How to Schedule for Fall Classes on Outschool
As I’m beginning to write this, it is August 12, 2021. The smell of freshly sharpened pencils, brand new notebooks, and fresh back to school clothes is lingering in the air as students prepare to reenter their school buildings for 2021-2022 school year.
It’s also an unprecedented time, as schools aim to adapt quickly to the ever-changing Covid-19 pandemic. We’re currently coping with a rise in the Delta Variant in the United States, and many parents are unsure about sending their students back into buildings.
As an online teacher, I hope for the health and happiness of all of my students and their families, but I also view these times as a great opportunity to meet more students, share my knowledge, and hopefully increase my business.
Here’s my steps for optimizing my fall schedule for the highest income and impact.
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Schedule an hour or two to yourself with a journal or planner.
I prefer to use a plain old moleskin journal and my favorite Uniball pens. It sounds ridiculous, but I love to write and having a beautiful journal makes me feel successful right away.
Make a household budget.
I cannot stress this enough. You need to know how much or how little you can survive on as you build your business. Write down all your month expenses for:
Food
Water
Electricity
Internet
Mortgage or Rent
Insurance (health and car)
Vehicle Expenses
Debts
Pets
Activities
Sinking funds (Christmas, larger savings, etc).
After adding up all of my expenses, on a monthly basis I need to earn:
$4,000
Decide what your available teaching schedule will be.
When you’re first starting, you may want to go for it and teach as much as possible or whenever there is a requested time to build your following. After a year, I like to consolidate my teaching hours to the most popular times.
For fall, my most successful times are after school hours in the EST Time Zone. I teach Monday - Saturday and aim to cover multiple US and international time zones.
Monday - Thursday: 2 PM EST - 9 PM EST
Friday: 12 NOON EST - 5 PM EST
Saturday: 9 AM EST - 2 PM EST
Figure out how much you need to earn on a daily basis to cover your living expenses.
I like to figure out exactly how much I need to teach each day in order to meet my living expenses.
I do this by multiplying my monthly expenses x 12 months…
$4,000 x 12 = $48,000
…and then I divide it by 50 weeks to get my weekly expenses. This leaves 2 weeks room each year for vacations or emergencies…
$48,000 / 50 weeks = $960 per week
…then I divide that number by how many days I teach and get:
$960 / 6 days = $160 per day minimum
I always like to aim high to account for slow times of the year, emergencies, or unexpected cancellations, so I’m going to double my daily living expenses to get my daily earnings goal:
$160 per day x 2 = $320 per day goal
Analyze your class data to find your highest earning classes.
In the teacher portal on Outschool, go to the “Stats” tab and scroll down until you see your 90 Day Class Breakdowns.
(I’ve covered up the names of my classes for privacy)
Divide the Earnings by the Hours taught for each class type to find your average hourly earnings for each class.
Remember that these are the averages for each class type. They are great earners, but this data doesn’t take into account that I still will have to cancel sections due to low enrollment. Those cancelled classes don’t appear in this data.
My best 5 classes are earning:
$125/hr
$95.80/hr
$89.30/hr
$89.09/hr
$84/hr
Place the highest earning class into your schedule first. Then build around it, moving down in earnings.
Always prioritize the highest earner class and plan to teach 1-2 sections of that class a day. I have found that if I add more than 2 sections of a high earner class, they do not always fill.
Schedule those classes!
Use a planner or your digital calendar to do your mock-up schedule. I’m going to plan on offering my highest earning class twice a day, and my second highest once a day.
$125 x 2 = $250
$95.80 x 1 = $95.80
$250 + $95.80 = $345.80!
I will hit my earnings per day goal if I build my classes this way! :)
Other important tips…
Offer a variety of ongoing, one-time, and multi-day classes.
It’s important to offer a wide variety of class types for your learners. This is especially true for multi-day classes, as these are the class types supported by Charter School Vouchers. You’ll want to try new classes and class types to see what works well for you and to have multiple income streams.
Schedule 3 months out.
Give parents a chance to build out their schedule with you. If they like your classes, you’ll see them sign up for a variety of classes going into the future.
Be consistent.
Save cancellations for true emergencies. If you know you’ll be out of town, give at least a week notice to your families. Try not to miss classes too many weeks in a row or you will lose learners.
Expect slow times.
Expect slow business around the change of seasons. This is when schedules move around due to holidays, sports, and school schedules. Don’t be surprised. Aim high and save money to cover your slow times.
Stick to your cancellation policy and Outschool policies.
We are offering a valuable service to families and many of us are experts in our field. Stick to your cancellation policies and save the “freebies” for true emergencies. Outschool has reasonable policies designed to keep families happy. Following them will keep you in good favor as a teacher on Outschool and avoid unnecessary conflict.
Feel free to contact me about personal Outschool coaching and if you have any other questions. Good luck!