Tutoring as a Successful Business - An Expert Tutor Shows You How [Paperback]

Eileen Kaplan Shapiro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2001

Master tutor, Eileen Shapiro, reveals the secrets of her 28 years of success: how to tutor everyone from preschoolers through college and adults, how to set-up and promote a part-time or full-time professional tutoring business, and how to tutor your children at home.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A superb introductory guide to the craft and art of tutoring, to pursue a successful and professional tutoring career. -- Midwest Book Review 2001

Good things come in concise packages. The informal tone belies the fact it's an extremely practical usable manual. -- Fearlessbooks 11/7/01

This book explodes with valuable teaching information where the author uses common sense strategies. It should be in every classroom. -- ASTORYWEAVERS'S Book Reviews

About the Author

Eileen Shapiro has been tutoring for over 30 years. She has written studies skills pamphlets for the Chicago Tribune, a dictionary for the SAT, the college entrance exam, and English and math computer disks for the SATs. She has taught over 6000 students.

Product Details

• Paperback: 243 pages
• Publisher: Nateen Publishing (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096723610X
• ISBN-13: 978-0967236100
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #677,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Title deceived me, February 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Tutoring as a Successful Business - An Expert Tutor Shows You How (Paperback)

This is a great book for people who want an anecdotal account of the author's tutoring experience. It is also probably very good for those who are tutoring or wanting to get a glimpse of how to tutor many different types of students in many different subjects. I was looking for something that was more business involved. Although the title implies such a book, it only devotes about 56 pages of the 243 pages to this topic. Much of the information could be read in other generic small business books.
In short, I was disappointed because the title is very deceiving. If you want to know the business side of tutoring, get a book for small business. If you want to read some stories of how she has successfully tutored some very difficult children, by all means, read this book. I would suggest checking it out at your local library to read the 56 pages on the business side of tutoring.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Best viewed as an intro to meatier resources, December 28, 2005

By 

souldrummer (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tutoring as a Successful Business - An Expert Tutor Shows You How (Paperback)

I've been a professional tutor for the last two years and involved in for-profit education in some way since 2001. Now that I've gained some tutoring skills, I'm thinking about starting my own firm, and I picked this book up looking for strategies about how to start a tutoring business. This author clearly loves what she's doing. Her compassion for her students is admirable. She sees tutoring as an accessible profession that everybody does to some extent, and she feels that others can follow her model closely and become tutors.

Like other reviewers, I was disappointed that she spent at most 1/3 of the book talking about the business side of tutoring. Perhaps she doesn't want to fully train someone to compete with her. She briefly mentions things like "Doing Business As" announcements in the final third of the book. She helpfully shares what marketing strategies have worked for her, and she gives several helpful anecdotes about what working with parents and students. I really wish that she had expanded this section because the practical advice she has to share is what separates this book from many other offerings on the market.

How you find the other 2/3 of the book will depend on what kind of tutoring you wish to attack. Probably the best thing here is that so many types of tutoring is addressed. She describes young kids, properly labeled Learning Disabled kids, falsely labeled Learning Disabled kids, adult learners, exam prep students, and other relevant case studies. Yet she doesn't really go into great depth on any of these issues. I tutor SAT, and I did not learn a great deal about teaching students from this book. Sadly, she doesn't go into great depth on ACT or graduate exam tutoring. On the other hand, I've always thought working with middle school and elementary school students would be tough for me and this book exposes me to the attitudes that have made her a successful tutor.

My suspicion is that this author is trying to vault into educational consulting from the tutoring ranks. It's a fine line. How do I share enough info to be classified as an expert without sharing so much that I train someone to compete with me? For the most part, strong tutors will gain from a quick skim and then find other resources in either the small business field or the educational literature that are more helpful. Still I believe that this is a helpful book that is worth picking up used or from a library as part of the background research for finding whether you have a calling for tutoring.

3 stars

--SD

postscript: I see that some reviewers are concerned that she bashes teachers. She is a little hard on teachers, but this is somewhat understandable. I don't think that she was a teacher before she started tutoring [unlike myself and most tutors]. Consequently, she hears mostly from students who have poor teachers and need tutoring. Most students from excellent classes with strong teachers will have their needs met in the classroom and are less likely to cross the author's path.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I was looking for!, July 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Tutoring as a Successful Business - An Expert Tutor Shows You How (Paperback)

When my daughter was born, I knew I wanted to stay home with her. Since my main work experience was in education, I figured tutoring would be the best home-based business for me. This book confirmed my feelings and also made me think about things I hadn't yet thought of. It was very helpful and well written!