Tutoring business simulator
See what your tutoring business would turn over, how many families you'd win and who you'd lose them to — quarter by quarter for four years — before you spend real money.
Tutors, parents and results that sell the next term. This one opens as Top Marks Tutoring: A tutoring business matching tutors with pupils for exam preparation and weekly lessons. Rename it, reprice it, or describe your own tutoring business and let Nova rewrite it to fit.
What a steady tutoring business ends up with
Played steadily for all four years — quality first, then growth, a fair share of the bank spent each year — a steady tutoring business here ends its last year on $590k of revenue and $76k of profit, with 341 families and 12% of the market (#3 of 5).
It starts from nothing: $15k in the bank and you, 45 hours a week, with no families yet.
People who play it well do better, and a bad plan runs out of money.
Revenue in the last year: $590k
Profit in the last year: $76k
Families at the end: 341
Share of the market: From nothing to 12%
Where it finishes: #3 of 5
Years and decisions: 4 years, quarterly
What you'll decide each quarter
Each quarter you set what a lesson costs, how many families each member of staff can take, what you spend on being found, and which cities you teach in.
Each decision shows on a forecast before you file it, and every period resolves against the rivals and the economy.
Who your families are
Families buy results. A lesson that works sells the next one by word of mouth, and the free version online sets the ceiling on what anybody will pay.
3,500 families in all, across your home city, the capital, the second city, a university city and a coastal city.
Students on a budget: They need the result and will find the cheapest way to it. About 1,580 of them, worth $1.2k a year each.
Career changers: Paying their own way to a new job, so they read every review. About 875 of them, worth $3k a year each.
Employers paying for staff: A budget, a report to fill in, and a renewal if it worked. About 350 of them, worth $3k a year each.
Parents: Buying for their children, cautious and loyal once convinced. About 700 of them, worth $2.2k a year each.
Who you're up against
Three rivals are already in it, and they play to win: they cut prices, spend on marketing and answer what you do. Most of the market is theirs on day one.
The university nobody questions: The biggest, and slow to change — it has stopped listening to its smaller customers. Holds about 30% of the market.
The free videos online: Wins on price and little else; its customers leave the moment somebody is better. Holds about 20% of the market.
The bootcamp with the ads: Clever and quick, but stretched thin and hard to get hold of. Holds about 10% of the market.
How it works
Free until you start: building and previewing cost nothing, and starting is $10, once.
Build it — free: Press build and you get your own copy of this market: four kinds of family, three rivals and five cities.
Make it yours: Change any number, describe your tutoring business in a sentence or two and let Nova fill it in, or upload a profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history to fit it to your real figures.
Preview — free: See what a steady tutoring business ends up with, and every warning worth reading, before you pay anything.
Start — $10: Pay once to start, your seat included. Then run it quarter by quarter for four years.
Also for
tutoring · tutor · exam prep · lessons · learning centre · after school
How much does the tutoring business simulator cost?
Building and previewing are free: make your own copy of this tutoring business market, change anything in it and see what a steady tutoring business ends up with without paying. Starting the simulation is $10, once, and your own seat is included.
Can I make it match my own tutoring business?
Yes. Every number can be changed — the families and what they pay, the rivals, the cities, the costs and the starting cash. Or describe your tutoring business in a sentence or two and Nova, SparkTower's AI, fills every section in for one Nova action. If you already trade, upload a profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history and the simulation is fitted to your real numbers, starting from where your business stands today.
Are the numbers realistic for a tutoring business?
The template is checked against what real ones do: played steadily, a believable one finishes year four turning over between $100k and $600k, with between 60 and 600 families. This one's preview comes to about $590k and 341. Your own prices, costs and figures change that, which is the point of trying it here first.
Can I use it to test a tutoring business plan?
That is what it is for. Put your plan's prices, costs and starting cash in, play it forward quarter by quarter, and see whether the money lasts, how many families you would need and what a rival's price cut does to you — before you put real money in.
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