A New Rush!

Over the past year I've done quite a bit of SAT/ACT math prep.

Not for me, but for a bunch of kids who are hopelessly hellbent on the *credentialing* route to life success (i.e. college).

You see every 20-30 points on the math SAT score does indeed make a big difference on one's college prospects.

But how does a student significantly improve a math score that's already 700 (out of 800).

It's not easy to do. A 700 might only be 3-5 questions wrong on the whole exam. And oftentimes these are simply silly mistakes.

Of course I know precisely how a student can do it but quite frankly most kids won't put in the required effort - or they started so late they simply don't have the time.

Nonetheless I wrote this book/problem set of about several hundred Hard SAT questions aimed at this niche market. You see the conventional prep books might only have 5-8 hard questions in them.

(There is only one hardcover book out there, one guy who did something similar. But I can easily out-market him, out-deliver, under-price,...and I have a few other tricks up my sleeve - that is if it seems worth my time to get aggressive.)

The other day a woman who runs one of these enrichment/test prep centers was bugging me for a copy of my book to use in her summer class.

So I stayed up all night editing, emailed it off to a printer, and they should be here in a day or so.

They cost $5 each to print and bind and I will sell them to her, generously, for $15. My first 10-lot will net $100, cash.

No biggie, right?

Oh but it is.

I've never really made and sold anything like this. I've never enjoyed passive income before. I've always had to trade my time for money. (Or gamble in financial markets.)

I was really surprised at how good I feel about it.

Customers Versus Friends And Family

My teaching and tutoring side business is finally gaining steam.

My clients are not actually the students. More accurately, my clients are the *parents*.

And this is a completely new experience for me - not teaching math, but having customers.

I must say I'm starting to really like it!

Consider this...

These parents:

•  Respect me
•  Are very much interested in my opinions
•  Do exactly what I tell them (sometimes)
•  They PAY ME!

Up until now my entire life's social interaction had been mostly with *friends and family*....and y'all know how much of a pain in the rump they can be!

I've always had very, very strong opinions and beliefs. So it's nice to finally find some people who are genuinely interested in them.

Again, this is one of the many reasons I knew we'd be better off amongst the 15 million people in the NYC area. It's just easier here to find the people and the lifestyle that suit you best.

Career Reinvention Update

Long-time readers will recall that I used to trade the financial markets....and that I took a whooping shorting this insane bear market rally.

I've recovered from many an a$$-whooping in the trading account over the years (16+) but for variety of reasons it was time for a difficult career change.

Well I'm still in the process, HomeschoolDad.com is the main long-term business plan at the moment, but I've also been angling to break into the lucrative high-end tutoring market here in the NYC metro area.

Not in dire need of money, I've been holding out for precisely the kind of work I wanted.

And, finally, I'm starting to make some inroads.

Today I taught my first *competitive math* classes in a summer program here on Long Island.

Class is 4 straight hours and pays $320 cash....which while nothing like what I used to make selling a 100-lot of juicy puts back in the day, it still felt good. The thing is, I enjoy teaching math so much that I would almost do it for free. Almost.

The kids are young, 100% Asian, and well-behaved (so far).

In the future I hope to get my hourly rate north of $100 once my reputation as the *best math teacher on Earth* spreads...

And I'll also use this teaching position as an opportunity to build out my (math) info-products.

It's been a slow process, but things are finally looking up for me on many fronts.

Breaking Out, Finally?

After holding out for a high price and precisely the work I want....it seems that I've finally landed some work teaching math here on Long Island.

Instead of poor-performing rich kids, I'm getting hard-working, ambitious Asians!

It's a summer enrichment program on *competitive math*, the stuff I used to dominate some 20+ years ago.

I'm pretty excited, as is my wife who's presently figuring out how many more weekly hours of work I'd need for her to be able to quit her inhumane Wall Street job!

And let me tell you....these kids are pretty darn smart. At an open house for this *school* yesterday I already met a few who had 800s on their math SATs. They were 13-14 years old.

I also have a potential opportunity brewing at another place nearby, one closer to Queens, and a WHOLE LOT MORE ASIAN KIDS.

I'm extremely confident that I can quickly build up a reputation as THE go-to math instructor around here. And with that would come steep *rate increases* and even the possibility to open up my own shop.

Furthermore, I will be creating my own math curricula for all this teaching that I will then re-package and sell as an info-product via HomeschoolDad. Passive income!

Career re-invention is never easy and definitely takes some time. But this was my plan all along, to set up a tutoring business here in the ultra-wealthy NYC suburbs. Although originally I thought and said that it would be a hedge against not being able to make money with my website. Now it seems they can complement each other nicely.

New York City may be a tough place to live....but it's also a fount of opportunity for hard-working, competent Earthlings.

And this is precisely why we moved here 2 years ago.

Job Interview - Follow-up

So the other day I had a *job interview* of sorts. See my - prior post.

How'd it go?

Well okay - even though I'm not about to be tutoring wealthy New Yorkers for $300 an hour through this company anytime soon.

It's funny because, just as I predicted to my wife, the guy asked a million questions about *homeschooling*.

Now I love talking about what we do with our kids, the theories, resources, etc....but this was a total deja vu situation.

Some 10+ years ago, after I messed up my back in that car accident....every doctor I saw wanted to talk to me about the roaring stock market (on account of me being a floor trader). "But hey, Doc, what about fixing my back???"

After a nice, long conversation we did get around to talking about me tutoring with his organization.

Here's the deal. They mostly do standardized test tutoring. Yuck! And tutors have to teach all three sections to the student: math, verbal, essay.

Furthermore, tutors have to re-take the SAT, score in the top 1% on all three exams, AND then undergo this firm's *training program*.

Forget the exorbitant rates charged to the parents....tutoring pay starts at only $70 an hour.

After meeting with me for 45 minutes, the guy said that he didn't think I would be interested in such a path....and I confirmed it for him right on the spot.

Unless I was getting paid north of $150 an hour, it's not worth my time to tutor through a company because of income taxes, the cost of getting someone to watch my kids, etc. So $150 was my minimum to start with.

Beyond that I don't really care to tutor the verbal and essay sections - again, unless I'm getting paid $200+ hour on the books.

Re-take the SAT? Didn't I have to go through that BS once before?

Well I had been contemplating taking it anyway. I have no idea what the *essay* section even is (note also my handwriting is illegible TO ME at this point).

Apparently 2,200 points would get you in the top 1% overall. That would be, for example, 800 math, 700, verbal, and 700 on the essay sections. Though I'm not sure what the individual section scores would need to be to crack the 1% threshold.

I'm pretty sure I could take the test, ace the math, do significantly better than the 690 I got on verbal in 1991, and get close to whatever score represents the top 1% in the subjective essay section...

But again, why do tutors need to do this?

The answer is simply - *marketing*. I'm sure this company tells its clients, "EVERY ONE OF OUR TUTORS SCORED IN THE TOP 1% ON ALL SECTIONS OF THE SAT."

Now that's their business; it's very lucrative/successful; so I'm not going to pass judgment on its inherent weaknesses. Clearly they rank marketing at least on par with pure competence.  Eben Pagan most certainly agrees with this philosophy too.

I mean, just because someone can score on the exam....that doesn't mean they will be an adept teacher of the content. Who among us doesn't personally know *nerds* with F-level people and verbalization skills?

The other thing is, just as I suspected, all the *management* continues to tutor as well. So they keep the ultra-high-paying clientele for themselves - as I would too if I were them!

They are not really hard-up for tutors who meet their qualifications (top 1% SAT scorers) and are willing to work for less than $100 an hour (which is like $50-$60 cash after taxes) either...

What else do you think graduates out of Harvard each year but another flock of aimless nerds who have high college boards and scant, real marketable skills!!!

It wasn't all bad. The guy and I got along really well and he was very interested in me as sort of an educational consultant for their parents who want to supplement, enrich, or even venture completely into the wonderful world of individualized education. And since he has all the connections to the *people of means* in this area I'm not about to close this window of opportunity.

Job Interview?

Today I'm actually meeting with/interviewing for some part-time work at a *high end* tutoring company.

Incredibly, they advertise rates from $195 to $795 PER 50 MINUTE SESSION.

So we'll see how this goes. Of course anything can happen in a job interview. In the distant past I've really annoyed/pissed off/offended/unimpressed some of these gatekeepers. Whatever.

I don't need to tutor through an agency. And I'm quite sure I can break into this ultra-rich market on my own eventually.

But it would be nice to be handed some easy, lucrative work right now.

Hey, if anyone on planet Earth is worth those rates it most certainly is me!

In fact I sent them the videos of my kids doing math and that's probably what landed me the interview and résumé request in the first place. Now it's just up to me to fail in person...

I would think this type of operation - in contradistinction to other firms over the years that DID NOT hire me - is actually very interested in pure teaching competence.

Because they want good tutors who are going to be demanded, repeatedly, by their clients. It's a referral business after all. They will charge the client $200+ an hour and only pay the tutor X-per hour. Maybe today we'll discover how high $X is - starting out anyway?

The certain downside of an operation like this is the dreaded 1099 tax form...

The uncertain downside is that probably the best clients ($500+ an hour) are hoarded by upper management - like in every other business.

Again, whatever. This is a no-risk proposition for me.

The Ultra-Wealthy Tutoring Market

Hah! Math 800?

I snapped that pic at my local government library not too long ago.

Me? No I got a 790 on my Math SAT some 20 years ago. Please don't ask me how I was demerited a measly 10 points; I recall finishing the sections in about 11 minutes apiece. Usually *one wrong* would bump a Moron down to 780 or 770. So I must not have darkened in a circle enough (unlikely) or the machine malfunctioned in reading my answers (likely). Whatever - I did score 800 on the Math Level 2 exam, I did win the high scoring honors for my regional team at ARML(twice), and I did grab a few other chest-enhancing accolades.  And now I'm here boasting pathetically like Biff Loman about his glory days on the HS football field!

I wonder if that car belongs to a particular sky-high-priced SAT tutor guy in town.

Let me ask y'all a question...what do you think is an outrageous hourly rate for a math or SAT tutor?

I would say $150 or perhaps $200 per hour.

But get a load of this guy's rates:

Man, I have to get in on that racket!