to prospective customers.
Wyzant serves as a tutor database … you will get to “pitch yourself”.
Maybe that’s where it’s time to offer some free reports to potential clients to set yourself apart from the other tutors.
Chris C on June 28th, 2010 at 9:24 am
I’ve had a very bad experience with this website, both as a tutor and a student.
As a parent/student: It’s disorganized, and you must submit your billing information to fully connect with a tutor. I’m not comfortable just giving my credit card information and hoping that I pick a good tutor – I prefer an in-person consultation before money leaves my pocket. Lastly, WyzAnt doesn’t tell you that up to 40% of YOUR money is going to the website, not the tutor. And the website doesn’t cost that much to maintain.
As a tutor: WyzAnt takes a big cut. They say it’s great you don’t have to pay to sign-up, but the cut out of your lessons adds up quickly. I use a different site that, to me, makes much more sense. With this other site, I pay $85/year to be listed – contact information can be exchanged freely, and tutors keep all of what they make. My second issue is the “certification” they offer – this is NOT legitimate certification. The quizzes are a complete joke – they consist of up to 10 questions and they are EXTREMELY basic. Thus, a tutor that doesn’t really know a subject inside-out could still be “certified” to tutor it.
My last complaint (which affects both the tutor and the parent/student): WyzAnt’s customer service is TERRIBLE. On their website, they say you can expect a “prompt response” when you email. So I first sent an email, which they didn’t respond to. Then I sent another, which was again ignored. So I finally called and spoke to someone who said they would transfer me to someone else. When I was transferred, the phone rang once or twice and then went to an answering machine. I called again and asked when is the best time to reach that person because I didn’t want to leave a message and possibly be ignored again. The representative said the best she could do is transfer me again and I should just leave a message. So I requested that, instead of being transferred, she give me the extension of the person I need to speak to. Sure enough, when I dialed the extension directly, someone picked up right away. WyzAnt intentionally ignores both calls and emails. It’s very clear that this is a profitable website – the idea of it is great, but the execution of that idea is very poor. They don’t invest the time, money, people, or resources to make sure things run smoothly so that both the tutor and tutee can be entirely satisfied with their services – I think this is a MAJOR flaw in running a reputable business.
Connie on September 6th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Chris C- What is the name of the other company?