Seeing some of the awful pay and treatment in the other reviews has inspired me to share about the platform that I work on: Takelessons. I have not seen other reviews of Take Lessons so I hope this one is good enough. This is an American company so you must be able to legally work in the US and have a US bank account to be able to receive direct deposits.
Pros:
-You set your own schedules and rates. The lowest rate I have seen is $15/30 minutes. I charge $25/30 minutes and $40/1 hour but this is still low. Many teachers charge $60/hour.
-They have excellent customer service, IT help and teacher support. They will help you set up your profile and give you advice on how to make it more attractive to students.
-There is a variety of subjects available, all languages, music and academic help.
-Pay is weekly and always on time.
-Teachers can get background checks to be more appealing to parents.
-You are an independent contractor so you don’t have anyone telling you what to do or any of these financial penalties.
-You can accept or deny students. For example, I have denied several that were under 10. On my profile it states that I accept students 10 and up only but parents don’t always read it.
Cons:
-ESL/English students are limited. They probably only make up 10% of my students overall.
-It may take time to build up your schedule.
-They take an initial 40% of your rate, which is phased down to 10% after the 15th lesson.
My overall opinion: This is a great company to work with. I’ve been with them for a year and a 1/2. They are a platform website which connects students and teachers that actually gets you students. Right now, I work PT, so I only have about 15 students from Monday to Thursday in the evenings. My classes are back to back and I have maybe 1 opening left. When I worked FT I was doing up to 45 classes a week. This is an excellent option for teachers who are qualified, experienced and legally able to work in the US. If you can teach multiple subjects (for example, I teach ESL, Spanish, TOEFL prep, writing and American history, you will get even more students. Also, the teachers who tend to be more successful are those who have teaching degrees and/or licensed to teach in the US, so it’s not for everybody. One last thing – since I live abroad I have to pay 15% self employment tax since the company is based in the US.
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