Space requirement:
If you plan on starting a language tutor business the good news is that you are not going to need much space to get the business up and running. The main reason that you are not going to need much space is that you will only be tutoring one person at a time. You are going to need to use either a small home office or you can use the table in your dining room, but the home office is preferred so that you can give your students one on one attention, no distraction from your family.

Time requirements:
How much time you spend working is going to depend on how many people you are going to be tutoring and how long they need to be tutored for. For example, you can tutor five people for one hour each and spend 5 hours working or you can tutor two people for 2 each and only spend four hours working. You are also going to need to spend some time cleaning the office and work area and doing bookwork, which should only take you about 2 or 3 hours each month.

Income potential:
3 ½ - How much you make is going to depend on how many people you tutor and what your rates are. To find out about the going rate you are going to want to check with tutors in your area. Some areas can charge $50 an hour, while others can only charge $15. Whatever the going rate is you want to make sure that your rates are comparable.

Keys to success:

• You are going to be very knowledgeable in the language that you are tutoring; this means that you are going to need to speak the language fluently. Having a college degree or even a teaching certificate is a plus in this business, but as long as you have a full grasp of the subject matter, you can be successfully in tutoring high school and college students.


• Advertising your business is the key to success, how can anybody sign up for your services if they do not know that you're in business? Talk to schools in your area about what services you are offering, ask them if you can place flyers on their bulletin boards. You can also advertise in school newspapers, yearbooks, or other school publications. You can also pass out flyers to parents as they are picking up their children. You can even talk to local businesses that are offering to teach their employees English.


• As soon as you begin, achieving some success with the people that you are tutoring your word of mouth advertising will begin. The sooner you see results the faster your business is going to grow. Providing students with superior education and guidance is the fastest way to see results.

• Injuries inside your home are going to be the biggest risks that you face when running a business as a language tutor. You will need to check with your homeowner's insurance to see if a home business would be covered under your policy, just in case somebody slips and breaks a bone in your house. If not you will need to look into getting liability insurance for your business.


• Failure to help your students is another risk that you are going to face. However, if you are knowledgeable in the language and speak it fluently you should not have any problems in teaching it to others.