Tutoring is a very fulfilling job if you are passionate about teaching. Tutoring is a good alternative to being a teacher in a proper school. It is a job that pays well, and also allows you to arrange your schedule to your liking and still give you time for relaxation. You can have as many students as you want. Lessons take place either at your home or in the clients’ home. You can even choose a location for group tuition sessions and get paid even more. However, tutoring is an unstable job.
Students can cancel lessons, and cancelled lessons mean less pay for you. Clients can decide to travel out of the country, effectively putting a stop to that particular stream of income. As a tutor, you must have taken steps to work through these problems of cancelled lessons.
But what if the problem is not the client? What if you are the reason you cannot meet with your tuition students? For instance, you could get sick. The longer you stay at home, the more money you do not earn. This is a very sobering thought, but you shouldn’t dwell on it.
Here are some tips for you to get through the flu season (because it is inevitable).
1. Expect To Be Sick At Least 1-2 Times A Year
The first thing to take care of is your mindset: you are going to get sick, at least once a year. It doesn’t matter if you are a high-functioning germophobe. If flu season is in session, your chances of catching it are very high. Catching the flu should be an expected outcome, especially when the season is around. Thinking like this will help you better in preparing for those eventualities of poor health.
2. Use Price And Advance Payment To Cushion The Blow
To be a great tutor, you need to be constantly improving your skills. You should also be able to offer some unique services to your clients to increase your value to them. Doing this enables you to increase the prices for your services. If you have well-paying clients, you can afford to take on fewer students. The fewer students mean you have a less-packed schedule and more time for yourself.
Having good pay allows you to save and put aside money for emergencies. As such, if you fall sick, you will have enough money to tide you over, and you will have fewer tuition sessions to cancel.
It is also a good idea to ask for payment in advance. Getting paid in advance prevents the clients from refusing to pay you for taking some days off for being sick. You will be a bit more secure financially with advance payments, especially if your clients decide to terminate their contract with you.
3. Stop Working
It is no use powering through a headache or stomach pain. It makes your work harder for you. You cannot concentrate during lessons. You won’t be able to coherently answer your students’ questions. You might even have to leave the lessons early, cancelling tuition sessions for the rest of the day. In the end, your students may catch the flu you had, and then your classes will definitely be cancelled. Once you feel you are sick, stop working. Working will stress your body even more, and a simple flu that could go away in three days will last a week.
Living a healthy lifestyle is important to maintain your job schedule as you want it. Having the flu shouldn’t make you feel you should work harder and get through it. It means that you should rest and take it easy for a while. Get better and stronger before you jump back into work.
4. Send an Email to Clear the Week
Keeping regular and consistent correspondence with your clients and students is important. This should be established at the start of the tutor-student relationship. So, once you know you are sick and going to work is out of the question, do let them know.
Send your students an email to inform them that you are sick and cannot attend your tuition classes. You can tell them that classes are cancelled for the week off for the next two days, depending on how sick you are. You can even give them areas to study during this period of sick leave.
Make sure that their email addresses are hidden when sending out your email. If the time you have stated in the first email has elapsed, and you are still unwell, send them another simple email explaining why you cannot come. If possible, create a draft email for this purpose, as well as an email list. Creating an email when you are sick is not the best option. Prepare emails in advance, even if you never get to use them.
5. Rest
Relax. Let go of all anxiety. You are only human, after all. You are too sick to plan lessons and teach them. You have informed your students and their parents, and they will understand. You have some money saved and your emergency fund is bursting to be used. All your bills have been paid and you have some extra money after paying for medication. Relax and chill. Your job will be waiting for you when you get better and back in three days’ time. If your clients get upset with you for being sick, then maybe you should reconsider working for them.
Conclusion
Even tutors can fall sick. You should expect it to happen, and plan accordingly. Being a good tutor means that you can charge higher rates because your clients know just how valuable you are. This and asking for payment in advance will cushion the blow of losing some money during your sick leave.
Once you realize that a headache just won’t leave you be, stop working. Email your students that you won’t be around for a few days, and then rest. They will be waiting for you when you get back.
Want to be an outstanding tutor? Here are some articles to help you to achieve your goal:
Be Outstanding in Your Field: What It Takes to Be a Great Tutor
How Tutors Should Take Advantage Of Slow Tutoring Seasons
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