It is important to understand what each individual will be bringing to the table when looking to start a tuition business. 

Given my background, I understood accounts and tax filings, so I was happy to help out with company finances, compliance and necessary paperwork. I had experience in tutoring, so I was also happy to jump in to teach from time to time where needed. I also helped out with the running of the tuition centre like my other business counterparts. 

Being a startup, there were many facets to running a tuition business, which my brother and our business partner took responsibility for. Sadly, the trouble was, that I came across as being the weak link in our business relationship. My work didn’t take that long as it was easy for me to deliver it given my accounting background, however, other areas such as tuition administration, taking phone calls from parents and printing stuff for students took a longer time. Nobody looked at the value add, as my business partners were more focused on the time I was spending doing the work. 

I was later criticised for not ‘pulling my weight’. I understand why it was said, but in all fairness, no one thought about the ‘value’ that was being brought to the table; no one knew how much time the activities were going to take to deliver and perform either. I had a particular skill set that saved the business a lot of money and time, but that wasn’t factored in at all. Just getting an accountant and doing all the necessary paperwork, accounts and taxes would have cost a few thousand sterling pounds. But that wasn’t taken into consideration; what was important was the time element and how much time we were all putting into the business. Sadly, there was no focus on the ‘value’ that was being added to the business. 

During this time, my brother was a great help as he supported me by delivering a lot of the work and putting in long hours to drive the business forward. But there came a time when I was expected to deliver more (based on time) and I did. I then took responsibility for printing stuff for students to be ready for the tuition day. That took a lot of time, so now I was delivering or ‘pulling my weight’ in our tuition business.

We all brought something to our tuition business.

1. Take our third business partner for instance; he was a good talker and was good with words, so our intention for bringing him on board was to have someone who could sell and convince parents to enrol their children at the tuition centre.
2. My brother on the other hand was driven by his circumstances, how he was not included in the tuition business by his friends. He was determined to make this work and make his mark.
3. I, on the other hand, already had experience in tutoring at a tuition centre and understood the dynamics of teaching; not to mention that I could also handle finances and taxes for the business. 

Conclusion

One lesson I would like to draw from these experiences is to understand what each individual will bring to business, but focus on the ‘value’ and not ‘time’.

It’s the ‘value’ that you bring to the tuition business which will make you money going forward, not simply the ‘time’ you invest in.  

When starting up a tuition business, there will be finger-pointing at each other, there will be questions to understand what everyone is bringing to the business as a whole. So it’s vital to understand what each individual is capable of before bringing business partners on board, but the focus should be on ‘value’ and not ‘time’.      

These are real considerations that no one will tell you about. So best to consider this carefully before jumping into a tuition business.