Where your first students come from, how one family becomes three, and the rules for messages and reviews.
By George Lahoud · Reviewed 3 Nov 2026
The short answer
Start with the people who already know you, and tell them exactly what you teach, where and for how much. Make it easy for a happy family to pass you on: one link to a profile with your price, and reviews from students you really teach. Then add a Google Business Profile and a directory listing. Ask before you send anyone marketing emails or texts, and never write, buy or swap a review.
Your first students rarely come from an advert. They come from people who already know you, and
from the families those people talk to. This guide is about making that happen on purpose: who to
tell, what to give them, how to ask for reviews without breaking the rules, and where to be found
once word of mouth needs help.
01
Start with the people who know you
Tell people you tutor, and be exact about it. "I tutor" is easy to forget. "I tutor Year 9 to 12
maths, in person around Bankstown or online, A$60 an hour" is something a parent can repeat to
another parent.
Family and friends. Ask them to think of one family with a child in the years you teach.
Your old school's community. Parents and younger students there may remember you, and
they know families with children in the years you teach.
Families you already teach. Each one knows other families with children the same age.
Local groups. Community and parents' groups often allow a post from a local business. Read the
group's rules first.
If you haven't set yourself up yet, how to start a tutoring business
covers your ABN, your Working with Children Check and your price, which families will ask about
before they ask about anything else.
02
Make yourself easy to recommend
A family who is happy with you will pass you on when it takes them ten seconds. Give them one thing
to send.
A profile that says what you teach, which years, where, and your price.
One link to it that opens on any phone. Your share link opens
your profile with the message box ready.
A line about you: what you studied, and why families pick you.
Reviews from students you really teach.
About a month after tutoring my first students I began receiving messages from other families interested in tutoring for their students. They reached out to me at Tutor Marketplace and sent me a message explaining they had heard through other families that I was a tutor they were happy with. I always take the time to get to know my students and their families, conversing with them before and after lessons with a genuine interest in their school, background, hobbies etc so that every lesson feels like meeting up for study with a friend rather than a transactional and forced interaction. Adopting this mindset is what I believe encouraged families to spread the word to others to look for me as a tutor. Once I was aware of this I opened more time slots and took on more students.
George Lahoud · from experience
Keep 95% of every lesson
Bookings, payments, calendar and classroom for A$25 a month. Free for 30 days.
Asking a family for a review is fine. The rules are about what you offer for it and who writes it.
You may ask. Ask after a few lessons have gone well, and check the rules of the site the review
goes on.
An incentive must not depend on the rating. A discount or a gift for a review is allowed only
if it is offered for a negative review as well as a positive one, and you say clearly that you
gave it.
Fake reviews are illegal. Under the Australian Consumer Law you can't write a review of your
own business, or arrange for someone else to write a fake or misleading one.
Emailing for a review needs permission. Only send a follow-up email asking for one if the
family has agreed to hear from you by email.
On Tutor Marketplace, families with an account are asked after their lessons, and a student you
added yourself can be sent a review link from their page. Getting reviews
shows how.
04
Messages, posts and the Spam Act
A text or email that promotes your tutoring is a marketing message. Before you send one, the person
receiving it must have agreed to hear from you.
Get consent first. Express consent, where the person knows and accepts they will get your
messages, is the safest kind. Keep a note of who agreed, when and how.
You can't ask by message. A text or email asking whether you may send marketing is itself a
marketing message.
Say who you are in every message, and make it easy to unsubscribe.
For a post in a local community or parents' group, the group's own rules decide what you may
post.
05
Get found online
Word of mouth works best when a family who hears your name can find you.
A Google Business Profile. If you travel to students' homes rather than teach at your own
address, Google treats you as a service-area business: one profile, your home address hidden, and
up to 20 suburbs, postcodes or cities you cover, within about two hours' drive of your base.
A directory listing. Families looking for a tutor search directories. In Find a tutor, the
Directory Listing shows a verified profile with your price, subjects and suburb, and families
message or book you from it.
Something useful to share. A worksheet or a set of notes you made can be
shared as a resource, free to download with your name and your
profile on it.
I tried at first to post in Facebook communities of who I was and the students I was looking to tutor, but I found that lots of community pages are filled with countless spam posts making it hard for families to trust you in an environment that isn't very reputable. I then started making my own Instagram videos and YouTube maths tutorials in attempt to get my name out there a bit more, as well as give families a reason to pick me as a tutor, which then helped me find some more students.
George Lahoud · from experience
06
How long it takes
Expect it to build slowly, then faster. Each family you teach well knows other families, so the
first few students take the longest.
After tutoring for 1 month I had 2 students that I was consistently teaching. At 3 months I had 5 students I was tutoring. At 6 months I had 8 students. Over time having myself listed online and through word of mouth on social media I found more students.
George Lahoud · from experience
07
A checklist
Write one line that says what you teach, which years, where and your price.
Tell family, friends and your old school's community, with that line.
Put your profile and one link to it where families can send it on.
Ask families you teach for a review, without an incentive tied to the rating.
Get consent before you send anyone a marketing text or email.
Set up a Google Business Profile if you teach in students' homes.
List yourself in a directory families search.
Get listed in Find a tutor
Families search the directory we advertise. The Directory Listing is +A$15 a month on top of the Bookings Suite.
