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Writer's pictureSean McCormick

How Emily O'Connor Built a Full-Time Tutoring Practice: Advantage Math Clinic

Updated: May 26, 2022

Emily stepped away from working in schools to build a full time tutoring practice and created multiple revenue streams by creating educational cards that are sold online. As a dyslexic herself, Emily says her favorite thing is tutoring elementary and middle school kids with dyslexia. Emily’s practice is currently all online, she mostly tutors kids in math, has a high retention rate and is fully booked.

When Emily graduated from her masters program, she really saw herself in the classroom, but the country was in the middle of a recession and teaching jobs were hard to come by.


After working for a literacy initiative at the Boys and Girls Club, Emily got a job at a school but eventually after a few years of poor administration and degrading work conditions she was burned out and decided to go off on her own so she could provide more personalized education for kids (especially those with dyslexia).


“My freedom doesn’t have a price tag”


Before going completely on her own, Emily worked for a colleague on her private practice and this was her window into starting her own business. Over the years, Emily has gotten many different offers from various schools and contractors. Educators are asked to do things they don’t want to do every day and Emily really values working for herself and says “My freedom doesn’t have a price tag”.


Emily talks about some of the times she fell on her face before getting to the point where she is now where she is able to only do things she really want to do.


“I can change any situation at any time for any reason” is something that Emily tries to live by. She constantly evaluates her life and work and is able to adapt.


Emily does not keep her rates super high but she makes it very clear to clients that she changes for her time and charges for consults. She keeps her standards high and works with families who are on the same page.


You can find Emily on her website www.advantagemathclinic.com

 

Emily O'connor 0:01 Today on the Earn More Tutoring podcast, Emily O'Connor and I talked about how she stepped away from working in schools to build a full time tutoring practice, how she created multiple revenue streams by creating educational cards that are sold online, and how she helped transition making math real to their first ever remote offering. And then I can also change any situation at any time for any reason. And I take a lot of safety and like security in that reality of like, I don't need to continue to show up and do things that don't feel good to me for whatever reason. If you want to start a side hustle, tutoring, or take your tutoring business full time, then you are in the right place. Today's guest is Emily O'Connor. Welcome, Emily. Thank you. Thanks for having me, Sean. Of course. So I'd love to hear just about your current practice and what it looks like the different things that you're doing, and just kind of a broad overview of what of what your current practice looks like. Yeah, um, I mean, my great love is tutoring. I love tutoring kids. I love specifically tutoring dyslexic kids, especially as a dyslexic myself. So I mean, currently, especially since COVID, it's really just been hunkered down time for me. Which is nice because I was fully books prior to COVID. And I remained fully booked during COVID, which is a huge blessing, I did have to transition from in person tutoring, which is my great love to virtual tutoring. So that's been a really interesting process. But you know, I just love working with kids. And so generally, you know, my youngest kid right now is a fourth grader, I'm going to probably start with a third grader relatively soon. And those elementary ages are often my favorite. I feel like that's probably my my specialty for sure. Elementary Middle School is my favorite time. And I love high school kids too. One of the things that I have dealt with personally as a tutor that I didn't expect when I started in business was I have quite a high retention rate. So I tend to stay with families for a long period of time. And I and I help kids with maths specifically. That's awesome. So it sounds like your your current practice, it's you with the kids. And how did you get into that? It sounds like you've got a totally full caseload at this point, you you're, you know, you can't take I'm sure it's hard to take on new clients, and there's a waiting list. But how did you? How did you get to that point? How did you get your first client, um, just I would say total serendipity. I mean, I've I've always been someone who loves working with kids. And when I graduated with my master's in teaching, I really saw myself in the classroom, I really thought that the classroom would would be where I ended up, but it was a recession at the time that was 2011. And so teaching jobs for really, really scarce. And so I ended up going back and working for the Boys and Girls Clubs and the Boys and Girls Clubs had instituted a like literacy initiative. So I also have a background in literacy education, I have a background in Oh chi which I no longer use in favor of structured inquiry, which is something I'm also very passionate about. So I, I was in a position where I was able to like, work with Boys and Girls Clubs, but in a teaching capacity. And so I started doing small group work with kids and using an OG method. And then I like kind of around the start of the next school year, a local school for kids like it was an independent school that was specific for kids with learning differences and other like issues where traditional school was not a great fit. They were hiring and so I ended up working for them for a period of time and then going off on my own which I really love like I really love long term deep relationships with kids who really need help and with help are able to stabilize and in a lot of cases thrive in their in their placement wherever they are. So my my assume I see my role and I see my passion in like, how do you try to make the Dyslexic experience not overtly traumatic all the time. In a in an environment In a world where, you know, us like non neurotypical people, the world is not built for us, right, though we helped build it. So, yeah, I mean, you know, I just, I kind of got dragged into starting my own business kicking and screaming, I never, I never anticipated that I would, you now have an LLC and be, you know, just me working for myself. But that's what ended up happening. And I'm really grateful to be in this position, because it also allows me to be what I like to think of as a scholar practitioner. So I take a lot of classes and get a lot of professional development, because I love the practice aspect of it. And I find the more I learn, and the more I practice, the better I am at what I do. Well, Your reputation precedes you, you know, Cara, who's one of my favorite educational therapists, and just, she's the person who really inspired me to take my practice...


Check out the full interview below!




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