Episode Transcription

17: When Running a Tutoring Business is About More Than Just the Money
 

Hello, lovely lady. Welcome to Classroom To Business, the podcast designed specifically for teachers working to become successful businesswomen and creating financial freedom and lifestyle flexibility. I'm Kirsty Gibbs. Business coach and mentor for educators and teachers just like you, who are ready to step away from the classroom and create something more.

The Classroom to Business Podcast is committed to helping you grow your business, break down those barriers to success, and replace your teaching salary without having to work more hours. It's time for you to find freedom and start being your own boss so you can once again enjoy what you do and wake up each morning loving life.

Let's get into it. Welcome everybody. Today I am super, super excited to bring on another lovely guest, Sonya, from Support to Excel. Sonya is another fellow tutoring business owner. She's also a current member of the tutoring growth membership. I'm going to say she is one of my star pupils. She. Turns up to everything.

She's always on our group coaching call. She's always shows up live. She goes away and does the work, and she's very passionate about what she does, and I think that's played a big part in how she has come to create a business that is so successful that she just really enjoys doing so. Welcome, Sonya. I wanna start by asking you, what is it that inspired you to start your own tutoring business?

Oh, thank you, Kirsty. I'm very excited to be here as well. So what inspired me, we have to backtrack a little bit, Kirsty. So I was actually doing a course, my personal development course, and the facilitator was doing, Demonstrating something called a spelling strategy. And all of a sudden the person who was supporting the model that was helping to support this little excerpt, this training, started crying.

And she sort of confessed that for most of her adult life, she had felt dumb because she did not know how to spell. And I must say as a teacher, it really kind of hit me in the gut. I was like, oh my God, how many students are leaving our school systems feeling less than? And for me personally, I understand that your ability to read and one's ability to spell does not actually equate to your intelligence level.

But I can understand how it must be frustrating and a bit demeaning to lack those sort of core literacy skills, to not be able to spell, to not feel confident, to be able to express yourself in a written form. So head on heart, that was the key moment where I went, oh, I think I may go into business and teach people how to read and write.

On my own away from, I suppose, my affiliation with the department for education, cuz that was a my past life. So yeah, that was the moment because before that never did I consider a business owner. Never. But you never on the, all of those families that you have worked with. On behalf of them. I'm saying thank you to you right now because you are so right.

It's not a reflection on somebody's intelligence level, but it's a day-to-day life skill that's necessary. And literally, I can only imagine what it must be like, how frustrating it would be, how hard, how embarrassing at times. And your confidence must just get really knocked. And so everybody goes into business for a different reason.

And that's why I wanted to start with that one because I was interested to see. What your, I guess your why is, and that's really cool because that's such a deep, passionate why. And like I said before, you are passionate in what you do and I can see that when I work with you that you aren't just about building a business to try and make more money.

You are about building a business to make a difference, and I think that's so, so amazing. So, oh, thank and thank you on behalf of all of those families. Oh, thank you families. Thank you so much, Kirsty. Yeah, definitely. Like I view, I view literacy really as a human, right. This is the discussion that we should be having.

It's a basic human right, and if you are limited in your ability to read, just go out and read a form, fill out a form like you, I can't even imagine how much it impacts on your life. I do have one example, I won't get too much into details, but some of them I know quite well. English is her second language and relationship has sort of fallen apart and she was very reliant on the partner to be able to fill out documents.

Yeah, read documents. And she's got a son that she supports who's got additional needs. And again, that was a real sort of reawakening to why I do, why I do. Because it must be horrible to have to depend on other people to be able to sort of fill out the forms or read a form for you. So Yeah, and you'd always have that little bit of, I don't know, I would.

Is this right? You know, is this person telling me the exact right thing? You know, you don't have that assurance in yourself. I had a student that we were working with years ago, and she must have been about year 11, I guess, because she was going to sit her license and it was the written side of it. And she couldn't read properly.

Yeah, and she wasn't allowed at that stage. She wasn't allowed to have anybody with her to read the questions. So this poor kid was failing over and over because she couldn't read the questions on the test. And yet, She was more than capable of driving. She could do that. She could read the stop signs and things like that, but the actual full questions and sentences, she struggled.

Yeah, I can only imagine the challenges that if you haven't learned to read or spell at that level, what you would experience. It's quite humbling really, isn't it? Yep, yep. How much we take for granted when we can read and write and God forbid when we have to fill out complex contracts by house, go to a lawyer, say, oh my God, and that's, you would always have that.

Well, I would, in the back of my mind, is this person, you know, if somebody else is reading it to me, are they missing any bits out? Are they being honest right now? Are they reading the whole thing or you know, because you can't do it yourself. You are, yeah. You're relying on somebody else. You're very vulnerable, aren't you?

Yes. It's quite disempowering, I think, for a human being have to go to be able to reach their full potential in society. It's disempowering when you can't read and write, you know, okay, we accept functional level at least. I think that's really. What we should accepting as a society that people should at least be able to read and write at a functional level.

Okay? Not everyone's gonna go into academia or anything like that. We don't wanna head that way in life. That's cool. But at least at a functional level. Yeah, this is what we should be aiming at. I agree. I mean, we definitely could do a whole day's worth of podcasting on why this is not happening at the moment.

Yeah. Yeah. But I think it stands what you are doing and all of those of us who've got tutoring businesses and doing things outside of the classroom, That's exactly why it's needed because the, the teachers in the classroom, majority of them, they're doing the best they can. Yes. They're, we've got overcrowded classrooms.

We've got a crazy pace curriculum. Yeah. All of these things that are going on for teachers. For even principals and people above the, and then the students and then the parents. It's, you know, it's not like there's one particular person who's not doing their job. Yeah. But as a whole, it's like our system is totally failing these kids.

And this is really interesting because yesterday I sat down and was going through my really deep why, you know, why do I do what I do in. Working with ladies like you, for example, and part of it is I'm really passionate about everybody creating a business and a life that they actually enjoy. Yeah. So, no, I don't think that we have to go to work and do a job that we don't like.

Just for the sake of doing it. I don't think that's what we are literally on this planet for. I think we all have a purpose, and I don't think that purpose is to be unhappy every day. I think we're supposed to do something where we do contribute and we do make a difference, but I also think that there is a balance and it's not like a 50 50 balance where everything's even the balance, where we are happy with the amount of work that we are doing.

Verse the time that we have with our family and doing all of those other things. So yes, for me, a real deep purpose is helping other women to create the balance that works for them. But my other purpose, which I was just discussing with one of my coaches yesterday, is, and this is like massive, this is next level, you know, moving and shaking is I'm hoping that.

More and more women guys as well can do what you are doing in that stepping outta the classroom. Not that I want good teachers to leave. I know. Yes. Creating something outside of the classroom where they are making such an impact that more people are valuing teachers and they're valuing teaching in a different way, and they're looking at education in a different way and they're seeing that, okay, there's other options.

Other than mainstream education and fingers, toes, everything crossed, and eventually people see it all of that differently and maybe the education system starts to change and we start to look at students individually a little more and we start what works for kids as opposed to. This is a one size fits all program and everyone's gonna follow it no matter what.

I know this is not at all what we planned to talk about today. Ah, this is one of my big passions and one of my concerns actually about the education system and where it's heading, because I'm exactly like you, Kirsty. You know, I feel like I'm a good teacher. I'm a compassionate teacher. It took a lot to sort of make that decision to leave teaching, I suppose, within the department for education.

I suppose I wasn't willing to kind of sacrifice my sort of health, my family, that balance. Cuz I'm a teacher, yes. But I'm more than just a teacher. I'm a mom, you know, a partner. I'm a daughter, I'm a sister, I'm a friend, and I'm just a person who sometimes likes to hang out in nature and go for walks. So I'm a whole person, but you know, I am concerned.

I'm concerned that lots of teachers. Leaving the profession and I would want, you know, I'm, well, when I say leaving, I'm still teaching. So it's just that I've broadened, I suppose, the definition of what a teacher is. Yeah. I'm just not doing it within a classroom, but it does still concern me. Yeah, a hundred percent.

Yeah. And it has such a knock on effect. You know, like I said, I feel a little guilty sometimes, maybe not guilty torn because yeah, everything that I do is promoting building a business outside of the classroom. You know, that's what I've done, and I've thrived doing that, and I've created this lifestyle where I've been able to hang out with my family more.

So I want other people to experience that. But on the flip side, I'm like, but my kids are at school and I want good teachers to still be at school. Yes. Keeping the kids back at school. Like, what am I doing? This kind of like a double edged sword. Yeah. And on the back of that, then with teachers who are leaving, We're being, I don't know about where you are, but we're seeing teacher shortages, which then means that people are getting jobs that maybe wouldn't have gotten those jobs before because they don't have the experience, or they don't have the passion, or they don't have the skillset.

And so the standard I think of teaching is maybe not as high in some areas. That scares me again even more because I dunno how to fix that. I mean, like I said, whole other podcasting on this topic. Yeah, it's something you know, and I think you and I alone, I think that most people who are in our situation, they've left the classroom.

They've left the classroom, but they still love working with kids. They still love that connection. They still enjoy making a difference, and we've just figured out another way to do it, a way that works for the kids and a way that works for our lifestyle and the lifestyle we want. I want to take a step back Yes.

And ask you. What services? So can you give our listeners a little bit of a rundown on your business? So what sort of services you offer and who it is that you work with? Yeah, sure. Absolutely. So I provide one-to-one intervention with students. Now, I don't necessarily like to sort of categorize myself as working with a particular age group, so I'm early years trained and I think anyone that hangs out was.

Me, we'll see that very quickly. I'm a little bit vibrant and energy you can, you know, I like to a bit fun within the sessions as well, but I suppose what I do say is I'm there for those students that need support with foundational literacy skills. So I work with students from reception. And I say unfortunately, although I love my older students to bits, it's just different.

It's a different experience working with older students. I work with right up to year 12 and yeah, for this young man, he's got his eyes set and becoming a police officer. Super intelligent young man, but he just struggles with his talent. And obviously he has to sit a test to get into the force. So, you know, these are very real problems that are facing my students and it's sort of like, yeah, it's working with those older students.

I love it because they can actually articulate. Why is it, why is it that I, you know, I wanna improve my literacy skills. So I love working with the older students for that reason. You know, eventually, I think I'd like to work with adults as well. Parti, I think particularly because, you know, there might be a bit of shame around the fact that they, they can't read or write as much as they would like to.

And so stepping forward and admitting that might be a difficult thing, a tricky thing for. An adult to be able to do that, but I'm open, open to working with adults as well. At this stage, Kirsty, I have stuck to one to one intervention predominantly because I don't have a premises per se, where parents come to me, students come to me, I go to.

My students, so I either run them from their house or I run the sessions from their school where it's been agreed that I can do that. And in fact, I really love it. I genuinely feel like when I'm walking into someone's home, I'm almost like taking the load off of their stress lo, you know, their stress load.

Because as parents, as you know, as I know being a mom, it can get pretty stressful having to kind of run around and get to this appointment. Oh, let's get you to OT and let's get, so I actually feel like I'm really doing them a genuine service going to their home and going to their school, if that's where the session runs as well.

I think it's convenient for parents. At this point I'm sort of stuck to that. We come to you. It's interesting going into people's homes. Yeah, totally. No, yeah. It's, it's, but that's part of your unique selling points. That's one of those things, those factors that makes you different and that is a reason why parents might come to you as opposed to somebody else because you do offer that service.

That does make it so much more convenient for us using moms. Yeah. I genuinely feel for parents. Yeah, generally we, both parents are working full-time or part-time or whatever, but we're working. So yeah, it can be challenging to get to all the appointments that you need to get to. Yeah, and I do think to some degree for the student as well, especially at home, you know, can be quite comfortable for them.

They're in their own environment. They're in their own space. So there's no hangups about other people can see what I'm doing or I'm not getting pulled out of class. So that bit of feeling a bit self-conscious about getting extra support, which a lot of students can feel that, particularly as they get a bit older.

Yeah. So yeah, definitely. Yeah, so good. What do you think, if you look at your life now as the owner of a tutoring business? Yeah, yeah. Full time in your business, by the way, everyone just so we Yes. That happened this year. Very excited. Yes. No, no relief supplement income. So very exciting. I was a bit scary but exciting.

Well, it was a momentous occasion. It was very big celebrations. It was good. Yeah. So if you look at. What your life is like now. You know? Keep in mind what we talked about with the balance. I'm saying the balance because it's not a 50 50 balance. No, I've been trying to think of a better word for, yeah.

Balance. Because I don't mean equal balance. I mean balance scene as in you can be standing on a log swaying from side to side. You know, you're not standing there on a tight road, but you are swaying. If you could see me right now, I'm literally swaying, pretending I'm with you, but you know what I mean, so that I do.

Yeah. As opposed to when you were in the classroom working, can you talk to me about the differences and maybe the poses and cons of Yeah. That experience for you? Oh, look, for me personally, there's so many pros of being a business owner. Okay? I think the biggest thing for me is autonomy. I am a person who, I need autonomy.

You know, I have a sense of agency within myself. I don't need people telling me kind of what to do, when to do it, how to do it. I'm self-driven and I like it to be at my pace, so I'm just reflecting about the hours that I do. I'm not saying that I do. Less hours within my business. I suppose for me there's more flexibility.

So for an example, I'll just run through a typical day with you. I'm usually up quite early. I'm an early riser, and I might have my first client at seven 30 in the morning, and then generally they're one hour sessions, and then generally I'll have maybe another one or two, and then I might have a bit of a break in between.

I get to come home, do my sort of office admin staff, my planning and programming, reflecting for that student, sending off emails to parents, and then I'll be off again in the afternoons to my next sort of two or three clients after that. So there's more balance and flexibility in that I'm with students, but then I get to come home, be in the office, do my office duties.

There might be the odd automation, but it doesn't happen. Uh, cause I am the boss. I could go for coffee and catch up with someone or go to an appointment. I still have to make up that time. But I do it when I want to, so you know, I'll do it once I get home from the other clients in the afternoon. Yeah. I suppose the biggest, one of the other biggest pros I've found with teaching, particularly in early years, is I felt like I had to be a jack of all trades.

I felt like I had to be really good at literacy, and I had to be really good at numeracy. And then, oh my God, I had to be really good at science and then I had to be great with social emotional support, and I was like, whoa. It's a bit too much for me, whereas I find out because I'm just focusing on literacy, I'm able to really master, get mastery.

I'm not saying I'm there yet, but I like to really have mastery within particular subjects within my life. So I love that I can focus. That's the biggest thing. I felt like I was a bit everywhere in the classroom here. I, it's just this journey of getting better and deeper and deeper within my knowledge.

That's what I love. And if I could have been totally honest with you, do any teachers, like staff meetings? I'm just putting it out there. I don't have to go to staff meetings. You know, honestly, I can use that time to listen to a great podcast on literacy. I can use that time to pick up a book on literacy.

I have the autonomy to manage my time, so I wanna manage it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's so cool. I love that you're honest about it as well. Like having a business doesn't mean you just get to chill out on a beach all day, you know? You see all these Instagram influences and it's almost like get rich quick schemes, you know?

Yeah. Which have been going since back in the day. They don't say it how it is. They're not honest about it. And the honest truth is you do have to work. You still do have to work. Especially because you, in your business, I'm gonna talk about this in a minute, but it's just you. So youre wearing all of the hats and you are doing all the sessions.

That means you have to show up all of the time. So if you go out, like you said, you've got the freedom. Yeah, go out and see friends for a coffee, but you've still got the work to do. But the key is you have the power to make that choice. Yeah. You can decide what you want to do, and I think also you end up getting, maybe this is speaking from me, my experience.

You do start to get more efficient at things so that you can create time for those other things that you enjoy. So when we're in the classroom and we're doing things that. I dunno. Sometimes I just feel like we get given tasks to do. Yeah. And I'm like, don't you think we're busy enough already? Let's, I dunno why we're needing to do this extra task, but we do it because that's what we're told to do and we don't enjoy it.

The difference is when we're working on our businesses, there might be some things that we don't enjoy, but it's, for us, it's for our business, it's for our growth, our future. It's so. Much more personable. You know, it's easy to take that ownership and actually get it done in a quicker way and, you know, enjoy yourself and give yourself a high five that you've actually done as opposed to doing something that doesn't make sense to you.

You dunno why you're doing it, just because like you said, someone told you to and it's not always fun, right? No, you're spot on. Kirsty, you are talking bit that intrinsic motivation. Yeah, the intrinsic motivation. And yeah, sometimes within a school, or I've been working in preschools as well, it can feel a bit like whiplash because you know people from above have told you, this is the way we're heading with pedagogy this week.

And then, oh, hang on, before you've even really gotten a chance to, honestly, to say, alright, I'll keep an open mind. I'm gonna give this program, or I'm gonna give it a go. I don't know. You're off to something else that they want you to try. Like I said, there's that minimal chance of really developing that mastering and giving something a full cycle before you go off and make a decision about something.

Program. Yeah, is definitely challenging. Yeah. What do you think then, like on the topic of being real and Yeah, being transparent because I don't wanna mislead people who are listening. Having your own business is amazing. It would be my number one preference every day. Like, yeah, I would encourage, I'm not ever gonna force my girls to do anything, but I would always encourage them to have an open mind to consider owning the business rather than working for the business.

Yeah. But the reality is there are challenges, you know, with everything that we do, so. Mm-hmm. What are some of your biggest challenges that you've faced as a tutoring business owner? Honestly, the my number one biggest challenge, and I wonder if many tutoring businesses faced. This is, I felt like it was marketing myself.

I'm not marketing myself. I'm not gonna put myself out there. And it just felt a little bit for me, uncomfortable having this, this public speaking and putting myself out there and having my face out on social media cuz I'm a fairly introverted sort of a person. But then I sort of something, you know, being with yourself, being with the group.

I sort of flipped the switch and I thought, you know what? I have to let people know that I'm here if they need me. So I, I stopped viewing it as I'm marketing myself, I'm putting myself out there. I'm gonna do reels on none of that. I just went, you know what? I wanna put myself out there as I am. What I offer, what I do, who I am, and I've tried, and I'm still improving in this, is making my social media more about education rather than selling.

Service is really important to me. So if I'm educating along the way of using social media, I'm okay with that. So the biggest challenge for me has been marketing myself and to broaden my perspective about seeing myself as a teacher. Got the bunny ears up. Just putting myself in that box and actually expanding my view of myself and seeing myself as a business owner that has been challenging Kirsty and going, oh yeah, I wanna get paid for this and, and honestly setting the amount of my fee.

Thanks to you, Kirsty, creating cancellation policies like that lap and white, boring stuff that we have to do to be a sustainable business. Mm. That's been challenging. But with your help and the group's help, I've done it and actually understand why I have to do those sort of things. Because if you're just sort of going, oh, but you know, it's okay that you didn't show up.

I know you were sick, but it's like, hang on. I need to be able to earn a stable income. I need to be a sustainable business. So there are certain things that I need to apply so that I can do that, so that I can keep doing what I'm doing because this is my full-time employment. That's right. You've gotta take it seriously.

You're all in. There's no plan B now. And you know, it can be terrifying, but it's also exciting because it means you step up and you really. Like you said, you've implemented a cancellation policy, you've got your pricing right. You stick into your boundaries. Like boundaries are huge. Yeah. We give boundaries to kids and we do that to teach them what's safe, what's not safe, but also how to act and behave in a way, I guess.

And that's what we're doing with parents with a cancellation policy. These are the rules of the game, for example. Mm-hmm. If you wanna play the game with us, these are the rules we follow. And when you are opening up with your families about that from the beginning, then you are never going to have issues because they opted in knowing what your terms were.

They opted into the game, knowing what the rules were. And then, yeah, you have less of the cancellations, you have less people not turning up. You have less people taking you for a ride and taking advantage of you. Yeah. And. Then it takes you to that next level of not just a teacher, I'm a business owner.

I'm the real deal. I'm in. I'm all for it, and I actually have seen your confidence grow just from other side of the screen. Every time we catch up and we chat and all the calls and the masterclass, you can see. Your confidence, how it's grown over time and how you own what you are doing now and you do value the difference and the impact you make.

And, and I guess that whole, that saying that selling is serving. And if you aren't selling yourself, then you're not serving. But when we think of the word selling, We often think of people being really pushy. Yeah. The number of times, like it still happens to me. I have people inquire with me, interested to work with me, whether it's part of the tutoring, growth, membership, whether it's to come on as a one-on-one client and maybe build up their online course, whatever it is, they will inquire.

We'll have a call then I'll follow up. And I might not hear anything. And I'm like, ek, like, are they not interested? And then you get this, you know, it's self-sabotage, comes in and says, don't email them anymore. They don't wanna hear from you. And I'm like, no. I know what I'm like with my email. I'm terrible.

I do not check my emails, especially my personal one is just junk. So I'll email them again, just checking in. Nine times out of 10 they'll reply. Thank you so much for following up. And I'm like, pH, don't think I'm pushy and sleazy because they're just real humans just like us. And they have busy lives.

Yeah. So, you know, we are always our own worst critics. So when we think, oh, we're being pushy, we're being sleazy, we've just gotta flip that and think, well, hang on a minute. This person came to me interested, so it's now my job to make sure they leave satisfied. Either they're leaving. And they're enrolled and we're gonna work together, or they're leaving knowing exactly why I'm not right for them.

Yeah. And so when you do sell yourself or market, it's really just about, like you said, putting yourself out there to say, this is what I offer. You have a solution to people's problems and. Then when they come to you, making sure that you keep that communication going, even if it slows down on their side.

Because like I said, busy moms, we've got a lot of stuff going on. Yeah. And the emails don't often get read and they get missed. Yeah. And I would say that's definitely a common challenge that a lot of people have. A lot of the ladies that I work with have say, you are so not alone. As a member, you touched on some of this a little bit, but as a member of the tutoring growth membership, what would you say has been some of the key factors in helping you to get to where you are now in your business?

Look the biggest, biggest, biggest, biggest factor, and I tell you this all the time, Kirsty. I think without you and the group, I would not have really started to take myself seriously as a business owner. When I first joined, I was a teacher, but I boxed myself into being a teacher, cuz I was still doing relief work as well.

It was like, oh yeah, it's a bit of a side hustle. We'll see where this goes. And then, Honestly, probably six months into it, I'd hate to admit something flipped and I went, hang on. No, I'm a business owner and I've gotta step up and see myself as a business owner. And your support and the group support has just been instrumental because I show up and I'm like, oh, I'm not the only person going through this challenge.

And in fact it's like, oh, that's a good idea. I might you, I might implement that into my business as well. And that's a great thing about the group is that it's always felt very supportive. It's always felt a very warm and welcoming community. We are not up against each other. It's like support. We've all got our clientele.

That's not the issue. It's like we are there to support each other and get ideas, and sometimes even though I might be listening into a conversation and I'm not in the same place, I'm still taking in ideas. I'm still going, oh, okay. In the future I might do that, and it's wonderful when I can kind of step into and help.

Ki cuz I've been through that experience, go, oh hang on, I look, you might wanna know, but I did it this way. I've had this experience. So that's also nice to be able to support someone cuz it's exci. You get excited just for them as well, that they're stage. You know when everyone's there and they're bouncing ideas around and everyone's learning and sharing.

Yeah. Like this is exactly what this is for. This is what this is about. So for those who dunno what we're talking about, the tutoring growth membership is, it's my monthly membership to help already establish tutors, soap. Early days, we've got, I think the lady who's been in there the longest or who'd been in business was probably about 10 years.

So no matter where you're at in your business, but helping you to get more growth in your business. So more student enrollments, better systems to get you more time, starting to implement staff so that you can step away from your business. But every month, We have our small group coaching calls, and in there we share our wins.

We talk about our goals, we talk about any challenges and struggles that we have, and I open it up. So I'm always going to give an answer or a solution or my input. But also everybody else, I'll sort of open it up and see someone else have any ideas, and that's what's great about it. Is like Sonya's saying somebody's already been there before they've done that.

So they've got an idea. And sometimes they're different to my ideas as well. So that person with that one problem has now got two or three brand new ideas that they can leave with and say, oh, I, I really like that. I wanna implement that, or, I love the way that they did that, or, that's not for me. Yeah, it's so good.

And I, and they're quite different, aren't they? Kirsty? Everyone's businesses are quite different. They're not all just, you know, like, we're not tutoring or. They vary. Yeah. Within education. That's the thing. One of the things I love about having a tutoring business is you literally get, it's like a pick your path book.

You get to decide what will I teach? Who will I work with? How will I teach? Where will I teach? Like you said, you go and work with students in their homes or sometimes at schools. Other people have got spaces set up, or they've got a space at home. Some people have big physical premises. You work one-to-one.

Other people only do groups. Some people do combinations, some people do. Online you are, you know, reading and spelling. Some people are math, you know, some people are doing school readiness, some people are doing homeschooling sessions. There are so much that you can do, and I think it just reiterates the fact that there are so many families out there who need our support, that there's never going to be too many tutors, there are never going to be too many businesses that are supporting the educational.

Needs of students because there are so many kids who learn differently. There are so many kids, full stop. And there are so many different areas and ways of teaching and methods like, yeah, I think it's really cool. Cause like I said, I think as this industry grows and progresses, it's going to open people's eyes to.

How education can be run and done differently. And that's exciting. I think that's really, really cool. Yeah. So previously we had a discussion and we were talking about employing staff and you were like, no, Kirsty. I'm actually quite happy where I am and I like the way it is. So, and again, you get to choose your business.

Where are you with that? Are you happy still you with no stuff? Because I feel like just recently you were starting to head the other way. What's your reason, uh, this, this happens? Cause I come to the group sessions that I get really inspired. That's, it's a good thing. Look at the moment, and I've always been one to really trust my intuition about things.

And I always have this. I feel like a knowing. I actually know when it's time to do things a bit differently, and at the moment I'm feeling like I wanna give myself time. I've built this business, I am at capacity, and I actually wanna give myself time to smell the roses. I want to enjoy it. I don't just wanna be onto the next thing.

I really wanna take it in. There are things that I still wanna improve with where I'm at now. Like recently, I've just implemented little information videos for my parents. So there's certain points of the program that I thought it would be important to explain parts of the program to my parents. So I've created little videos and I send them to my parents and I've got some really good feedback about that because that's part of it.

Sometimes I'll see parents, I won't see parents cuz I run the sessions from school and I do send emails to parents about what we've done in the session, but I'm like, how can I get better without, you know, individually ringing each parent? Cause that's time consuming. So I've created little videos. I've organized a coffee catch, but I ended up canceling it cuz I got really busy within the business.

But I'm open, I'm still open to it. Open to it as something that interests me and I still have to organize a booking with this person. I'm interested in exploring possibly how to get grants because I'd like to. Possibly work with people, maybe who immigrants, women who've been affected by domestic violence, who maybe can't read and write where they at a functional level.

So that interests me as well. How do I get to the people that maybe can't afford it, my fee, but still provide a service? So I'm not sure exactly how to make that happen, but some I love that. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. That's that's really, really cool. I'm a bit concerned, well, I haven't technically ever taught adults, so how does that work?

But I'm sure I'll be ok. I'm sure you'll actually smash it. I feel like I've said the word passionate about 10 times just, but I think that's because that's what comes through with you, and so I think you will make it work if it's grown adults who you are going to work with. You will make it work. If it's three year olds that you're going to work with, you will make it work.

And you just have this way with people. You know your stuff. And I think that that is a brilliant idea. I think everyone watch this space. So yeah, that's what I've been thinking about and I like, for me personally, I think it's important to give yourself a little bit of space. And you've taught me this cause I never did this before.

Kirsty reflection is an important part of your business. And another big thing that Kirsty and a group has taught me, you gotta be horrified by this. Like being aware of my finances, the money coming in, money going out. You know, we're teachers. We love justifying spending money on resources. Are you with me, Kirsty?

Oh, yes, of course. I'm not the first person to admit this. It's a bit of an addiction that we have, but it's like, yeah, I need that alphabet set because it'll change the lives of my students. Of course. And I've gotten better at this, and now to the point where I go, no, Sonya, it's. Not in your financial budget.

Mm-hmm. So it has, it's really hand on heart. It's taught me how to be financially responsible and accountable because I am a business and it has to be profitable for it to be sustainable. And I wanna do, like, I love courses, I love, so I need to earn the money. So I did more courses. That's been very helpful, Kirsty making me accountable and to give myself time to reflect on my business.

Yeah, that's good. That's so good. And you know, we had Emma on here a few weeks ago. Yeah, yeah. What she said. Yeah. She's like, I now know how much money I'm making. And it sounds really almost silly because people will be like, well, how would you not know? Because what's in your bank? Isn't actually what you should be looking at.

The dollar amount that's in your bank is not actually telling you how much money you're making. Yeah. And until you understand that and understand what numbers you do need to be looking at, then you're gonna have no idea. So I'm really, really glad that's something that you've taken on and, and you are all over now.

That's. So good. And it goes back to what you said at the beginning. You're taking yourself seriously. Yeah. You're not just a teacher. And there's, when I say that, it's not that there's anything wrong with being a teacher, we all love being teachers. Yeah. But you have a business. You are an entrepreneur, you are a business owner, and you've stepped into that role as well, so Good.

Thank you. I think with teaching though, Kirsten, we're too busy being caught up in the responsibilities of a classroom and all our staff meetings and the PS after hours, that sadly, sometimes there's not enough time to kind of go, actually, I need to look at my personal finances or my, yeah, so whereas when you're in your own business, you have to.

Exactly gotta happen. The buck stops with you. No one else to pay the bills. No. No. Ok. To finish up now, I would love to ask you if you have one piece of advice that you know, maybe something that you wish that you knew back when you started your business that you would be happy to share with our listeners.

It could be absolutely. Anything related, anything business. I really think there's lots of things. I wanna say take a risk, like take a risk and do it. But when I say that, make sure you've got plans in place. So for example, I went, this is not working for me anymore. I know I need to do something different, but I did it gradually.

Fortunately for me, I'm in a profession. I was able to do relief. Work. So I was able to get a set amount of income relatively, cuz I kind of generally always got booked on the days that I was available. And then I gradually built up the business. I felt confident cause I had the income, I had the space and time to grow as a business owner.

So have a, I'm not just saying just leave unless you know you're really at that point, unfortunately there's no looking back, but have a plan in place. Just make sure that you are making responsible decisions, I suppose, because there's nothing worse. I think for me personally, it's a bit so destroying to have to go to a job where you are unhappy, where you're not fulfilling your purpose.

So definitely, and I would highly recommend have a support network cuz that's what's gonna get you through because Kirsty, thanks to you, I have terms and conditions. Whereas honestly, I would, I put terms and conditions like with my parents sign up, they have to sign terms and conditions. I have a cancellation policy.

I'm really upfront, you know, with everything. And that's because of you and the group asin. I would not have thought about that. I would just be thinking about my sessions, the service I have to provide my student, cuz I had that teacher focus for so long. Yeah. So groups can, a good group like your group where it's.

Friendly and supportive. And, uh, it's about collaboration, not competition, collaboration and community. I think get yourself into a group if you can. Like, I know you have to pay a certain amount of money, but it will pay back many times over because you'll get ideas. They get that support, so thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank for sharing that and all of your kind words. And I just wanna finish by saying, you know, whether it is with me, obviously we would love to have you join sharing Growth membership because we do have the best community of. Tutoring business owners ever, slightly wise. But you know, you wanna surround yourself with people who are going to support you and lift you up and encourage you and cheer you on.

And like you said, it is an investment financially, but you get it back because your business grows and your business grows because of the ideas that you've got and the strategies that you learn. And like you said, the templates that you get, all of those things. They come back twofold in the return on your investments.

So I personally am still part of Masterminds and have a coach and things like that, and I always will because I know I'm investing money because I get a return on it. So yeah, I think that's a really, really, yeah. Yeah. Yep. Spot on. Thank you so much, Sonya, for your time. You have been amazing. It's been really lovely to chat with you and find out a little bit more about your business and your journey and your purpose and your passion.

Thank you, Christie. Thank you. We absolutely love having you inside the tutoring growth membership as well. Thank you so much. I've actually quite enjoyed this. I told you it would be fun. That's been fun. Yeah, and for anybody who is interested in joining the tutoring growth membership doors are opened from the 22nd of May until the 31st of May.

Their doors will close again then, and we will open them again. Sometime later in the year. If you enjoyed this episode today, I would absolutely love for you to leave a review. It only takes a minute, and if you haven't yet subscribed, make sure you do to ensure that you never miss an episode. Finally, if you want to know more about what we do, head over to the website, kirsty gibbs.com or check out the link in the show notes below.

Thanks for listening. It's so great to have you here.