Setting up of tuition centre

[jamiechia73]

it’s not really about the money… it’s for the love for children and the drive for education… i just met up with someone who took a franchise from a well-known education centre in singapore … seems to be doing quite well…

[skunk]

winth:

Hi,


My friend was a full-time tutor and was earning good money until he decided to open his own tuition centre.

He had set up his centre in one of the most prominent tuition hubs in Singapore. For the past 5 years, it was like hell for him. He couldn't sleep well, suffered poor relationships with his family and barely had enough to spend, after deducting all the revenue to pay his teachers, rental, course materials, utility bills. In order to recoup his losses, he almost wanted to open another centre (for the hope of more revenue since he felt that his fixed cost should only increase marginally), but it was a blessing that he didn't.

He finally gave up after 5 years, sold his tuition centre away and went back to full-time tutoring. We avoided this friend of ours for many years too as he kept coming to us for loans and all the lies he told us so as to hide away from his real situation. It was really bad.

In total, he loaned about a $100K from his mum over the past 5 years, plus his own savings and couldn't recoup his losses.

Tuition centres might not be look like such a very lucrative business as it seems. And if you are not careful, you might end up with huge losses. Please think through carefully.

My 2c worth.

sounds exactly like what i went through it was sheer hell.

[skunk]

jamiechia73:

it's not really about the money..

really? wow, why not make it free then?

[Ivanlew]

jamiechia73:

mind sharing what's the startup cost needed for kinderland?

If I remember correctly what my friend told me, it should be more than $100K including the royalty fees. KinderLand don't allowed you to setup at HDB block must be either shopping mall or landed property. If you choose landed property you will have to built an emergency staircase is a regulation and that staircase well cost you around $20k. Lot of money that you have to spend to setup child care. So tuition center is cheaper.

[jamiechia73]

FOC then how to pay rental of shop space ?

so from your experience, you strongly recommend me not to set up something like a tuition centre right? How about child care centres?

[skunk]

since u claim it’s not really for the money, but the "love of children and the drive for education", then just charge cost price only lor LOL


c’mon lah, what’s wrong with working for money? Only with money, then u can employ very gd tutors, provide very gd environment, and spur yourself to do more.

if it’s not for money, nobody will bother working. If u don’t believe, flush all your money down the toilet bowl, see whether u will still attempt to open tuition centre "for love of children and drive for education" LOL

if u want my opinion, don’t bother opening a centre…it’s very very very hard work for very very very little money. When i opened a centre, i was making around $4K, working EVERY SINGLE DAY, every weekend, every night. Life was really a nightmare.

[skunk]

as someone who has walked down that very bitter road before, maybe i can share some insights:


1) what u make in 10 months, must last 12 months, because usually no kids have tuition during sch holidays. Can u pay rent, pay yourself, for 2 months a year?

2) no weekends, no nights free, means whatever u make, must divide by 1.5, to consider as \"OT pay\", to compare with other professions. U think tutors make much more than a clerk?

3) during the year when O levels was brought forward by 1 week, i suffered an instant \"pay cut\" of around $1K that month. Whenever one of my students have to quit because CCA infringed upon our tuition lessons, i suffer an instant pay cut too. In other professions, your pay gets cut when u don't perform. In this line, your pay gets cut because other ppl perform LOL with such wild pay fluctuations, it was real hell to plan for the future.

4) I was the only experienced tutor in my centre, i had to hire newbies for my other classes....they were inexperienced, late, tardy, heck-care....it was hell looking for qualified professionals to help u. When i approached an ex-sch teacher, she wanted $5K monthly, not including profit sharing. I don't blame her, she was well-qualified to open her own centre herself, why should she work for me? Anyone still thinks it's easy to open a tuition centre?

5) Because of market saturation, students that are drawn to a new tuition centre are usually those who failed to improve at existing ones. Why? If u don't kena delinquents or ADHD kids, consider lucky already. I once had a bunch of delinquents, forced to have tuition by their parents, came and smoked outside my centre, wrecked havoc, skipped classes. And their parents refused to pay for lessons skipped. U think going to the police will help? I had an ADHD case who damaged my computers in the centre. Advised the mother to bring her son see a doc, she refused, still believing her son is \"normal\" when in fact the son's schoolmates told me he's been identified in school already as an ADHD case. Does this seem like HELL to u?

Now i'm back to giving private tuition, and my life has never been better

Seriously, to anyone, don't bother opening a centre unless u got tons and tons of cash and energy. And if u do, why bother?

And those who love kids should just volunteer at Spastic Children's Association or Chao Yang School.

Cheers

[Funz]

Tuition centres and childcare are very different if you are interested in setting up a childcare, I suggest that you visit the mcys website and read up on setting up a childcare. And in today’s market, to start a childcare, you need about $200K easily whether you take over an existing centre or start 1 from scratch. Slightly lesser if you do not take on any franchise which, however, means you have to develop a curriculum yourself or else you may not be awarded the license.


Do also note that in most franchises, over and above the franchise fee your will still have to pay monthly royalties which is normally calculated as a percentage of your revenue, not profit. That means even if you are not making any money, you will still have to pay the royalty. And there are performance commitments that you have to achieve, failing which you franchisor may revoke the franchise (very seldom but if relations are not good, they may use this clause to terminate the agreement). And that is not all, the franchise is renewable usually on a 5 yr basis.

The biggest problem with any business be it childcare, tuition ctr, restaurant, retail outlet or even spa, is staffing. And when you go into the education business, I can guarantee you your time will not be taken up teaching or dealing with children but with parents and staff.

You have a friend who is already in this business. If she/he is someone trustworthy, find out more from them. Not only the good side but the ‘ugly’ side of running one’s own business.

For every success, there are a few failures. You want to be the one to succeed so do your research well, know what you are getting yourself into. And reflect and see if running a business suits you.

[winth]

Hi skunk,


Wow, very detailed info. Think that's what my friend went through too. He had so much acne on his face (due to stress) that we could barely recognise him.

Oh, not to mention all those very demanding parents, they want only 'original questions' that do not come from assessment books/ten year series, bec they usually would have seen those questions already. So my friend had to originate questions to teach those students, complete with step-by-step solutions and explanations. You think he never :stupid:?

Now, we see him, he's so much happier. His weekends are definitely burnt as he is doing full-time tutoring, Mondays to Sundays (2pm onwards up to 11pm), but the freedom he has exchanged for giving up the tuition centre is tremendous. And oh, he earns more than a professional white collar, for he charges very high rates since his students are all O and A Levels.

[skunk]

winth:

And oh, he earns more than a professional white collar, for he charges very high rates since his students are all O and A Levels.

cannot be very much more lah, or else all the white collar ppl also come n do already.

I've calculated already, even for a very famous home tutor, maybe $12K monthly? That's not say astronomical, that's what the average banker takes home.

Even for myself, with 7 years' experience and quite a name built up over the years, i've never exceeded $6K monthly.

It's more impt to do the job because a person has a natural ability for imparting knowledge, not because of the money. I know of many other jobs that can make much more without sacrificing weekends and nights