There comes a point in many (most?) teachers’ careers when the idea of working independently becomes an enticing option.
Perhaps you want more control over your working hours. Perhaps you want to earn more from your experience, specialise in a subject you enjoy, or escape the frustrations of working within an organisation. Maybe you’ve already started tutoring privately and are wondering whether you could turn it into a full-time business.
The possibilities are appealing. You could choose the students you teach, decide how you deliver your lessons, set your own fees and build a working life around your own priorities.
But there’s an important distinction between wanting to work for yourself and being ready to do so.
I’ve spent 30 years in education, both as a teacher and as someone who has established and run education businesses. In 2002, I set up Leeds Languages Ltd, a private English-as-a-foreign-language college in Leeds. Over eight years, it taught more than 3,500 students from 35 different countries and employed 15 teachers. I subsequently established Leeds Tutors Ltd, an online tutoring business.
One lesson from that experience is that teaching expertise is essential, but it doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business.
So, when is the right time to go freelance?
My answer is this: when you have a realistic understanding of the financial implications, a credible way of attracting students and a plan for making the transition work.
Let’s look at how to assess that.
1. Start with your reasons for going freelance
Before thinking about money, ask yourself why you want to make the move.
There are several perfectly good reasons to work independently:
You want greater control over your working hours.
You want to specialise in a particular subject, age group or type of learner.
You want to increase your earning potential.
You enjoy working with students but would prefer to operate outside a school or college.
You want to build something of your own, potentially employing other teachers in the future.
You want a more flexible working life.
These are positive motivations. They give you something to work towards.
However, if your main motivation is that you’re unhappy in your current job, be careful.
Freelance teaching won’t necessarily eliminate the problems you experience in employment. It introduces a different set of challenges.
You may have greater freedom over your timetable, but you’ll also have to find students, manage enquiries, organise payments, handle cancellations and deal with the administration that comes with running a business.
If you teach privately, you are responsible for ensuring that enough paying students book enough lessons to cover your costs and provide the income you need.
The key question isn’t simply whether you’d prefer to work for yourself. It’s whether you want the responsibilities that come with working for yourself.
If the answer is yes, it’s worth exploring the opportunity seriously.
2. Work out how much money you actually need
This is where many aspiring freelance teachers need to do more thinking.
When you’re employed, your salary arrives regularly. Your employer may also provide paid holiday, sick pay, pension contributions and other benefits.
As a freelancer, your income may fluctuate considerably. You might have a busy week followed by a quieter one. Students may cancel, finish their courses or disappear during school holidays.
You need to work out what your business must generate, not just what you’d like to earn.
Start with your personal financial requirements
Make a list of your essential monthly expenses:
Mortgage or rent.
Household bills and council tax.
Food and transport.
Family commitments.
Loan repayments and other financial obligations.
Personal savings and pension provision.
Then consider the additional costs of working independently, including teaching materials, software, professional insurance, marketing, accountancy and any other expenses relevant to your business.
You’ll also need to allow for tax and National Insurance where applicable, and consider how you will fund holidays and periods when you cannot work.
Don’t confuse money coming into your business with money available to spend personally.
A worked example
Suppose you decide to charge £40 for a 60-minute lesson.
Hours per week will vary according to your circumstances, but let’s assume this is a full-time thing. Six hours a day, five days a week. Realistically, you’re going to want to work a maximum 36 weeks of the year (no need to give up those teachers’ holidays - it’s allegedly the best part of the job!).
So that’s £40 x 30 hours x 36 weeks = £43,200
That’s £43,200 in annual revenue before business expenses, tax and National Insurance.
And the calculation assumes you actually deliver 30 paid lessons every week for 40 weeks. It doesn’t allow for time spent preparing lessons, finding students, answering enquiries, handling administration or dealing with cancellations that aren’t paid.
Perhaps a more realistic calculation would be 20 hours per week. That’s £28,800.
It also assumes that you can consistently attract enough students to maintain that timetable.
Twenty paid teaching hours might therefore require considerably more than 20 working hours.
The point isn’t that £40 is the right fee or that 20 lessons is the ideal workload. These are illustrative figures. Your own calculations will depend on your subject, experience, market, location and business model.
The important thing is to do the arithmetic before making the leap.
Work backwards from the income you need to the number of paid lessons you must deliver. Then ask whether that number of lessons is realistically achievable.
If the answer is no, you have several options: increase your fees, offer a different service, teach small groups, reduce your costs or reconsider whether freelance teaching alone will meet your financial objectives.
3. Have you tested whether people will pay for your teaching?
You might be an excellent teacher. You might have years of classroom experience and excellent qualifications.
But these facts alone won’t guarantee a steady stream of private students.
Parents, adult learners and other clients need a reason to choose you. They need to understand what you offer, who you teach, how you can help and why your service is worth paying for.
This is why I would encourage most teachers to test the market before leaving employment, where their circumstances and employment contract permit it.
You don’t necessarily need a complete website, a sophisticated marketing strategy or a large advertising budget to begin.
You do need evidence that potential clients exist and are willing to pay.
Test a specific offer
Instead of advertising yourself simply as a private tutor, think about the particular problem you solve.
For example:
GCSE English tuition for students preparing for examinations.
A-level English support for students who need to improve their essay writing.
English lessons for adults who need the language for work.
Online EFL tuition for international students.
Specialist support for a clearly defined group of learners.
A specific offer makes it easier for prospective students to recognise that you can help them.
Next, identify where those students or their parents might look for a tutor. Depending on your market, that might include personal referrals, local networks, online directories, tutoring platforms or your own website.
Start conversations. Find out what potential clients are looking for. Test your offer. If you can secure some paid lessons while still employed, you’ll begin to understand the realities of attracting and retaining students.
Don’t treat a few expressions of interest as proof of a sustainable business. What matters is whether you can generate paying clients consistently enough to support the income you need.
There is a significant difference between finding your first student and building a business that can support you throughout the year.
4. Consider going freelance gradually
One of the most useful questions you can ask yourself is whether you really need to leave your job immediately.
For some teachers, a gradual transition will be the most sensible route.
You might begin by offering private tuition outside your normal working hours, subject to your employment contract and any relevant restrictions. You could teach a small number of students, learn how to manage enquiries and payments, and develop your understanding of the market.
Over time, you can assess whether demand is growing.
For example, imagine that you currently teach full-time and begin offering private GCSE English tuition.
During the first month, you secure two students. Over the next few months, referrals bring in additional enquiries. You start to develop a better understanding of which services people want, how much preparation your lessons require and what fee you can reasonably charge.
You also discover how much time you need to spend finding new clients.
That information is valuable. It allows you to make decisions based on actual experience rather than assumptions.
You might decide to reduce your employed hours, if possible, and increase your tutoring work. Alternatively, you may discover that the combination of employment and private tuition suits you perfectly.
There is no rule that says freelance teaching must become your only source of income.
Equally, not everyone can build a side business while employed. Workload, family responsibilities, contractual restrictions and the nature of your teaching role can all affect what’s practical.
If a gradual transition isn’t possible, you’ll need to be particularly careful about your financial preparation and evidence of demand.
5. Think about the academic calendar
This is particularly important if you intend to tutor school-age students.
Demand for some types of tuition can change throughout the academic year.
Examination preparation may become especially important in the months leading up to GCSE and A-level examinations. Other students may seek help when the school year begins, after receiving disappointing results or when they encounter difficulties with a particular subject.
During school holidays, some tutors experience quieter periods. Others may find opportunities in intensive courses, holiday tuition or support for international learners.
The pattern depends on the subject, the students you serve and the services you offer.
If you work with adult learners, the pattern may be different again.
The mistake is to calculate your potential income using a busy month and assume that the same level of demand will continue indefinitely.
Think in terms of a whole year.
Ask yourself:
How many weeks do I realistically expect to teach?
Which months are likely to be busiest?
What might happen to demand during school holidays?
How will I replace students who finish their courses?
Do I have enough financial reserves to manage quieter periods?
If you intend to rely on tutoring as your main income, understanding these patterns is part of deciding when to make the transition.
Have you considered what happens if things go wrong?
It’s easy to focus on the potential benefits of working independently. It’s equally important to consider the risks.
What happens if you become ill and cannot teach? What if several students stop lessons at the same time? What if you spend money on marketing but receive few enquiries?
These aren’t reasons to abandon the idea. They are reasons to prepare.
Think about how much money you would need to cover your essential expenses during a period of reduced income. The appropriate amount will depend on your personal circumstances, financial commitments and how predictable your business income is.
You should also consider practical arrangements for cancellations, payment terms, record-keeping, insurance and safeguarding where relevant.
If you intend to teach children, understand your responsibilities around safeguarding and the requirements that apply to your particular circumstances and teaching arrangements.
For UK readers, self-employment also brings tax and record-keeping responsibilities. Check the current HMRC guidance before starting, and seek professional advice if you’re uncertain about your obligations.
You don’t need to solve every possible problem before you begin. But you should understand the main risks and have a plan for dealing with them.
So, when should you make the move?
I’d assess your readiness against five questions.
1. Financial readiness: Do you know how much income you need, how much revenue your business must generate and how you’ll manage quieter periods?
2. Market readiness: Have you identified a specific service and established that people are willing to pay for it?
3. Client readiness: Do you have paying students, credible leads or a realistic plan for attracting your first clients?
4. Business readiness: Have you considered pricing, cancellations, administration, marketing and the practical requirements of working independently?
5. Personal readiness: Are you comfortable with the uncertainty and additional responsibilities that come with running your own business?
You don’t need perfect answers to every question. However, if you cannot yet estimate your financial requirements or explain how you’ll attract students, I would focus on those areas before resigning.
If you’ve already built a reliable client base, understand your costs and have sufficient financial reserves, you may be much closer to being ready.
And if you’re somewhere in between, there is nothing wrong with taking a little longer to prepare.
My advice: make the decision on evidence, not emotion
After 30 years’ experience as a qualified teacher who has established and run successful teaching businesses, I believe it’s important to approach the business side of teaching with the same care you bring to your professional work.
You wouldn’t normally design a course without considering the students, the objectives and the resources required. You shouldn’t approach a freelance teaching business without considering the market, the income you need and how you’ll deliver your service.
Going freelance can offer greater independence and the opportunity to build something of your own. But the best results are more likely when you understand what you’re taking on.
You don’t have to wait until you’re completely confident. You do need to replace assumptions with evidence wherever you can.
Start small if that’s appropriate. Test your offer. Understand your numbers. Learn where your students come from. Build a plan that reflects the realities of your own circumstances.
Then make your decision.
The right time to go freelance is not necessarily when you feel most frustrated with your current job, or when you have finally had enough of working for someone else.
It’s when you have a credible opportunity, a realistic financial plan and enough confidence in your business model to take the next step.
And remember: becoming a freelance teacher doesn’t have to be the end of your ambitions. For some, it’s a way to gain flexibility and independence. For others, it can be the first step towards building a tutoring company or establishing a school of their own.
You don’t need to decide how far you want to go on day one.
You just need to make your next decision a well-informed one.
A question for you
Are you currently employed and thinking about going freelance, already tutoring part-time, or ready to make the move full-time?
I’d be interested to hear where you are in the process, what is holding you back and what you would most like to know before taking the next step.
Subscribe to Teaching Freelance for practical advice on going freelance, finding students, setting your fees and building your own education business.
And if you’re considering your next move and would value a conversation about your plans, I offer a free, no-obligation introductory consultancy call. Drop me a line and let’s have a chat!
Teaching Freelance is written by Adam Pernak, an education professional with 30 years’ experience, including establishing and running a private language college and online tutoring businesses.