$1000 a Week Tutoring on the Side (Greatest Hits)

0:00Here's an oldie but a goodie from the archives from the Side Hustle Show Greatest Hits Collection. A thousand bucks a week tutoring on the side. What's up, what's up? Nick Loper here. Welcome to the Side Hustle Show because your earning power doesn't have to stop when your day job does. What if, what if there was a high earning side hustle that helps other people, that uses your brain, that you could do evenings and weekends and bonus points, you could do it from home? Well, tutoring may check all those boxes and we'll learn about that today. Matt Fuentes from Take Aim Tutoring is here. He's a teacher by day.

0:37He's a sought after tutor after hours. Matt, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, Nick. I am super pumped to be here. Love all your stuff. Love listening to you. I just can't wait to share, to help out your amazing group that you've created. I'm super pumped to be here. Thanks for having me. I appreciate you joining me. longtime member of the Side Hustle Nation community. Stick around in this one to hear how Matt markets his business, how he prices the service, and how he's taken almost all of it remote from what was previously almost an all face-to-face in-person business. Your listener only bonus for this week is my big list of 101 service business ideas.

1:15You can start and use some of Matt's same tactics to get customers. You'll be able to download that for free at the show notes for this episode at sidehustlenation.com slash tutor, T-U-T-O-R, or just follow the show notes link in the episode description of your podcast app. But first, Matt, inquiring minds want to know, did you end up acing these standardized tests as a kid? Like what, you know, what gave you the qualifications to become a tutor in the first place? Great. You know, it's funny. I never, parents and students never ask me that when they start working with me. They're always just like, we got your name.

1:50Can't wait to work with you. It's never just like, so what did you get so that we know that this is good? I didn't do really well, but I did well enough to, you know, kind of get into any school that I had applied to. And I think it's important because, you know, I wasn't the best test taker when I was a student. I really kind of hit my stride when I was getting my undergrad and then my bachelor's and then my master's degree, two master's degrees. That's when I kind of started clicking as a student, but I did pretty well. All right. But that's, it's not something that parents are like testing you, which is interesting.

2:22It's so interesting. I've never been asked it once. And I've had, you know, hundreds and hundreds of students and never, never asked. It doesn't matter how amazing or how lousy of a test taker you are. You can teach yourself these skills to be an amazing tutor to students out there who are taking the ACT and SATs. Yeah. Did you ever see the documentary on the college admissions scandal? Yes, yes. And they talk about the guy who was like, you know, forging the tests and, you know, have him branded as some like test taking savant. And they're like, well, wait a minute. He's a grown up taking a test for teenagers.

3:01Of course he's doing okay. They're looking at his thing. You're not 16, sir. I think that was a real wake up call to a lot of parents where, you know, they realized that you're going to do as best as you can that day. I'm here to teach you all those strategies, tips, tricks. But at the end of the day, you're the one taking the test. It's almost like when you take the driving test, you know, I can't be there with you. And I think this is a great thing, you know, for your viewers to realize is, you know, that kind of under promise oversell where I tell, you know, my parents, I'm very transparent with where I think their student can score.

3:37And what ends up happening when you're very honest with parents and students, they almost want to use you more because they appreciate that honesty when you're working with them. Yeah. Now you've been doing this for a long time. What inspired you to get started as a tutor? I was working in New York city and I worked for, uh, now the company is really big and I was a sales person for that company. And I got a commission check for about like$40 ,000. I was like, yeah, I was like 20, 23 for that. It was a huge amount of money for a kid my age. And I remember going home and with my wife at the time, we had just bought a house and I put the check on the table and I started crying.

4:22And I told my wife, I go, I've never been more unhappy in my life than I am right now. And from there, the next day I went and I applied to a local school, Molloy College. And I started to get my master's in education. Fast forward, became a teacher, was working in New York City for the New York City Department of Education, really cut my teeth as a teacher there. I was in Brooklyn. And we started a family. And my wife was pregnant. She wanted to stay home. I needed to make more money because she was no longer going to bring in any income. She was a teacher as well. So I needed to think of an idea.

5:01What am I going to do to bring in and income on my end while still teaching. And I remember very well sitting in the classroom, writing down numbers of how much I needed to make a month really just to make ends meet. And I thought of tutoring. Yeah, I remember you. So Matt wrote this guest post on Side Hustle Nation years ago, which has had a really long lifespan, a really long shelf life where it's got 150 ,000 lifetime page views or something like it's done really well. And you mentioned that like, Like, hey, all of a sudden I've got these new baby expenses coming up. I got to figure out a way to make extra money.

5:35And tutoring check that box. Like, hey, this is something that I enjoy doing. This is something that is in demand. This is something that might be a side hustle fit for me. But there were, and there still are, a lot of other people doing it. So what gave you the confidence to say, okay, I can carve out a niche for myself or I can go and find some business here? When you start something, especially tutoring, whether you're a teacher or not, and you're out there working with other people, a big part of this is how you show yourself, how you interact with people. And I remember I went to dinner one night with a bunch of friends, and I had the idea of the tutoring business, but I was just thinking tutoring, right?

6:16And there was this couple that was there, and they had an SAT tutoring business. They were lawyers and they quit their job and they just tutored on Sundays, SAT, and they made a ton of money. And I remember telling myself, like, why can't I do that? You know, I'm as intelligent as these people. If I put in the work, I really think I can build this. And I had the sales background already. So I said, you know what, I think I could make this into something special. and also my feet were to the fire. You know, it was kind of like, I have to do this. So, you know, as the kind of the phrase goes, like necessity is the mother invention, like I just had to make this work.

6:54Yeah, we see it really on both sides of the spectrum. And we've joked about this on the show in the past where, you know, some people are like, yeah, you know, price high from the beginning. You know, you want to hire me as a consultant? It's, you know, I'm going straight for the high ticket. It's$10 ,000, you know, engagement. And other people where, you know, maybe the majority of side hustle nation falls and probably myself included in this bucket is kind of that imposter syndrome, like, Oh, who am I to charge for this kind of a thing and all that? But tell me about your, you know, from idea to first customer, like, how did you get somebody on board?

7:27Do you remember this, that first student to say yes, or the first parent maybe to say yes to you? I actually remember, I remember the first student. So we were, uh, my wife and I, My wife was pregnant and I didn't know what to do. I got the SAT practice book, ACT practice book. I started practicing, taking tests, going through questions, writing out notes. You know, it's called a side hustle because it's a hustle. You know, I really put in the hours to get better. And I started, and this is what I teach and tell other people who want to become tutors, is I texted and emailed literally every single person that I knew.

8:05I was coaching a sport at the time, and I remember being on the bus with the kids I was coaching, and I just had my phone out, and I'm just texting everyone. Hey, it's Matt. I'm starting a tutoring business. If you or anyone that you know should have the need for tutoring any subject, let me know. I'm your guy. Here's my number. So in your mind, you're saying, I want to specialize in test prep, SAT, ACT. These are big college admissions tests. But in your initial marketing, it's like, I'm going to cast a much wider net. I'm going to do tutoring for any subject. Yeah, money is green. So I said, you know what?

8:43Whatever I can do, I'm going to do. Now, there was a level of hourly pay that I would require, but it was nothing like I do now. So it's a great point. At first, I just wanted to cast my net as wide as possible, kind of get going, and then keep building from there. So my first client was a student in a town, maybe like a half hour from where I lived. I would drive over there, work with the student. It was for SAT prep, drive home. And in the beginning, I think I was making around, I think it was like$60 an hour. But I was driving a half hour there, worked for an hour, half hour back. but you know what I said hey they liked me we were getting we had a great relationship and I just started to tell myself that hey this is the beginning this is okay this is how this is going to build and not to your point saying I have to have this this is what it's going to be and if it isn't that I give up no it started slowly and it just kept building from there And I think that momentum and letting that momentum grow was super important for me.

9:52And I think important for anyone that is trying to start something from scratch, especially a side hustle. What was the reaction to your friends, family, co-workers on the receiving end of those tech messages? Hey, I'm starting a tutoring business. Super interested. Once again, you know, maybe some people were like, who is this? And I'm like, oh, it's Matt Fuentes from school or whatever. And what I found, I think the most interesting part of that experiment, and like I say, when I work with other teachers to become tutors, I say this. You need to text every single person in your phone. And the reason is is because what happened is even if it was someone that I didn't think had a need, they would get into a conversation eventually.

10:42Then all of a sudden I would get a call from someone who I do not know that got my name from someone that I was connected to. Fast forward to where I am now, you know, I'm getting calls from people that are, you know, fourth, fifth removed from clients or people that I, you know, texted seven, eight years ago. So they were very supportive and I was very surprised at the calls I was getting and making the connections. It wasn't that person. It was the person or persons that that person spoke to. Yeah. Not necessarily trying to sell to your own network. They may not be a fit for it, but down the road, just trying to plant that seed, carve out that little space in their brain that, Oh, Matt does tutoring now.

11:28And now if you need a referral down the road. Six months, two years, it's there. Right. And that's that reoccurring business is that you hit the nail on the head. It's carving out that little thing. When you hear that, when they hear the word SAT, they think Matt. Yeah, I know a guy. Yeah, exactly. And that's where, you know, in the beginning, the business started to grow and it eventually got to a point. I had a couple kids I was working with and I moved from going to everyone's house. And I said, this isn't going to work. Like this is, it's too much time. I'm wasting too much time. I then started going to a local library that was central to where the kids I was working with.

12:08Yeah, you come to me, sure. Yes. And they would meet me at the library and then I would start. That's kind of like the second generation of the business is when I was working with students at the library. and them just kind of coming in and out. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Okay. So it starts, you know, personal network, word of mouth. Is there any online presence at this point where people can, you know, check out who you are, like an online resume portfolio type of thing? Are you collecting testimonials? What's going on on the digital side, if anything? Nothing on the digital side at that time. I think that speaks to the value of personal interaction with people still.

12:52So whatever that side hustle is that that person is starting, your biggest advocates are going to be the people that kind of know you already. And that can build that social equity where they're going to refer you out to other people that they know. Now, from there, yeah, once you kind of get that book of business, at least for tutoring, then you can start going online and I created a website and you have the testimonials. But I think in the beginning, and once again, I'm kind of hitting at the tutoring aspect, in the beginning, utilize people who will be a mouthpiece for you because they already know who you are.

13:29So they're going to be able to give you that credit to other people that they know. So in the beginning, I did not have that. That kind of grew naturally over time. Okay. Which is, I'm sure a missed opportunity in some way, but also a testament to like, look, you don't need it. You don't need it when you get started. Like, don't overthink this stuff. Just go out and find some customers. You made a good point. I think in looking back, it should have been both. I should have kind of cast two lines out and let them both be there and then see what would happen. Because I look at my business now and my online approach is probably where my business went to like the next level, like really next level.

14:14So yeah, probably in the beginning, I should have, like you said, kind of cast those lines out and have that two-sided approach. And that's probably something that I look back on and would have done differently. Sure. And did you ever mess around with any of the online tutoring matchmaking platforms like Wyzant or Tutors.com or anything like that? Matt's response, plus his decision to niche down on test prep tutoring and forgo a big chunk of the market, coming up right after this. Big parenting milestone for us this month. I finally set up investing accounts for the kids. It had been on the to-do list for a while, but it was a chance to talk about the power of compound interest and making money without working for it directly.

14:55I think what was most exciting for them was the concept of owning a small piece of a ton of different businesses and that a lot of the traffic on the road is people going to work for those companies doing their small part to make them a little bit richer. We also offered a very generous parental match to incentivize them to continue to fund their accounts. But this brings me to my favorite financial tool, Monarch. It's the easy to use financial dashboard to track your spending, savings, investments, and more all in one place. I love the net worth tracker and especially zooming out 6, 12, 24 months and seeing how much progress we've made.

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16:50One more time, it's gusto.com slash side hustle. Yeah, so it's interesting. So I use them as kind of market research, right? So I would go on and sign up for these things and say like, hey, I'm interested in being a tutor. This is who I am. And they would reach out to me and they would say, hey, this is what we're going to pay you. This is the clients that we can guarantee you. At first, it was a little tempting, right? I'm making a very low hourly rate, but they were guaranteeing me clients. So I bet on myself and I said, you know what? I'd rather continue grinding on my own and making quadruple what they would give me and keep building that way than settling for, you know, working for someone else in that space.

17:39I'm not putting that space down at all. But for me, you know, I wanted to make a lot of money a month and I just didn't see the path there. I saw the path more in building up this organic business. But it was good to see, you know, what they charged, what were the materials they were using, how were they teaching. And from there, I also learned like they do group sessions. I never did group sessions. I like one-to-one because I can really give the client a personalized experience. And that has been a huge, I guess, kind of part of my business that that's helped it grown because I can give that personalized approach.

18:17So I use those businesses as, you know, information. I wanted to get in there and look at them. And then what I did is I took what I learned from them and then, you know, built my own, but I bet on myself really. Yeah. Talk to me about the decision to really niche down on SAT, ACT prep. From the outside looking in, hey, this is a pretty evergreen type of topic. Millions of kids are going to be taking this test every year. It makes sense. There was already a lot of, I don't know, it seemed like there was probably already an established industry supporting that. But to be able to come in, carve out a niche and say like, look, I'm going to go after this, especially because it's high stakes testing.

19:01Like your parents really want their kids to do well on this to get into the top schools. I got into it because it was the most I can charge per hour. So I said to myself, and now I'll start getting into numbers because I think people will find that important and interesting. So I charge anywhere from$90 to$100 an hour per kid. I don't move away from that. Why? If I'm charging less, then my value to those people might not be there. I already have the business. I have the kids. If you don't want to pay that much, no problem. But this is what I charge. If I charge more, which a lot of tutors do, there's no secret pill to scoring great on the test.

19:45The kid has to put the work in. You put the work in together. So that's kind of my sales pitch to the parents when I speak to them and students. I say, listen, I'm probably right in the middle, you know, 90 hundred an hour, but I'm not going to promise something that I can't back up. So that kind of knocks out the really expensive competition. So you're saying based on outside market research, these tests command the highest rates industry wide versus like, you know, middle school English or something. Perfect. Exactly. Because, you know, I could teach a sixth grader social studies, but I'm not going to make$100 an hour.

20:20And there's part of me where I think of like lawyers, there's an architecture test that's out there where they command, I mean, even more per hour, which is phenomenal. I love it. And listen, there are tutors out there, SAT, AC tutors that charge more than me and have a great book of business, more power to them. But overall, these tests commanded the highest per hour base that I could charge for my time. And I think on the lower end, I also didn't undersell myself because I knew that my sessions were good. I was organized. I knew what I was talking about and I was learning. So I knew that I would provide them with a level of service that they would really appreciate.

21:05The last thing I'll get into is, like you said, it's a high stakes environment. You know, at the end of the day, the kid, the student needs to do well. Whenever I talk to a parent or student, I say, you know, my kids who score the highest, and this is true, are the ones that we meet every week. They do the work at home and they listen to the strategies and tips that I give them. But at the end of the day, I can't be there with them when they take the test. They'll be ready. I track scores with my students over the weeks and months that we work together. So I know where they're at. And I am extremely transparent with my students and parents.

21:43And 99.9 % of them love that. And when the score comes back, I mean, I wouldn't be in business if my kids' scores didn't go up. But sometimes, you know, it doesn't go up as much as they want. And that's okay because I've managed those expectations. Yeah. And this is an example of a really broad test that millions of people are taking. But as a business model in general, to piggyback on the popularity of some tests that you have already taken and passed and hopefully done well on, that's across the board. We've seen lots of examples, even going back to vintage Pat Flynn and I'll help you pass the lead exam in the architecture industry.

22:25And it's like... That's what I was thinking about, Pat Flynn. And looking at something so, I mean, having that idea and then writing, I think he wrote a book or something like that about how to pass it. I mean, that's his whole empire started from that, you know? And I think there's a lot of people out there who have a talent that can make them money. And as they grow and build from that, you know, especially with students, you know, Parents are willing to help their kids. And if you can give them a great experience, even on a high stakes test, they're going to tell everyone they know to use you.

23:05Yeah. And if you're at a hundred bucks an hour and you're doing it week after week, after week, after week, the customer lifetime value, and maybe they have got a sibling coming down a couple of years later and they know somebody. The customer value here is actually quite high. Even if you're like, well, I got to go do a session for a hundred bucks. Is that worth it? But like, no, you look at it as like, okay, this could be, you know, a$2 ,000 relationship. And that's why I'm so pumped to be on here is your listeners are thinking like that, right? Because I have students that I work with now. I worked with their sibling.

23:37I worked with their younger sibling. I worked with their cousin. I worked with their cousin's cousin. So that$100 session will probably turn into$2 ,000 to$3 ,000 over a span of a client. but that relationship can be 10 times that. I'll give you one quick note on that. I am purely referral-based. I do not market at all anymore. My book of business is packed just from referrals. And what does that come from? From what we just talked about, right? Utilizing those experience with those students, giving them a great experience and then saying, hey, I really appreciate it. If anyone you know, please send it out.

24:22It could be to your friends at school, your guidance counselor. So I have a college counselor, and we can get into more in depth because I think this is the best way. If you're going to start a tutoring business, ACSD, this is the way to do it, is I have a college counselor that I cold called. He doesn't even know who I am. And I cold called him. We had a great conversation, and he referred me a couple people. I did a great job with them. He now generates so many clients for me, this one person that I, I, you could have a business just with, with this one person. So I think there's tremendous value in really treating that experience that that student or parent has with you for that hour, for that 90 or a hundred dollars and thinking, you know, this is going to be 10, 20 fold in the future.

25:10Yeah, this is actually my brother's business. He's a full-time freelance tutor as well. So I take a special interest in this. And one of the marketing tactics that he shared was going down the Costco route of giving people a free sample. Like, hey, look, I trust myself. I trust my service. I know it's high quality, but you don't know me, right? So like, hey, let me spend an hour with your kid. And because of that high customer lifetime value, totally worthwhile. And I don't know what is, you know, percentage close rate is on that. I love this idea of going after the college counselors. We would call this kind of a lead fountain strategy instead of, you know, knocking on doors one to one, you know, like who is going to be a source of a steady stream of potential leads of potential business.

25:54And this is an example of that. And there are probably millions across the country of people kind of in the same position. I'm curious how you found this person. Was this a local college? How you connected with them? I get like giddy when I think of this because this is a, I don't know how, not how easy it can be, but how you can build. I mean, there's someone probably listening to this and I want to almost like reach out of the computer and be like, you have no idea how quickly you can build a business tutoring for these tests by reaching out to these college counselors. So from a foundational level, there is a massive, massive business of guidance counselors who then become freelance college counselors.

26:37They meet with students and parents and devise a plan for them to get into certain colleges. They work on their own and they kind of like a tutoring business. They have a book of business of students they work with and they get them prepared for college essays, applications, showing what jobs or volunteer opportunities you should do. And they advise them. So every single one of their clients is going to take the SAT or ACT. So you are not only calling someone who may – you have someone who absolutely has that need. And it's not cheap either, right? Like these are pretty high ticket services. Yeah.