Stop charging by the hour ⏰ - here's how 💰
Do you want to earn more as a teacher? Stop charging by the hour.
Here's a super simple tweak you can apply today.
And if you have any questions about how to price your offer, drop them in the comments below. 👇
Charging by the hour doesn't really work with educational freelance work.
It can work in other industries - therapy, law - since the hourly rate is usually significant. But charging $25/hour? It makes earning a living challenging.
Class cancellations, late payments, and an overall diluted value proposition to name a few of them.
Don't worry: here's a super simple tweak.
Instead of quoting an hourly rate, quote a flat rate for the result. This doesn't even mean increasing your rates, at least at first.
For example:
You currently:
  • charge $25/hour
  • sign students up for 10 lessons over ten weeks
Now, when a prospect comes to you, tell them:
I'll get you from X to Y in the next ten weeks. The investment is just $250.
It's exactly the same money, but it's a quick mindset switch in your pricing.
I know you'll be surprised by the results. And from there, it's pretty simple to go from $250 to $350 and upwards.
Try this the next time you're enrolling a new client and let me know how it goes.
Hope it helps.
Do you have any questions on how to price your offer? Add them below 👇
Complete action
12
5 comments
• Aug '24 (edited)
I’m bearish on the one-hour Zoom class as a sustainable model for teachers.
One way to rethink student contact is to borrow a concept from the software development world: treat your interactions with students as “stand-ups.”
How long is a stand-up? Long enough to set practice objectives and establish skill-building priorities.
It could be just 12 minutes.
How often do you need a stand-up? It varies—maybe twice a week.
The assumption that we teachers make, that students want to spend as much time with us as possible, is probably wrong.
In many (not all) cases, learners prefer the shortest path to skill acquisition over the traditional “12-hour package.”
Price the outcome, not the journey.
Nobody likes tollbooths.
In the TOEFL Speaking world, making this shift from 1-hour time-blocks to outcomes is easier because we can establish a baseline score—where are you today?—and identify the target score—where do you need to be?
Then, we can set up a plan to bridge the gap.
By reframing the success plan as a “skills” problem rather than a “time” problem, you gently shift the responsibility of skill-building to the learner.
Any lag in skill development can be addressed in the stand-ups: “What happened this week?”
3
• Aug '24
love this analogy! Yes, it's not time they need but results. I also love the tollbooth example 🤣 - I definitely do NOT like tollbooths. You gotta slow down and get distracted.
Test prep is definitely easier to set and see outcomes, but we can do it in other skills, too. We just need identify and really understand journey benchmarks.
It goes from, for example, improving listening skills to being able to transcribe a 5-second clip this week (then ten seconds next week, etc.).
Love this concept.
3
• Aug '24
Good idea. Thank you!
1
• Aug '24
my pleasure! Glad it was helpful
0
• Sep '24 (edited)
great idea!
I love it! Thanks for sharing.
I’m going to start doing this now with all my future students that come in.
With my actual students, when I feel it’s right I’ll suggest this way to them and see what they say ☺️
Also, it’s great as it free’s up both of our uses of time, the students and teachers alike.
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Andrew Woodbury
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Stop charging by the hour ⏰ - here's how 💰
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