Desmond Fambrini is an educational specialist and tutor and has amassed a million followers on TikTok making videos about what he does.
To make learning more accessible, Desmond assesses what type of physical environment will be best for each individual student and focuses on what their “kinetic sweet spot”
is.
Desmond discusses the difference between tutoring and tutoring as a specialist. Tutoring specialists know how to make the learning accessible for all students and not only know how to teach various subjects but work with students of different learning needs.
Becoming a teacher
Growing up, Desmond did not think he was going to be a teacher. He thought he wanted to go into educational law but once he was in D.C he just wanted to get back into the classroom he was volunteering in at his college. He then soon started Teach For America.
Sean and Desmond talk about the profound effect teachers have on their students self-image and the impact small comments can make which is why self reflection is so important for teachers.
Using social media as a feedback tool
Desmond leverages his social media platform as a tool to get honest feedback and views the comments and criticism not as hate, but ways he can grow and improve. Desmond gives advice on how to deal with criticism and hate but stresses the importance of just putting yourself out there on social media and being authentic.
Having rates that reflect what Desmond is worth allows him to put that money back into his students' education as well as serve all audiences, those who can and cannot afford his services.
Teachers deserve more!
Sean and Desmond talk about the deep seeded script of job stereotypes and which jobs "should" make a lot of money. Unfortunately, teaching is not a job that makes a great sum of money. Teachers are always told that it is their job to be selfless and not make a lot of money. However, this needs to be changed.
You can find Desmond on TikTok and Instagram @desmondfambrini or just enter his name into google and find him there!
Sean McCormick 0:00 Today on the Earn More Tutoring podcast, Desmond Fambrini and I talk about how he amassed almost a million followers making education videos on tik tok, and how he built a private practice with a waiting list. Desmond Fambrini 0:13 I go, okay, you know, if I wake up at four in the morning, and I work out, and I have an hour to record, I did, I can make 16 videos every morning, and I could release them throughout the day. So I can work 12 hours a day, and release the 16 videos throughout those 12 hours, it'll look like I'm a full time influencer. And I'll also have a full time job. And that's what I did for a year. Right. And it got me to this point. So you know, just put in, put in the muscle work and you'll get there. Sean McCormick 0:41 This is the earn more tutoring Podcast. I'm here with Desmond Fambrini, small business owner and tutor extraordinaire. And we are going to just chat about Desmond story, how he got started. What's he doing now? And What's he looking forward to? So welcome, Desmond, Desmond Fambrini 0:56 I am so excited to be here. This is amazing. I love that. Sean McCormick 1:00 Yeah. So I think first to start, what I would love for you to share is just tell us about what you're doing right now the different offerings you have. And yeah, what exactly kind of your tutoring practice looks like Desmond Fambrini 1:11 that is that it's a great question. Okay. So what am I doing right now currently, you are in my office might be changing offices soon. But this is my office. We have our little little mini school classroom here with the whiteboards and the blackboards. So currently, I'm I'm you know, I'm basically tutor right, you know, our fancy we have fancy words that make us a little bit more professional, right, you know, learning specialist education specialist, but it's really tutoring but just on a different you know, a certain type of level instead of seeing a kid maybe once a week, you see a kid maybe twice a week, three times a week, you link up with the parents, you involve teachers, of course, you have them signed confidentiality agreements, so you're allowed to talk to, you know, schools and public officials about but things like that. So it's basically the idea of sometimes people just think oh, tutors right there in high school, or, or, you know, high school tutors and you know, you charge 20 An hour and, and you, you know, help a kid with their math homework. But you know, really, some kids require a different level of support and some tutors or, you know, specialists like me, um, we could provide that support for you. Sean McCormick 2:11 Yeah, exactly. I think people don't really often know the difference between tutoring and there's not necessarily a perfect word for it, because I use the word tutoring, right. I call this podcast, earn more tutoring. But there is a difference between someone just helping you with your math homework and a learning specialist. And maybe you could talk kind of dive into that a little bit like what you know, what exactly is it that differentiates you from just a math tutor for not just a math tutor Matthews are amazing. They're Desmond Fambrini 2:38 great for a certain type of for a certain type of audience, right? And I think you know, just for the record, I have nothing wrong with the word. Wait, hold on, let me show you something. Yeah, grab this, right. I just My birthday was in March. And my student, my student made me best tutor, I have a I have Sean McCormick 2:54 a poster. Right. I love that. That is beautiful. But it's a little Desmond Fambrini 2:57 bit different. So so the thing that you know, when it comes to tutoring, right, you have the idea of what somebody who knows a subject Well, right. And how I describe it to people is, oh, you know, the difference between just you know, tutoring after high school out of high school, which is fine, it's great, get the practice and get your rexon Right. But the difference between kind of, you know, tutoring, and then tutoring as a specialist, is, when you're a specialist, you're also trained how to teach, right? Um, just because, you know, a subject well doesn't necessarily know mean, you know, how to teach the subject Well, right. So so people, like, you know, me or people like you, Sean, right, we have a background in not just, you know, not just the subject, not just not not just writing next week, but how to get the message across, especially when it comes to people who learn a little bit differently, right. So if I do have a student who comes in and they are dyslexic, or there's Praxic, right, I have different strategies and techniques that make learning accessible to them. And that's kind of kind of what separates kind of out of high school tutor, which again, is amazing, too, when you become a specialist. Sean McCormick 3:57 Yeah, thank you for clarifying. And I think the word that jumps out to me is accessible, right?
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