Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 8,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their tutoring service. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a tutoring business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.
How To Write a Business Plan For a Tutoring Service
Your business plan should include 10 sections as follows:
Executive Summary
Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.
The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of tutoring service business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a tutoring service that you would like to grow, or are you operating a network of tutoring businesses?
Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the tutoring industry. Discuss the type of tutoring you are offering. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target market. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.
Company Analysis
In your company analysis, you will detail the type of tutoring you are offering.
For example, you might operate one of the following types:
- Exam preparation: this type of tutoring company provides exam preparation and training materials for high school students, undergraduate students, and recent college graduates preparing for college entrance exams such as the SAT, ACT, GRE, etc.
- Primary school tutoring: this type of tutoring specializes in helping students in K-12. This type of tutoring is typically subject-specific – math, literature, history, etc.
- Occupational and advanced academics tutoring: agencies may sometimes specialize in occupational certification for those entering the workforce as engineers, mechanics, technicians, etc.
In addition to explaining the type of tutoring you provide, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.
Include answers to questions such as:
- When and why did you start the business?
- What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include placement goals you’ve reached, the number of new contracts, etc.
- Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.
Tutoring Business Company Overview Example
Academic Advantage Tutoring is a new business serving students and families in Durham, North Carolina. We are a local tutoring business to help students achieve grade-level success and beyond. There are no high-quality local tutoring businesses in the area, which positions us uniquely to fill this gap and support our community’s educational needs.
At Academic Advantage Tutoring, we offer a comprehensive range of tutoring services tailored to meet the needs of our students. Our offerings include Homework Tutoring Services, where we assist students in understanding and completing their homework assignments effectively. We also provide Standardized Testing Tutoring Services to help students prepare for key exams with confidence. Additionally, our General Academic Tutoring Services cover a wide array of subjects, ensuring students can receive support in any area where they might need assistance. Our goal is to make quality education support accessible to all students in Durham, North Carolina.
Located in the heart of Durham, North Carolina, Academic Advantage Tutoring is perfectly positioned to serve our local community. We are committed to offering our services to all students within this region, striving to make a significant difference in their academic journeys.
Academic Advantage Tutoring is uniquely qualified to succeed for several reasons. Firstly, our founder brings invaluable experience as a former teacher and has successfully run a tutoring business. This background provides us with a deep understanding of the educational needs of our students and the expertise to meet those needs effectively. Furthermore, we pride ourselves on offering higher-quality tutoring services than our competitors, along with a more diverse range of services. This comprehensive approach allows us to serve a broader population of students, addressing various academic challenges they may face.
Since our founding on June 13, 2024, Academic Advantage Tutoring has made significant strides as a Sole Proprietorship. We have accomplished several key milestones that lay a solid foundation for our future success. These include designing our unique logo, developing our company name, and securing a great location for our operations. Each of these steps marks significant progress in establishing our presence in the community and positioning us to become a leading provider of tutoring services in Durham, North Carolina.
Industry Analysis
In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the tutoring industry.
While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.
First, researching the tutoring industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.
Secondly, market research can improve your strategy particularly if your research identifies market trends.
The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.
The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section:
- How big is the tutoring industry (in dollars)?
- Is the market declining or increasing?
- Who are the key competitors in the market?
- Who are the key suppliers in the market?
- What trends are affecting the industry?
- What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5-10 years?
- What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your tutoring service? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.
Tutoring Business Industry Analysis Example
The tutoring industry in the United States is a thriving market with a current size of approximately $7 billion. With an increasing emphasis on academic achievement and the need for personalized education, the demand for tutoring services is expected to continue to grow in the coming years.
One of the key trends driving growth in the tutoring industry is the rise of online learning platforms and virtual tutoring services. This trend has opened up new opportunities for tutoring companies like Academic Advantage Tutoring to reach a wider audience and provide convenient and flexible learning options for students in Durham, North Carolina.
Additionally, with the growing competition in the education sector and the increasing pressure on students to excel academically, the demand for supplementary education services such as tutoring is expected to remain strong. This bodes well for Academic Advantage Tutoring as they enter the market and position themselves as a reliable and effective tutoring service provider in Durham.
Customer Analysis
The customer analysis section must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.
The following are examples of customer segments: elementary students, middle school students, high school students, etc.
As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of tutoring you offer. Clearly, high school students would want different subject tutoring and would respond to different marketing promotions than professional certification clients.
Try to break out your target market in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most tutors primarily serve customers living in the same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.
Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target market. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.
Tutoring Business Customer Analysis Example
Target Customers
We will target local students who are in need of academic assistance. These students will range from elementary to high school levels, encompassing those who require help in core subjects such as mathematics, science, and language arts. Our services will also be aimed at students preparing for standardized tests like the SAT and ACT, ensuring they have the skills and confidence needed to excel.
We will also focus on reaching out to parents who are seeking additional learning support for their children. Parents will often look for tutoring services that offer flexible scheduling and personalized learning plans, which we will provide to accommodate their busy lives. By offering both in-person and online tutoring options, we will cater to diverse family needs and preferences.
Furthermore, we will target college-bound students who may need specialized tutoring in advanced subjects and college entrance exams. Our services will include providing tutoring for Advanced Placement (AP) courses and college application assistance. This will help us capture a segment of ambitious students who are aiming to enhance their academic profiles.
Additionally, we will tailor our services to include adult learners who wish to further their education or acquire new skills. This segment will often include individuals pursuing GED certifications or professional development courses. By offering tutoring services that cater to a broad range of academic and professional needs, we will establish ourselves as a versatile educational resource in the community.
Customer Needs
Academic Advantage Tutoring provides high-quality tutoring services tailored to meet the diverse academic needs of students in Durham. Families can expect personalized learning plans that cater to the unique strengths and weaknesses of each student, ensuring effective learning outcomes. By offering one-on-one and small group sessions, the tutoring service ensures that students receive the attention and support necessary to excel academically.
In addition to enhancing academic performance, the tutoring service addresses the growing demand for flexible scheduling to accommodate busy family lifestyles. Sessions are available during after-school hours, weekends, and even online, providing convenience and accessibility. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for parents seeking to balance their children’s extracurricular activities with their educational needs.
Another critical need that Academic Advantage Tutoring fulfills is the provision of specialized support for students preparing for standardized tests and college entrance exams. The tutors are equipped with the knowledge and resources to guide students through test-taking strategies and subject-specific content. This preparation helps students build confidence and achieve higher scores, which can significantly impact their educational and career opportunities.
Furthermore, the tutoring service is committed to fostering a supportive and encouraging learning environment that motivates students to develop a lifelong love of learning. By focusing on building self-esteem and promoting independent thinking, students are empowered to take ownership of their educational journey. Academic Advantage Tutoring is dedicated to creating a positive impact on the academic success and personal growth of each student.
Competitive Analysis
Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.
Direct competitors are other tutoring services.
Indirect competitors are other options customers may use that aren’t direct competitors. This includes peers, teachers, or graduate students. You need to mention such competition to show you understand that not everyone who needs help with grade improvement and test preparation will hire a tutoring company.
With regards to direct competition, you want to detail the other tutors with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be tutoring services located very close to your location.
For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:
- What types of customers do they serve?
- What types of tutoring services do they offer?
- What is their pricing structure (premium, low, tiered, etc.)?
- What are they good at?
- What are their weaknesses?
With regard to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.
The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:
- Will you provide superior services?
- Will you provide services that your competitors don’t offer?
- Will you make it easier or faster for customers to engage your services?
- Will you provide better customer service?
- Will you offer better pricing?
Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.
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Marketing Plan
Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a tutoring service, your marketing plan should include the following:
Product: in the product section you should reiterate the type of tutoring that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific courses or subject help you will be offering. For example, in addition to high school level math tutoring, will you provide GED preparation, or will you be specializing in certification preparation for a specific occupation?
Price: Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.
Place: Place refers to the location of your tutoring services. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your tutoring office located next to a high school or near a retail district, etc.? Discuss how your location might provide a steady stream of customers.
Promotions: the final part of your tutoring marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:
- Advertising in local papers and magazines
- Reaching out to schools and teachers
- Reaching out to local websites
- Flyers
- Social media marketing
- Local radio advertising
Operations Plan
While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.
Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your tutoring service, such as serving customers, attracting future applications, processing paperwork, etc.
Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect your 100th student to successfully improve their grades, or when you hope to reach $X in sales. It could also be when you expect your Xth student to excel at a specific exam, or when you expect to launch a new location.
Tutoring Business Operations Plan Example
Key Operational Processes
To ensure the success of Academic Advantage Tutoring, there are several key day-to-day operational processes that we will perform:
- Conduct initial assessments to understand each student’s strengths and areas for improvement, tailoring tutoring plans accordingly.
- Schedule and coordinate tutoring sessions, ensuring flexibility to accommodate students’ varying needs and availability.
- Develop personalized lesson plans that align with curriculum standards and students’ individual learning goals.
- Engage in regular communication with students and parents to provide progress updates and gather feedback for continuous improvement.
- Maintain accurate records of student attendance, progress, and feedback to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of tutoring services.
- Recruit, train, and support qualified tutors, ensuring they are equipped with the necessary resources and skills to deliver high-quality instruction.
- Implement quality assurance measures, including observing tutoring sessions and reviewing lesson plans, to maintain high educational standards.
- Manage administrative tasks such as invoicing, payroll, and supply inventory to ensure smooth business operations.
- Utilize educational technology and tools to enhance learning experiences and provide engaging, interactive tutoring sessions.
- Stay informed about educational trends and curriculum changes to adapt services and maintain relevance in the competitive market.
- Foster partnerships with local schools and educational organizations to expand reach and create collaborative opportunities.
- Develop marketing strategies to attract new clients and retain existing ones through promotions, referrals, and community engagement.
- Address any customer concerns or issues promptly to ensure client satisfaction and maintain a positive reputation.
Milestones
Academic Advantage Tutoring expects to complete the following milestones in the coming months to ensure its success:
- Secure Initial Capital: Obtain necessary funding to cover startup costs, including marketing, operational expenses, and initial overheads.
- Hire Qualified Tutors: Recruit and onboard a team of skilled and experienced tutors to ensure high-quality educational support for students.
- Establish a Strong Online Presence: Develop a professional website and engage in digital marketing strategies, including social media and SEO, to increase visibility and attract potential clients.
- Launch the Tutoring Business: Officially open doors to clients with a well-organized launch event or promotional offers to generate initial interest and engagement.
- Build Strategic Partnerships: Form partnerships with local schools, educational institutions, and community organizations to enhance credibility and expand reach.
- Implement a Feedback and Improvement System: Develop a process for collecting and analyzing client feedback to continuously improve services and ensure high satisfaction levels.
- Achieve $15,000/Month in Revenue: Focus on client acquisition and retention strategies to reach the target revenue, ensuring financial stability and profitability.
- Develop a Referral Program: Encourage satisfied clients to refer others by offering incentives, thus increasing customer base and revenue streams.
- Expand Service Offerings: Introduce additional tutoring services or educational programs based on market demand, enhancing value proposition and competitive advantage.
Management Team
To demonstrate your tutoring business’ ability to succeed as a business, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.
Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in teaching or tutoring. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.
If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in education and/or successfully running small businesses.
Financial Plan
Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.
Income Statement: an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not. 
In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you tutor 10 students per week or 50? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.
Balance Sheets: Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your tutoring office, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $100,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.
Cash Flow Statement: Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt. For example, let’s say a company approached you with a $100,000 contract for helping employees achieve certification, that would cost you $50,000 to fulfill. Well, in most cases, you would have to pay that $50,000 now for curriculum, employee salaries, etc. But let’s say the company didn’t pay you for 180 days. During that 180-day period, you could run out of money.
In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing your tutoring service:
- Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
- Cost of equipment like software, office equipment, etc.
- Payroll or salaries paid to staff
- Business insurance
- Taxes and permits
- Legal expenses
Appendix
Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your office design blueprint or location lease.
Putting together a business plan for your tutoring company is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the tutoring industry, your competition and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful tutoring service.
What is a Tutoring Business Plan?
A business plan provides a snapshot of your tutoring service as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.
Why You Need a Business Plan for a Tutoring Business
If you’re looking to start a tutoring service, or grow your existing tutoring service, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out how you will grow your business in order to improve your chances of success. Your business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.
Sources of Funding for Tutoring Businesses
With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a tutoring service are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable. But they will want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.
The second most common form of funding for a tutoring service is angel investors. Angel investors are wealthy individuals who will write you a check. They will either take equity in return for their funding, or, like a bank, they will give you a loan. Venture capitalists will not fund a tutoring service. They might consider funding a tutoring company with a national presence, but never an individual location. This is because most venture capitalists are looking for millions of dollars in return when they make an investment, and an individual location could never achieve such results.
Free Tutoring Business Plan PDF
You can download our tutoring business plan PDF to help you get started on your own business plan.
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