Comments on: New UniversityTutor Business Model Not Working

By: Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:07:37 +0000

You’re right, thanks Mike I appreciate it and will keep everyone updated on here!

By: Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:07:13 +0000

Thanks Aaron! You’re right, my expectations are sometimes too high and I’m impatient :)

Adding the line to the email has definitely helped. I’m still watching/tweaking it.

By: Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:06:18 +0000

Hi Marshall,

Great point because I knew this but hadn’t really thought about it. There has been a slight decline in the number of contacts, but not enough to account for what’s happening (still about 40 contacts per day).

In my experience over the last 4 years or so watching this, tutoring in the summer still occurs quite a bit but it’s around maybe 50%.

Thanks for reminding me!

By: Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:04:52 +0000

Hi Chuck,

Interesting, I haven’t experienced that yet myself, but will def watch out for it.

Adding the line to the outgoing emails seemed to have helped. Will def keep working on it!
B

By: Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:01:43 +0000

Thanks! Yep, adding the line to the email has helped so far and # of invoices are going back up slowly. We’ll see.

In your case, yeah my first impression is that the point system would work there, but making it a facebook app could work. Thanks for the encouragement we’ll keep workin!

By: Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:00:19 +0000

Agreed Sam. Thanks for the response.

Only one I’ve thought of is maybe requiring people to book the tutor up front before being able to contact them. But this doesn’t sit well with me. Lots of people wouldn’t want to enter their credit card I don’t think before they actually communicated or met with a tutor.

Any ideas?

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:30:28 +0000

I’m sorry to hear you aren’t getting the results you were expecting. I think you’ve got a good model. But as others have already mentioned, due to the timing with the winding down of the semester it’s probably too early to really tell. Tutoring is a seasonal business and summer is definiely the slow season. Use the time to respond to feedback and tweak the system in preparation for the fall.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:50:44 +0000

Brian – sorry to hear it hasn’t taken off like you had hoped, but don’t get discouraged. I think it’s still a good model, just may take time to develop. As you mentioned, it will take time for tutors to become accustomed to it, but hopefully all new tutors you attract will be bought in from day 1. I think it’s still too early to count it out.

Good point by Marshall as well, with the semester winding down it will likely slow down. The good news is that that gives you the summer to work through any feedback you’ve received, and make sure it’s ready for the rush as students head back to school.

Looking forward to hearing about Buenos Aires – living internationally is a dream of mine as well, hopefully soon!
– Aaron

By: Marshall | bondChristian

Marshall | bondChristian — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:22:12 +0000

I probably misunderstood the business model. However, if the problem might be that new clients aren’t contacting your tutors, could it just be because we’re between semesters?

I’m not sure how the rest of the world functions on this, but I just finished a semester on Monday. Students probably aren’t looking for a tutor in the off-season.

Since you’re in the tutor business, I’m sure you’ve considered this. Thought I’d mention it, though, since it came across my mind.

Marshall Jones Jr.

By: Chuck C

Chuck C — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:41:30 +0000

Brian,

Don’t know if you read “A VC”, but the VC principal there just wrote a good article about the problems with AmEx recently.

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/05/im-feeling-the-costs-of-credit-card-fraud-and-defaults.html

Good luck ramping up the business.

Best,

Chuck