THE CLARA JAMES TUTOR'S GROUP

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TUTORING
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[email protected]
Hello!
Thank you for purchasing the workbook and
possibly the course which accompanies it.
Looking into my future and that of the business
is something I love doing. I love dreaming about
how far I can take it and how far it can take me.
When I started the business, it was just me,
myself, and I. Now there are 10 of us working in
my local town, we are set to franchise, we have
an amazing neurodiversity training course in
the making, we have other courses selling all
over the world, a membership group for parents
and another for tutors, and finally we recently
published a book.
Let's create our dreams and start the process to
making them our realities!

n Strachan
Daw
www.clarajamestutoring.co.uk
Before we begin
Your goals as a tutor

Before we begin, I want you to have an honest conversation with

yourself. Why do you want to become a tutor?
Your answer to this question will change over time.
It might be to cover the bills, to pay for a holiday, to earn ‘easy
money!’, because you’ve always wanted to become a teacher, but
you don’t want the paperwork and bureaucracy that goes with it.
Maybe it’s a love of a subject that you want to share with others.
Who knows? The answer to that is personal to you. It is yours
and yours alone.

The next question I need you to consider is, if I am doing this for
the money (which most of us are, even if it is alongside a
passion) what do you need to earn?
Spend some time going through your expenses, and maybe
include other expenses that you don’t yet have but you know you
need to consider such as birthdays, holidays, and other big
events.
Now you have a financial target that you need to reach each
month for tutoring to be financially viable for you.
YOUR THOUGHTS:
The Summer Slump
One of the things we need to consider is the summer slump.
I think it’s a big factor that puts a lot of people off tutoring, would
you agree?

You sort your budget for the month and then parents say, do you
mind if we have a rest over the summer? You find yourself having
to agree and say that’s absolutely fine, or exams come to an end,
and you are no longer needed. You smile and wish them well
thinking; that’s another space I now have to fill…
It does get easier as you start to grow a waiting list, or people
get in touch needing support for just the short period over the
summer, but what do you do in the meantime?

These are some of the things I’ve done over the years that I’ve
found have helped.

One year I did a Tutoring for Charity.

I advertised a number of hours (12 I think, over 3 days) where I

would offer tutoring to anyone and instead of paying for the
lesson, I would ask them to give a donation to the air ambulance
instead (we did something similar this year after the earthquake
in Turkey). The first time we did it, we were better organised and
got it onto the radio and into the local paper. Although it wasn’t
my intention at the time, it was hugely helpful at raising brand
awareness.
The Summer Slump
Follow-up with people you’ve spoken to in the past about
tutoring and ask if they are still looking for help. (This is easier if
you keep in touch with the parents on a regular basis that have
contacted you).

Create courses on Udemy or similar platforms (this isn’t great

for raising brand awareness in a local area as they are
international platforms but creating a course on supporting [… fill
in according to what you will be supporting…] may still get you a
bit of an additional income over the summer months.

Create new resources and get them onto social media so that
people in your local area can see you and become more aware of
what you do and how you do it.

Expand your knowledge.

YOUR THOUGHTS:
Acknowledge your busy periods

You will probably find that there are periods in the year when you
are busier:

after parent's evenings

When school reports come out
New school terms
After mock exams

During these times we either need to acknowledge that our

journey to our ultimate goal may slow down, or that we have to
be realistic about the number of students we can take on.

How do you feel about this? Is your business ready to start taking
on tutors to support you so that you can support every child that
gets in touch and you can keep working towards your bigger
goals? Or do you need to prioritise one or the other for now?
Where are you starting from?
What has happened in your tutoring business in the past 6 months?

How many new students did you start with?

Number of students gained Number of students needed

How many enquires did you receive?

How many are you How many didn't lead to

now supporting? anything?

What were your social media followings like?

An active following is more important than high numbers here!
At the beginning of the 6 months: Now

Facebook Facebook
Instagram Instagram
Linkedin Linkedin

Tick Tock Tick Tock

How has your email list changed?

At the beginning of Now
the 6 months

Did you get any new testimonials?

How many new testimonials and
where were they placed

Were you in the local press at all?

Yes: why?
No, is there anything coming up
you could notify them about?
YOUR WINS:
No matter how small it may seem, what wins have you had in the
past 6 months?
May be it was a new student, you reached a financial target, you had
an afternoon to yourself. Write it down, acknowledge it, and
celebrate it. You may celebrate in a small way, such as pouring
yourself a cup of tea, taking half an hour off to go for a walk, throw a
happy dance. Or you may feel it deserves splashing out and you go
and do something more extravagant
Be proud and write it all down. I'd love it if you'd share this section
with me and let me know what you did to celebrate:
[email protected]
WHAT INSTIGATED
YOUR BIGGEST WIN?
Knowing what it was that inspired / instigated your win is crucial
because it means it can be repeated.
Was it a referral? Who from? What was it that you had done for that
person that made them recommend you forward?
Was it a piece of marketing that got people's attention?
Maybe it was just a random comment that had repercussions that
you never could have imagined...
Write it down.
This is key, because then when you are trying to think of inspiration
in the future and you feel like nothing is working, you'll know that it
does. It's worked before and you should definitely try doing it again
now.
WHERE THERE ANY
GOALS YOU DIDN'T
ACHIEVE?
Any idea why?

Don't forget, don't beat yourself up over it. Sometimes these things
happen, Maybe you were over ambitious with the time available,
maybe life throw a curve ball that you just didn't see coming. These
things happen, just change the deadline and try again. If you haven't
quit, you didn't fail ...
WHAT MARKETING
STRATEGIES HAVE
WORKED BEST FOR
YOU?

For us, it is nearly always word of mouth. However, that is something

we don't have any control over, so more systems need to be in place.

Know what is working best, but without over committing, think about
what else you can do.

Think of your marketing like a table. If it has one leg it is never going
to be that stable. If that leg broke for some reason, everything on it is
going to crash to the ground and probably break.
If it has 3 legs, it will probably wobble, but it definitely going to be far
more secure.
Now imagine how sturdy it will be with 4 or 5 legs.
You can't do everything at once, but do bare in mind, the more you
can get your business out there, the more people here about it, the
stronger and bigger you can become.
Sometimes it may be something as simple as magnets on the side of
your car. These have had phenominal results for me in the past!
YOUR MARKETING
THOUGHTS:
WHAT PART OF
TUTORING BRINGS
YOU THE MOST
SATISFACTION?
What do you enjoy most about tutoring?
Is it working with a specific age group or those with a specific
learning styles.
Maybe you enjoy creating resources or keeping the back end of the
business running smoothly.
When you know what you enjoy, what you are best at, you may
decide how (maybe in the months to come) you can start to delegate
other aspects of the business to other people. In the meantime it may
just be a case of talking to others and finding out if there is anything
you can do to streamline or automate these parts of your business.
WHAT PART OF
TUTORING FRUSTRATES
YOU THE MOST?
What frustrates you the most?
For me it's those who feel they can pay when they feel like it rather
than when the invoice is due to be paid...
Put pen to paper, have a rant and let the frustrations out. Is there
anything you can do to prevent this from happening again such as
creating a cancellation or non-payment policy.
LOOKING TOWARDS
THE FUTURE
Look to a certain point in the future. Where do you want to see
yourself and your business?

Don't over think this, just write it down. Write it as if you are living
and experiencing it today. Enjoy knowing where your business will
take you.
YOUR TOP 3 GOALS
Reading through what you have written, what are your top 3 goals
that you could break down into tiny steps and start working on today.
Even if you can only allocate half an hour, those 30 minutes will get
you closer to your dream than if you put it off until another day...
WHAT DO YOU NEED
TO DO TO ACHIEVE
THOSE GOALS?
Take each goal and think about what you will need to do to achieve
them.
Is there anything you will need to learn?
How will you find that information: videos on YouTube, books,
membership groups, mentors, training courses,
Break each goal into small steps (you've probably heard of SMART
targets and set a date that you would like to have achieved them by.
Don't be unkind to yourself. Be realistic. Tell someone else what you
have planned and keep yourself accountable.
If it seems like a huge stretch goal and you don't want to tell people
you are close to about it just yet, pop me an email and I'll keep in
touch to see how you're getting on: [email protected])
CREATE VISUAL
REMINDERS

I'm not suggesting you sit and look at your vision board and your
dreams and aspirations will come true. Sadly, building a business is
hard work. It takes stress, sleepless nights, and hard work...
What I am suggesting is that you have visual reminders around,
reminding yourself why you are working this hard. Why you are doing
this.
One person I know of, creates a vision board as a PDF then cuts the
images out and keeps them in her purse.
My desk (pictured above) is covered in mind maps, my vision board,
my monthly and 6-month goals to help remind me and to keep me
motivated on those days when it seems like such hard work.
Cut images out of magazines, use quotes to inspire you and remind
you that you can do it, take images from Pinterest, family photos and
any other place that you might find images and captions to inspire
you.
Each day write down what you have achieved and what your goal is
for tomorrow. Remind yourself of why.
Daily, Weekly, Monthly,
Tasks
On the coming pages there are templates for your daily, weekly, monthly
tasks.

I have found one of the most beneficial things I can do each day is to write
down at least 1 thing I have done that I am proud of, just 1 win. By doing
this I have a record of how far I have come. A reason to be proud of myself.

Each month you may decide to make a plan for the coming month. Have an
over view of what you want to achieve in the coming weeks. What you
need to do to achieve it.

Then each week, take a look back at your monthly plan and decide what
you can put your mind to and achieve in the next 7 days. Take time each
week to be the boss of your business and look at the bigger picture. Look
at your numbers, praise yourself (and anyone else that is working with you
on your journey, helping you to make your dream a reality).

Find time each week to learn and grown, to support your own self
development. If you don't grow, your business will also stagnate.
Find time to be inspired - by reading or listening to books, listening to
music, podcasts, films that inspire you.
Take time to reach out to people, whether it's others who are also building
a tutoring business, someone who inspires you, someone you can help.

Then finally, each day make time to plan your day and celebrate what you
have done with it to help you to move your business forward. (I've started
started doing this as a Vlog on YouTube to help keep me more accountable.
 What do I need to do today
to move my business
Daily forward?
What are my top 3 priorities?
Checklist What is my number 1 goal?

My top 3 priorities

What lessons do I have?

Today's big win!

Other things I need to get done

 Weekly Planner

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY
Monthly Planner
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

Notes:
You can do this, but you
will do it better than
anyone else
Adapted from Ben Carson MD
 Find your
Purpose
Sometimes life doesn’t go the way you envisage. By the age of 24, instead of being a
paramedic, I was married with 3 young children under 5. We moved up to
Scarborough in North Yorkshire when we were expecting Angel, our youngest
daughter. On one occasion when we came back down to Buckinghamshire to visit
friends it struck me what others in my year group at school had done with their lives. I
decided I wanted to do something more with mine.
When we returned to Scarborough, I went into the playgroup which Clara, my oldest
daughter attended and asked if I could work there as a volunteer whilst I studied for
my diploma in preschool practice. Thankfully she said yes. Within a couple of months, I
was offered the paid role of SENCo (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) and was
asked to also assist with the planning, policies, and procedures for the setting. Over
the coming years, I completed the diploma. Then I continued and did a degree in
childcare and education through the Open University.
As my oldest started secondary school, I questioned whether she might be mildly
dyslexic. Verbally she was very astute, but her spellings looked like it had been
created by a much younger child. At the time Clara was a very quiet child and the
school instantly dismissed the idea. Back then, I think dyslexia was an excuse for
being lazy. She wasn’t giving the teachers any problems and it was easier to brush the
idea off. At the time I didn’t have the confidence to fight my corner. So, I decided that
if they wouldn’t help her, I would do what I could to help her myself. Over the coming
years I finished my degree but also studied numerous other courses on learning styles,
learning difficulties and anything I could get my hands on. I also worked in mainstream
schools, creches, a residential unit for children with autism. In addition, I worked as an
NVQ assessor in early years and as a childminder.
I STUDIED, I WORKED, I GREW.
One of the main things that became apparent was that we are all different. We all
learn differently. It is far harder to embrace what we are being taught, if we are not
relaxed and open to learning, Furthermore: if we do something once, we create a
memory. So, for example, if we do a worksheet, that information is lodged somewhere
in our mind. If we complete a second worksheet, we are reinforcing that knowledge.
But, our brain still only has one place to go to find the information that it needs.

Trust yourself.
However, if we do a range of different activities, we are creating more memories
within our brain. When that information is needed, our brain has more places to
go to where it can find the knowledge that it is seeking.

When my marriage finally ended, I lost the house. This meant I also lost the
childminding business I had built up. I took a job at a local optician just to pay the bills.
I quickly learned that this was not a job for me long term and I returned to college to
study the PTTLS course.

This meant I could work with adults in a classroom setting. Whilst on this course, a
friend I made suggested that I had a go at tutoring. At first my idea was that it would
be nothing more than to complement the job at the opticians.

I wasn’t sure what was expected of a tutor, even though by this stage I had about 12
years’ experience working in education.

WHEN I STARTED CLARA JAMES TUTORING (2012), IT WAS BUILT UPON THE
FOLLOWING VALUES:

· Lessons needed to be varied, enjoyable, relevant.

·We are all individual and learn differently, and
·As a parent what would I expect from a tutor?

Clara is my oldest daughter; Jamie is my son. The logo is an angel holding a book,
Angel is my youngest daughter.
I hoped by offering a personal name it will reflect the personal service we deliver and
demonstrate we are not a generic brand.

We are different to most other tutoring platforms, but I think that is largely why we
have done so well. We haven’t followed the masses; instead, we followed our hearts
and our conscience. Everyone is there to be helped. They want to feel important, and
they didn’t just get in touch to make our bottom line (profits) grow.

Now we not only offer 1 to 1 tutoring in the student’s home and online, but we also
have a range of courses, the book: “Square Pegs and Round Holes -Supporting Every
Child’s Education” and have a membership group (the Clara James Approach) offering
resources for parents to use themselves at home. In addition, we offer help in
becoming a tutor through a range of services including courses, 1-to-1 mentoring, the
Clara James Tutoring Franchise.

Thank you
Kind words
people have
said:
Hi Dawn

I'm so sorry for not replying sooner. I think all the stress of trying to get F
through his exams caught up with me as soon as he finished!

I wanted to say a huge ginormous thank you to you for everything you've
done for him. You have helped him so much in his maths and english. But for
him it's more than that. Before starting with you he was in a really bad place.
He felt education wasn't for him and had no hope of passing anything or
achieving anything. But by teaching him maths in a way he understood he
started to believe that he wasn't totally stupid and maybe he could pass. And
then that spiralled as he got better at maths he starting thinking he could
maybe do other things and it's really changed his whole outlook. I never
thought i'd be sitting here with him discussing A levels let alone him
considering going to college after 6th form to studing computing. He is like a
different person!

The exam period was not easy but now the stress has gone he's much easier
to live with and is enjoying his life of leisure. He wanted me to ask you if
there was somewhere he could leave a review for you as he wanted to say
thank you and tell other people how good you were for him.

Sophie
Parent
 Your dream life
is calling
Come and join the Clara James
Tutor's Group as a founding
member for just £3.79/month.
It's a growing community of like-
minded tutors who are dedicated to
supporting children with their
education.

ENROLL NOW

Along side the community over on

Facebook, there will also be a monthly
resource or course for you to use to
help you to grow your own tutoring
business. There will be monthly
Q&A's where you can ask questions
about what you are struggling with
within your business.
By working together we can help you The Clara James Tutor's Group
to achieve your dreams, your goals https://becomeaclarajamestutor.c
and make education a better place for o.uk/info-page-5698
those children we support.
Clara James Tutoring
www.clarajamestutoring.co.uk
Dawn Strachan

Today is the beginning of the rest of your life.

Thank-you!
I'm so excited to continue working with you,
please reach out to learn more.

Warmest wishes,

wn x
Da

Contact:
[email protected]