Not everyone who takes on helping learners online does it to make a profit.
Some people do it as a public service, or simply because they love their subject and want others to love it as much as they do. If you are planning to charge for your online tutoring service, getting your pricing and invoicing right is important.
What should you charge?
You may have an idea of what you're worth, but a bit of research is needed to make sure you're on target. Even if you think your online tutoring help is worth $100 an hour, the market rules and it's whether your students think you're worth it that counts in the long run.
The advent of online tutoring has made it easier than ever before for learners to get the help they need.
It's also made it easy for people to set up offering online tutoring assistance. Some areas of the education marketplace are more crowded than others. It's important to remember this when setting your online tutoring rates.
You don't want to price yourself out of the market.
Potential students or their parents will have done their homework and no-one is going to go for the most expensive tutor unless they have good reason to believe that the online tutoring services you provide are truly superior and a good educational investment.
Very low rates can also be a mistake.
Undercutting the competition is all very well, but you can overdo it. Even if your rates are low because making money is less important to you than helping others, people seeking tutors may wonder if there's some other reason. Estimating the right rate is something of a fine art.
The fees you can charge for online tutoring will depend on the quality and rarity of your particular service, as well as the skill you bring to the job.
Homework help that can be little more than monitoring school-age children while they work independently does not command top remuneration, for obvious reasons.
On the other hand, specialist tutoring in areas of study that are in high demand can command high rates.
It will be harder to find quality online tutoring for higher educational qualifications, like the MBA, for example, and service providers can charge accordingly. Test prep, which puts a heavy responsibility on online tutors to deliver the goods and get students through the tests, also allow for higher charges.
You can expect to be remunerated for your experience - meaning your proven experience, not just in your subject but in online tutoring specifically, since this is still a specialty in its own right.
If you're starting out, start lower and build up. Nothing ruins online tutoring relationships like disappointment, failed expectations and the sense on the students' part that they aren't getting value for money. Don't forget to build in the costs of running your business and the time you put in. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out reasonable rates for what you are offering.
Check out what others are charging and slot yourself in accordingly.
Be realistic about the value of the contribution you can make with your online tutoring for all-round satisfaction in the online tutoring experience.