The short answer is because of my brother. Sometimes life gives you opportunities and experiences that lead you in directions that you could have never imagined. All you have to do is take the opportunity and that’s what I did. I would say you do the same. It’ll change your life. 

We are afraid of change and trying new things. It relates to our genetic makeup. As human beings, we like bigger returns for the least amount of effort. But the long-term game is the way forward. 

You don’t need to risk everything to build a successful tuition business. Is it going to be easy? I won’t lie, No. But the most difficult part is getting started. Once you get started, you won’t look back. There is always something to do, another challenge and another problem to solve. If you help people, positive things will happen to you in your life. You don’t need a lot of money to get started either. You can simply start by teaching or tutoring yourself, and then move to starting a tuition business. That’s what I did. 

I love these quotes – and are an inspiration for me. 

“Our unconscious will always provide a solution. We will always learn new things along the way and grow as a person.” 

“The more you test new things the more you’ll learn and get better at what you do.”

“Every great entrepreneur and content creator knows that they don’t know everything but that they can learn everything.” 

Guillaume Moubeche, Co-founder and CEO of Lemlist

Back to my brother again. He was always the rebellious one in the family, the risk taker; and to this day he still is. He always wanted to find his path. My path was already decided and sealed by my family, in particular my mum; and that was to be a Chartered Accountant. I did become a Chartered Accountant, but also an entrepreneur – thanks to my brother. I call it a double whammy, as I’m someone who not only understands business but also finances and tax. It helps when running a business.    

My mum’s family are very established and have solid professional careers. Their careers were an example for me, something my mum knew if I replicated would help me lead a successful and comfortable life. The 9 to 5 lifestyle wasn’t for my brother. He couldn’t sit in one place and wanted a different life for himself. He would say to me: “How is it that you sit in one place for hours and do your work on a computer? Do you spend hours on an Excel spreadsheet for a living?” My response to his question would be ‘Yes’. He always wanted money for himself, and that’s something I’ve grown to understand. Making money is a skill you have to learn and understand. Once you understand the fundamentals, you can then start working in that direction. I hope to pass that on to you through the tuition business. 

One day, my brother walked into my room and said to me: “You know I’m thinking of starting a tuition business, let’s do something together?” I was always a sceptical person and I had many questions.

We both had our reasons to start a tuition business. So what were they?

My brother wanted to start something for two reasons. First, he didn’t want to work for anyone – think that’s quite clear by the picture I’ve painted so far. Second, his close friends didn’t include him in their tuition business that they started many years ago. This is something that he couldn’t accept, especially when he’s been such good friends with them for such a long time. To this day, he would not tell me all the details. But his reasons were very clear; he wanted to do something bigger and better than his friends.

“To decide, or not to decide, that is the question. We often make it (decisiveness) so much harder and more complicated than it really is. Anyone can be decisive because all you need to do is say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to something.”

Rob Moore, Entrepreneur and Author

My reasons on the other hand were very different. For a while, I struggled with my Chartered Accountancy qualification. It’s a tough qualification to achieve. Being a sceptical person that I was, I knew my job and career wasn’t going anywhere. So I had my reasons to try something different as well to be able to make more money. I also had savings from the job I was doing, and living at home with my parents certainly helped. But my brother on the other hand didn’t have any money or savings. For me, the biggest challenge was my decision. What to do? Should I go for it or should I just focus on my exams for now and not get distracted? Although I had some money saved up, I had to use some of it for my exam resits, which are not cheap if I’m being honest. So all these questions were in my head. It was the constant pushing and motivation from my brother that led me to start this tuition business. 

Why take the opportunity to open up your own tuition business? 

Because it may never come again. You see, I was in a lot of difficulty when I had to decide to start and run my own tuition business. But the opportunity only presents itself once. You either take it or let it slip. In my case I took it, and the rest as they say is history. 

Had I not taken that decision to proceed, I would not be sitting here writing this article. By no means it was an easy journey, but it was nonetheless an interesting one, with lots of learning and memorable experiences on the way. A journey that continues to keep on going. I don’t know where the road will end or is going take me, but it’ll be my journey, a journey that I’ll cherish and remember for the rest of my life. 

Are you ready to take that journey? If so, then decide ‘yes’ and you can begin that in an instant, like I did.