Ep 72: How To Build A Successful Teacher Side Hustle

0:00 Hello, everyone, welcome back to another episode of teacher sleep repeat. My name is Dylan and my name is Hayden. Hayden, I'm really excited this week. I know you genuinely because this is one of those, you know, podcast episodes, not that it isn't every week, but where I really can't wait to talk about my teeth to talk about me. Because as you can see, if you clicked on this, we're going to talk all about how to build a successful teacher side hustle. And some people might be thinking, who the hell are these guys to talk about this? But we've literally done it. We've lived it. We have a we have we have a business club podcast. No, it's not this. Yeah, people clicking might think, well, is this podcast successful? Really. But Hayden and I have built a tutoring company over the last five or six years. It's crazy. So I'm really looking forward to talking about that and giving you guys as much of an insight as possible into actually how to do it and how to be successful.

0:46 But before we do, as always, let's catch up with our week. Hayden how? Yeah, yeah, it's, I mean, it's last week's term. Yeah, it's great. So I guess most people listen to this now. Probably broken up. Yeah, maybe a couple of. You, not us though not. Us. Yeah, some of you might not be so lucky, but no, it's been last week. Year six production. Production. You saw it. I did. I did. We did it to the school. And I've taught those children before, and, you know, it is amazing how they put it together, isn't it? What? Did you think because I haven't actually spoke to you about it at. All I was just really good. I think there's two different experiences we can talk about here, I suppose. You've literally lived and breathed it for weeks. I can imagine you're kind of sick of it to to an extent, but the whole school obviously watched the production and we went into the hall and they did it and it was genuinely amazing. Like if you actually think about how hard it is to do a production, like it's such a different skill set to anything they've ever done in school before where they've it was an hour and a half hour and 40 minutes and everyone had their roles.

1:38 They had to know where to go, what props to use, remember their lines. It was insane. Like I think it's easy to forget how incredible it is and. Obviously the teachers must put in so much work into it, but the kids as well it you know, it was just, it was heartwarming as ever. I was so proud of them genuinely. And what I really like about it now I, you know, I don't, I don't want to pretend I had loads of involvement in it because actually I definitely didn't have the biggest involvement. So my head of year sort of LED everything and did it. And when another member of staff in our year group did like the kind of props team as well. So there's like two teams to it really, which is the props team and all the acting and stuff. So I wasn't involved a huge amount at the start. I just got involved at the end and helped like pick up some of the pieces. Summary of your career. Really. But the kids were so good and apparently though on this, on the second night, they did it.

2:21 So I was there for the first night, Yeah. Because they do 3. Performances 3 Performances 1 to the school, which I was there for, one that evening to the parents, which I was there for, and the second night I wasn't there for the parents. The last one, apparently the backdrop fell down and stuff like made performance and the songs cut out and stuff. But apparently it's still went really well because you know what the point is that 10 and 11, Yeah, I'm real. And they were doing it all themselves. So they would do it. I don't know. But you guys, if you have like, productions at your school, but the kids were doing. Yeah, the sound. Well, I was. Going to talk about this because obviously acting isn't every kids cup of tea and you obviously have main roles where you give to the children who excel in that kind of stuff. But there are other roles where kids still act. But then there's another layer of children who absolutely couldn't think of anything worse than that. But what I loved was that, you know, it was amazing seeing like the prop hands can't think what they're actually called, but they're wearing all black and they run on and they know where to put the props. And then there's two children sat by the computer doing this, doing the music and the lighting at the back. Yeah, there's two children at the back with the headed problem.

3:12 They. Had the scripts they knew went I thought it. Was amazing. I thought, yeah, that that's what it's all about to me even. Had we even had some of the kids with directors as well? So they were sat in the wings prompting lines if they forgot they were there with their script saying, saying the line to the actors. And they did it so well. I was just so happy they did it all. I think that's the, you know, some of the benefits of having a large school. Yeah, if I, I think if you just have a class of 32, then you have to think, you have to think differently about how everything works. But because we had 90 odd. Kids. Yeah, we're three. Former. It was like, OK, well, you know, when he dances separately, we have actors and we had yeah, backstage, all the prop where people making the props that didn't even then, like be part of that running on stage because they didn't want to. And then the lighting and the. So it was just nice to see all the kids get. Around did you notice what happened in the in the performance to the school? Did you see what happened in the I?

3:53 Didn't see what happened, I just saw at the end there was a big. Hole in the audience. Oh my gosh, classic 1. Poor girl just threw up. Oh and in the middle of the horse and she's so loved. This was boy and it was hard. The kids were getting restless. It was long. We had an interval still, but they sat so well. And this kind of leads on to the other point. I was going to say anyone is working in a school now. Just in general. Man, honestly, you're not alone if your kids are just completely unhinged. Like the most beautifully behaved children ever all year even they're pushing it a bit, like in the nicest possible way, where they're not even being rude, they're just rowdy and that everything. I think everyone at this point, it's so hot. Like the classrooms are so stuffy. The kids have worked so hard all year and they know we're kind of running towards an end.

4:35 I wanted to ask you a question. Basically, I'm thinking about this week. We're kind of winding down lessons a little bit. Yeah, we obviously run until Tuesday. Do you think how far into the end of the school year do you think proper lessons should go on for like is it indefinite? A lot of people think, oh, it's on the way or is there room for a bit of a bit of wiggle room? It's a hard one and it leads into a point I'm going to make in a minute, so keep this in mind. I don't know. I don't know what this because I feel like the correct answer is supposed to be. The narrative we're supposed to be saying is yes, maths and English and everything. All the lessons, they go on until the last day as normal. We don't have any interruptions because school is school. Well, it happens since we maths doesn't stop. You still need to have, you have to get change and all that. Yeah, doesn't matter. Like, my gut feeling is that is probably, probably how it should be. Probably.

5:18 But then the other part of me, which I always bang on about in this, in this podcast is I actually really, I just want kids to enjoy being at school and get some exposure to some subjects and enjoy stuff. But also they're there to learn how to be social, They learn how to make friends. They, they don't just learn maths and English at school. So is it nice that in the last few days that they might do some other activities that maybe they didn't do all year, but they get to do it now? Probably. Is it all right? Probably all right. Yeah. I don't know what the line is. It's hard, isn't it? Because where is the line? Like having a fun kind of still learning, like lesson again, that's different. Note to like, you know, we're going to have a film morning. Yeah, I was about to. You know what I was about to say. Because you did that Instagram real, didn't you, About classic films? And other people reply to that. But that's the only one that ever makes me feel and always has done, to be honest with you. Putting a film on with kids.

6:01 I'm like, could just be at home though. Yeah, this is They are getting nothing, but they could just be at home. But some children don't get access to films, genuinely, some some children just don't have, you know, Disney plus subscription or they go home and they're bored and like, and, and kids love watching a film. And do you know what it does do? Like again, maybe moving away from like the child's perspective, which some people argue is bad, but it does give people a chance for a moving classroom to start moving some stuff. Yeah. Or, you know, if if you want to have some organisation time, like you can just have that built in rather than it being expected of your holidays and you know, the the kids watching a film, you know, fine, I understand the pros and cons, but for me, I. Always think of maybe it's because it's so hot in the in the press this year. I always think of those parents who are like, they wanna go on holiday.

6:46 Yeah. And they would, they would, they would happily take their kids out for the last 2-3 days of school to get that holiday in a little bit cheaper bit earlier, knowing that there's a fine at stake now, No? No, you need to come in and watch Shrek. Too. Yeah, they gotta watch Shrek too. It's like I was just. I just feel a bit awkward around it. I don't actually like admitting. I actually hate it. I would never go to the parents. Well, yeah, we watched this today. I just feel awkward because I don't know what sacrifices they've made to get that kid in, to keep that kid in school. And like, they might have, they might have thought, oh, no, we can't go on holiday this year because fine, they're really hot on fines now. We're gonna just have to not, not go on holiday or go when it's more expensive. So what did you do today? What did you learn? You know, come on, justify this to me, child. We watched Shrek in the morning and we had a games afternoon. Yeah. And then we all wrote our memories about the year and we wrote on each other's faces and went home. Yeah, but it's nice. That is such a grey area.

7:28 You're right. Like, yeah, there's this whole different discussion probably to have whether fines are appropriate or kids should be allowed to go on holiday. Probably, you know, where teachers probably should. But yeah, now it's an interesting one. And there's never going to be a right or wrong answer. Well, staying on this topic, I've got a question for you as well, because I saw this come up on Facebook because I've seen many things. And it was about Ofsted coming in. So, you know, listen to our previous episodes if you want to hear more about Ofsted, especially if you're not in the teaching world. But it can be quite a scary process. And I've seen a bunch of people recently saying, oh, we've got Ofsted coming in like today. And it was like it was genuinely their last day of school or within the last two or three days of school for them. And they were moaning about it, obviously. And I just thought, I don't, I've never thought about this. Where do I stand on this? So I'm going to start with you. What is your gut feeling?

8:09 Got reaction on the idea of Ofsted coming in within, let's say the last five days of the school year? That's the time frame you get. Well, do you know what, on paper it shouldn't matter, but in the real world where we all live, it's an absolute nightmare, isn't it? And the reason is because you are, whether we like it or not, we're winding down in different ways, right? I'm thinking right now of any school I've ever worked in, in the last week you'll have a longer celebration assembly because you've given out your end of year rewards. It's this huge project where the kids interrupt, that's going to interrupt. You're not going to have a maths lesson. You know, you might have finished your units. OK, OK, I'm going to deep dive history. It's like, well, we've taught history now. Yeah, we've done that. We've got no history lessons. There's none to look at. There's none to look at. You can't walk around and see history being taught. We're not teaching history this week. Whereas if it's earlier in the year, you can move stuff about a little bit like, OK, we're doing a history deep dive. Let's just teach that what we're going to do next week this week instead.

9:00 And next week you can do science. And that's got no impact on the kids learning whatsoever. But it would, it would still, you know, you'd be able to show in that deep dive of history what your school does. It's harder to show off what your school does in this point of the year. So it's two prompts, a really good point that one, which is it's harder to kind of how good you are. But there is also the other point, which is just in the real world, which is you are just winding down at this point and you might have a year six graduation. And traditionally in your school, the whole school goes over to the church and and they see the year 6 graduation. Or, you know, you might have just built in lots of release time for your staff who are moving classroom because you know that you'd rather them do it at this time than during the summer holidays. And if Austin come in, that's going to be cancelled. And guess what that means? Not only do you have to plan new lessons that didn't exist, you then have to move your classroom in some holidays. At the time and.

9:46 Ofsted might go badly because of all of this put together. And then you've got that hanging over you over the summer holidays. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's for me. Just have a buffer of a week at least at the end of this. It's especially time 6 going into some of this. It's a bit cruel, isn't it? Yeah. Because then all of summer you're just thinking, oh God, I've got to fix this it all. Boils down to what what we think Ofsted want to see it, isn't it? Sure, because you know what if Ofsted were if Ofsted were good and reformed and real then and we all have an understanding that Oh no, Ofsted no that in the last week these things happened. So therefore we just do it and they come in expecting these things to happen and that maybe it wouldn't be as bad. But then I just say is there was there any point you coming in then really like what's Ofsted? You want to come in and see the school in full operation, right So maybe just just don't pick that last week like come on, it's never going to that's not the best time they.

10:31 Might they might well be that. Well, we don't know. I don't know. I'd be interested to talk to these people. Ofsted may well come in and be like, no, I understand that they don't change anything because my understanding of of Ofsted is you shouldn't change anything. No. So the only question that comes into, yeah, the only question that comes into effect there, though, is are schools doing what they know they should or shouldn't be doing? Like, honestly, honestly. And we all do it. So don't. I'm not going to pretend I'm higher or minor than anyone right now. My kids have been watching a film. Yeah. If. Ofsted came in. I'd probably be the first person to be like, oh, let's not watch that film. Yeah. So. So am I. Am I admitting at that point that actually I'm in the wrong, we shouldn't be doing it? Yeah. So is that Ofsted's fault? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I think you've got to live in the real. World, yeah. And you know what, in the real world as well, for your Ofsted, any audit ever of any business ever, Yeah.

11:13 Exactly. As it no one, no one acts normal you. All make sure everything. You know, your shoes are polished that week, everything's ready in tip top shape for that week, like when you're getting audited. So that's so true. It's not like it's abnormal and it's very rare. In other cases, for the audit to be completely random and you don't know when it's happening. And by the way, it's tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, like it doesn't really happen. I worked at Asda as we said this a million times. I worked in retail and every year we did stocktake. And then we had people, like, people would come in who, you know, external companies to help count stuff, and everyone came in for Stocktake. Everyone came in. It was like, it's overtime. You get paid for it, sure, but it wasn't a question. It was like, yeah, stocktake, you're all in and it wasn't part of your contract even because you're all in for stocktakes. We need to get ready. It's like, yeah, of course, if, if they came in on a random day and wanted to count what the stock was, we wouldn't know where everything was. Yeah.

11:56 We need to get ready for that prep. We need to prep. That doesn't mean that the function all year round is bad. Suddenly it just means that for the day where you're being audited, you're going to show your best. It's kind of like speed cameras. And that sounds mental, but I remember as a kid always growing up thinking, I remember being baffled for years and I said to my mum, I was like, why? Why do they literally tell you that you're about to get caught? Sure. And I never really got that. I was like, surely the purpose of speed cameras is just to catch you out doing the wrong thing. Get the money. Yeah. And my mum was like, it's to give you a chance to do the right thing. She was like, it's a deterrent. Because what what what do what do the powers that be actually care about the most? It's that you aren't speeding. So. So do they care that it you know, where this. No, they want you to know where the speed camera. That's why there's seven signs. That's why a lot of speed cameras don't even have film in them because they're just a deterrent. That's why a lot, you know, you go past speed camera and there'll be people saying to you, oh, that one never goes off.

12:42 Yeah, like because you know, but why is it there but having? Having that, you know, that stock take once a year or whatever, it's like, yeah, that's fine because you know what, that that's the thing that makes everyone do it properly again. And you know what, if it's, if it goes downhill for a bit of a for the year, it doesn't matter because we have another one soon. We'll go back up again completely. It just keeps it there, doesn't it? You know, it's accountability. Whereas Ofsted coming in next day, it's like, could you, could you just tell us? Yeah, a week of month before definitely. You know what we'll just do like every other business, we'll just get ready for it and then the school will be fine. I. Don't know, right? I've got one thing. I saw this on social media. So this is the last thing before we go and talk about how we built our side hustle, our business. But it really made me laugh. I really wanted to share on this episode. And I said it is linked to school, I suppose. And maybe I'm making this manufacturing this link a little bit.

13:24 But whenever, you know, whenever you're going to school and something's different about your appearance and immediately all the kids are like, oh, it's different. You've had a haircut. Oh, your beard's gone. Oh, look, you're wearing a new shirt, bought new shoes, whatever it might be. The kids are so hot on it. And it made me think of this reel of this one time I I had a nice big new puffer red jacket and I really liked it. It was been Larry. It was red. It was bright red. Yeah, you might never even seen it. And this is probably why I wore it a couple of times, right? And one of my friends said to me they saw I think I posted a picture of me and or something. And I was like, yeah, I got my new puffer Jackie a bit bit out there, but you know, fashionable. You don't see these very often. And my friend immediate just commented going, oh, you're working for the post code lottery now. I was like, oh, OK, can't ever wear this again. And this leaks in with this post because I want to read some of these examples to you.

14:09 And these are simply examples of people who've tried to almost reinvent their look or or do something different with what they've done and how other people have reacted. And it racked me up, right. So here we go. One of the funniest things I've ever heard was a guard explaining the difference between Glasgow and London. She'd moved to London, was dressing boldly and no one batted an eyelid. Like you do when you go to London. It's just OK and whatever. She went to Glasgow and wore a beret out and without within two. Within two minutes, someone leaned out of a passing car and shouted bonjour. Yeah, that's Scotland. My youngest daughter was wearing a yellow waterproof jacket. She stopped outside the Glasgow railway station and noticed the link.

14:50 Oh, it's Glasgow and it's a lighter. Cigarette. Someone from behind her she heard a voice saying, Hey, SpongeBob, any chance of a scene? Can you imagine? It'd be so annoying. Yeah, I look cool. Oh, this would ruin. Me, by the way. Oh my God, this would I've never got house. Again, and this one, this one completely killed me. Always seems to be in not England. It's like these people are just like, get over yourself. Yeah, yeah. In Belfast, I heard a story where a year, nine or a second year over there went on holiday in Morocco and was asked to share his experience with the class. Once he got back, he talked about the decadent cuisine. So his nickname from then on for the remainder of his school days was Couscous.

15:35 I love it. We should do a whole thing on nicknames at some point because I love stuff like. That Hey couscous, that's so. Funny, he talked. About the decadent cuisine, Ohh, props to anyone who tries to be fashionable in Ireland. I wore a red beret once. Another red Berry in. Water Berry I. Know water but and someone called me Super Mario. It's funny, I love those sort of weird lines. Clearly somewhere where it's OK. This is absolutely publicly ridiculous. I want to shout at something horrible at them but. It's like it's, it's like, is it horrible to call someone super bad? It's just funny. It's not like, it's not, it's not, but it's like, but it is horrible. It's hey, SpongeBob. It's like, oh, that's only bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. SpongeBob. But let's call this the last one. And this is funny because it was a teacher who actually did this and is maybe we could like think about where the levels of banter as a teacher come in. I once wore a silver jacket to college, turned up late for class and said sorry I'm late and the lecturer said that's OK and then waited until I was halfway across the front of the full class before following up with trouble with the spaceship again.

16:32 Was it? Yeah, but that is peak humour for me. It's like you do it to me all the time, all the time. Love me as well. Full sense of security and then just rinse me in front of God's sake. You did it last week on the podcast when the when the break. If you listened to last week when he rinsed me after a Jingle because in the Jingle I was like, no, I don't want to start. You start. You always start. I was like, I don't want to start. I hate starting. And I was like, now you're going to take take the Mick out of me, aren't you? Because I've made this fussy and you're like, no, I won't just start. I've got one second. Into it you were just rinsing I've. Got to take this one story of when my mum and her sister were together and they don't get together very often because my mum moved down South. So we live in Margate down in Kent and my rest of my family all live up north in a town called Runcorn.

17:12 It's near Liverpool so don't get together very often and they're extremely similar. My mum, my auntie, very similar. So when they're together it's like they've never been apart and they have the same laugh and it's like a proper double act. And so we were up north and I was in my granddad's and they both been out somewhere and I hadn't seen them. I think my mum was staying with with my aunt and I was at my granddad. So they came over to see my granddad and I just looked out the window, right? And I saw my mum, my aunt walking in. So I went up to the window and I pretended with my hand to do too, binoculars up in my thing, like I was on safari or something like that, right? And they came in and said, what were you doing? I was like, what? I was on safari. And they're like, what? And I say, yeah, yeah, we got tiger and a zebra 'cause they were wearing animal print tops. Now it's like, for God's sake.

17:54 And they were so annoyed. And the other point, I always say this to my mum, the same thing with you. She was wearing this top which had like 3 colours basically, right? So it was like 11 like triangular line going across the top and another straight one. So just three bold colours, right? She walked in. I was like, I got PowerPoint, like a PowerPoint back. And she was like, for God's sake, Dylan stopping me. I. Should know 'cause I hate it I I have such anxiety about the clothes I wear but there. Was one point you had shoulders that came down a bit lower. I just bought the T-shirt as well, and they came down way too low. You know what we it's like, but equally I'll do it to other people even though I hate it. You were in school wearing those blooming. You were wearing like trousers that went just above your ankle. We had no socks on.

18:38 You had what loafers are they called? Probably no clothing names. Yeah. And I just immediately was like, cool, get my whole class. Take the make out of you. It's so bad. I never did to anyone else. So bad. And then I. Never wore them again. Yeah. You didn't too fair, so I did. Yeah, got my. Own back went to that anyway, got out of me anyway. Should we do a Jingle? Let's move on. OK. All right, Hayden, we want to talk now how to build a successful side hustle. Oh. Would we know? Oh yeah, well, The thing is we actually would like jokes aside and you know, sometimes very British to be self deprecating and talk I'll of yourself, but it is something we've successfully done. We've built a side hustle. It's now a business that that kind of. Is taking on a mind of its own.

19:19 It's grown. It's grown more than we ever hoped it would be. Allowed us to go part time. And we've talked about that in the past. How exactly? It's a tutoring company. We hire 14 tutors at the moment. Yeah. We teach hundreds of children every year. Hayden and I make video walkthroughs for online. We create homework tasks. It's a really, you know, well oiled machine at this point. Yeah. And a lot of teachers I know from the past year or two, especially with cost of living more than ever because of squeezing our, they are looking for ways to make money on the side to, you know, afford the mortgage and things like that. Yeah. And tutoring. 'S a great one, but there's other, you know, there's lots of other things that people do, sure. So I think what we should do is we should talk about our story, how we did it, sure, how we actually managed to start a side hustle. It'll be in the context, of course, of tutoring, but a lot of the actionable steps we're going to talk about today could be applied to pretty much anything. And Hayden, I think what would be really good for people to start off with.

20:11 Just how did we do it? Because we talk so often about how teaching is such a stressful job. It takes up so much time. We do so much extra overtime that's unpaid and we're so burnt out. OK, someone sat there might reasonably be saying, well, OK, I've got no time. How can I do it? OK. Right. OK, here's, you know, here's the first thing then, and we will flick it back and forth for lots of stuff. I just know it as always, Dylan, I haven't really planned it. We've just written some random bullet points and we're going to go for it. But the first thing I will say is it was born from passion. I think. I think it has to be something you enjoy. Whatever your thing is, it's got to be something you're going to enjoy. It's hard to a lot of business people will say that online, it's hard to make a business if you don't remotely enjoy the thing just to try and make money. So, So for us, it started with we love teaching. We we'd got caught wind of tutoring and had had discussions in the past of that'd be a fun thing to do in the future, wouldn't it?

21:00 Like a start a tutoring company? And what happened was Dylan basically once I'd said this, once we'd had this discussion about tutoring would be really fun because we get to be our own bosses. We can teach kids. It'll be so cool, Dylan one day was like, should we do it then? Because it because, because a lot of things and you're probably thinking this right now. I bet you have lots of ideas and have had lots of ideas across your life. You're like, that'd be a really cool thing. And you might even flesh them out in your head and then go, that was a nice idea and get on with your life. And then get on with. Your life and not do it. And you might make up excuses. You might have real excuses, but for us we were like probably a few weeks went by and then you were like, wait a minute, we could just do it though. We sort of, it's like you didn't realise, oh, we can just do it. It's not just a thing in the future. So the first point of us was picking a passion, having a little idea and then and then just the 1st. And the hardest bit is going from it being idea to literally admitting you're not even doing it yet. Just saying we are going to do it, yeah. Yeah, and, and it sounds to some people I can imagine it's not really a tip, is it?

21:58 Just do it. I promise you it is. Yeah, it's the hardest. Bit because it's. So a huge percentage of ideas get lost and they're fantastic ideas and someone could be really successful. They get completely lost because they simply just don't do it. And it the reason why it has to be a passion, I would say. And I'd add to that something you know you're good at. And as teachers, there's loads of transferable skills we have. For us, we chose tutoring. It was the most transferable thing we could possibly do because it's literally what we do everyday. But I would add to being passionate something you're good at. And the reason it has to be those two things for me is because it makes just doing it easier. So if you manage to hit something you're passionate about, something you're good at, the idea of you being a burnt out teacher doesn't matter as much anymore because you'll be doing something you don't mind doing instead of watching that film, instead of just sitting around doing nothing or, you know, reading that book. If it's a passion and you're good at it, it turns into your hobby and that kind.

22:48 It kind of differs at the start. That's a really good point because I'll tell you what, even to this day, it feels different when we do things for our tutoring business and compared to if I'm knackered, right, I'll do something for my tutoring business. Whereas if I was doing something at home knackered on a weekend and it was for school, I'd be resentful because I'd be thinking, you know, I'm already paid a set amount for this job. Like I've done my hours, I've done my time. Whereas for our own thing it is it has that hobby feeling even when it is just a monotonous job at that point, it's something we've got to get done. So as. A teacher, I suppose. Those are the main things. Get started. When could you get? Started, what's the best time? Because I know for us, we really utilise the fact where we're teachers to our benefit and we use that time that we get, yeah, well, look, teachers, we get good holidays, we do get good holidays and yes, therefore relaxing.

23:31 But do you know what? If you want to go that further, if you want to make a side hustle, got to start somewhere, right? A side hustle doesn't come for free is one thing to say, but we used the holidays now summer holidays, think about right now it's coming up, you know, some holidays are starting. That's when we started. So we had our ideas. We were thinking about it through the term times, but we're too busy with, you know, whatever kept pushing it back. But when it came to summer, we committed. We'd said this summer, Dylan or Hayden, whoever's speaking, we we are going to put some time into let's block out some time. When are you free? Let's put two weeks aside and we're going to think about this tutoring business. And that's what we did. We just did it. We put some time, we went, I went to your house. You just bought a house or I don't know if you bought the house then actually I think you have no. We, we, we, we started this company honestly around this was. Fun. It was at my mum's house where your mum went to my. Bedroom and and then that January I moved house. Yeah, so so we, we were literally the classic in your mum's bedroom starting a business. With a bit of paper.

24:20 And you look back and it's like we were naive. Yeah. Oh, well, yeah. And. And I guess that brings them to another point that I'll bring up now. Don't be afraid to just give it a go. No one's gonna laugh at you. And you know what? If they do tell them to go away. Like, I'm sure people probably looked at us and thought these guys thinking they can start a business well, six years down the line and we've done it now and it's and it's working really well. But at the time, yeah, we were naive. We had no idea what we were doing. We had absolutely no idea. We just did what we thought was fun and we were passionate and then we learnt along the way. That's simple as that. We just got the train running. Fake. It until you make it and and again, it sounds so cliche this advice but it worked for us. You have to fake it until you make it because we were swamped. If you remember the amount of conversations we had, we were absolutely swamped with self doubt and and impostor syndrome because we were two years into our teaching career.

25:07 You were three years into yours. Yeah, 3. Years and two years, very. Early really. And we'd had lots of conversations with people before who were eight, 1012 years in who were like, Oh yeah, maybe at some point I'll be confident enough to go into some tutoring and I've got, I've built up enough experience at that point to do it. Do you know what you you have to just do it. And and it's, it's about not being embarrassed. Yeah. You know, make that Instagram real. Back then, Instagram reals were already a thing. But we made YouTube videos. Yeah. We made a Facebook page. We make, we make a Facebook page. We, we, we went to fiver. We got someone to make as a logo, you know, all these little things that you just have to do and not worry about what people's opinions are. Yeah. Because at the end of the day, you will never ever ever be worse than when you started off. That is the absolute lowest point you will be at. So if you start off and you do something wrong or someone laughs at you, do you know what?

25:54 I've got 2 customers. What? Let's just reframe what 2 customers is for a minute. 2 customers are two people saying, I trust you to give you my money and give me a service, a sign, a good sign that other people will as well. We started, I remember we started with eight and we started with eight and they were all 88 children, eight children, eight children that came to me and Dylan that that was our chooser because we started a group basically, and they were all ex children. So we had, you know, we didn't have any, no one knew who we were at this point. It was just people that we knew that were relying on us to get us started. And that's where it started. And I'll come back to YouTube videos before we, I can imagine we're going to tangent off into like money and and stuff in a minute. But I want to talk about YouTube because I think this is just a good fact to share. Our YouTube channel has been going, we started it pretty much when we started the business. So it's been up and running for about 6 years now.

26:36 And we didn't do our first video until about 5 years ago. So we, it's been a while, right? And if you look at our YouTube stats, obviously you guys can't see, but I'll tell you right now, if you look at our views at all time, the first three years of us making YouTube videos, honestly, we just got absolutely nothing flatline. We were flatline. We would not get in view. We'd get like 1020 views on a video and we just kept making them kept making because we just, and my overall point here is you have to be consistent and patient. We knew that eventually every single time I made a video, we were slightly better off than the last one, even it was one more view, one more view, one more subscribe, one more subscriber. We know that everything works in curves, right? Eventually that curve was going to get steep enough where it was actually you could see tangible progress and it did.

27:17 And our YouTube channel last year over doubled in one year. We're on 16,000 subscribers now, whereas it took us, we wrote like, I wish I had the document, we wrote down how long it take. It took us like three years to get our first 100 subscribers. And then it took us like one year to get to 1000. And it took us like four months to get to 5000. And it took us like and it was. And then it was like and then it was one month between 10,000. And 15,000 yeah, yeah it. Was unreal and it and yeah, but it took that we'd already had made 150 videos by this point. Yeah, we're run over 250 videos I think on our YouTube now. You can't have a YouTube with 250 videos with 1,000,000 / 1,000,000 views until you do your first video. It's as simple as that. You cannot look at someone. And this is something we did a lot when we were starting off almost enviously.

28:01 We looked at people enviously and we said Oh well, I'll never get there. You know, this person has 100,000 subscribers already. This person has a million subscribers. This other person, you know, has already cornered this market. There's tutoring companies all over the place. Do you know what? There's room for everyone to do it and you're never going to be able to do it. And this sounds silly. Now I'm going to kind of go on a little tiny tangent here in terms of with this podcast, how many education podcasts are there Loads. There are people who start podcasts who have already got 100 KA, 150K followers and they'll immediately have a nice following on their podcast. And, and the amount of work we put into this podcast to build our community, They can do it in one week. They just start what, a year and a half for us now.

28:42 And it's just, but you can't compare, you know, we worked 6000 followers on Instagram. We get people listening every week. It's part of people's routines. It's unbelievable for us and it's really working for us. And we have a long term plan for this podcast. We know it's going to be a long time of being consistent and where we are of this podcast as a kind of side hustle, I suppose, but something we also are passionate and enjoy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Our long term plan for this podcast is that it will be successful. We'll find sponsors, we'll grow the audience. But we know from what happened to YouTube and our previous side hustle that it might be four years of feeling like you hit your head against the wall. But in that fifth year, you've built up 200 podcast episodes. You've got loads of Instagram Reels, you've got loads of content that people enjoy and it's going to. Compact and something comes from it. So I think overall point there is being patient. It's cliche as everyone says, patience, but you really, really, really do.

29:28 Everything we've done has taken so much time to build up to the level where we actually want it. Nothing has immediately happened, that's for sure. No, you get these things on social media, don't you? Where I see them all the time now, I think because we're in the world of tutoring and stuff where I get I'll get someone, you know? In a hip call outfit being like, you want to replace your your teaching salary with just two hours of tutoring a week? Well, just follow me and buy my course for 700 lbs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on. We've been doing doing this grinding our guts out for years. We could. I've done it quicker maybe. I'm sure we'll talk about that later on in terms of risk and stuff, but being realistic and having a long term plan with patients is so important. So how did we do that? Let's talk about. That then so this is our tips we need to do you need to have a plan. You need to have multiple plans for multiple time as well.

30:12 Range ranges, can't speak time frames, time frames. That's the one time frames and and be prepared for them to change as well. It's fine. You know Dylan and I all regularly get together and just think what's our goal? What's our end goal? Is it changing? Has it changed over the years? Probably realistically, you know, and we think, OK, that's in five years. We'd love to be here and we dream big as well. I think dreaming big is really important because it you shouldn't see it as a failure if you don't get there right. You know I remember getting good advice early on, which was like, yeah, dream really, really big and if you get halfway there that's incredible. Yeah, you know you because that's the way think about it Yeah. So we're dream really big, have a five year plan, have a two year plan, have a one year plan, have a six month plan. What Yeah, that and then get started working backwards is actually really powerful because I think what kind of happens is. And again, anyone thinking of doing this? Again, nothing wrong with thinking, OK, what's my optimal outcome of doing this side hustle? Well, in three years I want to be able to go part time that that's going to be a very realistic aim where you've replaced a part of your salary with this business that's thriving and you know, that's your aim and you'd be like, cool, well, if I want to do that in three years, within two years I really need to be making this much money. And for my business that means selling this amount of things. So actually, OK, by two years I need to be selling this amount of things.

31:16 That means by one year I need to have created all of this stuff. I need to have created five different resource packs if that's what you're going to go for, or I need to have invented three services. I'm doing tutoring and and working backwards. What happens naturally is although you dream big at the end, the closer you get and the more short term your targets are, the more realistic they get naturally because you're just actually then mapping out what needs to happen by when. And it ends up being that actually, OK, we have our dream big moments and we think what do we need to do? But then by the end of that conversation, I know that by the end of next term or after the next summer holiday, we get where I can apply 6 to 10 hours of work to it. And I know then what I need to get done in that time. And then it's actionable. And then I have a small success. And I've created this thing now and I'm one step closer to reaching my six month goal.

32:00 And if I manage to get my six month goal, my 12 month goal is available. And these small steps, it kind of being able to break up your dream into small actionable steps means you can actually do it rather than wouldn't it be great to quit teaching and be a tutor? That's what a lot of people say to me. And I'm like, yeah, it would. And I'm five years on the way to doing that. And you've got to have a plan and understand that the 1st 300 hours of work like you put into something, you won't get 300 hours worth out. But I tell you what, I reckon the last 10 hours of work I've done for our business at this point is worth way more than I did in my first 300 hours so. It it compounds, it's the biggest thing we can say. And the way to action that is to have long term aims and break them down into short actionable steps. And try not to compare yourself to other people because you know what?

32:44 Is there someone who probably who has like created the same amount of revenue as us through tutoring in a fraction of the time? Probably. Do I care though? Genuinely, not really. I, I think it's great to celebrate their success, but it doesn't make me feel bad about the way we've done it. So try not to compare your plans with the people. You might have a very different lifestyle to someone else who could, who could devote what, sink way more time into something than you. Doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. I think that's the way to look at it. And also the power of the subconscious. And this is something for us. I don't know this is a pickle to everybody. OK, but when we dream big, what I've what I've noticed me and didn't have done over the last six years is is we have subconsciously planted seeds in our own heads. And the amount of times that two years after we'll look, we'll we'll find a chat we had two years before and be like, oh God, we had that idea two years ago, didn't we?

33:27 And we've just kind of accidentally built towards it now It's a. Reality. Yeah. And we hadn't. Even really thought about it, but it's because we'd dreamed big all these times that we'd sort of, kind of accidentally been working towards some of these smaller things. And it's like, and we'd look back. Sometimes I think, oh, that's really cool. But we had this idea two years ago and now we've actually done it. And do you know what we're talking? Here, Do you know what we're actually talking about here? Interestingly, it's something we might scoff at, right? But we're actually talking about manifestation here. Really, this is what people mean when they say manifestation because like me and Hayden would be the first people to be like, just saying something won't make it happen. You can't just manifest things into existence. But the, the practical reality side of what manifestation actually does is that it makes something more real. Yeah. And if if we talk about it and say it, that seed is planted in our head and subconsciously you're right, you will work towards you've still got to do it.

34:10 It's not just going to happen like that. I think that understanding of manifestation clearly doesn't work. You can't just think, I want to be rich, I want to be rich and then hope one day you're randomly rich. But if you have an actionable plan with a long term goal, something you're passionate about, something you want to do, something you can see yourself with small steps getting towards, that's where manifestation becomes really powerful. And I don't like saying we manifest, but that's basically what we're saying we do. We do it in our own wishy washy way. We do. And we do everything in our own way. That's the nice thing as well. You do it in your own way. You get, there's a lot of advice out there and obviously it's ironic we're giving advice right now, but there's a lot of people that say this is how you do things. Yeah. And actually just take it with a pinch of salt. Sometimes we are like, Oh yeah, that worked out well. And other times it just wasn't the way to do it. And it doesn't matter.

34:51 Well, I. Want to kind of leap on from something you said there then, because you said about comparing yourself to other people and you know, there's more than one way to do things and someone might get there quicker, someone might get there slower, slower, slowly, slowly. And there's this element of risk, I think when you start a new business and it's something we took a very, very, very straight path down not being not taking much risk at all. It's the. Fear factor, isn't it? Yeah. It's the fear factor. So you might want to take risk, plough money into something, quit your job soon so you freed up lots of time. That's huge risk and there could be huge reward from doing that or huge failure. It's down to what you want to do. Our, our tact was to really take a risk free approach and that was detrimental to our time. But we didn't really put any money in.

35:32 So do you want to explain how? Yeah. So it was a slow and it's the slow and steady approach, right. And for a lot of teachers, I think this is probably the most relevant because because you know what, if you're listening to this, you might have a family, you might be living somewhere, you might have bills to pay mortgage. What you might, there's going to be commitments probably in your life if you know. So we took the approach of we don't have thousands of pounds to plough into this idea. We do have, you know, ��50 and knowledge and a bit of knowledge because we were. Using what we were good at, so we. Did the slow and steady approach across the whole business at any time we needed to invest money and this applies to literally any point in the last six years, whether it's ��50 for a logo or if it's thousands for website things. We always at the approach of we'll make the money first, sure.

36:12 Now, if you go to a business guru out there who you know who is all about that, their life is just capitalism, making money, debt. Debt, they would tell. You yeah, get into get into good debt, borrow money fast, track the business and pay that money back. Right, Which is a legitimate business. It could work. Do you know what for us, this is where you don't compare people. For us, we didn't want that stress. We're not business people. It was a side hustle. Yeah. Remember, this isn't, you know, we didn't just quit our jobs. This was a side hustle. We weren't had no business knowledge whatsoever when we started this. So we just took the approach of OK, we've got eight kids starting tutoring with us that makes us this amount of money. Cool. We'll our first chunk of money, then we're going to use that. We're going to get a little website. Yeah, cool. Next chunk of money. Now we're going to buy us these these things for the service. It was. Squarespace, wasn't it? Yeah, Square. Space. We built our own little square.

36:53 Space thinking back, I remember we spent 200 of our own pounds before we generated any money and from that moment on we never ever spent our own money on anything. Yeah. So when you look at our business now, we choose to hundreds of children every year. We hire and employ 14 tutors. We we have we're part time. This was genuinely all built from 200 pounds, 200 LB investment. Yeah. And a lot of time and a lot of time. And that's where the risk has to come in. And that's where we worked hard for it. And then you know, some this whole episode how to build a successful teacher side hustle. You don't need to end up where we were. You can put less time in and just have a goal of I want to have ��500 a month. If you want to build ��500 a month yourself, do you know what you could just chew to yourself? You don't need to hide.

37:36 Don't. You don't need to. Anything like that? All you need to do is have have that plan and the actionable step to get there and work at it in your own time and use your holidays. Let's talk about that. ��200 for a second. So let's, let's really get into the nitty gritty of this because some people I think are listening, thinking, OK, what do I do though? What do I actually do? So what would that 200 LB go towards? Well, the first thing is once we'd, once we'd thought of a name. So we thought we were very excited to do this stuff that hilariously isn't that important looking back. But we were like, no, we've got to have a name, we've got to have a name and it is important. But you know, we hadn't thought of the service yet. Yeah, we were like, have a name and we sat down, we thought of name. So quick, quick bit of advice in the middle of this, when you're when you're thinking about a name, if it's a company, a limited company, or if you're going to be a sole trader or something, do just do a bit of research first. Like look around, make sure the domain for if you want to if you eventually want to get a website is available for that or something at least that's and.

38:21 Buy it. You don't need a whole website, but you can buy and reserve a domain so no one else can use it. Go on to GoDaddy and just buy it. Buy it. Dot com.co.uk get whatever else there is what? You need, but co.uk and com are the most important ones. Co.uk is not as important because because it's for the English domain. What was I saying? Yeah. So, so yes, we, so we bought that. Sorry. We had 200 lbs. We looked at the name. We looked it up. We made sure it was all good. We made social media on it as well. It's another thing to look at because later down the line we found out someone had the exact same name. And we're like, why didn't we check this first, you know? So in hindsight, I wish we checked a bit more. But then in terms of money, there's no money down at this point. It only cost us. I think it was, I could be wrong, about 16 lbs or something like that. To reserve the domain to, to, not the domain to, to. Oh, on Companies House.

39:06 Yeah. Like to create to create. The name of our limited company, it wasn't, you know, people, I think people think it's really expensive, like a big fee to start a limited company. It's, it's really not, it's quite a small amount of money, but. There's a fee for the domain, which was like 6 lbs. Yeah, the. Domain was, yeah, we bought that for, for pennies at the time because a lot of domains go for ��0.99 if they're not that, if you, if you want, if you want www.tutor.co.uk, you're paying thousands and someone will already have it. But you know, we didn't pay much, so we weren't much money in to being able to have a a name that was registered as a company on company's house with us as directors on it. And then we were like, OK, we should probably get a website. So we just literally Squarespace was like ��20 a month and we just built our own website.

39:47 It was terrible. At that point. We were like, we need a logo. And then so we went to Fiver or people per hour on one of those websites. We can just get really quick, cheap work done by professionals all over the world. Spent about ��40. We got first we got we will share it one day. We got we. Should share on our Instagram. You should follow us at TC Repeat Podcast Instagram. I will share at some point the first draught for the logos, because obviously anyone who doesn't know we're called top dog tutoring. If you want to check out our our stuff, by the way, go to topdogonline.co.uk. All our all our resources are like there for you to see how it works. And you can see our tutoring team check out website. I'm just saying. Website not, you know, because we'll talk about how late in the day later down the line we we upgraded and we spent a lot of money on on building a more bespoke website.

40:30 But talk about that. But again, I'll just even with that, I'll say we didn't do that until it was risk free in terms of we we had saved up the money over is in the company. Then we were like, cool, now we can do this next step. Other people might be like step we planned. Ahead and we planned ahead and other. People would say well you know, take that risk, do it straight away, but you know, back to the whole point that 200 lbs. We spent ��100 each got. Us a logo, a name registered on company's house and a couple other bits I think it was we also got AI can't think of the word a consult consultation with an accountant. So that was within, that was within the ��200 because it was like half an hour of an accountant we knew and most people know someone. And the other thing was it we bought about 40 quids worth of books. Do you remember? Yeah, a bunch of, because we wanted to take books and then we wanted to make our own resources and stuff like that.

41:13 So that was something where it was almost like research for us. I was like, OK, what? What is in these tests? Yeah, that was that was enough to get started and have eight people. And then what? We did was we got eight people in the room and we choosed them and it was insane because at the end the parents said thank you and pay does money and it was like this within two or three weeks we've made back the ��200 or more. Yeah, yeah and and we won't even think at that .0. Well let's sit down and work out. We're getting paid per hour, shall we? No, we didn't matter to us because we wanted to make something that was existing, that was functioning. And then then the next goal was, okay, we, we know we've set prices at a certain point where by definition this is profitable. So we didn't have to think about that every single time. Because I think some people honestly naively have seen small businesses who kind of go ��40.

41:56 You know, you get a lot of companies who will set up this, you know, I mean, COVID, a lot of companies got set up like they're doing crafting at home or something and they just look at it and they go, I guess that's worth ��20. And then if they actually sit and look at the parts and they spent eight hours on it, it really should be worth ��60.00. So we built that in from the start where we said, OK, by definition the way we've built these groups and what we paid tutors, which was at the start, to be fair, we know we're going to make X if we have four people in a group. So we know we're not going to open a group until we get four. We might break even at that point, but won't lose money. And then if we have five or six or seven or eight, that's all pure profit coming to us then, and we can reinvest that. There's a good tip there, which is crunch the numbers. And that's something I think because we're both very messy anyway. I think we take it for granted sometimes that not everyone likes to do that or wants to do that, but we crunch the numbers all the time.

42:40 We are constantly, constantly looking at figures and just making sure stuff adds up and that the company is profitable and we're not just, you know, literally just losing money. And we did that from day one. That was really, really and I. Suppose in that I'm going to go to two prongs now of of two other bits of advice and we'll talk about one more later on probably. And that's to do with you can find anything out online. Like literally we're going to talk about that in a second. But from that is know the tax position. So you're a full time person and I can't stress this enough. You're a full time employee. If you're a teacher and you want to do a side hustle, there is very quick. I think there's a very, very small amount of money for a side hustle where you're allowed to not claim anything. Yes, thousand. Pounds. It's like 1000. Pound, I think as soon as you're making anything more than that, which is over ��100 a month, which is a side hustle, you kind of hope you get to that point. You really need to know your stuff and that comes with us talking to an accountant if you don't want to do it yourself or filling out self-assessment forms because you're already past your tax free limit of your personal allowance that's taken up in your job.

43:37 Understand the tax system. Put some time into just knowing how it works because what you don't want to do is run for a year and a half, then you have to get your accounts done. And your accountant says, yeah, OK, and your tax bill is ��800. And you're like, you have no. Idea, you know, maybe you'd think, oh, I paid, you paid. We paid 20% tax. That's how it works. Yeah. And actually, you dipped into the 40% because, you know, you're higher in your teaching salary. You've just got to know these things and talk to your accountants. Accountants are really good. I think people are scared of talking to accountants and thinking that accountants just want your money. No, that's not how it works. Accountants are happy to help you think of efficient ways generally to release your money. They just won't be encouraging you to break the law. Exactly. You know, tax tax. You shouldn't think you need to. Pay your tax. This is simple but. Talk to them.

44:18 You know that all the accountants we've had, we've had a couple, we've only had two to be fair over the years. But they've been really, really lovely people and always happy to just just actually help us work out what the hell we're doing. 100% But yeah, YouTube free that. We've watched so many videos over the years on the most basic things and you might again get rid of the embarrassment. It doesn't matter if you don't know. If you think this is basic and everyone else knows it, who cares? Just watch the YouTube video, learn it and after a few years you realise you've actually picked up. Do you know? Where I can kind of talk about this because like you said, we're massive people we kind of know how tax worked anyway. We we we knew that we need to be thinking about crunching these numbers that came naturally to us. I watch a YouTube video tutorial on how to make scrambled eggs every single time I make scrambled eggs and I'm not joking, right? And and I don't care. This is what I'm saying right now because that's that's probably should be embarrassing for me, shouldn't it?

45:00 And it probably is embarrassing for me. But you know what, I don't care because I come to do it and I'm like, do you know what? I'm pretty sure I know how to do this, but I'm going to watch a 1 1/2 minute video to get it right. OK, I'll do that for scrambled eggs. OK. You should do it for your business if you're going to do a side hustle. Yeah, just don't worry about it. Put 10 minutes into something. There's an answer online. Remove. The fear of the unknown, I think that's a big thing. And we've put one of our bullet points is literally to say all of the above is not as hard as you think. Yeah, which is all the stuff. And, and the reason I want to say that is because when we don't know stuff, we generally assume, I think as people, all that's going to be tricky because I don't know it and other other people are experts in that. Do you know what? It really isn't that hard to start a business. It just isn't that tricky. There's not that many things you need to do. You just need to go and look up how to do it.

45:42 Yeah. And and the hurdle. Going back to. One of the first things we said, do it. There's something that's always really stuck with me, OK? And I think it was a comedian who said something along the lines, and they were basically saying if you weren't funny, you know, you'd never have got your girlfriend. She's so attractive and you're ugly. And the response was, yeah, but I am. Yeah. Maybe it's like, but the whole point was, yeah, but I am funny. And it's like, it's the same for business. It's like if someone looks at you and there's always going to be jealous people. You know, we've had people before who are really lovely and are not trying to be horrible. But I know for a fact they look at what we've done and they're like, they'll say something like money for old rope. Like, oh, yeah, we can all teach and shoot that. Like, you know, anyone can do that.

46:22 And honestly, I'm like, I understand that point of view. It might be frustrating but then inside I'm like but I have done it but we. Did but we? Did it and we spent five years doing it and it's built up. Yeah, and. It sounds a little bit like up our own, up ourselves. Yeah, but it's not. You just have to respond like, you know what? Yeah, but not everyone does. Lots of people have ideas and not many of them action them. So just do it. That's the hardest thing. Just what's the worst gonna happen if you start? You've wasted ��16.00 on Companies House, maybe ��50 on a logo or something. You know you might, there's a little bit of money you might waste, but you know what? Give it a go and. And if it fails, it fails. You know, failure is we said it. We say it to our kids all the time. It's a good thing. Like we've got to practise what we preach. We'd be gutted if our kids never tried to do something. Yeah. And. And found that they weren't good here. The production, the amount of children who put themselves into this position of fear of singing in front of adults. They've never sang before.

47:08 I I would never do that. I would never do that. OK. But I take a risk of a business. It's the same kind of thing. Like I should just. I'll watch. Just seeing in front of people, do our Instagram reel, start a business. Basically you do it. Whatever, just do it. OK, So Dylan, I'm sat here, I'm listening to this podcast. I'm thinking I've got an idea, but everyone else does this already. Yeah. What? So does it have to be unique? No. And again, we're interested in business. I've watched Dragons Den since I was 10. I love business. I love the idea of creating something that people want. And again, I think it comes down to the service. We talk about it all the time. I love helping children to understand something. And I love the idea of my businesses or what I do helping someone and them thinking, wow, I put down this amount of money, but my goodness me, I'm getting so much value, So much value because the people are good at what they've always been about that.

47:52 Yeah. So when we're thinking, OK, I want to start a cake baking company, but I know there are three people locally who make fantastic cakes, and how on earth can I possibly get close to them? You're not going to get close to them to begin with. Yeah, you might never get close to them, but you've got to think about what your goals are. If your goal is immediately to be the world disruptor and take over the world, you need to go down a different path and accept that it might fail. It's more risk. Can be Amazon. Yeah. You know you're not going to be Amazon. Let me be honest. This is about side hustles. This is about side hustles. And you'll hear the amazing stories, but there are hundreds of people who do a side job. And you know what? You don't need to take all of the pie to be successful. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we. We are a tutoring company. I know honestly, over the years I've seen hundreds of tutoring companies.

48:37 Genuine hundreds and. Before we started, people did what we did, people did what we do. Rather, after we've started, there's been even more that have joined in and done exactly what we do and all that. All I would say to people is if you're thinking, oh, how can I deal with these competitors, Do you know what this is where it comes from? Dragons Den, I think it was Peter Jones talked about this you'd an invention doesn't have to be brand new. No one's ever thought about it all an invention has to be is very good and better than other people. Yeah, genuinely and and have Ausb not even the best. That's the funniest thing. Think about Levi roots right. He went on to Dragon Zen and made cooking sources. What? There's like an aisle of cooking sauces in every single supermarket in the whole world. But you know what?

49:18 He had a brand. He had a personal brand. He was likeable. He had a social media presence. Afterwards, he went on television and his. And at the end of the day, his sauce was good. Yeah, he served. Himself a piece of the pie, genuinely like the pie is big enough for everyone. I remember speaking to a massive, massive choosing company, like way, way, way bigger than us. We were talking global, huge company. And I was talking to one of our staff and they said, yeah, the pie is big enough for everyone. Don't worry, you know, we can still have we can still be this massive global company and you can still have your piece of the pie. Absolutely. There was, you know, Dylan said. There's we've seen hundreds and hundreds of tutors doing exactly what we do. But it doesn't doesn't mean we can't do our business. Yeah, it just means they're equally it. You know what piece of the pie? A little story here again. It doesn't. It doesn't mean you have to be resentful or angry or they're your enemies either. Like you said, you talked to this person who works for a global tutoring company.

50:02 Yeah, there's no reason why you can't be friendly with them. They're going to come after our customers. We're still competing. But you know what? They're not even their customers or our customers, they're just people who want to service, give them a good service, as simple as that. And I know for a fact, again, I'm thinking of, you know, recently we put some posts out there about our tutoring and, and there's again, something with marketing where you can kind of go down a route of almost slandering other people, almost being like, yeah, we're great, we're fantastic. That's all good. And you can kind of get yourself caught up a little bit. And we definitely did this a little bit where we were thinking of these huge corporations that were like how annoying, huge corporate. Personal, you know, it's. Impersonal. You can do that blah, blah, blah, you know, yeah, hundred kids and a call and they spend ��5 each and it's dead cheap, but it's just not the same blah, blah, blah. All of them are legitimate, right? But we kind of went around that.

50:47 We did a post, I think where it was like us, wow, amazing versus beautiful them, and it was like all impersonal blah, blah. And it did leave a bit of a SE in our mouth. But we thought, well, let's just try. It's a bit of marketing. And it kind of really backfired for us because we got a message from a local tutoring company near us who we really respect, who do a really good job, been doing it for ages, longer than we have been tutoring. You know, we're the new kids on the block compared to them. And they kind of very nicely. We're like, you know, we do all this stuff, nothing like that. You can't say them like, yeah, yeah, we don't, we don't do it. I don't tarnish. There's loads. And they even said there's loads of other local tutors who do an amazing job. And I completely agreed with them. Yeah. And I replied to him. I said embarrassing, wasn't it? We weren't thinking about, we weren't slandering you at all whatsoever.

51:29 We think and we respect you a lot. We think you do an amazing job. But it came across that way. Yeah, but you know what? We made a mistake. We deleted it. We moved on. Yeah. And that's gonna happen to you when you start our side hustle. That's gonna do something embarrassingly wrong. We've done it on this podcast. We've done a podcast episode with two big guests where I forgot to record it for 40 minutes. There are moments where you think, Oh my God, this is so I, I should quit. This is embarrassing. Dylan tried to force me to quit. I'm not joking. But you do Alistair Campbell as a car and I was like, you don't do it every. But you do, you just got to move on. You can't move on. But one thing I will say, you know, just a bit of advice, again, we very much live by this is try in this whole process, try to be a bit disruptive. Try to think of something. Try to think of something that's going to allow you to get that bit of that pie, whatever that size of the pie is that you want. What is it that's going to get you on the scene? You know, so you're not, you're not just right down. If you want to be a bit higher up, what is it? What are you offering?

52:17 For us, it was the videos we saw. We noticed that most tutoring companies at that time just weren't doing video content. They weren't doing you. So we were like, we'll make a YouTube channel and we will just do tonnes and tonnes and tonnes of video content and see if people come to us through that. The. Big thing for us was what we wanted children to want to learn from us, that that was huge. And it wasn't just a lot of it before then was like, no, no, we're the best. We, we, we are very academic and you get you into these amazing schools and that's all good. That's what a lot of parents want. Yeah, ours was child child centred. It was, we're going to make your children watch this. You're going to walk in and see them watching our videos already because they want to and think what my child is watching a video on Operation by choice because they did a funny skit at the start. You know that that kind of stuff wasn't happening.

52:57 And that's how we built an audience and we did everything else. Still, we have the best honesty. I, I don't care about saying this. Our tutors are 10 out of 10. The tutors that workforce, the content we have painstakingly written ourselves. We know it's good. It's been checked by the people. We know what we we know the services quality. That's really important. Be good at what you're doing. But our USP, we do this little extra thing as well that's going to get the pie for us. That's going to get people involved. And, and do you know what, harping back to the very start of what we said, we're passionate about that. It was never a chore to make videos. We want to help as many people as possible. And as a result of doing something really well that we're very good at, we grew and we grew these things. Came over time. And do you know what? When we started, we didn't reinvent the wheel. We tutored.

53:42 There's nothing new about what we did. We just did something that we knew worked and then we were like, cool, how can we make this better so that we get more of the pie? Simple as that. So. Whatever it is you're thinking of doing, do it really well. And over time, start thinking, how can I be disruptive? Can I make a real? Can I become a personality? Can I put myself out there a bit more? Can I, can Ioffer something for free? Yeah, is. There is there a way I can sell this that other people aren't doing that you think would attract business to whatever it is? I mean, just I've finished off. I don't know if you want to finish now, but there's a little story. We recently, literally yesterday, I think you saw it on my table yesterday. We got a jumper, a Custer, a handmade custom made jumper made for River and it was made sorry for yeah, for River, my daughters, it was made. It's for Lauren, my partner, the jumpers for her. But it's it says Mama across it.

54:25 And each letter has been made with different what they call baby grows. I remember when she's a newborn that we don't need anymore, just sentimental. Really, really lovely. And it turns out, by the way, I haven't even told you this yet, that the person that made them the next teacher. OK. Next teacher who and it genuinely side hustle side hustle built it up she's made a really really really good product and it's honestly it is as simple as that she's extremely good at her craft makes a really good product is lovely customer care really top top class customer care has invested time and money into making the product good making a good website and. Did she do that overnight? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. But I just thought that was a funny, that's amazing little link. That jump was sat on the table this morning that we've ordered from it and it's beautiful and lovely. And you know what?

55:08 That was a side hustle. One day it's built up to something more. So it can happen. It can happen for you. You just got to take that first step. It's the hardest bit. Cliche, I know, but it's true. Brilliant. Yeah, let's finish it off there. If you've got any more questions about what we do and how we grew the business, do get in touch with us, follow us on Instagram at Teach Seat, repeat podcast, message us. We get everything through there and just join us for the ride. It's, it's a good one in Instagram and I love talking about that because I'm really passionate about people, you know, being able to achieve their dreams in that way. And and it, it might not work. We're not going to sit here and be those people on Instagram and say it can work for everyone. It can't and it won't. It's as simple as that. Let's do a quick Jingle. I'm going to finish off on a nice little again, another post I saw about teaching lovely and we'll, we'll, we'll do that.

55:51 Cool. Right before we finish up very quickly, I want to ask you guys listening to please leave us a review. I know it's annoying. I ask most of the time, but it helps us so much. And we were literally talking to someone this week who's listened from the start who messaged us and said, oh, I actually left you a review the other day. And I was like, I love you for this. And it just goes to show how many people are listening because we know the numbers don't match up remotely who haven't yet reviewed. So guys, if you could review us, we'd really appreciate. It's all we asked for. I found a post the other day, I say I found the algorithm and spit a post out to me. And it was a story about a teacher. And it's incredibly heartwarming and I thought it'd be really nice to finish off this episode. And I want your, I want your thoughts about this at the end. OK, so a former student, now in his mid 20s, reached out to me via e-mail back in October to let me know that he was getting married.

56:39 He wanted to know my address so that he could send me a save the date notice. I happily replied, thrilled to hear of his upcoming marriage and happy to know that he thought of me. The envelope arrived a few weeks later and I did in fact save the date in my calendar around December. So two months later I received another message from him telling me to check my mail. I thought it was odd since I'd already received the wedding announcement. I don't go to very many weddings, so I wasn't aware of the actual invitation being different to a save the date. I also forget to check my snail mail frequently, so I guess my invite had been in the mailbox for a week without me knowing. To the mailbox I went. Amongst the many advertisements was a chunky envelope that definitely looks like a wedding invitation. I grabbed it, walked back to my home and opened it near the recycle bin since I needed to dispose of all the unwanted ads.

57:23 The invite was there, asking if I would like to attend a destination wedding in Tuscany from June the 29th to June the 5th. July the fifth. Sorry, I was absolutely flummoxed. A wedding in Italy? That's crazy and also awesome. Then I saw a handwritten note tucked into the back of the envelope. I recognised his handwriting immediately, having read it so many times during his time in my class. It was very unique. I figured it was a personalised message to go along with the invitation, which seemed like something he would do. As I read the note, I started to tear up. I couldn't believe it. He was asking me to be his best man at his wedding. After my eyes stopped watering, I responded as fast as I could to his message.

58:04 I understand why he wanted me to open the invitation. He'd been waiting about two weeks to hear from me to see if I would accept. I felt awful knowing I'd made him wait that long. I accepted and started saving up for my plane ticket. Tomorrow I fly to Italy to see my student get married in a Tuscan villa. I'm full of joy, love and anxiety for the next week. I'm so proud of my student and the man he has become and thankful that I get to share this. It's an amazing day by his side. For the teachers out there, you never know what kind of an impact that you're going to have. I. Mean it's really sweet, isn't it? I did not expect the best man yet. I thought he was going to say there was like a wad of money and then I was like to pay for the flight. I thought, I didn't even thought that was where it was going. Like he's paid it for me as well and.

58:45 Then not paid it. You got paid yourself together. I mean two prongs to that isn't there. Firstly, it's just it made me laugh a bit at the whole best man because I was like don't even speak. When we think about being really nice to our kids. I don't ever expect to be the best man. No, that's too far, too far. But. In in the sentimental time that that is just like the ultimate version of of it, of it paying dividends to you and that being nice to the kids and making genuine relationships. But the idea that the idea that someone valued you so much when they were a kid, when you were in your class, was it primary school? Do you know I'm not? Sure, I think. I'm not sure it. Made more sense if it was like secondary. Until it was. Like 18 or something and maybe. This guy, just how it goes. You might not have many friends and you really cling on to yeah. Someone who you value. Yeah, yeah. Which is really nice, you know, jokes aside, I think it's really quite sweet.

59:28 I just. Read it and I thought wow, yeah I. Don't know about you. I don't know. This is I don't know what the word is, but I, I really, I like the idea of like kids getting in touch with me when they're when they're older, being like, oh, you were such a good teacher. Thank you. And you helped me with this thing. It's very selfish almost. I don't know the word. I thought selfish is the word self centred. But like I know a lot of teachers who honestly, I hate the idea of kids getting back in touch with them after because they're like, no, it's done now. It's weird. I don't want to talk to because I don't want to talk about. I know people like that. I'm like, no, I love it. I love it when kids come back to the school. They walk past. I had it the other day at the performance. So it was outside. It was like late. I'm siblings. Yeah. Yeah. And they weren't even siblings. These ones. They just happened to be walking past the school as like a just gang of like, six friends of all in my class last year.

1:00:10 And they saw that all the parents come in for the production and thought, oh, I wonder if Mr Stevens is around. And they got a kid to go in and find me. And this kid came in and was like, there's a bunch of random kids outside. They wanted to speak to you and I want you. To be their best. All right here. We go, I've got trouble out here and you know, I'm going out and there's a well, I miss Steve and I went out and just had a quick chat of him and it was just I just love those moments because they actually wanted to speak to me. I wasn't their teacher anymore. They just thought, oh, that guy was nice to us, actually really nice to us. I'm gonna go and catch up with him. He. Goes now we're going on those relationships are real yeah they aren't really that and they. Last, you know, and maybe one day I'll be one of their best men. I actually said under my breath while she was talking. I kind of subliminally got it. It's very nice story. It's lovely. Yeah, it makes that one point.

1:00:52 Very quickly then, have you, since being a teacher because you like that, has it made you get in contact with any of your old teachers knowing that you might be able to give them some of the joy that you like? Or are you just selfish again and just do you know? What? Not since I've been a teacher Before I was a teacher were you? Already doing that, yeah. One person. So before I was in, before I was a teacher, when I was an adult, I think I was like 18, maybe on Facebook. I mean, I added one of my primary school. Was it Miss Plankton? It was Miss Plankton. Plankton. She's not on SpongeBob. It wasn't Plankton who I spoke about last week. Yeah, I did. And I messaged and I remember telling her like, oh, you, she said. Sorry, who are you? Yeah, no, she remembered. Me actually and a couple of secondary school teachers as well who added whilst at the end of secondary school. I remember being like I do so. Am I going to be a best man or one of them going to be a best man?

1:01:34 Probably one of my teachers. Yeah. Probably one of my teachers. Yeah. I'm going to try and just to offend you, I'll find the most obscure one that I actually didn't have a relationship with and be like, would you be my best? Friend. Yeah, but you're not getting married in marriage. That's where another podcast The Girls. Don't listen this far, right? Right guys, thank you so much for listening. Do leave us a review. Do follow us on socials and share this podcast with as many people as you can. Hopefully there was some really actionable advice in this one that you can actually go and action, action wise action with an action movie whilst you're watching someone with an action film. Just action, just stop action. End of the episode, action now, see you later. Bye.